Mera - " If I'm Wonder Woman and you're Superman, what's that make him? " 
Atom - " The Flash " 
 
It was a fantasitc moment. One of my favourites in the whole comic, but then again I am a massive Flash fan. Barry Allen kicks major Black Lantern butt in this issue.  
In issue three we saw resident ring slinger Hal Jordan whisked off world by Indigo-1. Now the rest of Earth's heroes are left to defend against the rising dead. Flash takes it upon himself to warn everyone by running around, literally, he is the Flash after all, and telling tem face to face. This was a nice touch as we get to see how other heroes and teams are dealing with the Blackest Night. We see the Titans aswell as the JSA and other heroes like Wonder Woman, Green Arrow and Black Canary. Unfortunately thats about it.  
Taking Hal Jordan, the main character may I remind you, from Earth means the action is else where meaning Blackest Night four plays second to Green Lantern forty six, which is where Hal Jordan is to be found and where the action/plot/storyline of the Blackest Night continues. I find this fundamentally wrong and a very silly mistake for Johns to have made. This is basically a filler issue which yes, widens the scope of the Blackest Night to the rest of  Earth's heroes but also fails to progress the Blackest Night in anyway. Well only one, which is seen at the very end. Nekron is the mastermind behind the Black Lanterns, Coast City is now where the Black Lantern battery is and thus Earth is now, again, the center of the story. I imagine the effect Johns is looking for is to have Hal return to Earth to see the destroyed Coast City, Hals greatest failure, full of Black Lanterns and this will put Hal off his game making it harder for him to beat the baddy in the end.
It just doesnt strike me as fair to be buying a comic at an increased price due to its Blackest Night label and have only one significant moment happen which furthers the story in anyway. 
Its like I siad at the start, this issue is about the Flash and how he deals with the Crisis while the Green Lantern has been taken to another title. It really annoyed me. Green Lantern forty six is a great issue which I greatly enjoyed but thats because it continues the story of the Blackest Night. To read the Blackest Night and not be reading the Green Lantern title is hard to imagine as the two are so closely linked that they share the same protagenist. Unfortunately Hal Jordan cant be in two places at once meaning one title had to suffer and suffer Blackest Night issue four did.  
There are some fantastic moments, most centred around the Flash and The Atom, while other moments like the bit with Atom smasher and Damage come across as cheesy and over emphasized. Why have have such a deep three page conversation with a character whos going to be killed in the fourth? Its "an enjoyable" read but in no way should you fell like you have to pick this up if you want to know whats going on,
Two stars for not delivering what it  should have. Very dissapointing.

Green Lantern #43 is said to be the prolougue to the Blackest Night. I disagree. This issue is basically an introduction, if you havnt met him already, to Black Hand. The main bulk of the issue is seen in flashback, through the eyes of Black Hand.  We see childhood memories, his first encounter with Green Lantern and his birth as a villian. The end of the issue is set in the present and we see Black Hand confront his family. The layout of this issue really annoyed me. I want to see progression of this story, im sick of issues being used here and there to prep us for the big event or introduce to characters or even to just jog our memories abit. I want the story now. Its only in the last two pages that we see the story towards the Black Night progress. I find this happening alot in all things BLackest Night and it anooys me. Maybe Johns is trying to pull every other title back to allow Blackest Night #1 to pack as much punch as possable. Maybe but who knows except for him and unfortunately I havnt been able to get my hands on Black Night #1 so I cant say if this is true or not. What I can say is that I found this issue stagnant, with very little story progression.

However......

Saying all this I read through the issue again and have to admit it is excellently written. By Black Hand mentioning many of the dead heroes and villians in the DCU our minds are instantly brimming with anticipation. We are reminded that any of these characters could be making an appearence very soon. Our appitites are wetted. Those characters that have been dead and ressurected  are also given a specail mention which would indicate to me that they have a specail connection to the Black Lanterns or a significant role to play in the BLackest Night. Johns has also excelled in creating Black Hand as a menacing, frighting and original villian. Black Hand is shown as a missunderstood boy who grows into an strange and tormented man. There is something truely terrifying about the stillness that is acheived in the illistration of the last pages. The speed at which he raises the rod to his head and the lack of hesitation as he sets it off. There is no high strung drama or epic inner monologoue as William Hand ends his life. It is writing at its best, refreshing and wonderfull, a pleasure to read. It is thorugh this that Johns create Black Hand as an exceptional character. I neither sympathise with him nor depise him. I look at him in those pages and I think, what an absolute freak. Johns proves his worth as a writer ,not the first time mind you and also reminds us why we love him.
Here comes the hardest part. I feel this issue stalls the story, which I hate. This issue explores Black Hand incredably, which i adore. This leaves me with two scores, 2 out of 5 and 5 out of 5, and inner conflict like you wouldnt beleive. Averaging both of these you get a rating of 3.5 out of 5. Part of me is telling you to pick this issue up, the other is telling you not to bother. Unfortunately I dont think Iv been much help on this one, maybe next time.

....go on then, pick it up!

First off, I like miniseries. Unlike continued comic series, with miniseries you always feel there is going to be a definate conclusion at the end. So while this issue by itself may not have been fantastic, as an introduction to this miniseries i think it was superb. From what i can gather the series appears to be character driven, which i love! It reminds me very much of Identity Crisis where characters, their emotional journey and thought process all took center stage and this was something which i realy liked. I really think that this miniseries is taking the same direction and I look forward to seeing if it does.
Iv always been a fan of Green Lantern, Green Arrow, my first exposure to him being Identity Crisis, and their relationship and i think it was superbly captured in the opening pages. The dialougue between them really captured the intensity of their relationship but was not over burdened thanks to the witty exchanges and often comic dialougue between the two.
Its nice to see Ray Palmer back! Identity Crisis was again my first exposure to this character and this series seems to be carrying on the emotional intensity that was created in that arc. The dialougue between the two atoms was excellent again it really captured the essence of the relationship, the new Atom, in awe and the original Atom, inspried by the new.
Characters like Congorilla and Starman are completly new to me. I dont however find that this hinders the story or comic as a whole. From their introductions they seem as real and complex as the more mainstream heroes and i am very much looking forward to seeing how their journey unfold.
The illistration was incredable. I find Casciolis style to be very like that of Alex Ross except less user intensive and in my opinion, better. He creates innovations in the simple things like the representation of Green Lanterns bubble. In other words, its never looked so cool.
Something else i really liked was the little wrap up text by the Robinson at the end, Iv always been a fan of looking at the process of producing the comic and I felt this really added depth to the comic.
Highlights, Hal talking down Superman and the League, that was a riveting speech, the illistration,and Green Arrows "you and me, old times, new times, ALL the time." love that line.

Lowlights, the lack of plot, while i like the characters development i dont know if it was a waste not including some hint as to the story or plot and am afraid that other characters that are introduced along the way may suffer from no having the same tome taken to introduce them.
With all this said, for crying out loud, i think we need more comics like this! 4 stars. Essential reading.

This issue takes place after the events of The Outsiders Specail. First and foremost its not an action issue. It deals with the new cast of the Outsiders, seen on the cover and weather or not they are willing to become part of the team. I suppose the issues base function is to introduce the cast, new format of the team, and basically all the newness.
Its a good issue. Does what its supposed to and does it well. One thing i reallly liked was the close in on each character and what they did during their two days in which they had to decide weather to join or not. Creeper out of all of these was my favourite. He's going to provide the bizarity of the group, im not going to say humour as Metamorpho has that all wraped up, but even better was the inner struggle that was described in his talking to himself. From the onset it looks like hes the ticking time bomb that could blow at any second.
I was not a fan of the whole Geo-Force and Katanna kissing thing that they had going on. In my eyes it was a way of killing two birds with one stone. The writiers would now only have to deal with the one emotional upstart for the two characters. Now, had I been writing I would have had the love interest develop and blossom once the team were on a mission.
Black lightning was a bit cliche. Family man,  daughters, yadda yadda yadda. Hes bringing to the team what Green Arrow brought, old age, except Green Arrow was funnier. It could work out that his serious disposition could contrast well off Creeper and Metamorpho, but well have to see.
Halo, like Owl man a character i had not read previously also like Creeer for that matter, was pure gold. Her banter with Katanna was classic and i cant wait to see the two more really great pairing of female characters while her lonley entrance to the Batcave was heartbreaking and really emotive i think off all of them im looking forward to see how she develops thruogh the series.
Owlman i like to. Im glad they didnt make him dark and moody. Batman was enoughof that and seen as they look so similar im glad they took him in another direction and made him a TV host. Metamorpho too also was on fire, talking to himself, bringing the element of humour as always. (element get it!!!)
Iv been reading the outsiders since it began its new run 14 issues previous and to be honest ill be pretty peived if they dont deal with other characters who were in the previous team and how theyve not been included. Its something id like to see done and if they dont Ill just feel like they dumped the previous team by the wayside with no further thuoght. Thats a bad thing.
I loved the shut down of communication Alf is implementing. Itll allow the team to develop within itself and mean they dont go galivanting off with the J.L.A on a four issue story arc cause the writiers cant come up with anything better to write about.
Im really loving the direction the team is being taken. Its reminisent of the old Jame Bond style with Alf incharge playing it good old British style. I can feel he to will add alot to the series.
This issue was a good one. But it should be stated tthat it was the begining issue and these are always fun to read. The team seems good as do their prospects of survival on my reading list. As i said up top its not an action issue, but the very end villain sequence wets the appitite for the adventure to come while the Germen setting continues the international feel the series has already set in place.
Four out of Five aint bad, not at all, it would have got less but dam, that batrocket was cool!
Yours in reading,
Spectrum