Blackest Night #6

This was the best comic of the week. Of course, it was the only comic to ship this week, so it wins that prize by default, doesn't it?

There isn't a lot of forward movement in this issue. I'm thinking once again that this should have been a 6 issue mini. It's not even just that this core 8 issue series is getting slow, but at this point, all the tie-ins are dragging too. Eight months is just too long for one story.

Deadman helps Mera and Atom escape from inside the Black Lantern rings, and it seems the rings are linked somehow, since the two heroes jump out of Wonder Woman's ring and they arrive in Coast City. Meanwhile, most of the other resurrected heroes have been turned into Black Lanterns, but somehow Flash and GL jump into the future and avoid that fate. (I did enjoy seeing Wally West stick around too, I don't think he's ever died!) Then there's a whole weird sequence where Ganthet declares that all the rings are based on GL technology, and during Blackest Night, they can all split and empower another corps member. So Ganthet becomes a GL, Luthor becomes an Orange Lantern, Mera goes red, Flash goes blue, Atom goes indigo, Scarecrow gets a yellow, and a surprising character gets some love. I thought Atom being an Indigo Lantern made zero sense. The guy is torturing his enemies left and right over in Cry for Justice and yet he's supposed to be a model of compassion? I don't think so. I appreciate all these characters getting starring roles in this crossover, but I feel like pieces of the story have just been dropped. Black Lanterns like Martian Manhunter, Firestorm, and the Hawks have disappeared. Heck, Nekron is only in a panel or two this issue!

Ivan Reis' art is as fine as always. I dug his Rainbow Lantern takes on all those new lanterns. The new Star Sapphire was the best, no doubt about it.

Fair