Blackest Night #7 ( DC – Johns / Reis / Albert)
As Nekron continues to wage war on life throughout the universe, Hal Jordan discovers the grim, true mission behind the villain’s return. But the truth is so cosmically abysmal that it threatens to expose a secret that could tear the very universe asunder. You can’t miss this stunning, penultimate issue to the year’s biggest event!
Ah, the seventh issue of an eight issue mini-series. It’s the penultimate issue of the entire series, the one were all the cards are laid on the table and we see where the end game will come. In this case, issue #8 is going to have alot of ground to cover.
Blackest Night #7 has death, life, heroics, insanity, and the reveal of what Neckron’s final plan is. In the closing panels we see what anyone who has been paying attention to Green Lantern, Green Lantern Corps, and Blackest Night has seen coming, but with a bit of a twist.
I have read and re-read issue #7, and I my final thoughts are that this crossover event could have been seven issues long instead of eight. I really felt that this issue was mostly filler. We could have easily went straight to this issue #8. Nekron continues to pontificate on this place in the universe and that Life is the alien intruder, the good guys continue to fight off Black Lanterns while battling their own demons, but we do have some nice Guardian secrets revealed. Mostly it feels forced. It feels like Geoff Johns had seven issue series planned, then Dan DiDio told him Blackest Night would be eight issues long.
Maybe I’m being too harsh. This isn’t a bad issue, it doesn’t shoot adamantium bullet holes (shameless dig at World War Hulk) through Blackest Night or any of it’s tie-in issues. The action is good, the fights are exciting, and the interactions between the characters of both captivating and surprising. It really is a solid issue. The Red Lanterns have gone from blood spewing death machines to tormented intelligent and seeing Lex Luthor actually verbalize his greed after all these years is a sight to behold. It just boils down to the fact that I paid $3.99 + tax and nothing happened except what we learned about Earth, and Sinestro’s power boost.
A major high point in this issue is the amazing art by Ivan Reis. Every panel in this book feels like life or death is in the balance. There is a claustrophobic desperation with Lanterns of every color falling out of the sky, Nekron seems like an unstoppable force and it feels like the sky is falling all around the battlefield. Reis squeezes every bit of action he can into every page, and in the process creates a two page splash in the middle of the book that could very well go down as one of the most iconic pieces of Green Lantern history.
In the end, I just feel like Blackest Night #7 was just a constant push to the last four pages. I’m still excited to see the end game, which I’m sure will not tie-up in issue number eight, but rather in pages of Green Lantern and Green Lantern Corps.
