Green Lantern Corps 42

Solicitation : BLACKEST NIGHT intensifies! The Green Lanterns epic fight to preserve Oa and the Central Power Battery from being consumed by the Black Lanterns continues. While the Corps faces the most desperate moment in its entire history, a new threat materializes that will shake them to their very souls.

Written by Pete Tomasi Art By Patrick Gleason

Synopsis :  Munk tells Vath that the Black are dominating and destroying all of the home worlds of all the emotional spectrum lanterns. He tells him that that The Sapphire Battery is gone and if they don't work together Oa and The Green Lanterns will be next.

They fight the Corphans and their dead Lantern parents. Munk says that The killings by The Black are to fuel their own battery for a purpose and to increase their army of death. He takes The Green Light and destroys every BL in sight, Munk is badass ! Suddenly we get a shot of 100% Power levels.

Elsewhere, Kilowog's mentor is about to kill Kilowog but as soon as levels hit 100%, he flies off not killing him. That's dumb actually, don't like the way that played out, seems like a cop out. Kilowog gets up and gives a beautiful and stirring speech to The Black Lantern (former Green lanterns) about how death was all a part and all lanterns die. The shot of him in dismay as the Black Lanterns rush to the Power Battery was beautiful.

We are back to Kyle-Jade-Soranik with Soranik's hand down Jade's mouth. She tells him she felt no fear from that puppet light show and it would not destroy with what she..... Kyle corrects her and says "What we have". So Sweet.  Jade breaks out and is flying elsewhere. Kyle is surprised and wonders where is headed off to. The answer is obvious.........

Oa's Last Stand.

Guy says that they will die fighting as all the Lanterns including Munk, Kyle and Kilowog get together ready for Final battle ! Salaak orders all the Lanterns to converge at The Central Power Battery for defensive action in order to stop The Black. Guy is happy that with "Indigo Man" help they might be able to stop them from rising after all. The Black Lanterns create a Crazy-Ass Dark Matter construct and try and sever the foundation of the battery. Rayner asks Salaak to release Sciencell 8985. They release Red Lantern Vice and Kyle orders Natu to take Munk away from the battle. Vice destorys The Black with ease but an Alpha Guardian who cant compromise his duty kills Vice ! Damn.

Alpha Chaselon is defeated by The Black Lanterns and before his internal battery can be compromised Kyle takes it from The dead hands of The Corphans. As he flies off a huge army Of Death follow him (which he is hoping for).He creates an Energy dome, The Alpha Lantern is about to Detonate. He tells Soranik that he loves her and tells Guy that he has been like a brother to................

The Alpha Battery explodes as we conclude with..........

Kyle's Sacrifice

Review : Wow, this issue was a very emotional one for me. The Love between Kyle and Natu finally showed itself and I absolutely loved that moment she had with Jade. Damn, I Love Kilowog too, His words and that shot of his dismay while the Black went for The Central Battery showed how his whole life was The Green lantern Corps and how much he loved and respected his job as Trainer. Guy was great too. Salaak finally joined the party. A Little unhappy how The Alphas are always shown to be stupid and arrogant pricks though. The end was very emotional as Kyle is my favorite Green Lantern and I loved how he selflessly sacrificed himself, him saying he loved Soranik was so well done. However I am sure the death wont last , hope they don't butcher what was a beautiful issue. He couldn't even complete his words to Guy. Guy is going Red for sure. Unfortunately, Kyle did not kill anyone. Did Munk use his light as an assist ? If not , Its a Damn shame..
Patrick Gleason's art was amazing in this issue. I loved The spreads. Thumbs up and hope to see more. Very happy with Story development finally coming into The Battle For Oa.

Story : 8.7
Art : 8.6

Next In Blackest Night : Before we Dive into Nekron's Dark Armies Battle will Life, we take a step back and analyze Scar and her motivations and her character development.

Green Lantern Corps 41

Solicitation : The intense and horrific battle between the Green Lantern Corps and the Black Lanterns on Oa takes a turn for the worse! The Corps realizes that the abominable, ultimate goal of the Black Lanterns is not only to feed off the Corps’ emotions, but to consume and decimate the main power battery and destroy Oa forever!

Written by Pete Tomasi  Art By Patrick Gleason

Synopsis : Soranik and Iolande have a huge Battle with the Black Lanterns in The Hospital, Soranik says that the Dead are rising too fast, The Dead Lanterns rise and attack them and Power Levels are 85,26%. More black rings come in and more risings.

Guy and Ke'haan continue their battle as Guy tries to get the horn off his leg. He blasts him twice and leaves to help his friends as Ke'haan begins to regenerate........

Soranika and Iolande aren't able to do much to The Black lanterns and in desperation send the weak and injured to Mogo (who is also receiving rings of the deceased GL's). They decide to take them till the sector when they suddenly see Kyle's battle with Jade. Iolande forces Soranik to assist as she continues her journey. Soranik and Kyle blast Jade and emote Love, Will and Rage as Jade taunts them and their love. Jade tries to tell Soranik that to love Kyle is to die in a box. Soranik gets her big moment and punches Jade in the face Bad !

Arisia and her family have an epic battle and crash into the Oan buildings. Arisia blasts them with Constructs of her family and "destroys" The Black, she says that she wont be sucked into The Black holes sent by someone to suck them in....... She flies away saying she will always uphold the family name as the rings are left motionless (probably to regenerate).

Kilowog's trying to rally the troops who seem to be falling miserably to The Black, suddenly his predecessor, Ermey comes in and they have a very cool fight which ends with Kilowog beating him and destroying his heart only for Ermey to say he is going to Take Kilowog's heart, Uh-Oh !

Lantern Isarot along with others hold fort and are surprised by the arrival of "Kryb's children" who are now Black Lanterns , Oh No ! They say they are hungry and make their way only to be stopped by Munk (Indigo-2) who says that its time for The Black Lanterns to feel some pain !

Review :  This was an average issue, lots of action which was well done. Plot progression was a minimal until the last few pages (we already saw that coming after reading Green Lantern 46 right ?). I'm having apprehensions about this Battle on Oa which is seeming to be a super-massive decompressed arc which could have been done in 4 Issues. Hopefully and I'm sure Pete Tomasi can prove me wrong. I'm enjoying his characterizations and everything. Just wish there was more story, feels kinda light you know. Patrick Gleason is good here, his work is growing on me and not like a weed does, in a good way. I would also like to see more of complete battles, they seem to all stop half way, probably so that Munk and The gang can kick arse. No Problem. I'm still waiting on this series.

Story : 8.4
Art :  8.0

Next In Blackest Night: We stop over at a little place called Smallville where Supermen will collide as The Blackest Night comes. Kal-l vs Superman and Superboy. Lois Lane vs Martha Kent and Krypto. Yeah, its all going to hell.

Blackest Night : Batman

Written by Pete Tomasi Art By Adrian Syaf

Synopsis : Batman and Robin go to Bruce's grave and wonder what the hell happened there. This is a reference to Hal & Barry vs Martian Manhunter. Richard takes Thomas and Martha's bones and asks Damian to take Bruce's body (skull missing) to the bunker. Sweet moment with lil D. We get a shot Of Deadman rising as seen in Issue 2 of Blackest Night. As he gets into His Black Lantern body, he sees people rising, William with Bruce's skull etc. He makes his way to Gotham. Security is shifting the bodies of some Batman rogues but the rings ambush them as we see some old school villains rise (Ventriloquist, KGBeast etc ). Richard and Damian make their way back and have an interesting back and forth.I love their dynamic. Deadman dives into Dick. Boston takes some catching up the huge status quo change in the Bat-verse. Small fight. Deadman tells him who he is and what he does. He also is aware of a Black Lantern battery is space. Deadman goes into Damian and gets Dick up to speed and tells him the powered and non-powered are rising. Deadman wished Dick luck taking care of Damian, funny Boston....Richard tells him to shut up. Boston sees Richard's and Tim Drakes' parents rise. Richard gets into a cemetery and sees his parents grave empty. He calls Tim and asks him to come immediately and tells him his parents' grave might be desecrated. Damian says they will need all the help possible as we see The Risen Villains on a Broken Bat-Signal (It broke when Hal fell on it in Issue 2).

The resurrected Black Lanterns destroy the Citizens of Gotham as the power levels are at 46.77%. The ones resurrected in the Helicopter are at Gotham Headquarters rooftop.  Dick and Damian along with a floating Deadman make their way to the armory and pick up flamethrowers. Dick and Damian have a hilarious back and forth about their respective childhoods. Richard asks Boston to try and help as many Police officers and evacuate. Meanwhile, at GCPD Gordon and the rest along with Barbara try their best to stop The Black Lanterns but to no avail. We get a great horror sequence with Barbara/Jim vs a Black lantern who is unstoppable and keeps rebuilding. The Lantern taunt Richard to come forward so they can feast on his heart. The Blackest Night will engulf The Dark Knight ? Thats kinda been used by the fans before.... The Lanterns are about to kill Jim when suddenly Boston Brand possesses Barbara and she takes Jim and makes a run for it ! Hell Yeah ! Boston tells himself  to Jim and he picks Barbara to take her to safety. The Lanterns surround Richard and Damian and Red Robin aka Tim Drake makes the save  They also save Jim and Oracle. Tim tells Richard that this is happening everywhere and Good and bad are rising. Tim's parents break in and crash the plane into the ground as we land at a cemetery . The Flying Graysons are next.

We start with Red Robin and Batman telling Robin to keep the civilians the skeletons safe.Then we have a very cool sequence of Richard and Tim where he tells him there is a section Bruce built by which they can go around Gotham, Damian will use that route. Richard also has someone he wants Deadman to bring for unlimited firepower. Deadman goes to Jason Blood and says that "Batman and Friends" would like assistance. He possesses him and Etrigan arises.Richard tells Tim these aren't their parents and they should not feel pity or anything. We see a replay Of Jack Drake's death In Identity Crisis, Tim believes this is a chance to prevent death. Richard's parents swoop in and take him for a swing. Boomerang comes in to "kill" Jack Drake but is stopped by Tim who beats Boomerang up in a fir of RAGE ! Zucco "kills" Dick's parents again as both of The Heroes pummel their parents "killers" in rage. Their parents come in and attempt to take their hearts to fuel the Black Lantern battery. Deadman makes the save with Etrigan. Dick asks Damian to send two Freeze guns over, Damian is pissed at being held the rear !! The Guns arrive as Etrigan buys them time. Etrigan has no emotion, interesting. Dick freezes Tim and himself. Etrigan is let go, Deadman is invisible as The Black Lantern search for living beings but fail. They leave all Deadman gets into the both of them and sets them free. Batman decides to pass on what they have learnt so they can fight them tomorrow- at least if there is a tomorrow.




Review : This was a very very cool series for me. I know that at the end of the story none of the information is going to affect the main story, but I like how some characters are being used. Damian in his first major event and is written well even when not written by Mr.Grant Morrison who I Love ! I like the interaction between Tim and Richard, Oracle and her father are used well. The Character Star is Deadman who is utterly amazing, I'm loving the character. The real STAR here is Adrian Syaf who has delivered an amazing visual display. Its dark and very foreboding on what is happening. Thumbs up man ! Read this series for solid art and writing and is an enjoyable Bat-Family vs Zombie mash-up.

Story : 9.0
Art : 9.1


Next In Blackest Night: The Black Lantern JLA take on Hal & Barry, where is the Atom ? Where will Mera and the rest run as the Universe falls into the coming Darkness.

Green Lantern Corps 40

Solicitation : The battle continues on Oa as the honored dead of the Green Lantern Corps and the recently deceased Sciencell convicts who lost their lives in the riots have all become Black Lanterns and will not rest until the bloody hearts and minds of the Green Lanterns are literally in their hands. Kyle Rayner, Guy Gardener and John Stewart resort to their most brutal fighting yet as the Blackest Night threatens to envelop Sector Zero and send the universe reeling into chaos!

Written by Pete Tomasi Art By Patrick Gleason

Synopsis : Arisia is making her way back to Oaafter The battle on Daxam, she has not been able to inform everyone yet of Sodam's sacrifice. She tries to get to Salaak, the ring tells her the Oan shell does not exist. She is glad to be on Oa as people aren't trying to kill one another. Yeah right......... Suddenly her mum and dad show up and she is surprised (She feels Love, Hope and Fear ). Her Grandparents show up, a group hug is coming

Back To Kyle and Jade, Jade "convinces" Kyle that it is really her and she flies them away above the battlefield. She says that she is back because of his undying love for her and that they shared their hearts and souls and The Heart never lies.

In Sector 3599, Kryb and Starfire are going back to Kryb's "children", Kryb tells her that she is sincere in her efforts to save the children, Starfire and her agree to a temporary truce as they team up together.

Inside the Oa Citadel, Salaak and a few others see the Black Residue on the walls where the Guardians were once slammed into. They analyze that the Guardians are longer here and they also notice that there are only 8 marks and last time they checked there were 9 Guardians. The Alpha Lanterns come in and assume control. Salaak doesn't take it. He shows them a hologram which says that in case of The Guardians fall, The Clarissi (who is Salaak) followed by the Illustres (Kyle and Guy) will assume control. Salaak assumes charge and shows the Alpha's The Middle Finger and orders them all to act as one Corps under The Green Lantern ! He also orders that all the rings of the Green Lanterns who die will go to Mogo and will not recruit new members.

Jade tries to convince Kyle even more. He already knows she is bogus and says that he only heard her to know her intentions and now he is going to cause some major pain as he attacks her ! Woah, Kyle.Kyle says he is doing this to those who try and disgrace the memories of the people he cares for. Jade attempts to instill fear by reminding of how many people he cared for died.

At The execution site of the Sciencell prisoners they see all the bodies missing. They are Risen as Black Lanterns who demolish the Lanterns who were sent to check the site. Power Levels are 45.97%. The rings are sent to Mogo. Katma Tui comes in and kills a Lantern as levels reach 46.09%. Bzzd comes and kicks ass as power Levels go to 46.37%. Bzzd and Guy face off and Guy squishes him. Ke'haan is here and tells him to pick on someone his own size and rams his horn into Guy's leg. Ouch !

Kryb cant find the children. They decide to go on a trail in order to look for them. Fear the worst.....
In the Hospital, The Black Lanterns are killing the helpless as we end with Soranik and Iolande arriving waiting to kick ass !

You could've come earlier......

Review : Not much to say really, but I'm happy to see some important things happenings. The Idea of sending the rings to Mogo is smart and wise. Salaak's confrontation was well done. So, The Guardians are gone with Scar somewhere. We will get more on that for sure. Kyle vs Jade was OK for me, she is not gone by any means. Am Sure Soranik will get her. My problem is why didn't we see her and Iolande earlier and directly at the end. The story is already feeling decompressed for me with loads of action and less of development. I know we are early on in the story but I would have rather seen more set-up than jmust moments. The Highlight was obviously Bzzd who kicked ass ! Good writing there , Pete. Art is improving and I'm enjoying it after I didn't like it when I first saw the art.

Story : 8.6
Art : 8.5

Next In Blackest Night: We catch up with the Batman and his Family as they face the Blackest Night in The Blackest Night: Batman miniseries which will reviewed in one.

Green Lantern Corps 39

Solicitation : Just when things couldn't look any darker after the death and chaos of the Sciencell riot, Blackest Night descends on Oa! The black rings tear into the planet and the Lantern Crypt causing all the dead Corps members to rise and wreak havoc as a new and deadlier battle threatens to engulf not only the Corps, but the Universe itself!

Written by Pete Tomasi Art By Patrick Gleason

Synopsis : We start off with Guy and Kyle in space. This is just after they attended The Tribute Day on Earth. Guy discusses how he spent time with Ice whereas Kyle was at the Valhalla cemetery with Alan Scott at Jade's grave paying his respects.Kyle reveals that the Star Sapphire's vision of his love did not show him Jade, to which Guy says it was Soranik. Kyle knows its against the laws to which Guy says that The Guardians are making them up anyway and the fact is that Soranik is alive so he should be with her. They meet up with Green Lantern Soranik Natu and Green Lantern Iolande. They go over The Sinestro problem at Korugar. Kyle and Guy are on the way for clean up after the Sciencell riot. Suddenly the Black rings burst into the scene and smacks Guy in The Face ! Hilarious..........

Arisia is on Daxam, where the now super-powered beings are doing what they will and are killing off Sinestro Corpsmen without remorse or care. DO Note that in Emerald Eclipse Sodam Yat gave his life to make the red sun of Daxam a yellow one giving everyone powers. Arisia calls them Racists and goes up to see Ion inside the sun., she says its too late for words and she flies off.

We see Kryb's "babies" hunger and ask for their mother while she is on Zamaron being freed from The Sapphires. Sinestro is on Korugar and he makes his dominance clear and says that he is The Savior Of Korugar and not anyone else before him (Sinestro or Soranik) and now the Sinestro Corps will be renamed The Mongul Corps ! Lets see...

We cut back to The Four who are trying their best to stop The Black rings who zip through without a problem. Iolande and Soranik rush to the hospital to aid all the weak and injured. Kyle and Guy decide to set up a rallying point to stop the Black Rings and inform Kilowog. They tell him that the Rings tore through the constructs like paper and that they are buzzing like flies in space. Kilo orders everyone to keep at full shield strength. The rings ignore them and go into the crypt where the rings begin to resurrect the dead. Morro is helpless as Katma Tui, Jack Chance, Tomar Re and countless others of the Fallen Lanterns Rise !

On The Outside, The GL's see the crypt fall as Morro survives and we cut back to the spread in Blackest Night 1 with Gut going "What The **** !" Guy wonders how any of this could get any worse and suddenly Black Lantern Jade arrives and grabs Kyle by the neck to which we end this installment of  Blackest Night in Oa...

Review : OK, so another of filler sorta issue. We end at nearly the same moment As Blackest night showed us on Oa with the Rings rising. I would have surely liked more story and less of wasted pages. Guy and Kyle are awesome as usual. The thing is that The Fleshing out of the Corps from their short appearance in the First Issue , So big ups.
The art is cartoony but still looks good. Patrick has upped his game for this event. Lets see where we go from here as The Green Lantern Corps faces and falls into Ultimate Darkness .

Story : 8.7
Art : 8.2

Two Hearts are truly better than one..............................

Next In Blackest Night: The Hawks are dead, Who Will Die ? Who Will Rise ? A Certain Sea King makes his "triumphant" return as Hal and Barry fight the visitor from Mars as The Master Of Death creeps into us. Death will be Us.

What You Should Read Before Blackest Night

1. Green Lantern: Rebirth
   
2. Green Lantern: No Fear
   
3. Green Lantern Corps: Recharge
   
4. Green Lantern: Revenge of the Green Lanterns
   
5. Green Lantern Corps: To Be a Lantern
   
6. Green Lantern: Wanted – Hal Jordan
   
7. Green Lantern Corps: A Darker Shade of Green
   
8. Green Lantern: The Sinestro Corps War Vol. 1
   
9. Green Lantern: The Sinestro Corps War Vol. 2
   
10. Green Lantern: The Sinestro Corps War Vol. 3 – Tales of the Sinestro Corps
    
11. Green Lantern Corps: Ring Quest
    
12. Green Lantern: Secret Origin
    
13. Green Lantern: Rage of the Red Lanterns
    
14. Green Lantern Corps: Sins of the Star Sapphire
    
15. Green Lantern: Agent Orange
    
16. Green Lantern Corps: Emerald Eclipse