Blackest Night #8

BIG TIME SPOILERS BELOW.

This really is a triumph for DC comics. In the event era, Blackest Night is going to be hard to top in terms of quality, impact, and storytelling. It dragged on a bit long, but as a collected story? This thing is going to entertain the hell out of readers for a long time.
We pick up with White Lantern Sinestro going toe-to-toe with Nekron, and we find out that Nekron's physical body doesn't matter too much, he can basically hop from host to host as needed. The combined Lantern Corps are doing a decent job holding off the hordes of undead, but even so, the double splash page with the arrival of the rest of the corps and DCU? That was downright stupefying. I honestly can't imagine how long it took Ivan Reis to draw that page, the detail, the number of characters. Just a shocking, inspiring page. The next reveal is a kicker too, Hal Jordan, Barry Allen, Superman, and the rest of the resurrected heroes that were mostly morphed into Black Lanterns? WHITE LANTERNS, BABY! Their desire for life is what brought them back, and here they come all powered up to lay it on Nekron. I love the "comic-book" way to defeat Nekron too, using the white light of life, they must break Nekron's connection to Black Hand. To do that, Black Hand must LIVE.

And you know what that means. That means that after dealing with Nekron, a handful of DCU characters come back from the grave to rejoin the living. Most importantly, Martian Manhunter comes back in some stylin' new duds. But I was also tremendously pleased to see HawkWOMAN come back with Hawkman. That's my favorite pairing of the characters, yee-haw! Aquaman and Mera will be the royalty of the DCU. Hawk is back to fight and argue with the souped up Dove. Max Lord is back to scheme and plot. Reverse Flash is back to torment Barry Allen. Jade is back to complicate Kyle Rayner's lovelife. Captain Boomerang is here to replace his son's spot with the Rogues (who was only a placeholder after all). Firestorm is back and he's finally a mix of Ronnie Raymond and Jason Rusch (that could be awkward). And weirdest of all, Deadman and Osiris are back too, although I predict they won't last.

What's so impressive about all these returns is how Geoff Johns and the other DC writers sort of cleared the spots for these characters to come back. The new Hawk was cleared away. Captain Boomerang II just got taken out last month. Everything is set for these guys to fit back into their old roles. I just want to know where Ralph and Sue Dibney are?

Ivan Reis deserves a round of applause. That tremendous splash page. The double fold out page returning this classic crew of folks to the DCU. His new uniform tweak for Martian Manhunter. The modern looks for the Hawks and Firestorm. This guy did a fantastic job throughout this series and he's got a lot to be proud of.

It makes me happy that comics can still get me this excited.

Excellent

Green Lantern #52

Good lord. How long as this one night lasted in the DCU??? I mean, I appreciate the chance to hear Sinestro wax poetic about the origins of life in the DCU, but man. We've been reading about Black Lanterns for so dang long now, I'm done with them. I don't want to see one for a long time. Heck, this issue had the GLs and allies fighting Xanshi and its population of faceless Black Lanterns. This must be the point where Johns can't bother to give every BL a personality anymore. This is actually a good thing, since it allows Nekron and Black Hand the chance to step up as the big bads. I also appreciated that John Stewart actually got to lead a team of Lanterns to take out Xanshi. I still don't like the whole Marine background, but I do like him getting the chance to clean up his own mistakes.

Sinestro's origins of the DCU interlude did have a few neat reveals. I don't think we'd seen all the entities of the different corps yet, and most of them make sense. A bull for the reds and a snake for the oranges are perfect. I don't really see how the Predator works for the Star Sapphires and the octopus avatar for compassion just made me laugh. I am curious to see where Sinestro goes after Blackest Night. It is going to be hard to just step back into his Yellow Lantern role after this headlining event as a White Lantern.

Doug Mahnke's art is fantastic. The avatars all looked like weird versions of Earth animals, which makes sense and gives them a good sense of fun (except for Parallax and Predator, I guess). I'm surprised how good Sinestro looks in white too, I wouldn't have guessed it would work with his coloring.

Fair

Green Lantern Corps #46

There is a whole lot of ring-slingin' in this newest issue of Green Lantern Corps. Guy Gardner has pretty much taken over as the general leading the combined army of Green, Blue, Indigo, Red, and Yellow Lanterns. With a cast this enormous, it is pretty tough for Peter Tomasi to spend more than a moment with most of the folks involved. He does get some great character moments with Guy Gardner and Kyle Rayner as the two heroes face down Black Lantern versions of people closest to them. Ice comes back to torment Guy, and while she shatters when she crashes to the Earth during the issue, I believe she's going to be well by the time Justice League: Generation Lost starts up. Not so for Alex, Kyle's gal pal who was broken and packed in the refrigerator back when he first got his ring. I'm certain Tomasi was chuckling as he scripted Alex's return in that very fridge. (For those who don't know, the whole "Women in Refrigerators" movement about women used just as victims to give the male hero something to be upset about obviously kicked off with Alex's death). Kyle handles it about as well as you could hope, but still... yuck!

There are a few good moments for other folks. Kilowog gets to mock Arkillo, Bedovin pulls his sniper-gig (using Dove as a White Lantern bullet!), and GL Vath sacrifices his legs to save one of his teammates. All in all, another great action packed issue.

Patrick Gleason gets help from a ton of inkers here, but once again, it looks wonderful. The entire Major Force flashback scene was very upsetting, the way Gleason merged Force and Kyle into a composite killer was scary and shocking, really driving home Kyle's anguish. I'm amazed how much detail Gleason packed into the cast of thousands populating almost every page.

Good

Tales of the Green Lantern Corps TPB

I picked this up because it is the first appearance of Blackest Night big-bad Nekron. It's a pretty good story on its own, but I definitely think there is an extra punch to the story because of the current goings-on.

According to Mike W. Barr and Len Wein, when an immortal dies, it opens a portal to a limbo-like dimension of the undecided dead lead by a creepy ghoul called Nekron. Nekron is a big, white, moldering looking fellow with horrific red eyeballs rattling around in his skull. He became aware of the DCU when Krona, the evil Guardian, pierced the veil dividing Nekron's dimension from the regular world. This trade collects the story of Nekron's army of the dead (led by Krona) as it battles all 3,600 members of the Green Lantern Corps. I really liked the focus given to a few of the lanterns in this. Tomar Re and a couple other folks I didn't recognize appear as the Honor Lanterns, the current tile for Kyle Rayner and Guy Gardner. I do love seeing that these ideas have a history in the mythos. I wonder if we'll see someone get the red robe that symbolizes leadership of the corps? The Guardians offer the title to Hal, but he declines, preferring to stay "one of the troops."

Arisia plays a large role in the story as the rookie lantern, and it was a bit creepy knowing that Hal will sleep with this gal he's calling "little sister" through the whole story. Her hero-worship of Hal makes it seem like he takes advantage of her later (in other books, not this one).

Joe Staton's pencils are great. The two armies are swarms of unique looking characters battling in space, what could be cooler? His design for Nekron is simple, yet haunting. The panels of Nekron's big red googly eyes peering into the the DCU were horrifying!

Good

Blackest Night: JSA #3

Hey kids, comics! Nothing like seeing a zombie Superman who is missing the top of his skull strangling two heroes! Factor in some classy blood splatters on Power Girl's ample chest and there is everything a young reader could want in this one!

I must confess, James Robinson does a nice job wrapping up the big mess he started in the Blackest Night: Superman limited series. Introducing a huge powerhouse like Black Lantern Kal-L is a big deal, so having a huge force like the combined JSA teams take him on makes sense. It explains why we haven't seen more from either faction in the other tie ins. Everyone has been busy!

The best part about this wrap-up is how Robinson gets to shine a spotlight on some of the best characteristics of the JSA. Power Girl is stubborn and doesn't quit, no matter what. She's a tough one. Mr. Terrific is a genius who actually found a way to neutralize all the black lanterns in New York. I think that puts him second only to Mogo in zombie-killing. I did like seeing that Jesse Quick wasn't fooled by her zombie Dad too. It would have been easy to have her believe the gross corpse, since that's the cliche, but she knew what she was dealing with. The JSA is a formidable team and it was cool seeing them take care of business like they did here.

Eddy Barrow's art tends towards cheesecake and gore, but let's face it, that's what this book needs. Power Girl's defiance shines thoughout and I loved the look on Alan Scott's face when Mr. Terrific releases him to go help the rest of the team.

Good

Blackest Night: Flash #3

Man, I love it when Geoff Johns writes the Rogues. He kicks things off with a creepy scene with Captain Boomerang II as he feeds an aspiring rogue to his Black Lantern father. Johns balances a lot of characters in this issue and he does a great job with it. Wally West doesn't feel forgotten anymore, he actually takes some action that affects the outcome of the series. I also like that Barry Allen is aware of his lack of familiarity with Bart Allen. These three Flashes are a pretty impressive bunch. I love how the Black Lanterns never really seem like a threat to the heroes, but the need to free Bart from his Black Lantern ring gives the story a great narrative drive.

The Rogues get a fair amount of panel time too, but Captain Cold is clearly the top dog. He rescues Mirror Master from inside a mirror in a cool, striking way. It's a great scene and its even better that he just does it. No talking or planning, he just takes decisive action and rescues his teammate. Johns highlights the rules of the Rogues in a pretty dramatic way too. Captain Cold is not ok with rogues killing women and children, but I'm not sure Captain Boomerang II knew how serious he was about that rule.

Scott Kolins knocks this out of the park. Barry's blue suit looks awesome and contrasts nicely with Wally's shiny red suit. I love the speed-fight between Barry and the Reverse Flash, too. And that closing page may be obvious, but it really drives home the core of all the main characters involved in this thing. Well done.

Good

Black Lantern: Green Arrow #30

A friend of mine recommended I pick up this issue and I'm glad I did. I do like seeing the POV of the heroes possessed by the black lantern rings. (I do wish, of course, that we'd get a Martian Manhunter feature, but I'll probably be waiting a long time).

What makes this work so well is that J.T. Krul uses GA's possession as an excuse to have Ollie comment on the important people in his life. Krul is really impressing me on the books he has written lately because he really seems to have a nice handle on what makes these characters tick. There is a great sequence where Connor Hawke and Mia face down the possessed GA and I loved seeing how the two reacted. Mia is quicker to resort to using GA as a pincushion while Connor holds back a bit longer. He is a pacifist after all. I'm hoping Krul undoes the stupid Sivana-clone crap with Connor (Krul is taking over GA, right?) For those that don't know, Judd Winick wrote a story where Connor's DNA was spliced with Plastic Man's that somehow gave him a healing factor. It also made him forget how to use a bow and started him eating meat. So basically, it totally ruined the unique character Chuck Dixon created in Connor back in the 90's. Perhaps DC is about to retcon all these unnecessary changes.

Back to this issue. I also like how easy it is for the possessed GA to get under Black Canary's skin. Let's face it, GA has made some awful choices in his personal life, so many that I honestly find him a bit hard to cheer for most of the time. But Canary clearly sees the best in him so it is really rough watching GA punish her for that unwavering loyalty. It's a strong issue that I hope is a precursor of things to come.

Diogenes Neves has a pretty painted style that works pretty well with the action but tends to look better as static images rather than a story. There is some weird body posture at times too. He reminds me of Guillem March in a lot of ways, drawing pretty pictures and especially pretty ladies, but everything looks just a tad disconnected.

Good

Blackest Night #7

I just can't recognize the Blue Flash. I always think it is the Atom.

SPOILERS AHEAD!

Well, I didn't get what I was hoping for, which was the resurrection of Martian Manhunter, Aquaman, Hawkman, Hawkgirl, and Firestorm. But I'm sure that's coming next issue!

Geoff Johns does move things along (finally). We've been reading this same story for what seems like a year now, and it has been the same status quo the whole time: Black Lantern collecting hearts for Nekron. Finally, finally, Nekron's plan is coming to fruition as some new facts about the DCU come to light too. Life in the DCU didn't start on Oa as has long been discussed, it originated on Earth. The reason the Guardians stayed away from Earth so long was to try and protect the "life" avatar. And like Parallax and Ion before, the white avatar of life is vulnerable until it finds a host. Some of the coolest sequences in this issue involve Nekron slamming his scythe into the life avatar. Each blow is accompanied by a burst of images of living things suffering as Nekron "kills every living thing in the universe." That's one big goal for Nekron, huh? And who is the brand new White Lantern, the first of the corps following "life?" I'm not telling! Check out the issue yourself!

Don't be fooled into thinking this is all cosmic nonsense (entertaining as that is). No, there is plenty of down to Earth characterization going on too. Lex Luthor turns out to be a bad choice to be an Orange Lantern. He wants everyone else's rings, all the glory, and everything else he can imagine. He's as much a problem for the heroes as the Black Lanterns. Yellow Lantern Scarecrow is awesome, creating winged monkeys from Wizard of Oz to attack Nekron's forces. John Stewart stands as the lone line of defense against a horde of Black Lanterns, with his call for help going nowhere thanks to Black Lantern Air Wave. Fortunately, the rest of the corps are on the way, leading to a huge space battle.

I can see why this took Ivan Reis so long to finish this issue. Not only is he drawing a few dozen super-heroes, there is also a ginormous space battle. There are probably hundreds of figures in this thing, many of whom are odd and alien. And Reis nails it. The art has played a huge role in this series and the iconic look Reis established is going to do a lot to make this an enduring DC classic. Once this is collected and the delays are forgotten, this is going to hold up as a fantastic GL/DCU story.

Excellent

Green Lantern #51

Man, I love that the same week Geoff Johns has his nice little Tiny Titans issue coming out, we also have a comic he wrote where one character rips off someone's face by the eyelids. The gore in this thing is through the roof, but that isn't a real surprise at this point.

I do like the interplay between the New Guardians and their new deputies. Larfleeze and Lex Luthor in particular are pretty great in their vying to be top dog of the Orange Lanterns. The bit with Spectre becoming a Red Lantern (briefly) is pretty visually stunning too. It is amusing seeing how many powerful emotions are running around the DCU at any given time.

The big news might be that Star Sapphire/Carol Ferris' may be in more of Hal's thoughts than we thought. He seemed awfully glad to see her when he popped free from Parallax.

Carol looks great too. Doug Mahnke draws her hair particularly well. His Spectre is awesome. I'd love to see him draw a classic version of the Spectre on a regular basis.

Fair

Green Lantern Corps #45

"You're just green bugs that wanna kill me! And I'll show ya what I do to bugs! I crush 'em!" That's why Guy Gardner has become one of my favorite characters. Peter Tomasi just gets Guy better than anyone else. This issue wraps up the whole Guy as a Red Lantern arc, and once again Tomasi balances panel time for the Corps and still get some great character moments for Guy.

Things get desperate as the GLC spends a few pages debating with Indigo Lantern Monk about how they are going to free Guy from the red ring. In the end, Mogo comes through once again and has a swarm of leeches purge most of the acidic blood from Guy's system. I'll tell you what, if it wasn't for Mogo, the Corps would be in a lot of trouble during Blackest Night.

Patrick Gleason rocks the pencils once again. I love how quickly he can shift from chainsaws to hot gals to weird aliens. He really is the perfect fit for this book.

Excellent

Secret Six #18

This was a great little arc. I'm surprised it hit so fast and so hard, but John Ostrander always did plot tightly back in the day and Gail Simone clearly writes in the same style. The two work really well together. The Squad and the Six are spot-on.

I really enjoyed seeing the Squad shocked at how much Deadshot fits in with his new crew. I really think Rick Flagg and Amanda Waller thought Deadshot would come strolling back to their ranks and leave the Six, but Deadshot put an end to that thought with his "no thank you" to Waller. And by "no thank you" I mean a shot to the chest. I did like that Waller still thinks there is a good chance she could get him to sign on later if she had to anyway, so if there is another Squad series, I'd say Deadshot could be a part of it.

The story fits in nicely with recent DC history too. There are numerous references to Ostrander's most recent Squad mini-series and we actually find out who Mockingbird is! It's an excellent choice. All the Blackest Night stuff was incidental, this was all about the two toughest teams of scum in the DCU.

Jim Caliafore isn't the hottest artist around, but he's solid. I do hope we get Nicola Scott back on the Six. Not many artists bring her clarity of emotion to these tough characters.

Good

Blackest Night: Wonder Woman #3

This ended up being ok, but even Greg Rucka's writing can't save this from being more than an unnecessary tie-in. I really like Wonder Woman as she appears in this. I'm not talking about the costume either, although she does look a bit less like a stripper than she does in the core mini. No, I like that in the opening of the issue, as WW and Carol Ferris head back into battle against the Black Lanterns, WW smiles. She actually seems happy for a moment. It's a nice glimpse at how resilient WW really is.

The rest of the issue ties up some character arcs from the mini, but of course nothing can really get resolved in an ancillary tie-in like this. WW shatters Max Lord again, but he'll be back since he didn't get taken out permanently. WW and Mera face off and have some kind of moment, but I have absolutely no idea what the big revelation is. WW talks about how Mera needs to tell someone smoething, and unless Mera is really in love with Black Manta, I'm afraid I don't get it.

Nicola Scott handles all the art again, so of course it is top notch. I still laugh at the whole Red Lantern concept though, I have to chuckle when I see Mera lurching around vomiting blood and saying "Rrrf." So funny.

Fair

Atom & Hawkman #46

This was suprisingly relevant to the greater Blackest Night plot, unlike most of the other tie-ins during the last month. I guess Geoff Johns decided to move just a touch of plot from the core crossover so that we don't lose a whole month with absolutely nothing happening. This was really a focus issue for the Atom, Black Lantern Hawkman doesn't really play a part, except that Atom decides he's going to try and bring back his friend at the end. The bulk of the issue sees the Atom protecting Indigo-1 as she summons an army of lanterns for the big showdown with Nekron on planet Earth. While she's summoning her followers (who in turn are summoning the other corps), she's vulnerable, so Atom has a nice showdown with his crazy ex, Jean Loring. There's another flashback to Identity Crisis, and once again I'm confused on the rationale and randomness of the crime in that book. Jean Loring's motivation makes so little sense that every time it gets referenced, I take the whole idea less seriously. Shock for shock's sake is so silly.

Ryan Sook handles the cover and a few nice moody pages, but Fernando Pasarin draws at least as much. Fortunately, I like his clean style, the storytelling is clear and the fun Indigo tribe designs are as amusing as always. Both artists are talented enough that the change in art doesn't wreck the issue.

Fair

Green Lantern #50

I always liked the original Parallax, a guy that got so mad at his failure that he flat out lost it. I don't want to say I can relate, but you know, sometimes things make a guy mad, you know? And after all, Hal just wanted to make everything right again. When Geoff Johns wrote GL: Rebirth, he gave Hal the biggest out I've ever read, possibly one of the biggest retcons in comics history. He introduced a big yellow space-bug that was the true Parallax, and this yellow bug had made Hal Jordan do all those horrible things. I never really liked the concept, it seemed like a cheap out, so you can guess how I feel about this issue of GL.

I will admit, Geoff Johns does a nice job setting up the Spectre as such an unbeatable foe that really, the only rational choice is to allow a gigantic yellow bug to crawl down your throat, so I can't blame Hal for becoming Parallax again. My bigger problem is that I'm sort of losing interest in Blackest Night. I've been reading the same basic status quo for like 7 months now, and it is starting to get old. I mean, in the real world, like 7 months have passed, but in the DCU they're still in the middle of one bad day that started last summer. So even with Johns' patented hilarious dialogue for Ronnie Raymond, I just can't get worked up about most of the happenings here. There are a few pages dedicated to the New Guardians, the coolest of which deal with Scarecrow exulting in his own fear as he attacks the Spectre. Johns clearly has some cool things to say about the Scarecrow. I still puzzle over the Atom's compassion, but maybe I'll figure it out soon. I also didn't care for Mera's comment that she never wanted kids. Even if it is true, do you really say that when confronted by the animated corpses of both your son and husband? It seems a bit cruel, even for someone vomiting acid-blood.

Doug Mahnke draws the heck out the proceedings, as he always does. The Spectre actually looks spooky, not an easy feat with that silly goatee. The New Guardians looks pretty cool too, again, not an easy job. Mahnke is easily one of the best pencillers working right now.

Fair

Blackest Night: Flash #2

This is not a story that needs to be told, but Geoff Johns does a nice job catching us up with the rogues. While the big crossover is happening out in Coast City, the Flash's rogues are facing down their own dead. I'm a tad confused what the Black Lanterns are trying to accomplish, since Nekron is already back in the main series. I guess there are still Black Lanterns out there following their own agendas?

It doesn't matter, the value in this issue is seeing how Johns continues to flesh out these characters. Captain Cold gets to give his sister the cold shoulder. Weather Wizard has to hope his fellows don't hear about his grand plans. The Mirror Master is still trying to prove he's a worth heir to the name. This is all good stuff with plenty of ties to both current events and Johns' original run on the Flash. I still don't care too much about Barry Allen though. I was most excited in the few instances where I got to see Wally West. He really is a forgotten man in the DCU these days.

Scott Kolins should be drawing Wally West, not Barry Allen. I must admit I do love seeing the rogues looking "right" again.

Good

Green Lantern Corps #44

When crap needs to get done, the Guardians call the planet with a plan. Here comes Mogo!

The Black Lanterns are still attacking the central battery and despite the mass destruction Guy Gardner is causing, the Corps is in rough shape. At least until Mogo makes his plan known to the Corps. He quickly and efficiently takes on the entire army of Black Lanterns, and deals with them in a distinctivley Mogo fashion. I really like how Peter Tomasi shifts the focus of the title. We've been dealing with Black Lanterns for months and months now, but that seems to be handled at the close of the issue. Now Kyle, Soranik, and the rest have to deal with a raging Guy Gardner: Red Lantern. There are some nice clues dropped here and there that Salakk and some of the other Lanterns are getting mighty fed up with the Guardians and their secret orders, so I'm expecting a big shake-up after Blackest Night.

Patrick Gleason brings an unparalleled level of detail to this book. He does it every month. The splash pages are chaotic battlegrounds of well-rendered, unique characters. The facial expressions and "acting" are top notch. The gore is splattery and fun. I love this book!

Good

Secret Six #17

I missed the first part of this storyline (I'll be picking it up though) so I started off a bit lost, but Gail Simone and John Ostrander are pros, so I found myself caught up right away.

It seems Amanda Waller is aiming her Suicide Squad at the Secret Six, and this is giving us some great fights. Nightshade & Count Vertigo vs. Bane & Black Alice. Scandal Savage vs. Multiplex (sort of). Rick Flagg vs. Deadshot. And the fight I want to see more of, the one featured on the cover; Bronze Tiger vs. Catman. Simone and Ostrander do a fantastic job giving us a quick, dirty fight between these two master fighters. And since there is no clear winner, both guys get to save face and neither loses any status in the DCU.

The Black Lanterns are almost a distraction here, I'd be totally fine with a Six/Squad battle. But having the Lanterns show up does complicate things nicely, because these two teams have killed an awful lot of people. Another great bit is Deadshot's emotional color: black. He has his emotions so rigidly controlled that he only has cracks of red and green showing through.

Jim Calafiore does a decent job with the art, but I do really miss Nicola Scott. Calafiore's pencils are rather generic after Scott's distinctive takes on the core cast.

Good

Catwoman #83

I had planned on skipping this, but I generally enjoy Tony Bedard's writing, so I figured I would give it a shot. I probably should have looked at the legion of artists who worked on this thing. I would have realized this was probably thrown together at the last minute.

Black Mask is the newest recipient of a Black Lantern ring, and since he loves upsetting Catwoman so much, he makes a bee line for her. His only problem is that Selina is so filled with will that she refuses to show any emotion other than green, and that won't do for Black Mask. He wants more emotion before he takes her heart and inducts her into the Black Lanters. So to get a rise out of her, he sets off to kill Selina's sister Maggie, who I haven't seen since early in Ed Brubaker's run on the title. Selina gangs up with Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn, making this a bonus issue of Gotham City Sirens. I still don't really like the relationship/team from that title, so that didn't do anything for me.

The art has so many pencillers that things kind of jump around. I'm convinced there is a sequence where Black Mask "re-makes" the surroundings, showing powers far beyond what other BLs have done. I think it was probably an artistic mistake that Bedard tried to cover in the script. This book really has the feel of a project that had no real need to be told, and was hurriedly put together just to get something on the stands.

Average

Weird Western Tales #71

This was an odd, odd issue. I'm not sure what the point of this really was. I don't believe it picked up on any old West themes, other than that's which zombies happened to show up. This could just as easily have been a Ray special, he was as important to the story as any Western characters.

The main story involved Simon Stagg and a group of researchers led by Joshua Turnbull. Turnbull is the descendant of another DC Western character, but I don't know who. In fact, since I'm pretty clueless on most of these characters, the only ones I recognized were Jonah Hex and the Black Bison, except the Bison called himself Super-Chief. Weird. Most of the zombies were vaporized by the Ray (so the Ray and his Dad should probably not be hiding underground, but rather taking the fight to the zombies, right?) I'll take any Ray appearance I can get, but he seemed awfully mercenary in this issue. I'm reasonably confident he survived his confrontation too, although we don't see him make it out.

Dan DiDio does a nice job giving the whole issue a horror-movie feel. Turnbull is a jerk and sacrifices everyone to try and save himself, with predictable results. I guess he's never seen an episode of Tales from the Crypt!

Renato Arlem's photo-static looking art works sometimes and other times it is just odd. The big break-in page of the zombies blasting into the compound had absolutely no sense of motion, it looked like a collage. His character designs looked great; Simon Stagg, Ray, Black Bison, they all looked great.

Average

Blackest Night: Wonder Woman #2

If DC isn't careful, I may just come out of Blackest Night a fan of a royal DC heroine. Oh, I'm not talking about Wonder Woman, I mean Mera. This issue has absolutely no bridge between it and the first issue in this limited series. In issue 1, Diana was flying off to Coast City to help out the other heroes, and I saw her arrive in the core Blackest Night series. But in this issue, Mera and Diana are fighting on some dock? I guess in Coast City? Must be, because nothing else makes sense.

Diana is possessed by a Black Lantern ring, which in addition to making people crave hearts, it also seems to boost their smack-talking abilities. While possessed, WW actually says she's "in the mood for fish. You'll do" to Mera. I mean, c'mon, I thought the Black Lanterns were supposed to channel the personality of the possessee, but WW would never talk like that. I did like the fight, and having WW overcome the Black Lantern control, even for a moment, was pretty cool.

Then there's some sort of weird sequence where WW dreams of killing her buddies and Mom, but it didn't really happen becuase Aphrodite was protecting her from her possession? Wha huh? That's like, literally a deus ex machina, right?

The art in this second issue is terribly uneven. The backgrounds are sparse throughout (just a smeary green everywhere you look) and there is too much black. WW, Donna Troy, the ground, everything is just shades of grey. I did really like Nicola Scott's take on Hippolyta, not just because she was the brightest thing in the issue, she actually looked inspiring and tough. Eduardo Pansica helped out with the pencils this issue, and man, is it obvious which pages he did vs. Scott. Nicola Scott is a tough artist to have to go up against, putting Pansica at a disadvantage from the start.

Average