Blackest Night # 2

Only at issue #2 and I can;t imagine any other superhero story topping this. 
 
Just as a fair warning, Blackest Night: Batman #1 and Green Lantern Corps #39.
 

I love this Blackest Night stuff, the tie ins too but this story is killing me too. The anticipation between issues and tie ins has me jonesin' for more. I have never yelled, "Don't go its a trap!" into my comic until this issue and that was only the second page. I loved seeing how Deadman would be affected (checkout Blackest Night: Batman for more with Deadman) and other dead but not dead guys which is weird because i never cared about Phantom Stranger or the Specter until this issue and now I do. There is a great balance of sub plots all throughout this issue. you want to know more but you know you won't get all the answers but what you do get quenches you curosity's thirst (kind of, if you get what I mean). You see how Atlantis/Aquaman are hit, the dead but not dead people are affected, space and other people/groups are affected (I don't want to spoil anything). The issue wasn't as shocking or emotionally "compelling" as the 1st but its still amazing so far my high standards are being met. The balance of plots is awesome i cannot stress that enough though. The issue shows how far reaching the Black Lantern/Blackest Night reaches.  A great example, A couple on panels show how much chaos and far reaching the Black Lanterns are. En Sabah Ur...RISE (yea we all saw it coming). Mr. Ur all the way out in space, dead for a long time you know he'll stir up trouble and the extremely little bit we of "him" sets up another great sub plot. Damn you DC comics why are you so good...READ BLACKEST NIGHT #1 & 2 AND THE TIE INS YOU WILL NOT REGRET IT, well you will once you are as hooked as I am.

I had an absolute brilliant time reading this. You will all know by now, as you’ve probably read it, this books is fantastic. The artwork is phenomenal; it really is one of the best looking superhero books around. Hawkman is just so creepy, I love it. High point for me was Barry & Hal vs. the Martian Manhunter, that was awesome. But Hal crashing into the bat signal and that last page with the Black Lantern Justice League! Some of the coolest pages ever!     
 

Like my review? (Or even if you don’t!) Then please check out the following blogs for more comic related goodness: http://hexsfifthcolumn.blogspot.com/ & http://acomicbookblog.com/category/comic-book-blog/marvel-blog/      

 

the blackest night is hear and it hits hard when hal and barry get the crap beaten out of them by the heart and soul of the jla martian manhunter well he probably doesnt  have soul any more and im pretty sure he wants to rip there hearts out and there is a BIG plot twist in this issue when lil old dove doesnt want to rise from the dead and tormeant his friends!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!mean while mera and tempest are attacked by aqua man tula and dolphin unfortantely tempest dies..........but we get to seea black lantern jla which is better!!!!!!!!this was written by geoff johns and art by ivan reis.it was shorter but the story telling and art was amazing!

 (No spoilers...WOOT)
When I first saw Blackest Night #1 I merely brushed it away, but when I got Red Robin I liked it and wanted to get more DC titles. Blackest Night came highly recommended and I figured I would check out both and I don't regret it. Now I have not been keeping up with the latest Green Lantern stories but this gave you a bit of backround on who has died and other important things. What I like about this is that the heroes are now forced to fight their friends and loved ones which gives a twist to the story which I like. Now the only thing that I may have a problem with is that it seems to me that they are making the Black Lanterns invincible. Overall 4.5 out of 5 a really good series so far.

As far as progression goes this issue doesn't really take the story anywhere. 
For a mega event that spans 8 issues I would expect a certain stride with each new chapter...
 But Geoff Johns does give the reader a lot to absorb and think about. 
The developments with The Specter and Deadman were interesting and it alludes to how the black rings work with the corpses they take control of. 
What I interpreted was that the corpses work independently of the "soul" or essence or whatever you want to call it. A black ring will take over, it will utilize the thoughts and memories that were specific to the corpse, and then uses them to get an emotional response from whoever they encounter. Then when they get an emotional response they can feed... That's whats happened with every time a Black Lantern has murdered someone. They feed off of emotion.  You'll see what I mean when Arthur Curry encounters his family, Mera and Temprest... It's pretty insane.
So what happens to the soul if the corpse is taken over? That question is being answered with what's happening with The Specter and Deadman. Should be interesting...
Also, what occurs at the grave site of Hawk and Dove was really cool as well. Babs and G-Man touched on what my initial impression was when they did their review. Is there a criteria that needs to be filled for a corpse to be re-animated by a black ring? Do violent deaths lead to violent afterlives?
So far every black lantern that has been resurrected had met a violent end. Did Jonathan Kent die a violent death?  
Overall this issue was intriguing. Like I mentioned the story doesn't really go anywhere but it does explain a lot in regards to the Black Lanterns. I enjoyed the hell out of it.

The Summer Blockbuster is back for another installment and while I disagree with some reviews of this book, saying it is a horrible issue. I'll admit that it doesn't completely have me begging for more, but it's not bad, just stumbling due to the Part Two CompleX that many story arcs fall prey to, it's lacking a solid beginning and end.  
 
There isn't a lot of reveals in this book and the plot of each story thread is so thin that it's hard to get a real fix on what exactly the reader should be paying attention to. I'm not reading the Green Lantern Tie-Ins (the core book and Corps), but I know what is going on in general with the books so I don't feel lost when it comes to The Flash and Green Lantern's storyline, but anything involving Aquaman -- and believe me, that's a big factor in this issue -- I find hard to follow. Even paging through it I find it hard to really nail down anything else important that happens here. And I think it all falls on John's writing, he's trying to take a very big story and stick it in one place. Not that things like Secret Invasion or Civil War haven't done that, but I guess as an outsider to the history of DC I don't feel as pulled in by the high counts of "Rising" going on and really am just in for Hal Jordan.  
 
The art is wonderful and is beautifully spread across the board just like the last issue, it's just at the end of the day I think it could have been better. Not the best comic of this week, and it's hard to live up to the first issue, but I don't see why someone wouldn't pick it up.