Wiki Explanation: “Blackest Night”Posted on Mon, Jul 20, 2009
“Blackest Night” is a company-wide[1] crossover story arcpublished by DC Comics. Written by Geoff Johns and pencilled by Ivan Reis,[2] It follows Green Lantern: Rebirth and “Sinestro Corps War” as the third part of a trilogy focusing on the Green Lantern comics. The storyline was first revealed at the conclusion of “Sinestro Corps War”. The arc is slated to run eight months through Green Lantern, Green Lantern Corps, a self titled limited series, and various ancillary limited series. The initial issues were released in early July 2009 with a cover date of September.
The story line was first mentioned at the conclusion of the “Sinestro Corps War” inGreen Lantern vol. 4, #25. As the war between the Green Lantern and Sinestro Corps reaches its climax, the four Green Lanterns of Earth (Hal Jordan, Guy Gardner, John Stewart andKyle Rayner) are told by the Guardians Ganthet and Sayd of the “Blackest Night” prophecy. According to the prophecy, the two existing Corps would be joined by five new ones, each driven by a specific emotion and empowered by a specific color of the emotional spectrum, leading to an all-out “War of Light” that would end up destroying the universe.
Shortly after the defeat of the Sinestro Corps, the Anti-Monitor is transported to an unspecified location, later revealed to be space Sector 666. He is recognized by a dark voice that bids him rise. Too weak to resist or escape, he is engulfed by a Black Power Battery. The teaser proclaimed that “…the armies of fear and willpower must come together, because across the Universe, the dead will rise.” A rotted hand was shown coming out of the ground with a black ring on its finger.[3] The symbol on the ring is of Green Lantern villain Black Hand.[4]
Both Geoff Johns and Ethan Van Sciver have stated that “Blackest Night” will be the third part of a Green LanternWar Of Light Trilogy that began with Rebirth and continued with “Sinestro Corps War”.[5] In an interview with IGN, Johns stated that he has the monthly Green Lantern book plotted up until issue #55, which (presuming there are little or no delays in the book) would come out in June of 2010.[6]
More details for the event are revealed in DC Universe #0, which also sets the stage for most of the DCU line in 2008-2009.[7] DC Universe #0, which bridged the story between Countdown #1 and Final Crisis #1, depicts Green Lantern villain Black Hand discovering the black power battery on a distant planet.
“Blackest Night” will feature Aquaman, as DC’s Executive Editor Dan DiDioexplained: “Aquaman’s storyline picks up again in Blackest Night, and what happens following that is a key story beat of Blackest Night.”[8]
Blackest Night #0 was released on Free Comic Book Day 2009, which recaps the key moments from the Sinestro Corps War and Rage of the Red Lanternsthat led to Blackest Night, and gave readers everything they need to know about the Green Lantern universe, their ongoing War of Light, and their dark days ahead.[9] Ivan Reis will leave the Green Lantern monthly title with the beginning of Blackest Night to focus on the mini-series and a later project involving Geoff Johns.[2] When Blackest Night begins and Reis leaves the main Green Lantern title, he will be replaced by Doug Mahnke.[10]
The crossover was preceded by two crucial “Prelude to Blackest Night” storylines in Green Lantern Corps #33-#38, called “Emerald Eclipse” andGreen Lantern #39-#42, called “Agent Orange”. “Emerald Eclipse” in Green Lantern Corps chronicles Mongul‘s conquering of Daxam and his elevation to the leadership of the Sinestro Corps, all while the rogue Guardian Scar uses an imprisoned Red Lantern to start a riot in the sciencells between the Green Lanterns and their prisoners from the Sinestro Corps War. “Agent Orange” in Green Lantern, which runs parallel to “Emerald Eclipse,” introduces Larfleeze‘s Orange Lanterns and sets the final stage for the “War of Light” and subsequent Blackest Night.
The stand-alone self-titled Blackest Night series consists of the Free Comic Book Day issue and eight monthly issues. Tie-ins on the part 1 Blackest Night checklist include issues of both Green Lantern and Green Lantern Corps starting with the issues #43 and #38; and a handful of 3 issue limited series which will bear the titleBlackest Night:… Titles and shipping months for some of the three issue titles have been announced as: Tales of the Corps with all three issues shipping in July, 2009; Batman, Superman, and Titans which will begin in August; and Wonder Woman and other unspecified titles shipping from November.[11]
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