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Green Lantern (2005) (Collected Editions)
Green Lantern, Volume 9: Blackest Night
Comics hottest writer Geoff Johns (Green Lantern, The Flash, Action Comics, JSA) and superstar artist Doug Mahnke (JLA, Batman, Superman) raise the dead in this must-read tie-in to the most anticipated comics event of the year, Blackest Night. This hardcover collection starring Hal Jordan expands on the War of the Light as the evil Black Lanterns descend on all of the Corps throughout the universe, explains villain Black Hand's connection to death and the Black Lantern corps and features key plot points that are essential to enjoying the storyline to it's fullest.
Collecting: Green Lantern 43-52
Collecting: Green Lantern 43-52
272 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2010
About the author
Geoff Johns
2,983 books2,276 followersGeoff Johns originally hails from Detroit, Michigan. He attended Michigan State University, where he earned a degree in Media Arts and Film. He moved to Los Angeles in the late 1990s in search of work within the film industry. Through perseverance, Geoff ended up as the assistant to Richard Donner, working on Conspiracy Theory and Lethal Weapon 4. During that time, he also began his comics career writing Stars and S.T.R.I.P.E. and JSA (co-written with David S. Goyer) for DC Comics. He worked with Richard Donner for four years, leaving the company to pursue writing full-time.
His first comics assignments led to a critically acclaimed five-year run on the The Flash. Since then, he has quickly become one of the most popular and prolific comics writers today, working on such titles including a highly successful re-imagining of Green Lantern, Action Comics (co-written with Richard Donner), Teen Titans, Justice Society of America, Infinite Crisis and the experimental breakout hit series 52 for DC with Grant Morrison, Greg Rucka and Mark Waid. Geoff received the Wizard Fan Award for Breakout Talent of 2002 and Writer of the Year for 2005, 2006, 2007, and 2008 as well as the CBG Writer of the Year 2003 thru 2005, 2007 and CBG Best Comic Book Series for JSA 2001 thru 2005. Geoff also developed BLADE: THE SERIES with David S. Goyer, as well as penned the acclaimed “Legion” episode of SMALLVILLE. He also served as staff writer for the fourth season of ROBOT CHICKEN.
Geoff recently became a New York Times Bestselling author with the graphic novel Superman: Brainiac with art by Gary Frank.
His first comics assignments led to a critically acclaimed five-year run on the The Flash. Since then, he has quickly become one of the most popular and prolific comics writers today, working on such titles including a highly successful re-imagining of Green Lantern, Action Comics (co-written with Richard Donner), Teen Titans, Justice Society of America, Infinite Crisis and the experimental breakout hit series 52 for DC with Grant Morrison, Greg Rucka and Mark Waid. Geoff received the Wizard Fan Award for Breakout Talent of 2002 and Writer of the Year for 2005, 2006, 2007, and 2008 as well as the CBG Writer of the Year 2003 thru 2005, 2007 and CBG Best Comic Book Series for JSA 2001 thru 2005. Geoff also developed BLADE: THE SERIES with David S. Goyer, as well as penned the acclaimed “Legion” episode of SMALLVILLE. He also served as staff writer for the fourth season of ROBOT CHICKEN.
Geoff recently became a New York Times Bestselling author with the graphic novel Superman: Brainiac with art by Gary Frank.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 165 reviews
October 31, 2017
The Blackest Night is upon us!
I bought this in its single comic book issues, but I’ve chosen this TPB edition to be able of making a better overall review.
This TPB edition contains “Green Lantern” #43-52. Featuring a part of the “Blackest Night” event.
Creative Team:
Writer: Geoff Johns
Illustrators: Doug Mahnke, Ed Benes & Jerry Ordway
WAIT, ISN’T THIS A GREEN LANTERN EVENT?
The Green Lantern comic book titles had been the “lung” of DC Comics like for four years if not more, and while the inner events of it had been best-selling stuff, the general DC Universe events (like Final Crisis) were highly critized, sooooo…
…it was time for DC Comics to take over the next Green Lantern event and make it as a “general DC Universe” event, opening the gates for Geoff Johns to become the chief writer of the entire DC Comics developing the “New52” era. Hey! I’m not complaining, I just sharing some facts.
Therefore, Blackest Night instead of being developed only in Green Lantern & Green Lantern Corps titles as it was the usual movement in the previous Green Lantern events; DC Comics published a 9-part miniseries for the event per se, along with a big bunch of tie-ins titles. Since I’m just a simple human with limited economic funds, I had to prioritize and I focused on buying: Green Lantern (this one), Green Lantern Corps, Blackest Night (main event), Tales of the Black Lanterns (hey, they were just 3 issues, so what the heck?) and the tie-in of Teen Titans (basically since it was about Terra and I am a huge fan of her), including the FCBD issue, the Director’s Cut of Blackest Night One-shot.
And you have to admit that making a “general DC Universe” event of Blackest Night was a smart move since it made possible to include a lot of dead characters that they aren’t Green Lantern material.
THE OMEN BEGINS
The Guardians of the Universe were afraid of this prophesy since eons ago.
The Blackest Night was called to be the end of Oa, the GL Corps and basically the whole universe as we know it.
Yep, it is something bad.
And therefore, the Guardians basically lied to their GL Corps about it, even taking away the pages mentioning the prophesy from the Book of Oa, it was a taboo issue, and they did all in their power to avoid the proliferation of the Emotional Spectrum in the universe.
Yes, they have the Green light, the Zamarrons have the Violet light and even Sinestro had been playing with the Yellow light for years, but Larfleeze was confined in a space sector avoiding the knowledge of the Orange light, and the other lights weren’t discovered yet…
…until Atrocitus put the wheels into motion, sharing his knowledge about the Blackest Night to Abin Sur, and this one told to Sinestro.
It took years, but finally the stages were in the right place to provoke the rising of the missing Emotional Spectrum lights paving the way to…
…the Black Lantern Corps!
An army of the dead, armed with power rings!
The dead ones from all univere are rising with one single goal…
…to end all life.
And all this will begin with Black Hand, yes that lame villain of Hal Jordan, BUT it was proof that there aren’t lame characters in reality, but only creative teams without imagination, and Geoff Johns was brilliant setting up Black Hand in the middle of the event, giving him a scary origin and turning him into one of Hal Jordan’s most fearsome enemies.
DESPERATE TIMES, RISKY SOLUTIONS
Each Emotional Spectrum corps is fighting against the Black Lantern Corps, and since you can guess that there are more dead people than alive, the ranks of the Black Lantern Corps are increasing per second in the whole universe…
…so the different light corps started to recruit unlikely new members, and since Blackest Night wasn’t a Green Lantern event anymore…
…characters from the general DC Universe are starting to become new members of the different corps!
Also, while some corps are in some kind of good terms like Green Lanterns with Blue Lantern Corps and the Indigo Tribe…
…the Blackest Night is too overwhelming and it’s a fact that not even three corps were gonna able to defeat the Black Lantern Corps…
…so it’s time to call truces and to form uneasy alliances with the other dangerous and unstable corps.
However, maybe even the joining of all the Emotional Spectrum corps would be enough when the Black Lantern Corps would recruit one of the most powerful beings in the universe as a member of their insidous corps…
…and Hal Jordan will have a very bad idea to face this, where you won’t be sure if one threat justifies another one.
John Stewart will have to face the darkest parts of his past.
And in the middle of this unholy war…
…will rise the most unlikely new champion!
The Blackest Night is here!
I bought this in its single comic book issues, but I’ve chosen this TPB edition to be able of making a better overall review.
This TPB edition contains “Green Lantern” #43-52. Featuring a part of the “Blackest Night” event.
Creative Team:
Writer: Geoff Johns
Illustrators: Doug Mahnke, Ed Benes & Jerry Ordway
WAIT, ISN’T THIS A GREEN LANTERN EVENT?
The Green Lantern comic book titles had been the “lung” of DC Comics like for four years if not more, and while the inner events of it had been best-selling stuff, the general DC Universe events (like Final Crisis) were highly critized, sooooo…
…it was time for DC Comics to take over the next Green Lantern event and make it as a “general DC Universe” event, opening the gates for Geoff Johns to become the chief writer of the entire DC Comics developing the “New52” era. Hey! I’m not complaining, I just sharing some facts.
Therefore, Blackest Night instead of being developed only in Green Lantern & Green Lantern Corps titles as it was the usual movement in the previous Green Lantern events; DC Comics published a 9-part miniseries for the event per se, along with a big bunch of tie-ins titles. Since I’m just a simple human with limited economic funds, I had to prioritize and I focused on buying: Green Lantern (this one), Green Lantern Corps, Blackest Night (main event), Tales of the Black Lanterns (hey, they were just 3 issues, so what the heck?) and the tie-in of Teen Titans (basically since it was about Terra and I am a huge fan of her), including the FCBD issue, the Director’s Cut of Blackest Night One-shot.
And you have to admit that making a “general DC Universe” event of Blackest Night was a smart move since it made possible to include a lot of dead characters that they aren’t Green Lantern material.
THE OMEN BEGINS
The Guardians of the Universe were afraid of this prophesy since eons ago.
The Blackest Night was called to be the end of Oa, the GL Corps and basically the whole universe as we know it.
Yep, it is something bad.
And therefore, the Guardians basically lied to their GL Corps about it, even taking away the pages mentioning the prophesy from the Book of Oa, it was a taboo issue, and they did all in their power to avoid the proliferation of the Emotional Spectrum in the universe.
Yes, they have the Green light, the Zamarrons have the Violet light and even Sinestro had been playing with the Yellow light for years, but Larfleeze was confined in a space sector avoiding the knowledge of the Orange light, and the other lights weren’t discovered yet…
…until Atrocitus put the wheels into motion, sharing his knowledge about the Blackest Night to Abin Sur, and this one told to Sinestro.
It took years, but finally the stages were in the right place to provoke the rising of the missing Emotional Spectrum lights paving the way to…
…the Black Lantern Corps!
An army of the dead, armed with power rings!
The dead ones from all univere are rising with one single goal…
…to end all life.
And all this will begin with Black Hand, yes that lame villain of Hal Jordan, BUT it was proof that there aren’t lame characters in reality, but only creative teams without imagination, and Geoff Johns was brilliant setting up Black Hand in the middle of the event, giving him a scary origin and turning him into one of Hal Jordan’s most fearsome enemies.
DESPERATE TIMES, RISKY SOLUTIONS
Each Emotional Spectrum corps is fighting against the Black Lantern Corps, and since you can guess that there are more dead people than alive, the ranks of the Black Lantern Corps are increasing per second in the whole universe…
…so the different light corps started to recruit unlikely new members, and since Blackest Night wasn’t a Green Lantern event anymore…
…characters from the general DC Universe are starting to become new members of the different corps!
Also, while some corps are in some kind of good terms like Green Lanterns with Blue Lantern Corps and the Indigo Tribe…
…the Blackest Night is too overwhelming and it’s a fact that not even three corps were gonna able to defeat the Black Lantern Corps…
…so it’s time to call truces and to form uneasy alliances with the other dangerous and unstable corps.
However, maybe even the joining of all the Emotional Spectrum corps would be enough when the Black Lantern Corps would recruit one of the most powerful beings in the universe as a member of their insidous corps…
…and Hal Jordan will have a very bad idea to face this, where you won’t be sure if one threat justifies another one.
John Stewart will have to face the darkest parts of his past.
And in the middle of this unholy war…
…will rise the most unlikely new champion!
The Blackest Night is here!
April 25, 2021
Review for my first Green Lantern book: Green Lantern, Agent Orange: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
PS: Green Lantern: Agent Orange is the first Green Lantern book I'd ever read, and it's connected to the events of the Blackest Night.
Oh, you meanie stop picking on Lex!
Sounds great! Agent Orange!
It's really getting me on...
Wow, Black Hand seems to be very difficult man to satisfy!
Plus Sinestro loves deep frying a Guardian or two! LOL
But I don't really like how the stories are disjointed, like they are not connected because some of the chapters aren't included in this volume, especially with the whole Black Lanterns invading Earth part. Is that an attempt to lure readers into buying more books? It sucks.
Edited@23/04/2021:
I just found out there are plenty of Blackest Night books instead of just one book, so now the disjointed stories make a bit more sense, but I still don't like how one battle seems to just jump off to the next without any continuity.
*jumps to read the next book*
PS: Green Lantern: Agent Orange is the first Green Lantern book I'd ever read, and it's connected to the events of the Blackest Night.
"And if you had any hair I'd have taken it too!"
Oh, you meanie stop picking on Lex!
"On my world life is about owning things.''
''Then perhaps this planet is worth saving after all.''
Sounds great! Agent Orange!
"Death to you all.''
It's really getting me on...
"You are not my type."
Wow, Black Hand seems to be very difficult man to satisfy!
Plus Sinestro loves deep frying a Guardian or two! LOL
But I don't really like how the stories are disjointed, like they are not connected because some of the chapters aren't included in this volume, especially with the whole Black Lanterns invading Earth part. Is that an attempt to lure readers into buying more books? It sucks.
Edited@23/04/2021:
I just found out there are plenty of Blackest Night books instead of just one book, so now the disjointed stories make a bit more sense, but I still don't like how one battle seems to just jump off to the next without any continuity.
*jumps to read the next book*
February 10, 2017
It's a toss up between this volume and the Blackest Night for being my favorite out of the entire story arc.
Hal went through a damn lot of changes, and some big changes just made the whole thing a delight to read.
No spoilers. It's just too fun and funny and impressive at the same time. I mean, damn. The rings of death and the gates of everlasting peace being opened to yell out, "Shut the fuck up, kids! People are trying to sleep, here!"
Putting this volume in context with all those other tie-ins is necessary and right. I feel like I'm overflowing with information and the lives of a truly epic number of characters and their struggles.
I heartily recommend reading this entire monster epic the same way. Total Immersion. Even the less impressive volumes are worth it after the fact.
I'm pretty speechless, all told.
Hal went through a damn lot of changes, and some big changes just made the whole thing a delight to read.
No spoilers. It's just too fun and funny and impressive at the same time. I mean, damn. The rings of death and the gates of everlasting peace being opened to yell out, "Shut the fuck up, kids! People are trying to sleep, here!"
Putting this volume in context with all those other tie-ins is necessary and right. I feel like I'm overflowing with information and the lives of a truly epic number of characters and their struggles.
I heartily recommend reading this entire monster epic the same way. Total Immersion. Even the less impressive volumes are worth it after the fact.
I'm pretty speechless, all told.
December 9, 2015
It does a nice job filling in the blanks from Blackest Night. Good stuff.
January 14, 2018
This is not only one of the best volumes in the Geoff Johns Green Lantern run, but it's also essential reading in tandem with the main DC event book, Blackest Night. As the dead across the universe are rising to form the "Black Lanterns," the leaders from all of the colors of the emotional corps (Hal Jordan: Green/Willpower, Sinestro: Yellow/Fear, Carol Ferris: Violet/Love, Atrocitus: Red/Rage, Saint Walker: Blue/Hope, Indigo-1: Indigo/Compassion, and Larfleeze: Orange/Avarice) must all put aside their difference and band together to save all life in the universe. It was fun seeing all of these personalities together and there are some great action sequences. And man, Larfleeze is so much fun to read. Again, it MUST be read in issue order with Blackest Night.
July 7, 2018
I think I just give everything four stars now.
I was a bit disappointed that there was no solid conclusion in a TPB.
Some things just seem to happen out of the blue.
Especially from issue to issue. It is likely the plot moved forward in small ways during offshoot issues, as is often the case with these huge events.
There is too much going on.
There are too many characters to juggle.
This is a long-term fan’s book more than it is a book for folks new to the DC Universe.
This book made me realize how little I know about Green Lantern and the entire storyline. But it didn’t inspire me to learn anything beyond what rested between the pages of this book.
The last few pages, where they tied the corps into judeo-christian mythology and showed the deities of each color, that was sweet.
I close this thinking it was good and worth my time, but it’ll be a while before I step into the world of Green Lantern again.
I’ll stick with the simple shit. Maybe two to four characters named Dave and Bob instead of twenty characters named some variation of Kauul-as-xinrath.
I was a bit disappointed that there was no solid conclusion in a TPB.
Some things just seem to happen out of the blue.
Especially from issue to issue. It is likely the plot moved forward in small ways during offshoot issues, as is often the case with these huge events.
There is too much going on.
There are too many characters to juggle.
This is a long-term fan’s book more than it is a book for folks new to the DC Universe.
This book made me realize how little I know about Green Lantern and the entire storyline. But it didn’t inspire me to learn anything beyond what rested between the pages of this book.
The last few pages, where they tied the corps into judeo-christian mythology and showed the deities of each color, that was sweet.
I close this thinking it was good and worth my time, but it’ll be a while before I step into the world of Green Lantern again.
I’ll stick with the simple shit. Maybe two to four characters named Dave and Bob instead of twenty characters named some variation of Kauul-as-xinrath.
March 23, 2012
You can read Blackest Night without reading this Green Lantern tie in. You can't read this without already knowing what goes on in Blackest Night. The events in this collection literally happen between issues of Blackest Night. It probably would have read better if the two had been collected in the same volume. Because Blackest Night itself was the main series, nothing truly significant can happen on its own in the Green Lantern issues, and each issue had to be prefaced by a brief description of what was happening in Blackest Night itself. Basically, it's a book of B-scenes. There's still some good scenes and some good characterization going on here. If you enjoyed Blackest Night itself, you'll certainly want to check this out, but you might want to re-read Blackest Night right before tackling the Green Lantern tie-in.
January 5, 2021
This is a companion piece to the main Blackest Night story, here we explore Hal's quest to assemble all the lantern corps and their divisions and like overall conflicts that would rise like between Sinestro, Atrocitus and Larfleeze and the origins of the Indigo tribe and the way this ragtag new team of guardians comes about is interesting and Hal has to step in and control them and guide them in a way. Then its about John and how he deals with the resurrected BLC Xanshi and the emergence of Fatality and what he does to stop it is just too good. And then the ending coincides with the ending of the main BN series with the white lanterns and we see the entities of the different corps and some cool moments for Sinestro and it was so well done! It complements the main series really well but stands out on its own and the art by Doug Mahnke is a treat to read through, very clean and detailed enough to read through easily!
June 9, 2018
Horrible multi-coloured mess.
July 27, 2013
This is pretty much essential along with Blackest Night itself. I read the 2 books simultaneously in order to fill in some of the bigger gaps.
I enjoyed this tremendously, as I did Blackest Night iself.
Some highlights: The Lanterns getting 1 deputy each from Earth and who they were: Red (Rage) - Mera, Orange (Avarice/Greed) - Luthor, Yellow (Fear) - Scarecrow, Green - Ganthet the Guardian, Blue (Hope) - Barry Allen Flash, Indigo (Compassion) The Atom Ray Palmer, and Violet/Star Sapphires (Love) - Wonder Woman.
This was very cool, taking each person's base emotion that drives them and manifesting in a power ring to help combat the black.
I'm not going to get too much more into it, suffice to say that there are 12 people who are brought back to life by the force that counters the Blackest Night, and some of them will be surprises! (some unwelcome too)
I also really enjoyed seeing Sinestro and Atrocitus, the heads of Sinestro Corps and Red Lantern Corps, being able to run rampant, and the fact that the Red of Rage was almost the most powerful against the Black, but that every colour was more powerful when working in tandem with another colour.
I would for sure read more about the Red Lanterns as it seems Atrocitus has every reason to be as angry and full of rage as he is, given what was done to him and his people.
I really liked seeing the so-called 'evil' shades of the spectrum being shown as just another slice of the whole, and really, being driven there by something perfectly understandable.
I enjoyed this tremendously, as I did Blackest Night iself.
Some highlights: The Lanterns getting 1 deputy each from Earth and who they were: Red (Rage) - Mera, Orange (Avarice/Greed) - Luthor, Yellow (Fear) - Scarecrow, Green - Ganthet the Guardian, Blue (Hope) - Barry Allen Flash, Indigo (Compassion) The Atom Ray Palmer, and Violet/Star Sapphires (Love) - Wonder Woman.
This was very cool, taking each person's base emotion that drives them and manifesting in a power ring to help combat the black.
I'm not going to get too much more into it, suffice to say that there are 12 people who are brought back to life by the force that counters the Blackest Night, and some of them will be surprises! (some unwelcome too)
I also really enjoyed seeing Sinestro and Atrocitus, the heads of Sinestro Corps and Red Lantern Corps, being able to run rampant, and the fact that the Red of Rage was almost the most powerful against the Black, but that every colour was more powerful when working in tandem with another colour.
I would for sure read more about the Red Lanterns as it seems Atrocitus has every reason to be as angry and full of rage as he is, given what was done to him and his people.
I really liked seeing the so-called 'evil' shades of the spectrum being shown as just another slice of the whole, and really, being driven there by something perfectly understandable.
November 14, 2014
I'm giving this 4.5 stars not for a stand alone read, but for the content that builds in with the main Blackest Night event.
This was a good story to tie into Blackest Night, however on its own it's very in-cohesive. If you had no prior knowledge to the event then unfortunately you would be in confusion city after reading this, seriously, it would make no sense to you what-so-ever. Luckily for me I just read BN recently, so I was able to somewhat figure out what took place when in the story.
I really don't understand why they didn't include this Ito the main collection of Blackest Night. There is heaps of essential stuff that happens in this book that have direct repercussions in the main BN issues. The problem here is that because it's tying in directly o the event, it has jumps throughout the stories that upon only reading this make no sense at all. So why not flag this book collect them all in one cohesive story?
Ok so now that I'm done with the negative I can start with the actual content here. While the main event was all action, all the time, this book focuses on what's going on behind the scenes. The 7 corps' are at war with each other, I'm guessing this is leading out of The Sinestro Corps War event? Anyway, this kicks off with a backstory issue for William Hand aka Black Hand. I for some reason thought this villain was fairly new, little did I know he came about in the 60's. His story was bloody creepy as hell, even had a nice appearance from Atrocitus in there, another character I thought was new-ish. Shows how much I have to learn about the Lantern mythos! So after the origin story it kicks off with Barry Allen aka The Flash and Hal looking over Bruce Wayne's aka (do I really need to say it?) empty grave. After a cool fight with a zombie Martian Manhunter, Hal is transported with Indigo-1 to attempt to unite the corps' to fight off the Black Lanterns.
There are heaps of amazing moments in this book that build on the BN event to make it even more epic. Unfortunately due to my lack of GL mythos knowledge, some parts were over my head. Especially when it came to what was going on with the corps prior to the book. But nevertheless I could easily keep up with what was going down. To top it all off the art is amazing. Doug Mahnke creates some truly beautifully coloured spreads, which is essential when you have a book comprising of all the different colours of the emotional spectrum.
I would suggest that if your going to read this, then read it alongside Blackest Night. You will have to jump from book to book to get a cohesive read, but it will be well worth the reward.
This was a good story to tie into Blackest Night, however on its own it's very in-cohesive. If you had no prior knowledge to the event then unfortunately you would be in confusion city after reading this, seriously, it would make no sense to you what-so-ever. Luckily for me I just read BN recently, so I was able to somewhat figure out what took place when in the story.
I really don't understand why they didn't include this Ito the main collection of Blackest Night. There is heaps of essential stuff that happens in this book that have direct repercussions in the main BN issues. The problem here is that because it's tying in directly o the event, it has jumps throughout the stories that upon only reading this make no sense at all. So why not flag this book collect them all in one cohesive story?
Ok so now that I'm done with the negative I can start with the actual content here. While the main event was all action, all the time, this book focuses on what's going on behind the scenes. The 7 corps' are at war with each other, I'm guessing this is leading out of The Sinestro Corps War event? Anyway, this kicks off with a backstory issue for William Hand aka Black Hand. I for some reason thought this villain was fairly new, little did I know he came about in the 60's. His story was bloody creepy as hell, even had a nice appearance from Atrocitus in there, another character I thought was new-ish. Shows how much I have to learn about the Lantern mythos! So after the origin story it kicks off with Barry Allen aka The Flash and Hal looking over Bruce Wayne's aka (do I really need to say it?) empty grave. After a cool fight with a zombie Martian Manhunter, Hal is transported with Indigo-1 to attempt to unite the corps' to fight off the Black Lanterns.
There are heaps of amazing moments in this book that build on the BN event to make it even more epic. Unfortunately due to my lack of GL mythos knowledge, some parts were over my head. Especially when it came to what was going on with the corps prior to the book. But nevertheless I could easily keep up with what was going down. To top it all off the art is amazing. Doug Mahnke creates some truly beautifully coloured spreads, which is essential when you have a book comprising of all the different colours of the emotional spectrum.
I would suggest that if your going to read this, then read it alongside Blackest Night. You will have to jump from book to book to get a cohesive read, but it will be well worth the reward.
August 13, 2011
The god of DC comics, grand architect of DC, Geoff Johns has created something that is both fun and important in the DC universe. For the most part I find that Johns typically takes himself far too seriously. But in the Blackest Night books, he really let's his hair down.
Overall I'd have to rate the Blackest Night a 4 star crossover. What holds it back? The enormous breadth of the crossover and the fact that DC jammed each and every page full to the brim with no breathing room for the reader. It's completely relentless pace is the drawback here. The reader is overloaded with information- and color. Epileptics beware this book.
But getting past the frenzy we have a reanimated Manhunter, Hawkman and Aquaman. Undead, soulless Black Lanterns who crave flesh. DC zombies. It's too much fun.
Overall I'd have to rate the Blackest Night a 4 star crossover. What holds it back? The enormous breadth of the crossover and the fact that DC jammed each and every page full to the brim with no breathing room for the reader. It's completely relentless pace is the drawback here. The reader is overloaded with information- and color. Epileptics beware this book.
But getting past the frenzy we have a reanimated Manhunter, Hawkman and Aquaman. Undead, soulless Black Lanterns who crave flesh. DC zombies. It's too much fun.
December 16, 2013
Green Lantern, Vol. 9: Blackest Night is a book about the reluctant truce between all of the emotional color ring guardians to battle the dead bodies of all of the fallen DC Comics super heroes. The corrupted guardian has created his own corps of black lanterns that resemble zombies and spread across the univerce spreading the death and destruction of the corrupted rings.
Hal Jordan; the current green lantern corps member protecting earths sector, has to team up with his former allies the Sinestro corps that have now become his worst enemy. Lead by Sinestro they recruit other corps and inlist various heroes and villains to help defeat the zombie heroes.
This graphic novel has provided me with an amazing story and a fun time and I extremely recommend it.
Hal Jordan; the current green lantern corps member protecting earths sector, has to team up with his former allies the Sinestro corps that have now become his worst enemy. Lead by Sinestro they recruit other corps and inlist various heroes and villains to help defeat the zombie heroes.
This graphic novel has provided me with an amazing story and a fun time and I extremely recommend it.
February 9, 2024
This volume filled in a lot of the blanks from the main Blackest Night series. It was interesting to read them both in sequence and see how it all fits together. The art is great, but I do have to say drawing these Green Lantern books had to be either the most fun ever or the biggest pain ever because there is a LOT going on. Once the Green Lantern series introduced all of the various other color spectrum lanterns the series became one of the most visually interesting comics ever. Good series if you liked Blackest Night, if not you may not like this volume either, of course.
August 29, 2010
Slightly better than the main Blackest Night book which is nothing more than damning with faint praise. This is also where I step off the GL bandwagon. It's been fun but I've grown bored of Jordan's adventures.
April 18, 2017
At first this book was kind of weird because dead super heroes like Superman and Batman come back to life as zombie villains. (Keep in mind this is both Marvel and DC super heroes combined.) The story won me over because it is still a good action fight between good and evil. The good guys are the super heroes who have not been affected by the black lantern plaque and they win in the end. Sinestro, the previous leader of the Fear Lanterns and nemesis of the Green Lanterns, becomes the White Lantern which is the embodiment of "life." In his new form he helps the Lantern Corps defeat Xanshi, a resurrected planet and source of the black ring plague. The story ends here and continues in the next issue. Stay tuned in Good Reads near you.
April 26, 2019
Pure fan fiction, Johns at his worst. This is by far one of the most convoluted, chaotic and dull events I've ever read.
The wonderful Doug Mahnke deserves much better stories to draw.
The wonderful Doug Mahnke deserves much better stories to draw.
May 9, 2022
green lanterns are pretty cool
December 27, 2023
Usually event tie-in issues aren't very meaningful or even feel pointless, but not this one. This adds a lot of great stuff to Blackest Night, and helps fill in a lot of gaps.
March 23, 2021
5 🌟
The Black Lanterns Corps forms and the other Lantern Corps come together to fight them.
The Black Lanterns Corps forms and the other Lantern Corps come together to fight them.
August 4, 2017
An action packed volume, though it is a little bit marred by the fact that this wasn't presented with the 25 parts in order but instead divided into the mini-series, the Green Lantern stories and the issues from Green Lantern Corps. I'm thinking I'll probably read the Blackest Night mini series volume next to at least get the conclusion to this storyline.
April 27, 2012
The Green Lantern has always been one of those superheroes I considered to be the most cartoonish of the lot. The kind of superhero that strains credulity with everything from his appearance to his speech. I always thought Superman looked silly as heck with his red-and-blue spandex, but at least he was the strongest force in comic books to the point of omnipotence. Green Lantern had strength too, but he got it from a lime-green Coleman's lantern for crying out loud. As a kid, I saw superheroes like Thor with his hammer, Captain America with his shield, Batman with a slew of cool gadgets and a bad-ass car. These were characters that really caught my eye, and then there was Green Lantern with his ... green lantern?
The onset of my bias against the Green Lantern is pretty clear, but I still wanted to give the guy a chance, especially since he recently got his own movie. Good for him. I had never read a Green Lantern comic though, and I had no idea where to start. Then I read about this epic saga that went on in recent years that had Green Lantern joining forces with other superheroes to fight off a new enemy known as the Black Lantern who had an army of undead superheroes. Zombie superheroes? All right, you've got my attention.
Here's the problem: this graphic novel is not for newcomers to the series. Green Lantern: Blackest Night isn't even the first book in the series. Apparently there's one that precedes it simply titled Blackest Night. Serves me right for not doing my homework on the books before putting a search through my library's inventory for "green lantern blackest night." I was pretty much doomed to failure from the get-go. So, as soon as I opened the book, I was already lost. I've missed out on the beginning issues of the saga, and it turns out that a lot of stuff is omitted, too. The book is compiled from Green Lantern issues 43 through to 52, but between issues I'm left to think the saga is occurring in other DC titles, because huge swaths of plot are distilled to a couple of paragraphs before jumping back into the story. It was terribly frustrating to read this book with only a vicarious understanding of the Green Lantern's history, trying to read the tea leaves as it were in finding out what kind of backstory he has with heroes and villains that crop up through the course of the book, only to hit road blocks by reading interludes like:
"Black Hand digs up Bruce Wayne's skull under his unseen master's orders."
or:
"Now the Flash, Mera, Wonder Woman, the Atom, Scarecrow, Lex Luthor, and Ganthet have been recruited to fight for the fate of the universe."
Wait--what? Bruce Wayne's dead? Lex Luthor is a deputized Lantern? What the aitch is going on? These are plot points that would have been great to actually see depicted on the page, not alluded to in one-sentence asides.
If this Blackest Night series is as disjointed as I'm led to believe from how this book played out, then I really don't see myself reading another book in the saga. I can play catch-up with the DC universe up to a point, but if getting the full story requires a scavenger hunt for god knows how many books in order to appreciate the full scope of the Blackest Night storyline, then count me out. This is one of the reasons why I never got that involved with comic books as a kid.
The onset of my bias against the Green Lantern is pretty clear, but I still wanted to give the guy a chance, especially since he recently got his own movie. Good for him. I had never read a Green Lantern comic though, and I had no idea where to start. Then I read about this epic saga that went on in recent years that had Green Lantern joining forces with other superheroes to fight off a new enemy known as the Black Lantern who had an army of undead superheroes. Zombie superheroes? All right, you've got my attention.
Here's the problem: this graphic novel is not for newcomers to the series. Green Lantern: Blackest Night isn't even the first book in the series. Apparently there's one that precedes it simply titled Blackest Night. Serves me right for not doing my homework on the books before putting a search through my library's inventory for "green lantern blackest night." I was pretty much doomed to failure from the get-go. So, as soon as I opened the book, I was already lost. I've missed out on the beginning issues of the saga, and it turns out that a lot of stuff is omitted, too. The book is compiled from Green Lantern issues 43 through to 52, but between issues I'm left to think the saga is occurring in other DC titles, because huge swaths of plot are distilled to a couple of paragraphs before jumping back into the story. It was terribly frustrating to read this book with only a vicarious understanding of the Green Lantern's history, trying to read the tea leaves as it were in finding out what kind of backstory he has with heroes and villains that crop up through the course of the book, only to hit road blocks by reading interludes like:
"Black Hand digs up Bruce Wayne's skull under his unseen master's orders."
or:
"Now the Flash, Mera, Wonder Woman, the Atom, Scarecrow, Lex Luthor, and Ganthet have been recruited to fight for the fate of the universe."
Wait--what? Bruce Wayne's dead? Lex Luthor is a deputized Lantern? What the aitch is going on? These are plot points that would have been great to actually see depicted on the page, not alluded to in one-sentence asides.
If this Blackest Night series is as disjointed as I'm led to believe from how this book played out, then I really don't see myself reading another book in the saga. I can play catch-up with the DC universe up to a point, but if getting the full story requires a scavenger hunt for god knows how many books in order to appreciate the full scope of the Blackest Night storyline, then count me out. This is one of the reasons why I never got that involved with comic books as a kid.
December 9, 2017
Good tie-in to Blackest Night. This felt very essential especially if you enjoyed the main event. Highly recommended to read this right after it (or even along side it), because otherwise you could feel lost at times. Not that good on its own, but it works greatly in the bigger picture!
November 19, 2011
Feel free to sing along if you know the words:
In brightest day, in blackest night,
No evil shall escape my sight
Let those who worship evil's might,
Beware my power... Green Lantern's light!
First of all, I'm a Hal Jordan girl, all the way. I was there back when Hal became Parallax and died, and I cried actual tears over a comic book. Shortly thereafter, I stopped reading comics all together because it was becoming too expensive of a hobby with all the titles I was picking up, and I just couldn't ever quite get a hold on Kyle Whatshishead that replaced Hal. It wasn't the same.
Many years later, I come to find that Hal came back. Oookaaaaaay... It felt a little cheap to me--having "been there" to see his death and all--and I just didn't know what to think of DC comics anymore.
Then I picked this book at the library, and suddenly I'm in love with DC all over again.
This is one book in many, many volumes. Seriously, you need a loan to buy all the storylines. You're better off getting them at your library. Blackest Night: Green Lantern has characters from all over DC. And I mean every one of them that ever lived and died. It's actually a little overwhelming at times. Old hard-core fans of DC might know many more of the names that came up than I did, but the core--Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Martian Manhunter, Aquaman, and of course Green Lantern(s)--all make an appearance. And they do not disappoint.
One of the best books I've read of 2011.
And yes. I did cry.
In brightest day, in blackest night,
No evil shall escape my sight
Let those who worship evil's might,
Beware my power... Green Lantern's light!
First of all, I'm a Hal Jordan girl, all the way. I was there back when Hal became Parallax and died, and I cried actual tears over a comic book. Shortly thereafter, I stopped reading comics all together because it was becoming too expensive of a hobby with all the titles I was picking up, and I just couldn't ever quite get a hold on Kyle Whatshishead that replaced Hal. It wasn't the same.
Many years later, I come to find that Hal came back. Oookaaaaaay... It felt a little cheap to me--having "been there" to see his death and all--and I just didn't know what to think of DC comics anymore.
Then I picked this book at the library, and suddenly I'm in love with DC all over again.
This is one book in many, many volumes. Seriously, you need a loan to buy all the storylines. You're better off getting them at your library. Blackest Night: Green Lantern has characters from all over DC. And I mean every one of them that ever lived and died. It's actually a little overwhelming at times. Old hard-core fans of DC might know many more of the names that came up than I did, but the core--Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Martian Manhunter, Aquaman, and of course Green Lantern(s)--all make an appearance. And they do not disappoint.
One of the best books I've read of 2011.
And yes. I did cry.
November 3, 2012
This book follows Hal Jordan trying to gather the warring Corps to fight the Blackest Night with a mostly minor story of John Stewart fighting demons from his past. This book will feel very incomplete without Blackest Night, so read them together at minimum.
I really enjoyed Blackest Night: Green Lantern, silliness and all. I highly recommend that this be read with the main Blackest Night Series and Blackest Night: Green Lantern Corps using an order like this:
http://new.dcuwiki.net/forums/viewtop...
The other tie-in books are optional with the possible exception of Blackest Night: Tales of the Corps which gives backstory on some of the lesser known Lanterns. All these enrich the story and really make it the epic it deserves.
I really enjoyed Blackest Night: Green Lantern, silliness and all. I highly recommend that this be read with the main Blackest Night Series and Blackest Night: Green Lantern Corps using an order like this:
http://new.dcuwiki.net/forums/viewtop...
The other tie-in books are optional with the possible exception of Blackest Night: Tales of the Corps which gives backstory on some of the lesser known Lanterns. All these enrich the story and really make it the epic it deserves.
February 26, 2017
I originally read this as the actual issues were released through 2009-2010. I've read the actual Blackest Night mini a couple times now but had forgotten what went down in the Blackest Night Green Lantern (and Green Lantern Corps) titles and rather than dig out my loose issues I just grabbed the hardback collections from the library. As great as the story was, DC really kind of dropped the ball when it came to releasing the main story collected. The main story arc goes back and forth between the actual Blackest Night issues and Green Lantern, so releasing them as two separate volumes was a less than elegant solution--you can get pretty much the entire story just reading Blackest Night itself, but really only get about half the story here with some unexplained jumps in continuity. To get the full story you would to flip back and forth between the two collections, which is less than optimal. I hope somewhere down the line DC rectifies this and does an Absolute edition that combines the two into one volume with the issues in the correct reading order.
January 18, 2014
This is a pretty awesome collection of the Green Lantern Blackest Night story. It is hands down one of the most amazing and epic saga of the Green Lanterns and the entire DC universe.
Sadly if you want to read the complete BN storyline you need to get the other 6 collections. And, most confusing, this turns out to be book 2 out of the BN story. Book 1 is Blackest Night. Book 2 is Blackest Night: Green Lantern. Meanwhile, as a prequel/simultaneous story with book 2 are:
Blackest Night Green Lantern Corps,
Blackest Night Tales of the Corps,
Blackest Night Black Lantern Crops Volumes 1 and 2
and finally
Blackest Night Rise of the Black Lanterns.
AND THEN, after you've read all of those, to read the finale of Blackest Night you need to read the Brightest Day books, volumes 1-3...
Luckily it seems you only need to read BN and BN Green Lantern to get the main heart of the story. So while this is an epic and worthwhile tale of the Green Lanterns Corps, it is still an incomplete collection.
Sadly if you want to read the complete BN storyline you need to get the other 6 collections. And, most confusing, this turns out to be book 2 out of the BN story. Book 1 is Blackest Night. Book 2 is Blackest Night: Green Lantern. Meanwhile, as a prequel/simultaneous story with book 2 are:
Blackest Night Green Lantern Corps,
Blackest Night Tales of the Corps,
Blackest Night Black Lantern Crops Volumes 1 and 2
and finally
Blackest Night Rise of the Black Lanterns.
AND THEN, after you've read all of those, to read the finale of Blackest Night you need to read the Brightest Day books, volumes 1-3...
Luckily it seems you only need to read BN and BN Green Lantern to get the main heart of the story. So while this is an epic and worthwhile tale of the Green Lanterns Corps, it is still an incomplete collection.
November 24, 2010
This book collects Green Lantern #43-52, but between the issues, the story is advanced in a separate mini-series, Blackest Night. Before each issue, we get a little recap to catch us up, but I find that insufficient. It's like reading every other chapter of a book. And then issue #52 ends on a cliff-hanger... to be resolved in Blackest Night! You'd probably be best off reading this volume in one hand and Blackest Night in the other.
August 1, 2011
I told myself that I was not going to read any comics or graphic novels that have what I consider inadequate or sub-par artwork.
well then you have something like this book, in which the art is so awesome, I just had to read it.
Since I felt like I was only getting part of the story, I cannot give this more than 3 stars, but it was fun.
well then you have something like this book, in which the art is so awesome, I just had to read it.
Since I felt like I was only getting part of the story, I cannot give this more than 3 stars, but it was fun.
May 13, 2013
Pretty hard to separate this from the main Blackest Night volume, as the story flows freely between them. Generally, a nice crossover with lots of big picture heroics and a gradually evolving storyline. Not deep, but fun and a good payout for the previous year and a half of story.
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