Blackest Night: Living to die or dying to live?

Joshua Li / Edge columnist

After the events of DC’s Sinestro Corps War, Blackest Night features a crisis between the Lantern Corps, the living, and the resurrected.

The Lanterns are mortals chosen by power rings based on their ability to instill an emotion. Each Lantern belongs to one of the nine Corps, each representing an element of the emotional spectrum: rage, avarice, fear, will, hope, compassion, love, death, and life.

With the lord of the unliving revived, former allies and adversaries are resurrected to conquer the earth as zombie-like entities from the Black Lantern Corps, which represent death in the emotional spectrum. The remaining Lanterns and the living must unite to stop the revived to save the world.

Blackest Night serves as a steppingstone in the redemption of Hal Jordan’s character after the events of Emerald Twilight. With Geoff Johns’ storytelling and Ivan Reis’ art, Blackest Night portrays desperation, perseverance, and leadership exceptionally well throughout the story.

With the idea of the antagonists being both zombie-like allies and adversaries, the story demonstrates the hardships of saving the world even if it meant losing an ally or a loved one. The book also explores themes such as forming alliances with past adversaries when ideals align.

The message of the book is clear: without emotion, men will turn on each other without thought or purpose as demonstrated through the Black Lanterns, which emphasizes why a balance in the emotional spectrum is so important.

The portrayal of each Corps in the emotional spectrum through colors is well done, especially when describing character through panels of interaction and confrontation. The use of color to describe emotions through energy manifestation is flawless.

With Blackest Night, it is rare to find fault in storytelling especially when the events occurring are made clear in the panels.

If the story were given more background context especially in the set-up leading to the crisis, such how the resurrected died before being revived as black lanterns, it would make the story clearer for the reader.

Blackest Night is a thrill and a well-done story overall. There are both expanded and condensed versions of the story which allow the reader to choose, so that a longer story would not be an issue. The detailed art style and use of colors are very well done especially when portraying fight scenes and panels with emotion. Blackest Night and its sequel Brightest Day both emphasize the value of life, and the story proves nothing worth doing will be easy.