That Blackest Night Thread (Spoilers!)

[Rob Staeger (Grodd Mod)]

Well, someone has to start it...

I really liked issue 1. For one thing, I wasn't in the dark after missing the Free Comic Book Day issue (I thought they'd have reprinted that by now!). For another, I liked that while it's Green Lantern-centric, for now, at least, it doesn't require me to know the ins and outs of all the different Corps, because I just don't. I quite reading GL when the Sinestro Corps War started, and planned to but the trade paperbacks by now, but haven't yet. (Heck, vol2 just came out, didn't it?)

So as someone who *knows* the DCU, but isn't exactly in tune with some recent events, I had no problem understanding it. Bitey Guardians? I'm down with that.

My favorite scene has got to be the one in which Hal shows Barry all the heroes who've died in the time between him dying and coming back. I *loved* his reaction to Ronnie -- being the junior member of the league when he was on it, Ronnie was probably the closest person to Wally's age he fought with. He's a kid they took under their wing, and now he's gone. And then seeing Ralph and Sue... but of course, that's setting up a later scene down the line.

The one thing that bugged me was the crypt of dead supervillains the JLA has under their HQ. I don't care if it makes them easier to guard, it's just ghoulish and wrong. Why the hell would anyone want the Fiddler's body? Just guard his &%#@ fiddle, for Pete's sake!

[Wandering Sensei: Moderator Man]

I love this series so much. We're only one issue in (plus tie-ins), but just the idea that everyone is having to face their "old ghosts", whether or not they deserve any of them, is just way too cool. The last page of Green Lantern #whateverthelatestissuesis, out last week, just made me say, "Oh, DUH! This is going to be good!!"

Can't wait to see how this whole thing plays out.

[Cavaliere (moderator emeritus)]

It looks to me that the dead want everybody to be dead, too.

[Rob Staeger (Grodd Mod)]

It looks like they're charging something by killing things. A giant black power battery, perhaps? I doubt it's the individual black rings that are charging at the end when it says "power levels 0.01%...0.02%"

By the way -- do the black rings do anything but reanimate corpses? Not that that's nothing, but have we seen them do any energy projection like the green and yellow rings do?

And frankly, what are the powers of the other rings? Are they all energy projectors, regardless of color and the emotion that fuels them, or do they manifest their power differently as well? I haven't been reading GL, so it's a point I missed. (Are red lanterns really all about the barfing?)

[Rob Staeger (Grodd Mod)]

Oh, and so much for one theory:

Fan asks if the character "Nekron" will be involved with Blackest Night. Looks like a no.

Of course, we don't have a direct quote there; there could have been hedging involved that the transcriber didn't catch.

[Rob Staeger (Grodd Mod)]

Another choice bit from the panel:

Chance of a Black Lantern Sue Dibny vs. Black Lantern Jean Loring fight? "I'm crossing a lot of lines," Johns says, "But I don't think I can do that one."

Aww.....

[Rob Staeger (Grodd Mod)]

Some good news:

Are we going to see Monitors in Blackest Night: Johns: "No."

woo-hoo! Nothing kills a story like a Monitor.

[Alan M.]

Rob Staeger said:

Oh, and so much for one theory:

Fan asks if the character "Nekron" will be involved with Blackest Night. Looks like a no.

Of course, we don't have a direct quote there; there could have been hedging involved that the transcriber didn't catch.

There was definitely hedging. From CBR's report:

Is a villain called Necron involved in Blackest Night? Berganza: "Who's that?" Johns: "I can't talk about that."

[Rich Lane]

Wouldn't everyone's jaws drop if, when they finally reveal the Guardian of the Black Lanterns, it turns out to be a cute little goth chick wearing an Ankh around her neck...

[Rob Staeger (Grodd Mod)]

Rich Lane said:

Wouldn't everyone's jaws drop if, when they finally reveal the Guardian of the Black Lanterns, it turns out to be a cute little goth chick wearing an Ankh around her neck...

Minds would be blown. Internets would crack in half.

[Wandering Sensei: Moderator Man]

Rob Staeger said:

And frankly, what are the powers of the other rings? Are they all energy projectors, regardless of color and the emotion that fuels them, or do they manifest their power differently as well? I haven't been reading GL, so it's a point I missed. (Are red lanterns really all about the barfing?)

Reading the "Secret Files" pages in the Blackest Night #0 from Free Comic Book Day (reprinted in Tales of the Corps), it looks like some make the energy constructs, but some don't. It looks like the Red Lanterns just barf up acid blood. The Blue seem all about the recharging. Orange seems to make constructs, but there's only one of him and he just creates other creatures. And Lord knows what those Indigo guys are supposed to be doing with their big "Riiiiiiiiiicola" horns.

[Rob Staeger (Grodd Mod)]

Thanks, Jeff. Has the entirety of Blackest Night 0 been reprinted yet, or just the Secret Files pages?

[Rich Lane]

Speaking of blood and colors, I thought it interesting that when Scar bit the other guardian, we were shown that their blood is yellow. With so much importance attached to color these days, I'm curious as to what that implies.