Blackest Night

This is one of the main reasons I hardly ever read comics, even when individual issues might pique my interest -- all these contrived, concocted "Final Ultimate Infinite Universal Crises Of Galactically Infinite Ultimate Universes" in which long-established characters are killed off and backstories all retconned, mainly becase writers are unwilling/unable to stick to continuity, and editors are unwilling/unable to make them.

 

I don't mind if it is done in service of a good story. Identity Crisis was outstanding. I have always been a Marvel guy, but that series got me to start reading some stuff from DC, though it was a smaller story than most of the big crossovers.

Infinite Crisis was more what you are talking about, a massive crossover complete with retcons. And it was so damn good I don't mind idiocy like Superboy Prime altering reality by punching a wall.

Final Crisis, however, was awful.

 

Final Crisis picked up right where Batman R.I.P. left off. There were even a couple of Batman issues that tied in directly to Final Crisis.

 

I got the idea, but it was a murky transition at best. Then again, most of Final Crisis was annoyingly confusing.

 

Especially the last issue. Apparently Superman's singing saved the world.

 

Issue #2 out yesterday. Holy shit. That should quiet the "Aquaman is a pussy jokes for a while. (Not jokes on here, just in general.)

 

Issue #3 out this week, which was kind of mixed. Can't say I am impressed at all with having some new characters jump in and save the day. Not that we hadn't seen any mention of these characters, but their debut was way too convenient.

That said, the Firestorm stuff was brutal in the best way. And I write that as somebody who came into this issue knowing nothing about the two people who combine to make up Firestorm.

 

All the "Ultimate Cataclysmic Crises" series when they threaten to kill off virtually legendary figures (i.e. Superman, Batman, Captain America) are complete bullshit, a cynical jerk-off of the audience.

You'd think they'd have learned from the first Crisis in the 1980s (which has now been almost totally retconned out) and the "Death of Superman" circle-jerk, responsible for 5 million copies of one issue now moldering in millions of attics. : :

 

Of course much of it is bullshit. Did you ever try explaining a comic book storyline to somebody who doesn't read comics? They all sound silly when you do it.

But these things can be done well. Crisis on Infinite Earths was good, not great. Drug out too long. Infinite Crisis, however, was fantastic in just about every way. Final Crisis was confusing, ridiculous crap.

Blackest Night started off great, but I haven't loved it since that first issue. I hope it gets better, but I'm not that optimistic.

 

SPOILERS












This is why I hate comic book events. Even when the writers and publishers promise that you can follow the story in the main series, they stick important developments in related titles so you either have to buy everything or miss something big.

I've been buying the Blackest Night mini and some related stuff, but not Green Lantern Corps. So, of course, in an event with an extremely high body count, the biggest "death" so far occurs in the pages of the book I'm not reading. Man, I hate that shit.

 

This is why I'll wait and read the collected trade paperback for the whole series.
About the only time I've tried to keep up was with Alex Ross's Justice series, but I knew it was a monthly and self-contained. Plot lines weren't going to be in books.

 

Even then, they might not include the death I'm talking about in the trade. Maybe they only collect the miniseries. I just hate sneaky crap like that, because they know they are going to have fanboys rushing to the comic shop once they hear about it (Not me. Fuck 'em. I already know the guy died).