"The Blackest Night" Talkback Thread (Spoilers)

[Steve]

LMAO. Of course, that also brings to mind the Robot Chicken skit of "Captain Planet" (namely, Ted Turner painting himself blue and killing polluters).

"Protect the environment, or I'll #(*@ing kill you! CAPTAIN PLANET!!!"

[TimothyC]

Spoiler

I did not see the once dead, redieing like that at all.

[Superboy]

Spoiler

Anybody have any guesses on how Abin Sur is connected to the Indigo Tribe? Indigo 1 calls him her Savior and his name is mentioned in the Indigo Oath amongst all the indigo language gibberish. She has also claimed to have met him before he died.

[The Grim Squeaker]

Spoiler

Anybody have any guesses on how Abin Sur is connected to the Indigo Tribe? Indigo 1 calls him her Savior and his name is mentioned in the Indigo Oath amongst all the indigo language gibberish. She has also claimed to have met him before he died.

Spoiler

There's also the fact that he recognized Indigo 1 before being vaporized.
Although oddly enough the Black lanterns seemed relatively unaware of the Indigos, but that still doesn't rule out that they were created in some way with Abin Sur's help

More backhistory ho!

[Majin Gojira]

Spoiler

I did not see the once dead, redieing like that at all.

Spoiler

I did, but barely. But that pretty much confirms that there's going to be a cure or reset button at the end of this.

[JME2]

Spoiler

Anybody have any guesses on how Abin Sur is connected to the Indigo Tribe? Indigo 1 calls him her Savior and his name is mentioned in the Indigo Oath amongst all the indigo language gibberish. She has also claimed to have met him before he died.

I've heard an interesting theory...
Spoiler

It all comes back to one of the key foundations of Johns' saga: Alan Moore's 1987 short story "Tygers". Remember, Abin Sur only went to Ysmault initially because he received a distress call from a downed ship. Quille allowed Abin to rescue the only survivor, a young girl, during his questioning.

But the ultimate fate of the girl is unknown.

I think Indigo-1 is the girl. She would consider Abin her savior, Abin would obviously recognize her, and it would be just like Johns to pick up on such a plot thread for his run.

And I have more to say on TBN# 5, but for now...Holy. Shit.

[Steve]

Holy shit indeed.

[JME2]

Yeah. Fuck you, Grant Morrison; this is the day that evil won...
Spoiler

* A Buddy Comedy: I would pay good money for a Larfleeze backup feature in GL; his interactions with Atrocitus were absolutely hysterical. If he bites it and doesn't get resurrected, I'm going to be pissed.

* Coming of the Guard: While somewhat silly in concept - especially given the characters' lamp shading of it -- it's nevertheless thrilling to finally see the 7 Generals finally assembled and interacting with one another. Ivan Reis' double-page spread was gorgeous. He'd better win an award for the work he's done.

* "Bruce Wayne": Goddammit, this would have played so much better if Morrison had actually had the balls to off Bats and not throw in the fucking caveman scene at the end of Final Crisis. I'm calling it right now; the Black Lantern Bats was one of the clones from Darkseid's lab.

* Death of a Lackey: Wasn't expecting Scar to get offed so soon, but I'm sure Nekron can revive her.

* An Energizing Development: Also wasn't expecting the left field twist of the 7 emotions strengthening Nekron rather than weakening him. Kinda makes sense, with darkness absorbing light. And based on his and Black Hand's dialogue, looks like the Guardians have a skeleton in their closet that far surpasses Parallax, the Manhunters, or anything else.

* Death Becomes Them: Yeah, Supes, Connor, Bart, and the others becoming Black Lanterns all but screams Reset Button, but it's still cool as all hell. Interesting that Nekron had a role in their revivals...

[Phenomenol]

Final Crisis tie-ins are still freaking gold now? The only thing I want out of this is for Ted Kord to come back and stay back but not as a Zombie though.

[JME2]

IGN has uploaded preview pages for TBN: The Flash # 1, which goes on sale on Monday.

On one hand, this will likely spoil the ending of Flash: Rebirth (and the delays there are killing the momentum of the relaunch; it was supposed to end in September for God's sake, not January). On the other hand, Johns and Kollins knocked one out of the ballpark last year with "Rogues' Revenge". If this doesn't exceed it, it'll certainly at least be Rogue War II. I'm really, really looking forward to seeing how Cold and his crew fare against their dead comrades-in-arms.

[JME2]

Also forgot that TBN: Wonder Woman # 1 will also be on sale tomorrow. IGN has also uploaded a preview and it's looking good. It's be nice to have Greg Rucka writing Diana again and fitting, given Diana killed Maxwell Lord under his watch. And you thought the only payback for that snafu came courtesy of Brother Eye 4 years ago...

[JME2]

Some additional thoughts on TBN # 5:
Spoiler

I've been thinking over the failed assault on the Black Lantern CPB since the weekend. Again, if they were harvesting emotions from the onset, this is a development that in retrospect was obvious from issue 1.

But I also just realized that there's more to it, that Johns specifically set this development up two and half years ago.

Think back to the SCW Prologue, to the interrogation of Henshaw. Sayd quoted one of the Ysmault Prophecies recorded in the Book of Oa:

A face of metal and flesh shall speak of the secrets of the 52.
Fear will rise.
Willpower will gather.
And a war of light will unleash the truth behind the power of the ring.

The first three predictions came true, but the last has been a dangling plot thread -- until now. Clever bastard...

It's clear that everything we thought we knew about the Emotional Spectrum is about to be challanged with these closing months. The issue is, if the Guardians have a massive skeleton in their closet regarding the emotional spectrum's origins and funcctions, wouldn't Ganthet and Sayd have known? Wouldn't they have warned the Color Guard or contradicted Indigo-1? Or do they even know? Does it be tied with the thread of Krona's experiments with the Orange Light back in "Agent Orange"?

So many possibilities...

[Bedlam]

Got the Blackest night tie ins Adventure Comics 5 and Rebels 11 today
Spoiler

Adventure Comics
Well this is a bit of an odd one, a quite tour of the DC offices with a load of Cameos.
Not sure what was suposed to be happening at the end and if this is in continuity or not. Prime seems to be able to fight off the effect of the black lantern ring by feeling all the colours of the emotional spectrum, why him and not the rest of the heroes grabbed last week? He put the ring on willingly which might mean the ring wasn't ready in some way or was it something to do with him not having died like the rest of the heroes?

In the end its a shame Prime doesn't die and I dont know what to make of the last panel.

REBELS

Not to much to add to blackest night but overall I just love this series its great to see that lovable bastard Dox out and about. I'm only partually suprised that its that easy to get kicked out of the Sinistro Corps but I'd think the ring would kill you leaving, I supose they had to have a reset button but I would have liked to have Dox remain with a yellow ring.

Has anyone had their heart ripped out while full of Willpower / Green so far? I cant remember seeing anything so far, Dox makes a reference to having to use will power to stop feeling which just gave the black lantern what it wanted but it didn't seem to attack him at that moment. Has this been seen in any of the Green Lantern comics?

[JME2]

Here are my thoughts on a couple of the tie-ins from the last 2 weeks...
Spoiler

* Adventure Comics # 5: You know, he's one of my favorite villains from recent years, but even I'm getting tired of Prime. I really wish Lo3W had been the last word on the character, but I guess Johns isn't done with him. I'm also weary of meta-commentary; I was half expecting Johns himself to interact with Prime -- though Prime tearing through the DC offices was pretty funny. Prime's interaction with the Black Ring was also interesting; I'm wondering if this will become a plot point in the final issues.

As to the last panel, I assume Laurie was going to kill him. We've still got 3 issues left in TBN, so if a Black Lantern Prime shows up, we'll know what happened. I'm not esepecially

* TBN: Wonder Woman # 1: Excellent work and characterization for Diana and Black Lantern Max respectively. Loved the "All Aboard the Ted Kord Express!" line.

* TBN: The Flash # 1: Let's see...Scot Kollins drawing the Flash and the Rogues again? Check. Hints to the nature of Professor Zoom's resurrection in Flash: Rebirth? Double check. Undead gorillas? Trippe check.

[Steve]

For my fellow GL fans, my brother displaying his new acquisition with his (our!) kitty Shadow.

[JME2]

For my fellow GL fans, my brother displaying his new acquisition with his (our!) kitty Shadow.

Since you reminded me, I still want DC Direct to manufacture a Dex-Starr plushie at some point.

[JME2]

Alright, a reminder to everyone that GLC# 43 goes on sale tomorrow. IGN has posted their usual preview and we can officially welcome the newest inductee to the Red Lantern Corps...

[Darth Fanboy]

Well Shiiiiiiiit. This actually makes a lot of sense, can't wait to see how this development turns out.

[Steve]

Oh yes, this will be good.....

[JME2]

Well Shiiiiiiiit. This actually makes a lot of sense, can't wait to see how this development turns out.

Yeah especially in, heh, light of that little nugget from Booster Gold # 2, that Guy would be instrumental in the War of Light.

It'll be interesting if Red Lantern Guy proves to be a pivotal plot point in TBN's climax.

[JME2]

So, my thoughts on GLC # 43
Spoiler

* Red Dawn: Again, Guy with Vice's ring should be interesting.

* Cross the Streams: You know on one hand, I'm kinda annoyed how quickly Kyle returned from the dead. I thought Kyle's death was going to be a key plot point of TBN's climax, that Color Guard would have an inside man trying to undermine the Black Lanterns from within.

On the other hand...well, Kyle's alive again for one. My favorite Lantern's back...

Two...the great thing about GLC is that even though it's tying into the TBN narrative, Tomasi is still continuing and paying off storylines he's set up throughout his run. Kyle and Soranik's relationship with Miri was a dangling thread from "Sins of the Star Sapphires" and we're seeing it taken to it's natural continuation, if not conclusion, here. He's done well in having character-driven GL stories whereas Johns has been more plot-driven in the lead-up to TBN.

But it's also likely now that Kyle and Guy are both going to specifically targeted by Nekron for having escaped death (Guy during Our Worlds at War and Kyle during both this and "The Obsidian Age" epic.

* That's no Moon: And Mogo joins the fray -- though somewhat worrisome, given what we know of Mogo's fate from Legion of 3 Worlds...

[Steve]

Spoiler

So, my thoughts on GLC # 43
* Red Dawn: Again, Guy with Vice's ring should be interesting.

* Cross the Streams: You know on one hand, I'm kinda annoyed how quickly Kyle returned from the dead. I thought Kyle's death was going to be a key plot point of TBN's climax, that Color Guard would have an inside man trying to undermine the Black Lanterns from within.

On the other hand...well, Kyle's alive again for one. My favorite Lantern's back...

Honestly, the way the Black Lanterns have been betrayed such is impossible. Just look at Deadman. There is no spirit actually living in the Black Lantern, just a figure of rotting decomposing flesh brought into animation by the power of Nekron.

* That's no Moon: And Mogo joins the fray -- though somewhat worrisome, given what we know of Mogo's fate from Legion of 3 Worlds...

Given the teaser for the next issue was given as "Mister Mogo Rising".....

[JME2]

Spoiler

Yeah, I know the portrayal of the Black Lanterns made subterfuge by an undead Kyle impossible, but it would be neat. I'm just really hoping the climax of TBN is similar to SCW in that the 4 Earth Lanterns each have a critical role. At the very least, I'm certain we're going to get Hal and Sinestro vs. Nekron. Fear and Willpower must come together as the teaser stated and those two havve been linked throughout this entire saga.

[GuppyShark]

Spoiler

Sooo. The power of love brings him back? Does that make him a Star Sapphire?

[Bedlam]

Spoiler

Sooo. The power of love brings him back? Does that make him a Star Sapphire?

Spoiler

I'm not sure if the normal costume would suit him
Hal, however, might just be able to pull it off