I just finished reading Blackest Night #8 and it wasn’t what I was expecting. I super enjoyed it, but I didn’t get the sense of closure I was looking for. What really got me excited was the storyline possibilities for the entire DC Universe — not just the Green Lantern books. While the finale did an okay job at ending Blackest Night, it excelled at teasing future storylines across multiple books. Random thoughts and spoilers ahead!
– I was disappointed in Sinestro’s “ending”. I really thought he was going to die in issue #8. In my head I pictured a fallen hero finding redemption and closure on the death of his best friend (Abin Sur, Hal Jordan’s predecessor) by dying to save the universe. Perhaps that was too obvious. Instead, he kind of just goes with the flow. The good news is that he has plenty to do in the Green Lantern books and he’s such a great character.
– The Indigo Tribe was never really explained. I still don’t get them. I’m probably not supposed to. However, it would have been nice to understand their motivations. I’m sure they’ll be popping up again and they will be developed, but there should have been more details given in Blackest Night. For now, they’re just these tribal people with power rings and no shoes.
– Larfleeze cracks me up.
– The white lantern battery is exciting. I’m sure Geoff Johns will do something interesting with it.
– The resurrections were mostly awesome. Let’s go through some of them.
- J’onn J’onzz – He’s the Justice League’s glue. The DC Universe feels better and safer when he’s around. Plus, the dude’s addicted to Oreos. He’s not the flashiest character around, but everything feels more stable when he’s a big player. I’m thrilled that mean green machine is back.
- Jade – Jennie-Lynn Hayden’s return will make things really interesting for Kyle Rayner. Upon returning to life, she greeted Kyle with a big kiss. This did not go over well with Kyle’s current lady, green lantern Soranik Natu. The love triangle will be fun. Sinestro kicking Kyle’s ass for snubbing his daughter would be awesome. I’m a Guy and Hal guy, not a Kyle guy (though he’s growing on me), so any time Kyle gets his ass kicked is okay by me.
- Maxwell Lord – He really screwed up the DCU in Infinite Crisis. He almost wiped out all of Earth’s metahumans and succeeded in tarnishing Wonder Woman’s reputation forever. He’s cunning, devious, and dangerous. I’m sure he’ll pop up in big way soon. That said, a small part of me wishes DC would retcon his story and make him used-car salesman that ran the Justice League and Super Buddies (*snicker*) again.
- Hawkman and Hawkgirl – I’m glad they’re back and I’m super glad that Hawkgirl isn’t Kendra Saunders anymore. Carter Hall was getting too ornery and Kendra was getting too flighty in the JSA books. I’m glad the Hawks are back to normal.
- Deadman – Fans of DCU’s magical characters will get a kick out of Deadman being…uh…not dead. This was a fun curveball and I think the writers can do something cool with Boston Brand being alive. I suppose he should change his name though. It no longer applies.
- Eobard Thawne – Well, Barry Allen is back so you might as well bring back his greatest villain, right? Professor Zoom is cool and all, but he just seems like a guy with funky powers and a lot of brain damage. The Reverse Flash is just a vicious son of a bitch. He adds an ever-present sense of danger to Barry Allen’s life as The Flash.
- Digger Harkness – Not only did Captain Boomerang come back from the dead, he lost weight and gained hair color too! While he won’t have the impact of Thawne, but it’s good to bring him back to the Flash’s rogues gallery. Between Barry Allen, Wally West, and Bart Allen, there are a lot of super speedsters in DC. They need more rogues. Plus, I’m looking forward to seeing how he interacts with his son. I’m also looking forward to seeing any fallout for his role in Identity Crisis.
- Aquaman – He’s okay. I just wish they brought him back looking like Vincent Chase. That would have been cool.
So yeah! Blackest Night has been wrapped up and Brightest Day has been set up; those elements of issue #8 were fine, but not great. The resurrections and implications really got me excited. Of course I’m going to read the whole series 12 times over and probably have a different opinion on Sunday. These are just my initial thoughts. If you happen to read Blackest Night #8, I’d love to hear your thoughts on it!
I never got in to comic books. Especially Superman. I mean, an alien with all that power being sent to Earth and gets away with a pair of glasses as a secret identity… give me a break. Comics are lame.
Also, pro wrestling is totally over-rated.
Big Ben did it (twice… and I ain't talking about Super Bowl rings).
Windows pwns Apple.
Final Fantasy is my favorite game series.
Transformers 2 was the best movie ever.
Lost sucks.
and I recently found Jesus.
@n8r
I'm a little disappointed that you posted the April Fool's comment. I was going along with it.
I think smartugy loves Kate too. He's pulling plays out of the ol' grade school playbook.
@ Smartguy
(in no particular order)
Local or not, it's still socialism in America and in all of our hometowns.
Road crews are paid through tax dollars. Ask someone who works for one of them if you don't believe me.
I think if we got rid of lobbyists, it would clear up alot of things wrong.
I'll agree with you about the structure of the Fed Reserve, but I still think we need a national currency. Other than that, we'd be bartering all kinds of things without a social trade system.
The Smithsonian… I personally feel that there is some art and history that should belong to the people. You give it to private investors and it will go away… guaranteed.
What would be the standard? Say a bunch of local elected officials getting together and voting by a majority on what stays and what goes? Because… That's what happens. Congress is comprised of officials voted in by the states. This is why local socialism is relevant and equally noted as federal socialism. You can't have it both ways… the Constitution guarantees that.
And, I'm as much of a "socialism advocate" guy as you are a "Republican" guy. I tend to call myself more of a "calling a spade a spade" guy.
@N8R
Of course they are paid for by tax dollars. The road crews. They are jobs that take place on non private property. It's why we pay taxes. We shouldn't pay taxes (higher or lower) to dish out entitlements and spend money on things that can be taken care of by private sector.
A free market has to have some guidelines in which to operate. I think calling it socialism on any level is incorrect use of the term socialism. Having public entities for protection such as police, fire, etc paid for by our tax dollars is part of keeping those base guidelines we need.
I apologize about the advocate term.
Ron Paul 2012!
I can see your point about Sinestro not dying but i can’t imagine the GL series without him. I love seeing fallen heroes turn into villains i don’t know what it is but it great series like these that make me a mark hoping they either die a hero. I hate that they brought back Aquaman! He’s like the least interesting JSA member. I’m going to start reading Blackest Night again just to refresh the story again in my head and get the full effect.
@n8r
Boo! you’ve turned to the dark side. I never thought i’d see this day happen.
all we need now is for smartguy to admit that he loves Kate and wishes that she would never die.
@ Comment #2
Did I forget to say April Fool’s?
@ tokz
Smartguy does love Kate, he just projects hostility in case his girl reads these forums one day.
@N8R and Tokz
I hate Kate. I hope she dies. I wish she fell to the bottom of the well instead of Juliette.
i love socialism
heard a funny joke this morning.
Q: Have you heard of the Obama value meal?
A: You order whatever you want at McDonald’s and let the guy behind you pay for it.
@tokz
If I were playing that game it would be more like this ” I hate Liv Tyler”
blizz april fools
http://us.blizzard.com/en-us/games/mobile/
@ Smartguy
If we were to do away with all socialism in the country, here’s a small list of the government institutions that would be on the scrap heap:
Public transportation
Police
Fire departments
the FAA
all national landmarks
all the parks
all the road crews
Public schools
the USDA
The American heart Association
The Smithsonian
Community Centers
The AWRA
DAARPA
The Fed Reserve
the list goes on and on etc.
My point is, America has always had a degree of socialism behind it that has been escalating since the Constitution. The Constitution itself has socialist elements to it. You could be your own judge, jury, and executioner… or you can let the government handle it. They will be funded by your tax dollars as well as everyone else’s.
I left FEMA off the list for obvious reasons. Whether or not these socialist American institutions are up to the standard we desire is another story.
@N8R
I understand you are a socialist advocate but a lot of those items on that list could be dealt away with and have very little consequence.
The Fed Reserve needs to go away.
Disappearance of road crews? WTF? Those are private companies. Public transportation? That’s a local thing. Smithsonian? Let private investors take care of it. Heart association, let it go…we don’t need them lobbying stupid elected officials. Police and Fire depts are local entities. Not federal.
You are confusing states’ rights with socialism. Socialism in and of itself in its purest form is quite despicable to me. I prefer you to pay your own way and me pay my own. I don’t need some damn politician of gov’t program to tell me what’s good for me and what is fair.
You are right though that there is a mixture of elements in our system. Some regulation is needed. Some.
@smartguy
You wouldn’t be trying to pull Liv Tyler’s hair or punching her in the arm and run away?
@tokz
that’s about all the interaction i’m sure i could get with her lol.
@ Smartguy
Let me be clear about the elephant in the room… Healthcare.
This has actually been a hot button topic for some time now (definitely since the 60’s but probably date to WWII). The fact of the matter is… it’s a clusterf#%k. It’s left all of our public officials that have been presented with it scratching their heads for years. All of them saying something needs to be done about it, but nobody having a viable solution other than “the way it is is a clusterf#%k”.
That said, i don’t believe I personally am smart enough or vain enough to say i got it figured out. there are all kinds of hurdles to jump through there no matter what can be done. I’m at a loss for a good solution.
The only things I can really say about Obama’s package that I think are good is the regu;ations on insurance companies not dropping people or denying people based on preexisting nonsense. After that… I’m shrugging my shoulders.
@ Smartguy
If it’s paid for by taxes for the government to use to do it whether by outsourcing or keeping it in house… it’s socialist. A spade is a spade, dude. We socially got together and decided it.
Dude, i don’t want to put my own fires out or trust my neighbors to do the same.
@n8r and smartguy
Where did you guys see that when you read the Blackest Night Series!
@ tokz
What, you don’t get the pun?
What it is, is it’s obviously something Smartguy and I think about alot. We also enjoy having these conversations from time to time.
What’s weird is, if we come at it from different sides of the field, we usually find a happy medium from thousands of miles apart over the internet relatively quickly. I respect the guy like crazy, and he knows that.
The point is, if him and I were in charge, chances are the country would kick alot of ass.
@n8r
I get it. I felt like adding something, since all of this political banter was going on in the Blackest Night post.
I wouldn't kick Liv Tyler out of bed. She's yummy.
@Ray
Definitely not.
@N8R
some teeth would be alright.
@N8R
You hit the nail on the head. When two dissenting opinions are in charge, the thing runs better. Right now you have the same party in power of 2 branches. That inherently leads to strict agenda based politics. Clinton had success because GOP was in control of legislature, Reagan was successful because Tip O’Neil and the Dems had the legislature. You can’t have power in both branches and expect good results.
@ Liv Tyler
I’d kick her out if she used her teeth.
@ Smartguy
I see your point and tend to agree, but there may be some exceptions. I think Bush would have been terrible either way and Kennedy was doing ok until he got shot for it.
What I never understood is how everyone in one party seemed to agree on these issues. It’s like the heads of both parties get together, flip a coin, and then defend the side of the debate allotted to them vehemently. That’s why I say I’m non-partisan. I can’t agree with everything for the hell of it.
@N8R
Bush I think could be an anomaly. He had a dem congress, but they were and are just as bad. Also the 9/11 issue has to be in play because something like that has so many variables.
Kennedy could fall in the same boat (pun intended).
@ Smartguy
My point was, there are notable exceptions to the rule.
Alright for you, but I value my manhood. I don’t care how rich or hot a girl is, there are something’s I can’t do.
What if she’s in to scat?
@N8R
Scat is a no go.