Blackest Night #8
Writer: Geoff Johns
Penciller: Ivan Reis
Inker: Oclair Albert & Joe Prado
Colorist: Alex Sinclair
Letterer: Nick J Napolitano
DC Comics
Price: $3.99
Released: March 31, 2010

Well, Blackest Night has finally reached its conclusion, and it’s been a fun ride. Issue #8 is the final issue of the series, so of course we get the big battle, the resolution, and the set up for the next batch of stories.

Was the story as a whole a success? Yes, very much so. A multitude of great character moments: the joy of the Flash as a Blue Lantern; the next great buddy comedy comic in Larfleeze/Lex Luthor: The Orange Couple; Kyle Rayner and the ghosts of dead girlfriends past; and any ton of other things I can’t think of off the top of my head.

I did have some problems with the series as a whole, namely that it did go on for a bit too long (I think it could have stood to be 6 issues instead of 8) and I never felt like I got a good handle on Nekron as the main villain. I wish more time had been spent setting him up and explaining who he is rather than just trotting him out and saying he wants to kill everything. Maybe I need to read the whole story again to get a better feel for his story.

A very special congratulations should go out to the artists on the three books that made up the core story: Doug Mahnke (Green Lantern), Patrick Gleason (Green Lantern Corp), and of course Ivan Reis on the Blackest Night miniseries. All three have turned in top notch work (nearly) month in and month out. Reis continues his string of great issues, turns in the requisite two-page spread of every Lantern imaginable (seriously, DC artists, you’ve got at least a one-year moratorium on the big ‘all the Lanterns flying at reader’ shot, I’ve seen it enough for a while), and then gets to draw some fantastic emotional scenes in the last half of the book. Speaking of the last half of the book, this is where Reis really shines, as there a several powerful moments, and he completely sells those moments, especially what happens to Black Hand. He should be applauded for every issue of this series, and he deserves a much needed break, but I’ll be lining up to buy whatever he works on next.

To say this is a comic with great moments is an understatement. I’m as reluctant to mention some of the moments as I was when Siege #3 came out, because there are some big things going down. We figured that the end of this series would see the return of some of the big heroes that have perished recently in the DC Universe, and that moment is paid off well. Some of the heroes that return were expected (Aquaman was a given, what with the cover to Brightest Day #2; Martian Manhunter, also not really a surprise), but there are a fair number of surprise characters that show up, and a couple of characters that are noticeably absent in their return. The moments in this issue made it completely satisfying, and even though this is the end of the series, it’s become of tradition for stories written by Geoff Johns to set up more stories within a satisfying conclusion. This issue doesn’t fail in that respect, as we see a number of interesting stories to follow coming out of it.

So what’s to come in Green Lantern? Who knows? I’m sure it will involve aliens, emotions, someone flying through space, and much chanting of oaths. I’ll be glad to see the stories return to something a bit smaller scale (at least I presume the stories will scale back a bit in epic scope). It goes without saying that I’m giving this a 5 out of 5. Now everybody say the oath with me:

In brightest day, in blackest night
No evil shall escape my sight
Let those who worship evil’s might
Beware my power”¦Green Lantern’s light!