BLACKEST NIGHT: More about 5

My previous post about Blackest Night #5 was mainly devoted to examining the multiple ways it shook up what has been a repetitive, static crossover event. I didn't get to say quite everything I wanted to about it, though, so here's the rest.

The Flash is not a character I've ever liked much. His power and costume have always bored me. One of the first things I noticed when I started reading Blackest Night were the tweaks to 'zazz up his look--specifically, the multiple afterblurs and lightning that signal how fast he's always moving. Conceptually, I thought they made clever sense, but the image above is the first time they really hit me on a gut level, and made the Flash seem that much cooler and more dynamic in action. It's exhilarating, the way they trace the sweep of his motion and the pose this panel ultimately captures. I can practically feel the G's he's pulling through that curve.

I also like this image:

I imagine Geoff Johns thinking, Wouldn't it be awesome to see all three Flashes running together? Well, yes, it kinda is. Anyone who's ever known the joy of running in formation with teammates in whatever sport when you all are in the flow and in the zone, surely must recall it here, only magnified to the speed of fighter jets, and with the added rush of running straight toward danger in combat. Big, big kudos to Ivan Reis for instilling these images with such a muscle-deep sense of fantastic motion nobody could ever experience in real life. That, right there, is part of the core appeal of superhero comics, and what they do best when they nail it like this.

Here's a sweet sequence of panels--just a few fleeting, nice character touches in the midst of all the chaos. We get Kid Flash remarking on how fast the black rings move. Then, this moment between Donna and Wonder Woman is so touching. Imagine if you could see--really see--how much somebody cares for you, but only as you succumb to a horrible zombifying curse. Just beautifully bittersweet.

This issue wasn't perfect, though. My biggest complaint is how Nekron and Black Hand mostly hung back and stayed out of the fighting--and just as glaringly, how the superheroes let them! Just look at this--we've got Nekron standing right in front of the Black Lantern battery, with Black Hand nearby, and all the superheroes are facing away from them, the source of all the trouble, and wasting time on cannon fodder zombies. I'm sorry, but if I'm Superman, I plow Nekron through that lantern at top fucking speed. I guess that's the problem with Superman--any writer who uses him in a scene like this has to answer the question, "Why doesn't Superman just _____?" Mind you, this is before the League of Lanterns shows up, too, so at this point, nobody's engaging the Big Bad whatsoever. This also goes to the one irritating flaw in the panel of the Flashes I mention above--they run straight past Nekron, and he lets them. Neither party seems inclined to engage with the other. Is this any way to stage a fight scene?

Well, that about covers it for this installment. Tomorrow Thursday, we get the first issues of the next wave of tie-in miniseries, Flash and Wonder Woman. I have to say, I'm concerned about these, especially in light of the way BN 5 ends. When in the timeline of the event will these be set? Flash has been front-and-center in Blackest Night since the first issue, so his tie-in mini will have to be set sometime later. Does that mean his story is going to diverge, and he'll be leaving the main series? As for Wonder Woman, she's now a Black Lantern, so will her tie-in be set before issue 5? I think that would suck, and think all tie-ins going forward should reflect the current state-of-play. We'll see, I guess.