BLACKEST NIGHT: Diminishing Returns

So the tie-in miniseries from the first half of the event wrapped up last month, and a fresh wave of tie-in miniseries for the second half begins next month--apparently, they'll be Flash, Wonder Woman, and JSA.

What we get this month and continuing into next month is a batch of tie-in issues in various ongoing series. What I have in hand so far are Doom Patrol, Booster Gold, and R.E.B.E.L.S. I'm sorry to say, I have a lot of problems with them. (Any jaded fans inclined to pose the cynical question what I expected from tie-ins can just STFU. What I expected were strong, interesting stories that contribute something to the crossover experience.)

These issues all begin with a couple pages of flashback infodump to catch new readers up on what the series is about, through the device of a Black Lantern ring "downloading" the memories of the most important dead character to be raised as a Black Lantern. That's fine as far as it goes--as a new reader, I appreciate "new reader friendliness"--but the third time in a row, it really seemed stale. We've still got JLA, Superman/Batman, Teen Titans, Adventure Comics, and Outsiders to go. All I can say is, I hope they don't trot this device out every frikkin' time.

My biggest beef with these issues is the point in the crossover at which they take place. It's actually hard for me to imagine a worse point for these stories to have any impact. They coincide with that brief span in Blackest Night #4 between Flash notifying all the other heroes that the Black Lanterns aren't really zombie versions of the people they care about, and the 100% point at which Nekron arises--which, even more significantly, is also the point in Green Lantern Corps #42 at which the Black Lanterns start behaving differently.

So immediately following the infodumps, we see the protagonists getting Flash's warning, and then they face the Black Lanterns, who are all still behaving exactly as they have in every issue prior to GLC 42, only nobody cares, because everyone now knows what the deal is, so they aren't even surprised, let alone scared by the Black Lanterns. More of the same with none of the punch--now there's a winning formula.

The Booster Gold issue got some positive reviews (comiXtreme, J. Caleb Mozzocco, CBR, Weekly Crisis), mainly because of the extended sequence where Booster revisits Ted Kord's funeral. I can see how Booster Gold and Blue Beetle fans would find that moving, but since I'm not one of them, I didn't.

Only the R.E.B.E.L.S. issue contributed anything to my enjoyment of the crossover. I liked the outer-space setting. The promise of cosmic and interplanetary action is part of what lured me into checking out Blackest Night, and this is one of the few tie-ins so far to deliver anything of the sort. That hasn't been too much of a problem up to now, since the more earthbound tie-in miniseries have nicely balanced the straight-up outer-spaciness of Green Lantern Corps and (starting with issue #45) Green Lantern. Now that we're getting a whole slew of tie-in issues, though, more outer-spaciness is called for to maintain an optimal balance.

That also made it possible to bring the Sinestro Corps into the picture, for the first time in a non-core title--a nice touch that makes this feel much more a part of what's going on with the event as a whole.

And then, of course, there's Vril Dox getting that Sinestro Corps ring. From this issue and the Green Lanterns, I've learned just enough about Vril and Sinestro to think that would make an interesting confrontation--and it would be a confrontation, given both of their egos. I hope it happens.

More tie-ins hit tomorrow. I'll probably post my thoughts before the weekend. Stay tuned, and stay groovy!