Blackest Night #3

I have mixed feelings about the newest chapter in the Blackest Night saga. The opening battle was great, with the Black Lantern JLA facing off against Hal and Barry. The Atom quickly announces his presence (he's still alive, darn it) and there is some great back and forth with all the dead folks as they try to torment the living. I particularly liked Geoff Johns' voice for the Ronnie Raymond Firestorm. Ronnie has a great line about how he "tries to avoid thinking about stupid stuff" or something like that as he tries to convince Barry Allen to be the new nerd in his head. I became immediately less interested with the Indigo Tribe showed up. I guess the Indigo Lanterns of compassion can somehow make the Black Lanterns vulnerable to normal damage if their indigo light is combined with the light of another lantern. It sure looked like Ralph and Sue Dibney were obliterated. That doesn't give me much hope that the Black Lanterns will be resurrected, but I can still hope. I'm a little confused on the "rules" of the different lantern corps and how they affect each other, that mythology is so involved I find myself tuning out a bit when characters start going on and on about it.

Johns brings the action again in the upsetting closing conflict. After Barry, Hal, and the Atom team up with the Jason Rusch Firestorm and Mera at JLA HQ, the Black Lanterns follow them there. Mera had just explained that emotional turmoil is like blood in the water for the Black Lanterns, so I guess the JLA wasn't quite as calm as they'd hoped. Ronnie Raymond does a bad, bad thing to Jason Rusch's gal Gehenna at the close of this issue. I don't see how Ronnie could be a sympathetic character at this point even if he gets resurrected. My theory is that Jason and Ronnie end up sharing the Firestorm body after Blackest Night, but that is going to be one tense, uncomfortable relationship now.

There is a bit of character-defining dialogue with Hal and Barry explaining how they see each other as both people and heroes, but frankly the discussion seemed a tad out of place while under siege from super-zombies. Jason or Mera should have told the two of them to kiss and make up, it wasn't the time for a heart-to-heart.

One other concern: based on the November solicits, it seems Wonder Woman is going to have a big part in the story at some point. I think by issue 3 all the main players should be on the board, so I'm not sure I approve of the choice to leave game-changing elements off the page for so long.

Ivan Reis' pencils are fantastic. I can't overstate how great everything looks and how well he's mixing super-hero epic with horror. This is quite the accomplishment.

Good