And remember kids, Geoff Johns is now Chief Creative Officer of the DCU! Sleep tight!

Totally right Caleb…fanboy writing does not allow for rationality of course…lol

Aaaaaaaaaaaand Caleb nails it once again. And, man, did the “Diana Prince of Earth” bit annoy the hell out of me, too, it wasn’t even cannon post-Crisis until like five minutes ago.

Regarding #2:

I asked Geoff Johns at his WonderCon panel whether we will ever find out why the Black Lantern rings could not resurrect Don Hall, and he said that we will but did not give any more information about where or when.

I suspect we’ll be finding out more in BIRDS OF PREY, since that is where the Dawn Granger Dove will be, or possibly BRIGHTEST DAY.

Still, I think it’s poor writing on Johns’ part. If you raise a mystery in a particular storyline in a particular title, I think you should provide the answer to that mystery in that same title. You shouldn’t force people to go out and buy some other comic you might not be interested in to find the resolution of some other comic book’s plot point.

It’s quite possible that some things remained unanswered and were left vague to play around with later. That’s usually the formula isn’t it?

The Diana question is valid though, as is the Superman question. I assume the reason Supes was such a background character is that it’s not his book and Flash was sorta the “other” resurgence character of the moment with Rebirth underwhelming everyone

I also really didn’t like how the rings suddenly started becoming computer programs, but I still enjoyed this more than any other event ever by either company

Here’s a question: A LOT more heroes have died and come back (Wally into the speedforce, Hourman I in Zero Hour, the whole JLA in the Age of Obsedian, etc.) and I get that the powers that be didn’t want to draw attention to all of them as some of these deaths were undone thru time travel/manipulation. But didn’t Guy Gardner die?

Back when he was Warrior, did’t he die in the Imperiex/Brainiac 13 War and end up ruling a small Hell dimension? It was all told in Action Comics 789 – 790.

Or was that not a “real” death?

1. Someone got this already, I couldn’t have told you the answer either way though ^^;;
2. The Dove thing was a pay it forward into Brightest Day IMO, I’m sure somewhere this will come up again.
3. Because it was what it was, you’re overthinking it a bit IMO
4. Yeah, a typo, it happens
5. I felt they wanted to make it about The Flash in addition to GL (again a pay it forward to Brightest Day) instead of it becoming a “Here’s Superman to save the daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay” story.
6. That is kinda strange, maybe it has to do with the hunt for real Bruce?
7. Good point about the new additions to the universe characters, although it might have been a bit much to clutter up this story that is very central to the DC universe with characters that might be a little unknown to the average reader (although it probably would have been a good idea for sucking people into these other characters)

3) Wonder Woman needed a Goddess to help her get her Star Sapphire ring. Without help she wouldn’t have got that ring.

You are crazy if you think this compares to DC One Million, That sucked and Blackest Knight is a close second to the original Crisis. And to answer some of your :1) Dolphin died during Infinite Crisis when Atlantis was attacked by the Spectre.2) The explanation for Dove being able to destroy the black rings will be told in Brightest day. 5) You are out of your mind if you think Flash is a b-lister or lower, there are other a-listers besides the big three(Superman,Batman,Wonder Woman) an other example besides Barry Allen would be Hal Jordan is a definite a- lister . And 7) There are lot better characters who could have made cameos besides the Milestone characters, and to your idea of that being another spinoff book, you are the type of fan who makes the suggestions but complains that there are to many books for the saga. Finally I know these are your ideas but I think you would find that you are wrong thinking this was just an ok event, there is by far more fans that think this was a fantastic event,

As for why the Flash got the Blue ring, instead of Superman, I think the question came up in the forums at the time, and the general consensus was that, due to the nature of the battle, the rings were more strongly attracted to heroes “of earth.” All of the “deputies” (save for Ganthet) were from Earth.

Just a thought on the Superman / Flash question: without going back and doing better research, I understood that being chosen by a blue ring wasn’t about being able to INSPRIRE hope, it was about EMBRACING hope. Even though I’ll admit that Supes can be a hopeful person from time to time, he has always seemed just a step apart from the rest of us, not just because of his power, but because of his perspective. Flash has always been focused on hope, on a core belief that every day has the possibility to be better than the one before. That said, my only problem is that I would have preferred it was Wally that was chosen instead of Barry. I don’t dislike Barry, but I grew up with Wally, and I think he embodies hope much more powerfully than Barry. But that’s just me.

I’m tired of people calling Flash and Green Lantern “B” listers as if they were, you know, Elongated Man or Firestorm (ducks tomatoes from fans of those characters). In the world of the DCU, not marketing world or even DC editorial world, Flash and Green Lantern used to be set up as equals to the commercial trinity, until they were killed and the second string took up the mantle, from which they’ve only recently begun to recover. My favorite part of the series was when Johns has Atom say “He’s the Flash” as if in answer to the false idea the so called trinity are the only archetypes in the DCU. They are just the most well-known, primarily because of TV shows and movies. Here’s to them for trying to acknowledge that fact, and expand the “reality” of the characters’ world.

1. Yes. Spectre smashed New Atlantis in Infinite Crisis. Way, way, wayyyy later Tempest confirms that he finally found the body and she and his baby died.

2. One gets an “unfinished business” vibe from the Black Lanterns, but then again … their “souls” have nothing to do with it (Which is why the Dibnys and Deadman could be both ghosts and corpses. Still, maybe Nekron’s “memory downloads” just couldn’t access souls that are in Heaven or Hell. I figured Phantom Stranger would explain it to us at some point, but nope!

3. Considering that Nekron’s power-source was the Anti-Monitor, I assume the Black Lanterns are actually closer to Shadow Demons from Crisis on Infinite Earths than anything else. Only made of Dark Matter instead of Anti-Matter.

4. Yes. Fix it in the trade.

5. Superman does “inspire” more Hope … but perhaps Barry is a more optimistic, hopeful person. Also, Superman was dead and Barry was fast enough to outrun the Black Ring coming for him. It could come down purely to speed. Supes just wasn’t fast enough to outrun Geoff’s “B-Lister” mandate.

6. A DC comic with barely any Bats in it? Whaaaa?!

7. Maybe the Mighty Crusaders and Shadow Cabinet had just teamed up for a mega-ultra-super-new-guy crossover and were in the middle of a Multiversal Trek when it went down.

6.

i have the same questions about blackest night but i’d like to add one or two more:

1) damage gets killed on blackest night, we see him running around ALIVE in JSA-ALL stars but we don’t see him getting resurrected, what happened there?

2) what happened to sue and Ralph, weren’t they one of the first Black Lanterns?

2.) I’m not sure I understood how Dove’s peace powers worked to stop the Black Lantern system… Did that mean that only the dead who were not at peace, who were somehow still restless in death, could be resurrected as Black Lanterns?

I didn’t see Don Hall’s imperviousness to be related to Dove II’s power at all.

It all has to do with how Nekron works, and where his realm fits in the circle of death. See the original Tales of the GL Corps #1-3 for more detail, but essentially, Nekron’s realm is between our universe and the final beyond. He has access to souls that he has trapped there on their way to the afterlife, but not necessarily those that have passed on to their ultimate reward.

All Blackest Night did was suggest that, since Barry Allen’s death, Nekron has been secretly harvesting souls of individuals with talents and powers when they pass on. Don’s inability to be resurrected simply meant to me that when he died, he was inaccessible to Nekron because his soul had passed beyond his realm and into the Eternal, where he was now untouchable.

Dove II seems to channel the white light of the creation Entity itself.

The different anti-Black Lantern capabilities of the two Dove’s may be related, or not.

3.) Why did the whole Black Lantern program seem so computer-like? I’m not sure how it all worked scientifically I guess, and it’s probably one of those things that one shouldn’t think too much about, but on the second read-through it really stuck out that it the whole Black Lantern system was replicated a computer program of some sort.

In Blackest Night #3, The Atom Ray Palmer takes a stab at explaining the Black Lanterns, saying, “Maybe the dead aren’t wearing the rings. Maybe the rings are wearing the dead. Maybe the rings are some sort of advanced organic computer that download their bodies becoming some sort of..of simulator program to attack us…”

Okay, I guess. Whose voice is it that says “Rise” and “Connection severed” and all that stuff? Nekron’s? Black Hand’s? Messages Scar recorded? And…Okay, I’ll stop now. I’ll drive myself crazy thinking too much about this.

4.) When is Wonder Woman gets taken by a Black Lantern ring, why is she called “Diana Prince of Earth” instead of just “Diana of Earth?” Diana Prince isn’t her real name; it’s just a made-up scret identity, like “Clark Kent.” And when Superman gets taken by a ring in the very next panel, he’s called “Kal-El of Krypton?”

Fix it in the trade, DC!

5.) I know this has been asked elsewhere, but why is it that Flash Barry Allen got a Blue Lantern ring instead of, say, Superman? Was he just closer? Was it easier for the ring to get on Flash’s finger because it was unoccupied by a black ring at the moment? Because of all the superheroes gathered there, Barry Allen—back from the dead or not—doesn’t seem like a character that would inspire more hope in anyone than Superman (Or Wonder Woman, for that matter).

Well, I think I know the reason. Johns made a very conscious decision to focus the event on perpetual B-Listers (or lower), and Superman was barely even in the series, whereas Flash was front and center throughout. Still, it seems unlikely that Flash is the most hope-inspiring candidate, doesn’t it?

6.) Hey, I didn’t notice until the second time through, But Batman Dick Grayson and Red Robin Tim Drake never show up, even to cameo in a big splash page at the end. That’s a little weird, isn’t it? Were they too busy to help save the world this crossover?

I found their absence pretty amusing given how Blackest Night: Batman ended. They froze themselves in blocks of ice long enough to trick the Black Lanterns into thinking they were dead/emotion-less and the Lanterns wandered off. So what did they do after that? Decide that this Black Lantern business was way too hard for them and hide out in the cave the rest of the crossover?

Man up, guys! If Green Arrow can go to Coast City to shoot arrows at Black Lanterns, surely you could have flown out there to throw batarangs!

7.) On the subject of who didn’t cameo, where were the Milestone characters throughout all this?

@will279802 : Not that hard to explain. Those JSA issues took place before Blackest Night. They catch up in issue 7, which features Damage’s funeral.

Throughout blackest night it was shown repeatedly Ray Palmer’s compassion for Jean Loring while everyone else hated her. As for his actions during cry for justice? You can feel compassion for someone and still hurt them. Feelings are complicated, obviously not black and white. I’d say the deputies were chosen due to proximity, but Lex Luthor and Scarecrow werent anywhere nearby.

Great article! I agree that my excitement for each issue just kept dropping.

I agree with the poster that thinks this shouldn’t be compared to One Million. One Million was an excellent, cohesive story where the main characters all got a chance to shine and had fun and engaging tie-ins. Blackest Night was mostly enjoyable, but only the main three titles and it left me unsatisfied by the end.

The Batman thing is probably a behind the scenes thing. You’ve got two great talents needing that Batman skull and the characters at the same time.

As for why Barry and not Superman? Well, BN wasn’t a DC story – it was a Hal & Barry story. On the subject of b-list, I don’t know if I narrowly define A-list to the big three, but I do think that the “Franchises” are A-list and not necessarily the characters leading that banner. Jay/Alan/Kyle or Barry/Wally may be B-listers, but the franchise tag elevates them to A-list status when they’re the lead.

1) Dolphin died off-screen during the evacuation of Atlantis, see issues of Aquaman

2) I’m expecting a connection between the White Light Entity and the Lords of Order. Similarly, that would imply a connection between Nekron and the Lords of Chaos. I think we’ll hear more about that.

3) The rings all have a basic operating system that handles assigning candidates, reporting when a wearer has died, etc. It’s assumed that the Black rings, mimicing the color ones, would have a similar system.

4) There’s the possibility that Diana uses the name in reference to herself more than Clark does, but yeah, it’s likely a simple choice to make it more clear to the reader.

5) I disagree – Barry Allen has always been a positive optimistic character. More than any other character, he’s having FUN using his powers. Indeed, it’s the very reason I thought the addition of such sadness to his early life was a questionable move, one that might have ruined that positive take he had, but the story in the latest secret files seems to have covered that.

6) The bat-family has had their own story to deal with, namely the return of Bruce Wayne, so they rather had their hands full. Also, remember the entirety of the entire event took about a day, tops; they simply have been too busy to get to Coast City.

7) You got me on the Milestone characters. they seem to have already given up on them, which is a damn shame I’ve bemoaned elsewhere.

I got a couple more questions that I hope/presume will be covered in Brightest Day…

Where are the crystallized remains of Khufu and Char-ara? They were taken from the Violet battery, which presumably means its power (or perhaps just its range) is severly limited now.

When will we hear more about the supposed connection between The Spectre and the Rage Avatar? It was mentioned briefly in the smackdown between he and Parallax, after a group scare that Spectre WAS the Rage beast. But the nothing.

When will we hear more from the other color-mentals, while we’re on the subject? We got to see them finally, but that’s all. Now that we’ve seen them once, it’s presumed we’ll hear more from them.

What’s the mysterious connection between Abin Sur, Krona and the Indigo Tribe? They were mentioned by name in the last Hand Diary, tho the context is unknown since it was written in Indigoese, which will remain untranspated, so says Johns.

Johns has done a fine job in setting up his stories to providing a solid ending while still creating new threads to weave into future stories. I’ll lay odds at least one or two of your wuestions (and likely all of mine) will be addressed in the coming year.

Why does newsarama give articles to these idiots. Just enjoy the story moron. the dc universe’s continuity is so messed up, just let johns do what he does best, and tell a story. maybe he’ll fix the f*** up those idiots in the 80′s caused.

5) The Flash got a Blue Lantern ring because Blackest Night is a story about Hal Jordan and Barry Allen. If Superman had gotten a Blue Lantern ring, which he should have because HE’S SUPERMAN, then Blackest Night would have then become just another Superman story and if that happened, what would then be the point of having a Hal Jordan or a Barry Allen?

6) Batman and Robin didn’t appear after the events of Blackest Night: Batman, because the entire Bat side of the DC Universe is in limbo until Bruce Wayne returns. Let’s face it. Bruce Wayne is Batman, now and forever. Making Dick Batman was a useless endeavor because we all know it won’t stick and he’ll be Nightwing again, thus making everything that has happened recently pointless.

“I wouldn’t call Blackest Night great comics or anything”

Why not?? you’re taking the trouble of writing an article and present lingering questions about a story you don’t consider great.

Why go to such trouble then??

@Ciro: Because he writes for a blog that exists to create discussion. Seems pretty obvious.

I got some more questions:
- What happened to the guardians and Scar?
- In Outsiders, it was also shown that Halo had a connection with the white light, what happened to her?
- In the Question special, Renee Montoya goes after Black Lantern Vic Sage and the story wraps with her going after him to stop the Black Lantern. What happened?
- Are there any black rings left?

Only saw one other post that mentions this, but what did happen to the other Guardians? Last we saw, they were getting dragged across the ground to form a slime trail of the Black Lantern symbol and Nekron executed one as the final step in summoning the Entity. I suspect they “disappered”.. hopefully this is mentioned in the next issue of Green Lantern. My understanding of Scar was that she was destroyed, which seemed way too easier considering what it took to dispatch Black Hand and Nekron. Oh and did anyone else notice that Luthor took the Scarecrow’s yellow ring in #6 (or #7?), but then you see Yellow Lantern Scarecrow in issue #8?

Wouldn’t Hank Hall have been resurrected (as he died) as Monarch, not Hawk? And for that matter, how are people resurrected in full costume? Magic of the rings?

My questions are more based on deaths than resurrections.

Tempest
Damage
Hawk (Dawn’s cousin/sister)

Why were the deaths done and necessary. The hawks were killed and brought back. Why? Just to bring back Shiera?

Deadman can’t get the ring to work but is still flying and the aura because those are inate in the rings and are like a safety feature.

On Kal vs Barry, I think the answer here is that Barry’s attitude and personality is related more to hope. I think Superman inspires hope, but I would gauge him more of a Green Lantern, as he is more of a anything can be done type person, he has a strong will.

Also on Kal vs Barry, Kal was playing backseat to the BL ring on his finger, and thus not of a mood to inspire hope. As the previous poster said, the BL: WW mini showed how Diana had help to sever the BL ring connection and then take the Star Sapphire.

5) I don’t think Superman is the obvious choice for the Blue Ring of Hope. I mean sure he inspires hope in others, but does he actually have a lot of hope/faith in others? I mean if he had hope in humanity would he be doing all those things to save people and intervene in their daily lives? Wouldn’t he just have enough hope and faith to know that they can overcome? I think not.

LOL

2) I think it has more to do with a combination of the DC emotion system, general science and general art.

Contrary to what many believe, white is not the absence of all color but contains the entire spectrum (ROYGBIV). It was brought up in the early issues that it takes a combination of 2 different colored rings to destroy a black ring. The light from Dove (and The Ray and Dr. Light) would contain all 7 colors. If 2 combined rings could kill 1 black lantern easily it would be easy to imagine what 7 would do.

On the other side of the coin, the entire spectrum in the DCU translates to containing all 7 emotions respresented by the rings. This would make for a complete person. A complete person would suffer no doubts. There would be no self-doubt like that created by the black ring wielders against thier supposed family and friends. It would explain why Don Hall was at rest peacefully and couldn’t be assimilated.

Is this guy a loser or what with these questions? Seriously, who cares! Did it bother you that bad that they said “Diana Prince of Earth?” Are you serious?! Get a life! And the computer organic was the exact answer, he answered his own dumb question. That was determined from the beginning that the rings were organic like machines that uploaded memories to the bodies they rose.

Regarding point #2: this is just a hanging thread in order to make you read Brightest Day. Although, you can just not read the book and find out about it from forums later on if you want. No one is forcing anyone to buy anything.

Point #3: the colored corps rings are interactive with the people wearing them. They are lively. The black rings are stone cold and emotionless, like computer programs. I found that to be a nice touch, actually.

Point #4: you’re right. Diana or Princess Diana would have been better than Diana Prince, but it’s not that big a deal. I couldn’t care less if they fix it in the trade or not.

Point #5: the blue ring is about embracing hope not inspiring it. For the last few years Superman has spent his time either fighting or crying. Not much embracing of hope in there.

Point #6: I kept expecting to see at least someone saying that the information that Batman got in Blackest Night: Batman regarding the freezing thing was relayed to any of the other heroes. But that didn’t happen. It’s like either it didn’t happen, or it happened off-panel and none of the other characters cared to mention it.

Point #7: although the Blackest Night series took around 9 months to come out in full (more if you count from Blackest Night #0), most people seem to forget that the entire thing took place in one single night. That’s almost 12 hours, maybe even less. The Milestone and Red Circle characters might have dealt with black lanterns in their areas, but without being connected to, let’s say, the JLA or JSA emergency signals, they wouldn’t know that the main battle was in Coast City until it was well underway. And by the time they reach it, it would be over. Plus, the call to arms was transmitted by Barry, who just recently came back to the DCU and probably doesn’t know about these characters more than I do.

As for other dead or death-related characters, not all of them where resurrected as Black Lanterns because not all of them elicit emotional response in the DCU characters. Imagine if Nekron resurrected all the dead people from the dawn of humanity. Sure he’d have the advantage in numbers, but they would be useless to him since the rest of the DCU couldn’t care less about them.

Im glad somebody is bringing this stuff. I have had the same questions and I am sick of DC’s shoddy attention to continuity. Such as Batman, Robin and Superman being absent for no apparent reason. I understand the focus being on “lower tier” characters, but that is simple illogical given the framework of the DCU. I think, in my humblest of humble opinions, that the quagmire of DC stories caught up with them in Blackest Night.

Batman/Robin seem to be in a pocket continuity because it appears DC doesn’t want Dick Grayson to be Batman in anything other than the Bat Books (and the occasional JLA.)

Superman is in this crap called New Krypton, which is so complex and yet so insignificant that he has not been a part of Blackest Night or the “death” of Bruce Wayne. You would think he’d be on fire for his best bud dying, but other than a small appearance at, what we now know to be a “fake” funeral, he’s nowhere to be found. He was barely in Blackest Night, and I’m sorry DC, but Superman is the leader. Of your whole company.

Blackest Night ended and I celebrated. I admire and respect Geoff Johns, but ultimately this story was pointless as it sullied the character of Sinetro by giving him a conscience, and ultimately brought back everyone who died, so what’s the point?

In closing, because this is too long, I think since Final Crisis, the DCU has been in flux because the stories haven’t been coherent, and you almost have to pretend that each book is its own continuity. And I know, I know, a lot of people don’t think continuity isn’t important, but if you go through the trouble to make stories that are logical (in the realm of the DCU) and need fans to have an emotional attachment to the source material, then continuity matters most, without it, you have the Sunday funnies.

If you read this far, thanks! (Follow me on Twitter, do it NOW!)

I haven’t enjoyed BN a bit. Just some killing and some resurrections, and even some people killed just to be resurrected 8 issue later. I really don’t understand what is happening. One of the goal of the miniserie, as for Johns, is to have death becoming “serious business”, yet to prepare this event he has undone the most heroic e seemingly lasting death in the DC Universe. I really don’t get it. As I don’t get why to resurrect the parallel Earths, and then super-crowding Earth-0 with the Milestone characters, the Red-circles, the Thunder-Agents…

@Lucho…

“Stop whinning!!
Blackest Night was the event I enjoyed the most since the original Crisis. Of coruse there are messy things around.
Can´t help but say “uh?” when Anti-Monitor returned and Barry Allen did not piss his tights lol.”

So you aren’t whining because you put “lol” after your critique?

“DC still has the potential to make his characters great again.”

DC is one guy? Is it Dick Clark? David Cassidy? David Cross? Do tell…

I never knew!

Predicted Blackest Night back in 2004?

Last section: “Everyone Reborn”

http://www.popimage.com/content/viewnews.cgi?newsid1100056066,81144,

Just one minor point: “Clark Kent” is not a made-up secret identity. It’s actually his name. It’s the name given him by his adopted parents and the name he grew up with.

The person who seeks all their applause from outside has their happiness in another’s keeping . – Claudius Claudianus