The DC Universe is in a mess. A terrible mess. I remember the time when I went gaga over everything from DC. Grant Morrison on the JLA, Ron Marz on Green Lantern, Alan Grant, Doug Moench, Chuck Dixon on the Bat-books, Dan Jurgens and later Jeph Loeb on the Superman books, Phil Jimenez and Greg Rucka on Wonder Woman, Geoff Johns and David Goyer on JSA. Somehow everything changed after Brad Meltzer's "
Identity Crisis". Since then, it's been event after event and a concerted effort to revive the Silver Age of DC but mixed in with present day sensibilities in the elements of ugly violence, sexuality and metaphysical mess. The Geoff Johns of today is a far cry from his days as the writer for such character-driven books as Stars and S.T.R.I.P.E.S., JSA, Flash, Hawkman and Teen Titans. He's writing more books than ever today and seems to be the driving force over at DC much like Brian Bendis is at Marvel. But the problem is, the present day Geoff SUCKS!!! I'm serious. Everything that I used to admire about his writing just isn't there to be found anymore. I guess the same can be said for James Robinson - who did legendary work on Starman and JSA but whose present work on Justice League is simply a horrible and ugly mess (even with Mark Bagley on art). As for Grant Morrison's Batman? The less said about it the better. I'm prepared to sell my entire set of Morrison Batman to my friend by the end of this month. In other words, the past 5 years of DC comics have left me largely cold and disinterested. I ended up rereading old Silver Age Green Arrow stuff with my daughter Moira and Shazam with my daughter Chloe. In fact, among the best DC stuff published in recent years are the
Tiny Titans and
Magic of Shazam all-ages books.
Why then did I pick up three
Blackest Night hardcovers in two days and read them all in one sitting? I think a lot of it has to do with curiosity. I've heard people saying great stuff about the huge event in the DCU last year. After reading the "
Blackest Night", "
Blackest Night: Green Lantern" and "
Blackest Night: Green Lantern Corps" hardcovers, here are my thoughts:
It's hard to either like or dislike the actual
Blackest Night miniseries. If you liked huge universe-breaking events such as
Crisis on Infinite Earths or
Zero Hour, you may like this one. Time was, I absolutely loved such events that featured a gazillion characters on every page. Time now, I prefer stories to be more character-driven and personal.
In fact, I think Geoff Johns actually shines when he gets down on the character stuff - like the interactions between Barry Allen and Hal Jordan, or Hawkman and Hawkgirl. Problem was, most of those quieter moments soon get buried under the epic, widescreen stuff where you can hardly tell what the hell is really going on. Time was, comics showcased each character's powers very clearly so you could see just how exactly the Flash outwit Mirror Master with a twist on his flash-powers or a convenient Flash Fact. Time now, every page is a showcase for the artist's ability to cram in as much action into a double page splash with the writer peppering the page with explanatory captions or expository dialogue to give the reader a certain semblance of the plot moving ahead. But you get the feeling that the plot will move ahead anyway and there's really little payoff in reading the actual book when you can read the summaries on Wikipedia or something.
The artwork by Ivan Reis (on the Blackest Night series), Doug Mahnke (on the GL issues) and Patrick Gleason (on the GLC series) are really among the best artwork that I have ever seen in a DC Comic. Truth be told, the books are worth buying and keeping simply for the unbelievable artwork and covers. Reis makes everything look pretty and Gleason sure can draw intergalactic war scenes - especially with a Red Lantern Guy Gardner tearing through the Black Lantern hordes. But the artist to take home the cake is Doug Mahnke. His scenes featuring a gigantic Spectre fighting a gigantic Parallax in the middle of Coast City has to be seen to be believed. For my money, Doug Mahnke is probably the best comic artist in the industry right now and Geoff Johns is very lucky to get him on the monthly GL book.
Like I mentioned above, Geoff Johns and company have been working hard to revive the Silver-Agey elements of the DCU over the past several years. They largely succeed when they concentrate on the Silver-Agey elements. For instance, I still get a thrill when the Atom travels through the phone lines to reach Hawkman. I still get a huge excitement whenever the Spectre appears. Also, my favourite scenes in all 3 books involve Sinestro proving that he can really be a hero when he tries to be. I also felt a certain tingle in seeing the return of Aquaman back in the arms of Mera or the return of Shiera Saunders replacing Kendra - who finally remember all her past lives as Hawkgirl. Finally, does anyone else agree with me that Mogo is the greatest Green Lantern of all time? Every scene with Mogo in the GLC book is a gem. Unbelievable sense of wonder in seeing the planet-sized Green Lantern absorb millions of corpses into himself to free them from the control of the Black Lantern.
Problem was, for every Silver-Agey element, we get dozens more pages of comics trying very hard to be mature and sophisticated. We get nonsensical exposition about the Guardians' dirty secrets having to do with how Darkness was the original state of the universe and that the Light (cue in the starting verses of the Book of Genesis) was actually an intruder or coloniser. We get pages after pages of the Black Hand (William Hand) killing his father, mother and two brothers because he's a nihilist. It was distasteful when Jim Starlin did the ultimate nihilist Thanos, but Starlin never went to such extremes of actually showing you the scenes of ugly patricide or matricide. Women the whole world over screamed for Ron Marz's blood when he wrote the scene when Kyle Rayner discovered his girlfriend Alex stuffed into a refridgerator by Major Force. Here, we get pages after pages showing how Major Force broke every bone in Alex's body and then her spine followed by her neck before shoving her into the fridge. Question is, do we really need to see that? Finally, do I need to mention the countless scenes of hearts being pulled out of bodies? Personally, I think readers react best when hearts are figuratively ripped out by a lover's betrayal (e.g. Ray Palmer's sufferings after finding out about Jean Loring's deceptions or Carter Hall's frustration over Kendra Saunder's inability to recall their past lives together). But do we really need to see Hawkman and Hawkgirl getting their hearts literally ripped out? I don't even like Aqualad (or is that Tempest) but even I cringed when he got his heart ripped out!
Final verdict?Blackest Night miniseries (by Geoff Johns and Ivan Reis): two and a half stars (but primarily for Ivan Reis' pretty artwork rather than Geoff's uneven writing)Blackest Night: Green Lantern (by Geoff Johns and Doug Mahnke): three and a half stars (
but mainly because of the Spectre-Parallax fight and White Lantern Sinestro)
Blackest Night: Green Lantern Corps (by Peter Tomasi and Patrick Gleason): four and a half stars (
this title ended up having the best character-scenes - especially Kyle, Guy, Natu, Kilowog and of course, the one and only MOGO!!!)
