CC2K’s Comic of the Week: Blackest Night #3

Written by: Gary M. Kenny, CC2K Comics Editor

Every week, there are a multitude of books being released from multiple different publishers. And while we here at CC2K like to provide as many reviews as our limited numbers can provide, there is always one book that is the cream of the crop. Comics are expensive, and so is the gas to get to the shop. So that's why we've started giving you the one, absolutely unmissable book every week.   

Blackest Night # 3

Writer – Geoff Johns

Artist – Ivan Reis

For the past two years, Johns has been slowly introducing us to his rainbow of Lanterns. We have read about the Sinestro Corps war, the creation of the Star Sapphire Corps, and the Orange, Red and Blue Lanterns. It seemed whichever Skittles candy Johns was chewing, he would “taste the rainbow” and create a Lantern to match it. In this issue, Johns goes into detail and the reader gets to learn about the Indigo Lanterns or the “Compassion Lanterns.”

The issue starts off with Green Lantern (Hal) and Flash (Barry) trying to survive a fight against their new “friend-emies” the Black Laterns: Elongated Man with sidekick wife Sue, The Hawks (both man and woman), Martian Manhunter, and my new favorite villain: Firestorm (Ronnie). Luckily for them, the Compassion Lanterns are on scene and everyone is safely transported to JLA Headquarters where Firestorm (Jason) and Mera are on call. Shortly after a whole bunch of scary stuff occurs but you need to purchase the comic to see what happens. However, I can tell you that thanks to Johns’s new policy of making at least one DC character die within each issue of Blackest Night, some body dies!

Ivan Reis draws some scary zombie superheroes; thanks to his art direction, this book is as gripping as a good horror show. The art is suspenseful and terrifyingly good. On the other hand, Johns does what he does best, he takes an enormous cast of characters (look at his past work with JSA and the Flash rogues) and creates a bond between all of them that is gripping and spectacular, it’s no surprise DC keeps giving him the keys to their kingdom.

A big plus with me is the fact that Johns decided to use the 1980s Firestorm (Ronnie). His frat boy humor really plays well as a Black Lantern. John gives him some great lines and I secretly want him to stay a villain in the DC universe and not die at the end of this DC epic. BL Firestorm I feel, has a lot to offer in terms of creepy humor and well let’s face it, this new Firestorm (Jason) is a real bore. I love that Johns probably agrees with me and has a little fun at the expense of Firestorm (Jason).

Go out and purchase this issue, DC has a real epic here and it is bigger and better then some “crisis.”

4.0 out of 5.0