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.