Blackest Night - Atop the Fourth Wall

Welcome to Atop the Fourth Wall, where bad comics burn. In this episode, Linkara reviews the event series Blackest Night!
atopthefourthwall.com
Originally uploaded April 11th, 2016.
ORIGINAL INFO: Night of the living event comic!

[@Nr4747]

It makes perfect sense for Lex Luthor to be an Orange Lantern. I mean, when no one was looking, he took 40 cakes - that is as many as four tens. And that's terrible !

[@Stephen-Fox]

+Nr4747 Also, it set up a wonderful run of Action Comics written by Paul Cornell staring Lex Luthor, while Superman was away during his little walk across America over in the Superman book.

[@themaninthesilversocks4125]

Nr4747 that's like the equivalent as the most horrible awful disgusting crime you can think of. Those were good cakes 😭 😭 😭

[@kai615k]

Gizensha Fox He stole the cakes "over there" and that's "over there's" problem.

[@mrmaxwell346]

Nr4747 MY GOD HOW COULD DEFEAT A FAT PEX LUTHOR WEARING TIGHT ORANGE SPANDEX!

[@calebmayfield3326]

+Commander Meme He did us a favor.Those Cakes were Lies anyway

[@skooptywooop1030]

You know you have edge when batman tells you to lighten up

[@Davethe3rd]

Of course Lex Luthor is the Orange Lantern of Greed. Why, he stole forty cakes! That's as many as four tens. And that's terrible.

[@ronanthesuperginger]

BY GOD YOUR RIGHT THAT MONSTER

[@jojoreztorc0396]

Celestia sure isn’t going to be happy about that!

[@jordanloux3883]

You know that's actually canon, right?

[@agentgray5141]

Death Battle Reference.

[@modmaker7617]

Greed = Food Avarice = Wealth Orange Lanterns are of Avarice

[@CasaiAgicap]

Lex getting the Orange Lantern ring actually led to an absolutely fantastic storyline in Superman's solo comics where Lex, after having that taste of power, becomes obsessed with getting a ring, and it just spirals from there. It's good stuff.

[@Wanderingsage7]

"Thomas Oliver. " Tommy: No. "You are one without fear." Tommy: nonono. "Welcome to the Green Lantern Corp." Tommy: crap. well, at least it's green."

[@Hulkzilla0]

Tommy: How about green, for nostalgia's sake.

[@brianbrush5107]

this deserves more likes 11th like was me

[@zaccarpenter621]

I don't think tommy would be that against becoming a green lanturn also his suit would most likely take the form of the green ranger suit

[@swivelboiiguess6422]

What would happen if tommy wore a white and green ring? A lantern version of Lord Drakkon?

[@RabblesTheBinx]

Eh, I doubt that Tommy would want to, but I'm pretty sure GLs can refuse the ring, if they do.

[@Fargoth_Ur]

One thing to keep in mind about the emotional spectrum isn't that they're just representing their respective emotion; they represent that emotion to it's unbridled extreme, for the most part. The reason why Green is Will and not an actual emotion like the rest is because having willpower can be seen as the balancing agent that prevents one from going to such dire limits. The Star Sapphires are "love" taken to psychotic levels of obsession. Will tempers it to more balanced levels of caring an affection; whether romantic, familial, or platonic. The Red Lanterns are hatred and rage incarnate, destroying everything in their path like an inferno. Will focuses and cools that anger to a more moderate and constructive level. The Indigo Tribe takes "compassion" to a pathological and mandatory extreme, absent of choice or individuality bordering on Human Instrumentality. Will balances it to be giving and charitable without sacrificing self-preservation and free will. The Blue Lanterns are the peace and hope for a better tomorrow, but are pacifistic to the point of being little more than empty platitudes. Without the Will to act, they cannot accomplish what they hope for. It's not a perfect analogy, or entirely accurate to how actual willpower and self-control govern our emotions and desires, but it's close enough, and I'm pretty sure it's the logic behind the various Corps as Geoff Johns intended.

[@ianr.navahuber2195]

that's a good explanation. It still makes me wonder how will racts with Fear and Greed given Fear is the opposite and greed most of time overwrites will

[@brandongreen4439]

@@ianr.navahuber2195 Fear I would imagine is the force that EXAGGERATES the Extremes rather than Tempers them. Love becoming Obsession over the FEAR of Losing someone they care for, Compassion to droning lack of individuality over the FEAR of doing something "wrong" without the "proper guidance", Fear can amplify a person's Rage and turn it on the wrong people "Fear of Betrayal" and what not. Hope and Fear would lead to a "Fear of Action or Inaction", and the eternal conflict of not knowing too much or too little and debating for eternity over it. The "WE SHOULD DO SOMETHING" "Should we do something?" debate. As for Greed, that needs someone smarter than me to examine.

[@ianr.navahuber2195]

@@brandongreen4439 greed and fear............ Greed probably overcoming even will could be as greed is probably the most powerful force of them all, and the logical extreme of greed would be taking over the emotional spectrum. probbly explaning why would it overwrite willpower itself. AND fear it could be greed using fear as in "fear of losing what's mine". now that youthink about ti there should be more evil green lanterns given willpower would be easily the most abusable power by ANYONE. even more than rage and fear.somebody who is just that determined to accomplish its ideals would easily tap into the emotional green spectrum even if that person is evil or good. willpower would actually care too little f at all of moral standings as will would just be "accomplish your ideal no matter why" (which is why i prefer reshiram over zekrom..... then again reshiram's turth would imply reshiram is omniscient but i digress) Makes you wonder exactly how GREED could actually in theory be a counter it given greed could actually corrupt even the white and black powers of light and death (want more life want more death)

[@NoahDaArk]

Fargoth Ur Nice job my man. Maybe you should write for DC Comics

[@Groundlord]

Building off of that, Fear is all of those little "But what if X?" thoughts that leave you paralyzed and unable to act. Will allows you to recognize those possibilities but still act, since there's always going to be a chance something goes wrong and doing nothing won't change that. Greed is wanting what you don't have, and wanting more of what you do have. Will tempers it by making you able to see the benefits of sharing and accepting losses, since they can bring you even more than you would have gained by selfishly hoarding everything for yourself.

[@HyperFlame64V1]

The sad part is.... This Comic Event Actually does Diana and her Message of Peace and Love more Justice than MOST OF HER WRITERS except for her Creator. Is that bad?

[@daelen.cclark]

Depends on how you look at it honestly.

[@dylansharp8471]

@@daelen.cclark Like what?

[@rodrigobueno8652]

@P P Not only, like Linkara sayed he had a whole ideology arround it is not just about the kinkness. Also we have some good writres that did get diana...well we had until new 52 at least

[@bowen13]

Holy shit, he wasn't joking, he actually did do event comic month in 2017.

[@jennycomelately]

"Tim Drake is right. Bruce is alive." SO all these grown ass superheros have been going around for weeks thinking the seventeen year old son of their friend was completely insane with denial and on a hopeless and dangerous crusade and they just never said shit? Seems about right.

[@infinityalbi9840]

Let's also not forget that Batman admitted that Tim was a better detective than he was and in his own mini-series he managed to outsmart Ra's Al Ghul. So at least a few people should've believed him.

[@Rabbitlord108]

Honestly makes me wish they could've had shots of non Green Lanterns visiting graves of friends & loved ones. Like Tim visiting the grave of his dad, Roy Harper with Lean, Jay Gerrick with the graves of Winky Blinky and Noddy (Confirming that they died in Cry for Justice), Ect.

[@RabblesTheBinx]

Courage is the ability to _overcome_ fear, not the opposite of fear. What fear does, in both the GL comics and in real life, is _sap_ willpower. You become paralyzed by fear, unable to act. That's what makes it such a perfect weakness, and also why the ability of hope/faith to amplify the power of the green ring and eliminate the fear weakness also work.

[@williambeck2372]

"Why are they calling out for flesh?" Well Linkara if what you said about the Black Lantern rings using the corpses as puppets is true then it's possible they're calling out for flesh that they can wear.

[@Xidphel]

So basically, they're naked in public and they're looking for clothes to wear.

[@tjjordan4207]

That kinda makes sense

[@MicrowavedAlastair5390]

So... The black lantern rings ≈ Mechakara?

[@Groundlord]

That or it's just meant to be creepy/scary as hell to provoke an emotional response from potential victims.

[@PosthumanHeresy]

@@Groundlord Seems like it wouldn't add any further terror, you know? Like, if a zombie Batman is chasing me, I'm not really going to be _more_ scared because it's also calling for flesh.

[@florenceb1031]

Guardian: "We have failed." Me: "So, it's Tuesday then."

[@mistertea603]

At a certain point the Guardians and the Illuminati have done to many bad things for them to be suprised when it blows up in their face

[@daric_]

I really liked the mythology of all the colors, actually. Green is the center so it's less controlling of its user. Yellow is to one side of Green and weakens it; blue is to the other side and strengthens the green. Red (hate) is opposite violet/pink (love), orange (greed/avarice) is opposite indigo (compassion), and yellow (fear) is opposite blue (hope). It all really works well. I also like how Kyle Rayner had to master each of the 7 colors to gain the power of white light (life) to combat the Guardians (after they went crazy...didn't really like that storyline, though).

[@kainhighwind2]

I'd love to see a Blue Lantern series. They have the coolest oath, IMO.

[@aros0018]

Oh, wow, I never even thought of yellow and blue being on the opposite sides of green. I was actually trying to remember today how the different lanterns effected each other and this makes it make a lot of sense.

[@RenaldyCalixte]

At least the Guardians died at the end minus Ganthet and Sayd. Man the Guardians make Thanos killing Gamora rational. That's not good.

[@RenaldyCalixte]

@@kainhighwind2 2nd coolest nothing beats the Green Lantern oath.

[@WraithTDK]

I recall a Marvel story that ended with them saying "dead is dead from now on, no coming back." Literally two weeks later someone came back from the dead. lul comics.

[@RenaldyCalixte]

Death is that girl that's never taken seriously and then ends up with the class clown. 😮...Hermoine Granger is Death and Ron Weasley is Deadpool!

[@jfdrac]

@@RenaldyCalixte So does that make Viktor Krum....Thanos??

[@EX7Sonic]

@@jfdrac Yes. Yes it does.

[@RabblesTheBinx]

@@EX7Sonic So... who is Harry? Spider-Man?

[@rojaws1183]

I can tell you what is wrong with Blackest Night. They had a chance to revive Snowflame but they didn't!

[@MrPlayer890]

The fact that he even died in the first place is a travesty in itself!

[@kamenridernephilim]

His addiction to cocaine would prove too powerful for any Black Ring.

[@rojaws1183]

His addiction to his god cocaine is too powerfull for death itself.

[@Mask0fFate]

To be fair, I think a Black Lantern Snowflame would probably be the most dangerous. After all, since his body is dead, it wouldn't be able to process the effects of cocaine. Imagine how Snowflame would react to realizing he can't use his precious cocaine?

[@aceotaku]

then again, he is powered by cocaine, so if cocaine didn't work he'd be powerless. also I think snowflame is too ridiculous for even the black lanterns to consider taking control of

[@brandoncameron8467]

The thing that kind of disturbs me is that between Marvel and DC, we have had 5 separate Zombie makers, all from stuff in their cotinutiy(The Quantem Realm Virus, Brood/Galactus babies, the Anti-Life Equation, The Hunger Gospel, and Black Lanterns). Its kind of terrifying how easily one fuck up would result in a Zombie invasion.

[@furioussherman7265]

I really like Linkara's explanation of why Wonder Woman getting a Star Sapphire ring. It also makes total sense for why she loves all living things: She's a born and raised warrior, and as the Martian Manhunter so excellently put it in the Justice League: Crisis On Two Earths movie, "those who have seen battle are often among those who hold life dearest." Like any warrior, she is trained and able to take a life if it means saving the lives of others, but she originally came to our world as an ambassador of peace and good will. What she learned in our world showed her the value of peace and she will only take a life as an absolute last resort, and even then she regrets it, always wondering what she could have done differently. Because of this, I also really like the idea of Wonder Woman always being the first one to offer peace to her opponents, be it an alliance, a negotiation, a surrender (either herself or the opponent depending on the situation), or just a temporary ceasefire. She only fights when the option of peace has been exhausted. It's a take on a character that I've never previously been able to think of a definitive take on and I really like it.

[@danmenard6917]

In brightest day, in blackest night No evil shall escape my sight Let all who worship evil's might Beware my power, Green Lantern's Light!

[@CNWhatImSaiyan]

What's mine is mine And mine and mine And mine and mine And mine, NOT YOURS!

[@heatherrausch6085]

From the Shoulder, beyond the wrist, look out evil, IT'S MY FIST!

[@adambesley4455]

In blackest day, in brightest night Beware your fears made into light Let those who try to stop what's right Burn like my power, Sinestro's might!

[@OMEGA-362]

in fearful day, in raging night, With strong hearts full, our souls ignite. When all seems lost in the War of Light, Look to the stars, for hope burns bright

[@bigdummy5012]

Spectacles, testicles, wallet and watch

[@JohnRuml]

Thought I'd try a few more: COMIC BOOK CREATORS AT THE HOLIDAYS Stan Lee: the grandpa that wants to be cool with the younguns Frank Miller: the racist uncle that you kinda respect because he fought in "the war" Alan Moore: the really moody grandpa that disapproves of everything "you millenials" are up to Geoff Johns: Your dudebro cousin that got super successful for no reason Jack Kirby: Really chill, silent grandpa who also fought in "the war" but doesn't talk about it as much as Miller does Rob Liefeld: Your 13yo little brother who's getting past his metal phase because he just discovered Kanye Grant Morrison and Neil Gaiman: friends of the family who may or may not be literal wizards

[@jakebryant3445]

And Gail Simone is the awesome feminist cousin who's misunderstood by the other relatives and Scott Lobdell is the perverted uncle .

[@ramirezthesilvite]

What about Gail Simone?

[@cobrasphere9760]

Linkara said in his tumblr Gail Simone was "The cool Aunt who occasionally sneaks us into R-rated movies."

[@lightyearpig12]

Bruce Timm: 13 year old brother's best friend who's kind of a pervert. Kevin Feige: The super cool neighbor that just happened to stop by.

[@davidspring4003]

Doug Moenk: Your 5-year-old brother who just watch a Batman cartoon.

[@lazyuniverse4932]

Randy Savage- "SLAP INTO A SLIM JIM!" Wonder Woman- "SNAP INTO A MAXWELL!"

[@newbluedisk]

I would have killed just to see one panel at the end of this entire saga that just had Death from Vertigo sipping a coffee in a shop some where look out the window and just say " Sigh"

[@andrewmihovich4252]

They did have a scene where someone (Lex Luthor) brought it up, she commented on it... ...where she wasn't behind it, she noticed, thought it looked like people were "having a great time" and treated it as a small jump in people dying and a few people momentarily coming back to life (happens, they'll be back).

[@MrKlausbaudelaire]

This comic was also adapted in the MMORPG DCUniverse Online and they actualy did something quite clever. The game's main story have brainiac invading earth (explaining the huge boom in heroes/villains as the players as they are new recruits against this massive invasion) and he tried to take control of the emotional spectrum with a "Logic battery", which caused all the 7 entities to shatter and become emotional mists around the earth (creating the lantern versions of several heroes and villains) and later on, awakening the Black Lanterns. This story is all told through a series of missions encompassing the whole game's map and took actualy over a year to conclude, replacing the white entity with a white lantern crafted by mixing all the 7 lights. Plus they managed to introduce the climax of this saga without having to set up 3 crisis and several mini-stories that would make this saga pretty much impossible to adapt to those who haven't read the comic... This game surpisingly adapts a lot of stories better than the movies...

[@femoman]

Comics writers as relatives: Stan Lee as that awesome grandpa who brings great presents, but is a bit out of touch with the present day (especially modern lingo). Also gives off a very slight dirty old man vibe, but nobody makes a big deal of it because of how lovable he is. Jack Kirby as that great uncle who is also really cool and fun to be around, but always kinda resented Grandpappy Stan for being more popular. Frank Miller as that skeevy grouchy and kinda pervy uncle who always complains about the government and the damn immigrants taking all our jobs. Your parents don't like you hanging with him. Alan Moore as that grumpy uncle who is really smart and insightful, but you have to sit through a lot of grumbling to get to the wisdom. Grant Morrison as the uncle who was a former hippy and is still a little crazy from it all. Tells amazing stories that don't always make sense, gets along great with kids, though parents are wary about leaving them with him for too long. Gerard Way as that cousin who finally got out of his emo phase and started hanging out with Uncle Grant a lot.

[@sonicsucks20]

Alan Moore is that cringy pervert that despite being a insightful person has terrible taste in perversions as a ugly man with totally beautiful women.

[@hansruhlmann454]

Your Description of Frank Miller reminds me of Anders "The Duck" Matthesen's Uncle Stewart Stardust alot.

[@dylansharp8471]

"Also gives off a very slight dirty old man vibe" Since when?

[@alexpage10]

Bold of you to assume that being emo is a phase

[@bosskaiju4834]

@@dylansharp8471 Stan Lee is the man who wrote "Stripperella" a comics with a stripper super-heroine

[@AbandonedVoid]

Courage _is_ willpower, it's just the facet of willpower used when dealing with fear. Courage itself is just a name for a specific application of willpower, and it only deals with specific varieties of fear, leaving out the concept of staying level-headed when you would otherwise panic. Staying level-headed when you could panic isn't necessarily courageous, but it is defying fear, and both use willpower. So ha!

[@sotnosen95]

"Note for 2017, Event Comic Month..." Eh, I dunno if it'll catch on.

[@NoahDaArk]

39:50 Lets give the creators of Blackest Night ANOTHER thing to be proud about: that the reasoning behind the villain being unstoppable is actually logical! It makes total sense for a being of death to require a tether to our world, because if he didn’t have one he’d be reigned back in by God

[@FantasticWorlds]

Seeing this so soon after your Blue Beetle retrospective, I just realized that the writers of the Booster Gold BN tie-in missed a major opportunity. During the event of _52_, Booster Gold brought his own future corpse back to the present to fake his death. Wouldn’t it have been great for a black lantern ring to find it and have Booster Gold and the Blue Beetle face off against…..Booster Gold and the Blue Beetle?

[@bosskaiju4834]

It actualy happened, just not in the Booster Gold tie-in; it was in the Blue Beetle tie-in where the third Blue Beetle (Jaime Reyes) and Booster Gold fought a black lantern Ted Kord.

[@FantasticWorlds]

@@bosskaiju4834 Too bad undead future Booster didn't show too. Likely too many "wibbly wobbly, timey wimey" issues to consider.

[@eon1014]

@@FantasticWorlds Also, a time-travelling black lantern would be terrifying. They could just go back to the past to kickstart the Blackest Night at an earlier point in time.

[@Rabbitlord108]

​@@bosskaiju4834Seriously feels like a missed opportunity to battle Black Lantern versions of both Ted Kord AND Dan Garet.

[@JageshemashFTW]

"You can't exactly kill Death" Sure you can! You just need to stab them with their own scythe. Of course, it helps if your name is Dante or Dean. I wonder if any name starting with D will do?

[@JaelinBezel]

Or you could just keep disengaging and reengaging Death during Flu Season until it's got Despair and just wait for it to die.

[@Darkrockmanbeyond]

Or you could do a ritual being influenced by Cnthonic beings (Thanos Imperative)

[@Fluffkitscripts]

Terry Pratchett is the only person I trust on this one. I say we sharpen a weapon out of existence, die, and wield the ghost of that weapon to kill death.

[@wcapewell3089]

I thought you were talking about dean from supernatural.

[@WarDragonOfTheLight]

Or if you're last name is Belmont.

[@adrianrobertoruizmartinez9325]

Cómic book rule 1: I LIVE, I DIE, I LIVE AGAIN. rule 2: retcons make things "better"

[@ChristianNeihart]

+Adrian Roberto Ruiz Martinez So I see comic books take inspiration from Nux.

[@brandonlyon730]

Unless your batmans parents or uncle Ben.

[@enigmaticbeing7703]

Brandon Lyon thomas doesnt count since he became batman of earrh 2

[@panthor109thabest7]

Enigmatic being different universe and that technically was erased. So Thomas idea

[@snoopsq.527]

Let’s just rule out parent/mentors all together.

[@simbasorariku3]

I'm surprised Jason Todd wasn't turned into a Black Lantern. He died and came back to life.

[@vaiyt]

He's so re-Todd-ed that Necron didn't want anything to do with him.

[@kkirby_]

XD

[@patricklyons794]

0718Dragonlord No. The heroes that got zombified with the Bruce's fake skull were alive at the time.

[@adambesley4455]

I suppose you had to be there at the battle for the ring to grab you.

[@nicwaterfill2259]

Jason was already brought back to life.

[@solumanblevins5906]

Fun fact, with the release of Bat-Metal they did a Dark Multiverse What If? story for this event, highlights include Sinestro dual wielding White and Black rings as the Limbo Lantern (as a half-zombie mind you) and Nekron possessing DARKSEID!

[@evanhimebaugh5434]

Dawn's thing with the white light always made sense to me. What is the purpose of the individual black lantern? To instill chaos. They feed off powerful and out of control emotions, precisely why love and rage are the most potent emotions while willpower is the weakest. Dawn and the previous Dove, on the other hand, are avatars of order. The lanterns can't touch them because the kind of chaos that they feed off and require for the simple act of perception goes against their nature. She probably isn't channeling the white light itself but something very much like it, something standing for the same metaphysical concept as the white light which is why the light harms lesser black lanterns but not Nekron. It also makes sense that the white light would tie into fundamental magical forces since it is itself a fundamental part of the universe. Or a case could be made that, since the black lanterns are wholly unnatural beings, Dawn, as an avatar of Order (Which I presume to mean Cosmic Order), would be like a bug-zapper to them.

[@DAsrada]

Nekron: I can confirm this - when a truly horrid creature enters my realm, such as that First Lantern would-be deity, I make him read Marville for thousands of years. By the way, that first retcon was turned into a Black Lantern Retcon, ergo, I am now responsible for all the resurrections.

[@legionairesunny5507]

I would have brought everyone back! I wrote a story about how Pre-Crisis Supergirl was brought back in the 31st century and stayed there after the Blackest Night. It helped me feel better about the whole thing.

[@Solo_Sessums]

26:32 There are two types of people in comics. BUCKY BARNES: "I remember all of them." LEX LUTHOR: "I remember all of them."

[@sqentontheslime1967]

I’m personally really happy scarecrow got acknowledged here.

[@rolf6266]

Rip old grandpa Stan Lee

[@jackcassidy7317]

I've seen him on the nostalgia critic and decided to check him out and this video made me a subscriber

[@AT4W]

Glad you liked it! Hope you like other episodes, too!

[@bondfall0072]

Same thing for me here

[@bluemew22]

You've got 7 years to get through, 1 video a week, with absolutely no weeks missed.

[@Gusweb98]

I been with him since the critic retired for a bit back in 2012.

[@chriscanul4075]

Jack Cassidy Same, but this isn't my first video by him. But I did come from the Nostalgia Critic.

[@KidSnivy69]

45 minutes of AT4W? Be right back, gotta get some popcorn!

[@Lavaros]

The reason I requested this, despite my love and knowledge that it's generally well received is well: not everything is perfect and even good stories should be critiqued. Plus I wanted your perspective on the whole thing. I just wish I had more foreknowledge of what comics where on your review slate, would of requested this at a less busy time.

[@AT4W]

+Lavaros Well, even if you had requested it at a less busy time, I wouldn't have done the tie-ins. ^_~ I'm already starting to institute harsher restrictions on length of stuff I'm reviewing (in a few weeks I need to review a 50-hour RPG... which in the future will not be the case)

[@Lavaros]

I wasn't even expecting the tie ins too much. At most, I expected a mention of the tie ins to the GL books, which you did. It's just that I know your workload is already a harsh one, and so many long reviews so quickly is a big job. I promise, next time I sponsor a review it'll be less demanding and hopefully a lot more fun.

[@taekinuru2]

I've always wanted to see a heroic version of Black Lanterns. I feel that applied necromancy to create mass numbers of superheroes out of dead matter could be a really useful asset to have in reserve.

[@JuanLeon-oe6xe]

Especially considering that in the _Injustice_ games of all places, the Red Lantern Atrocitus shows how rage can also be used for good ("your victims demand justice"). Having each corp be nuanced and morally complex makes your idea the next logical step, even if I'm not fully sure where DC could take it. P.D. Something something Magic the Gathering.

[@MagsPM]

Before Blackest Night I had barely read any Green Lantern books and it was Blackest Night that got me into Green Lantern. I wasn't lost in terms of continuity because issue 0 did a good job of explaining the various lantern corps and I was aware of what had happened to Hal Jordan; it had come up in a few articles and reading on wiki

[@herbiewest4236]

After watching this video i realized that Donny Cates' Run in Venom and the resulting event Absolute Carnage are VERY similar to this story: both feature a villain that is the embodiment of a primordial, living darkness that declared war on light after being cast out by it, both villains adopt a herald whose story suffers some retcons, both target dead heroes and villains with the involvement of a mcguffin (except that the black rings ressurect people as zombies, while in Absolute Carnage the villain just rips out the spine of the corpses, but he DOES posses living people with pieces of his simbyote) and the scope of both stories reach the entire super hero community. ... ... ... ... Huh.

[@dmore454]

What's weird is that most of the plot beats in the Blackest Night prophecy shown in Alan Moore short story actually happen in Sinestro Core War. In a way, SCW is more Blackest Night than Blackest Night is. 12:35 an especially grievous plot point considering the events of Mark Waid's JLA - Tower of Babel story years earlier.

[@TheHeroOfTomorrow]

Yyyeah, I thought it was disappointing that everyone didn't come back to life too. But in all seriousness, Blackest Night was the first event that I read after the Green Lantern movie inspired me to check out more of their mythos. And I still liked it, despite its flaws.

[@KidSnivy69]

What are the flaws you had with Blackest Night?

[@TheHeroOfTomorrow]

KidSnivy69 The ones he mentioned.

[@KidSnivy69]

TheHeroOfTomorrow Makes sense, especially only bringing a select few back to life

[@JaelinBezel]

Green Lanterns 2016 is my favorite GL series.

[@psychogunner7062]

The way I see it, Necron planning the deaths and resurrections of heroes and villains would be to implant agents of his will in the midst of his enemy: they're FINE for the most part, but within his reach and are now easibly turned into Black Lanterns. The fact they're connected to lots of people guarantee a chain reaction of deaths that swell his army As for "the great lie", what I posit is that the Guardians are supposed to be protectors of life, right? Then suddenly, this entity shows up and starts ripping lives out of this protection, and no one can do anything about it. So he proves that the Guardians are nothing but liars in their "job", because they couldn't help at all (at least until Necron got un-undeaded) ... Or I might be wrong completely, that too

[@EX7Sonic]

Linkara: It's not like you can just physically harm death. Dean Winchester: Hold my beer.

[@NickonPlanetRipple]

I thought the whole premise of this was that Nekron created a sort of "back door" that allowed him to activate beings who'd come back to life as sleeper agents, also sort of explaining how these characters keep coming back to life?

[@BigDaddyJayBoogie]

I just realized something epic, that they could have done. White Lantern LeeAnn

[@fionordequester6748]

"The ending was a really great opportunity to bring everyone back to life again" ...Huh. That's exactly what I thought they were gonna do... Darn shame the creators didn't go that route :( .

[@richardsmith2719]

Um, sir. When you look for demons in Marvel, you don't like what you find. Example A. One More Day.

[@richardsmith2719]

Thanks for the recommend.

[@brianbrush5107]

first like was me

[@bloodstoneore4630]

Richard Smith example B. Like 90 percent of things he's reviewed

[@tjjordan4207]

DC has a fair share of demons. Raven is the daughter of one.

[@genkaiba15]

I hope Brightest Day is on the docket for a future Event Comic month or some such theme. Still excited to see Infinity Crusade, as well. Keep up the good work!

[@redjirachi1]

I'm still waiting for that Green Lantern style anniversary for Channel Awesome...I've been waiting for SIX YEARS. I even plotted out who gets what ring: * Angry Joe: Red * Nostalgia Critic: Orange * Cinema Snob: Sinestro * Linkara: Green * Nostalgia Chick: Star Sapphire * Ma-Ti: Black Don't know who gets Blue or Indigo though. On a related note, this was the event where I started getting into comics. In fact, learning about this event and watching you was what got me into the genre in the first place, making me a loyal Green Lantern fan. So this review has some significance to me

[@PeaceLightning95]

+John Porteous Blue HAS to be FlimBrain. Little guy is so over passionate in the crossover movies.

[@legomaniac213]

I always thought Bennet the Sage would have been Yellow with how much he used to creep people out.

[@jacopoveronese81]

Yyyyyeah. As of 2018 I don’t see that happen. Ever. :/

[@TF2Fan101]

Then the Exodus happened.

[@pixelknight1368]

I think linkara would be blue personally

[@XaroctheGodofKarma]

This is now my new favorite episode. Kudos 👏

[@dakotadoyle7573]

To be fair to Blackest Night Don Hall had a peaceful death. Maybe thats why the Black Lantern rings couldnt make him rise

[@L1701]

Don was ambushed by a Shadow Demon. Hardly a “peaceful death”.

[@dakotadoyle7573]

@@L1701 that technically didn't happen since crisis on infinite earths where that happened caused a reboot

[@kacinema96]

14:11 SO basically, they’re the Jedi Order of the DC Universe.😂

[@JacobStarpuncher]

The cool thing is, he actually DID Event Comics Month this year, and it was super cool. I ended up buying Crisis on Infinite Earths and Infinity Gauntlet because of it.

[@jfdrac]

Ooh still have to catch up...but shocked he found them bad....or did he also do good events?

[@JacobStarpuncher]

@@jfdrac Oh no, he loved them. Most of the events he did for Event Comics month were ones he enjoyed. Crisis, Infinity Gauntlet, Secret Wars, World War Hulk... all great stuff.

[@jfdrac]

@@JacobStarpuncher Ah will look forward to it in about....6 months lol....and I asume you mean the orginal Secret Wars...not the 2016 reboot version

[@JaelinBezel]

@@jfdrac Yes the original.

[@jfdrac]

@@JaelinBezel Makes sense the other 2 were ....lacking....although the most recent one had some fun tie ins with obscure characters....inlcuding a book featuring one of my faves

[@imagin8663]

32:30 If you think about it, Dove's powers would work against the Black Lanterns. Her powers being from a Lord of Order would be able to destroy a Black Lantern due to the concept of the dead never coming back to life being a part of the natural order.

[@L1701]

That makes sense. After all, they couldn’t bring back Don Hall, the original Dove...

[@moyza_]

Good point!

[@Rabbitlord108]

I just wish Hawk had bits of armor as a Black Lantern to reference him becoming Monarch in Armageddon 2001.

[@ChaoticPesme75]

My biggest disappointement in this series, is what DC did with the Orange Lantern : In his introduction comic, Larfleeze was a serious menace to be feared. In Blackest Night and onward, Larfleeze is a complete goofball that doesn't even participate that much in general. And while Luthor getting an Orange ring is very fitting, he nearly doesn't do anything apart getting in the way of those who try to fight Necron. My point is, the Orange Lantern, while being cool on paper is completely wasted in the event and on.

[@JaelinBezel]

Orange is my favorite color. :[

[@ayandanxumalo9699]

28:30 " Why not have them cry for hearts or something?" That applies to both the Black Lanterns and the Heartless from Kingdom Hearts. I mean they both go after people's hearts.

[@femoman]

When I first started reading comics, Green Lantern was the first superhero comic I read, and to get myself well caught up on them I started basically as far back as Green Lantern Rebirth, and thus this was the first major event comic I ever read (unless Sinestro Corps War is counted as an event comic and not just a crossover), and it's still one of my favourites, right up there with Final Crisis, Crisis on Infinite Earths, Convergence, DC Rebirth and The Multiversity.

[@Astrithor]

Yay, I'm not the only one who uses the "much rejoicing" joke! Linkara, you get a like just for that! Been watching for years, and you just keep delivering!

[@SasukeUchiha-ix2yk]

Well Linkara I must admit, thanks to this review, I've just bought my first DC comic

[@bunnycupcake5348]

Great for you!

[@SasukeUchiha-ix2yk]

love this comic

[@j.r.richards9425]

Blackest Night, for all of its problems, is my favorite comic book event. Huge in scale (especially if you read the tie-ins), an incredible imposing threat, great characters and moments throughout, exciting and horrifying the whole way through, and it ends on a relatively satisfying note. It's easily the best of event I've read in all of comic books. Oh, and for those curious, the worst event I've ever read is Axis: Avengers Vs. X-Men (Marvel's been pretty bad about events as of recently, and yes, I do include Secret Wars in that). Holy crap balls was the horrendous (that is one Marvel event in desperate need of Linkara's critical eye).

[@starbrandlives813]

+J.R. Richards Axis Sucks, yes. But it could have been great. The concept is cool and if it wasnt really an event or something like a change of status, it would have worked. Also, really curious. Why include Secret Wars on the bad ones? Opinions and all but it is probably the best event of Marvel in years

[@j.r.richards9425]

+Starbrand Lives Don't get me wrong. Secret Wars is easily the best Marvel event in years (that isn't saying much, but it is true). I have many problems with the book. While it does good by Mr. Fantastic and Dr. Doom, everyone else... not so much. Everyone got little to do, even including Sue herself. A lot of the story and characters were off doing other things in other tie-ins. The art had problems with facial expressions. As an ending for Hickman's Avengers' run, it fell so flat. The beyonders, built up to be these super big bad villains... were all defeated off screen. It takes too long to get going anywhere and since Marvel was already promoting what the new Marvel universe was like after Secret Wars, there's no reason to get invested in this universe. It's not an awful event, but it's mediocre and not a great send off to what came before it.

[@TheCinemaniac]

+Starbrand Lives Well, as far as I understood Axis was originally going to be merely a slightly bigger story arc in Uncanny Avengers instead of being an event but after the pitch and planning process had started it started to snowball into an event because you know how it goes, everything's gotta be a big ass event these days since those sell best and editorial and marketing love those! That's why everything at Marvel these days is brought to a screeching halt every few issues because they have to deal with the latest event and there is very little story progression and events are very lackluster and don't even have the special feel since they are so frequent now because every other story is an event.

[@starbrandlives813]

+Just Another Guy that really explain all

[@TevyaSmolka]

Speaking of bad events there was also futures end which was also really awful and I am hoping linkara does do a review of on futures end because that would be really funny and awesome

[@humanexperiment5644]

Linkara "Lets see who lives, who dies" Lin Manuel Miranda "WHO TELLS YOUR STORY?" Linkara "who are you and what are doing in my house?!"

[@MrZerothejedi]

This seems to be the formula for popular DC events. Blank lived. Blank died. Tagline.

[@neptuneplaneptune3367]

In german they acually made the green colour represent courage. And....you could maybe argue that courage is a part of will power.

[@skyslasher2297]

34:54 what I find funny is that violet lanterns actually recruit two different kinds of people ones with a lot of compassion or those that lack it so we can all imagine that Ray Great disaster stoping welcome to pain Palmer is actually a sociopath

[@Mysticist]

Linkara was definitely right about how this should’ve ended with everyone coming back to life. Also Jeff Johns clearly doesn’t care about continuity, even his own, so why not just let him write non-cannon or parallel universe stories? Let him do whatever he wants without pissing all over established history.

[@mikethegrunty5968]

Blackest Night is one of the few crossover events I actually love

[@JohnnyElRed]

The complete spectrum of lanterns for every emotion in the DC universe is cool and disappointing. Cool because all the posibilities that come to mind, and disappointing because many of them are impossible. Because face it, the first everyone of us thught when we heard of the existence of a red lantern corps powered by rage, is how cool would be a crossover event with Marvel where the Hulk wield it. "Bruce Banner, from earth. There is a great rage in you. Welcome to the red-HOLYF***,WHAT IS ALL OF THIS! Stop it man, there is no way the ring can canalize all of that at once!"

[@Shadethewolfy]

So... if Hulk became a Red Lantern would his blood be red or green?

[@panthor109thabest7]

Shadethewolfy red

[@Shadethewolfy]

Fair.

[@Banchoking]

I had an idea for a DC/Marvel crossover where Atrocitus had failed to found his Red Lanterns. Instead, Hulk found the prototype ring after conquering Sakar. Between Hulk's rage and Banner's intelligence, building a corps was child's play.

[@janushyde86]

So, clothing warehouse to be darkened?

[@billding6032]

Funny coming back to this after reading Tales from the Dark Multiverse: Blackest Night

[@Moviemakertri]

Okay, I’m a bit embarrassed to admit that when he said “to see who lives, who dies” I said “and who tells their story.” Out loud. I think I’m a bit too much of a fan of Hamilton.

[@jaredohlstein7355]

Event Comic Month sounds like a good idea. also these moments "Gail Simone saw this image and said "maybe I should see how prevalent a problem this is" Geoff Johns saw this and said "COOL! I could do this more often with characters"" So funny. and "yeeeaaah I just don't get why they don't try to market Superhero comics to kids anymore" very well said. And a great review all over also that reference to Ray Palmer in Cry For Justice was funny

[@KevlarNinja]

Don't worry Linkara. When I get enough of a steady income to get a Patreon account, I have a terrible comic I can have you review. AAH-HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!

[@j.r.richards9425]

+Matt Lipton I'm gonna guess and say it's Bad Ass from Dynamite Comics. You mentioned it in the comments a while back and yes... that's perfect for him to review.

[@MrSafior]

+Matt Lipton Grr gat a Patreon account his almost impossible for me, no't because of the prise but because of the timeline and the unexpected freefield. Thats frustated because my request is pretty original.

[@KevlarNinja]

***** You got it. And the moment I can get a Patreon account, I'm totally going to get that sponsored review.

[@j.r.richards9425]

+Matt Lipton Good idea. Frankly, if I ever have the money, I'm going to try to get Linkara to review Ultimate FF... or maybe some of Hickman's Avengers run. Those were pretty bad.

[@TevyaSmolka]

+Matt Lipton personally in my opinion if i had the money I would request to dons review of futures end because that would be really Funny in my opinion

[@fullmetalninjaGT]

What the comics said about the darkness being sentient, reminded me of the opening narration of the Darkness 2 video game! "In the beginning there was s***! Literally nothing just void and darkness, and that's how the darkness liked it! That is until God said 'hey turn on the lights' ween things started going crazy! It started small, a sun here, a planet there, next thing you know we have humans and cows and stuff running around! Needless to say the darkness was pissed!"

[@TheLowBrassDude]

Early image comics reviews are the best birthday gift a guy like me can ask for

[@SMAXZO]

And this is why the Getter universe makes more sense...in the beginning, there's only Getter Emperor...and then the Emperor fires Getter Beams everywhere.

[@Mask0fFate]

I actually bought the Blackest Night trade in preparation for this review... And am currently wasting my money on the tie-ins. This series became one of my favorite comics once it was over, not just for the scope of everything, but also because of how personal it all became. Because it dealt with the dead coming back and mocking people that were close to them, it lead to some great character moments as people were confronted with their mistakes and flaws and either rose above them and became stronger, or were consumed by their insecurities and lost. I thought it was amazing, and even now I'm enjoying this event through the tie-ins.

[@dvon9392]

"you ever get tge idea that creators have really weird ideas about romance?" Alan Moore and Garth Ennis come to mind lol

[@JakNekon]

I'm sorry, but I keep having these images of the the black rings that didn't work (Original Dove and the two flashes) and cracking up.Dove: "Arise, Don Hall!.....Hello? HELLO?! OH Come on! I got a dud! Someone trade with me! Hey! HEY! TRADE WITH, aw screw it...." And the ones going after the two Flashes: "Soon you will be HOLY CRAP where'd they go?! This, how, how is THAT fair?! Everyone else's just stood there we, CHEAT, I CALL UNFAIR! Ah, ah my nonexistant thighs are burning...."

[@theruoc147]

1:10 and a legend was born.

[@LoboGuara5bruxaria]

4:02-4:07 "Inconsistent mythology, or just overtly complicated? YOU MAKE THE CALL!" I woukd say that is an simultaniously overtly complicated AND inconsistent mythology that is a by-product of lazy writting.

[@HiperPivociarz]

And I know that Geoff Jones does make mistakes, but he's pretty awesome dude and great comicbook fan and writer. Why so much bad opinions on him in this video?

[@Mr4thDoctor]

Because people are entitled to their own opinions. I personally enjoy a lot of Johns' work, and personally think that Linkara harps on him too much. But that's the nature of opinions.

[@hitomisalazar4073]

One of those things I always wondered if there was a DC story about. Because superheroes, magic, super tech, etc, exists and has for like 60 years straight in the DC universe. How things play out like... they have cybernetics. Do amputees in the DCU get cybernetics, or do people get them only if they are superheroes? Or is there some limit like the whole Marvel Registration Act thing where like if you get Cybers you have to be on a list or potentially dangerous people, maybe some training and oversight from some veterans so you don't do things like accidentally rip doors out of walls, etc? I dunno. It's just an interesting question to me. Maybe due to my own issues. Like do people in a car accident who lose the use of their legs get magic cures or cybernetic replacements? ... actually that would be a story I'd like to see from someone. Kind of showing the humility and brightness of DC heroes where he goes around like "Oh, you got crippled? Bamf, fixed". Because I could see DCU heroes doing that. Less so in Marvel where civilians are almost without exception in everything I read tremendous asshats to heroes, etc. I dunno. Questions that come to mind for me.

[@mcknightmareb4u494]

I persoally believe that Blackest Night: Green Lantern is also mandatory reading. Most of the stuff missing from the main book are explained in the Green Lantern book, like how the New Guardians were assembled (New Guardians is the common name for Hal, Sinestro, Carol and the rest of the representatives of the Lantern Corps), a pretty cool fight between Sinestro and Mongul for the Yellows, the New Guardians fighting the Spectre by Hal bonding with him again, Atrocitus confessing his love to Mera and much more. Green Lantern Corps isn't mandatory reading, but it explains where all the power for the Black Battery came from, and it has Guy Gardner getting a Red Ring and Green Lantern Construct Guy one punching Red Lantern Construct Batman to get his revenge.

[@Mattfromthepast]

You left One More Day off of the list of things worse than death and I think that "story" killed my soul.

[@Danny-tf3fd]

This event isn't perfect, but I've always thought it was pretty awesome.

[@philipjay2099]

No, Vertigo Death IS death. That which all the others are embodyments of at their times in their stories. And yes she can be silly.

[@Stormkrow280]

Apparently Red Lantern Blood can actually damage Black Lanterns

[@michaelnally2841]

I could definitely see Superman as an indigo lantern, and possibly Bruce as a red lantern I think that would’ve made a bit more sense.

[@krystlvines]

Show of hands, who thinks death of the endless would totally be willing to help move a couch?

[@CandyChaos7]

Azrael looks like phantasm in this but with two arm blades.

[@jakebryant3445]

Indeed.

[@Megamanlanprime]

John Conner Honestly I contend that Phantasm's design was based on Azreal.

[@Paraster]

I actually read Emerald Twilight myself for the first time recently, and it...was not what I expected. Hal's turn to evil was still rather abrupt and out-of-character, but it didn't feel as poorly written as I expected due to some surprisingly good pathos and the fact that Hal *doesn't* actually murder the Corps--he does take their rings, leaving several of them floating in space, but he claims to have "left them with just enough power to survive," and the fact that he *does* murder Kilowog specifically is treated as a heavy, "no-turning-back" moment. (Admittedly, the idea that so many Lanterns are able to survive this feels like a stretch, and I believe one of Kyle Rayner's early issues states at least a few *did* die because of Hal). It feels like Hal is specifically angry at the Guardians and (at least at this point) is uninterested in any deaths beyond what he views as strictly necessary. I'd be interested in seeing a review of Emerald Twilight sometime; I feel like there'd be a lot to work with and some opportunities to address some misconceptions about the story.

[@Spike-Prime]

Holy crap, looking at the playlist, I only just realised that after Ultimatum, Linkara didn't do another review of an Event Comic for four years! Ultimatum #5 - May 2020 Blackest Night - April 2016

[@kkhohoho1]

"The Vertigo version of Death from the Sandman (who also happens to kinda-sorta exist in the DCU), is the merciful embodiment of death." Okay, gonna have to call Linkara out on that one. While there are multiple representations of death in the DCU that portray different facets of it, Death isn't one of them. They are at the top of the food chain, the ultimate representation of Death in all its forms. No if's or but's about it. There was an issue of Captain Atom that tried to portray her as the former, but again, that wasn't what she was supposed to be. So Neil Geiman took his ball and went home, and never let anyone else use Death again.

[@jfdrac]

Not true....she still pops up just probably with his oversight...She was in a animated short for DC last year, and in a Batman Book (and thats not counting her return in the Sandman verse books that just came out

[@AeolosSakya]

To be fair, in recent years it seems Neil no longer has any power on his Sandman characters, it's just that most writers prefer to use them wisely and going with him first. For example, in the Dark Nights Metal stuff, the use of Dream was after the writer asked him. Same thing happened when Death appeared in Action Comics during Lex time as protagonist. It's less "Gaiman doesn't let people use his characters" and more "everyone collectively agrees to ask Neil first". Although, when he did have a voice in the use of the characters (Death in Captain Atom, Dream in JLA) he did stop them due to Death's misuse and lack of credit. Having said this, I agree with the rest of what you said. In fact, Nekron is less an aspect of Death and more a manifestation of the void before existence (and that is pointed out in the comic itself). He likes that living things die because it becomes closer to the state of nothingness that was before, but he is not Death. Neither are Black Racer or Black Flash.

[@jfdrac]

@@AeolosSakya Yeah Nekron seems like the Void from Supernatural

[@Rabbitlord108]

​​@@AeolosSakyaAt least when Dream let Leeta & Carter Hall come into the dreaming in a JSA book. It was involving someone who was a character in Sandman.

[@Sheepy007]

Why does Comic books have three grandpas? Wouldn't it make more sense for Miller and Moore to be uncles instead?

[@dnmstarsi]

Not really. Miller and Moore are pretty old relics of the Comic Industry IMO.

[@dnmstarsi]

Ungreatful Duck They're still old. I and Linkara consider them to be grandpas at this point. They don't have to be ancient to be grandpas.

[@dnmstarsi]

Ungreatful Duck Not really. Guys like Jack Kirby, Siegel and Shuster and Bob Kane with Bill Finger are the great granddaddies of comics. There is no "excessiveness" to it IMO. They were the giants, legends, original famous comic daddies of that industry.

[@dnmstarsi]

Ungreatful Duck What point? I called them GREAT granddaddies. Miller and Moore are just grandpas. There is such a thing dude.

[@ramirezthesilvite]

I have three grandpas.... Well, one died, but still.

[@jeniferjoseph9200]

I know the title cards are usually just artistic stuff, but this ep had me thinking your whole cast of characters was gonna be on this ep!

[@wildfiregx]

I'll be honest this comic and Geoff Johns run on Green Lantern are what actually got me into comics. So I really have to thank it for that. And i really do love this comic.

[@maryeden9323]

Yes!!! Thank You! Wonder Woman is Love! I've heard several people complain about that choice, they wanted something more bad ass. But for any long time reader or fan, you know why it's an amazing choice, and you explained it perfectly. Gives me so much hope when I heard Geoff Johns was brought on to help write the script and supervise the Wonder Woman Movie! Her Blackest Night book in this series are awesome too. I highly recommend getting them also. Max lures her by leaving a trail of dead human heroes, soldiers, police officers (because he knows it will get to her). Their fight and banter is great! And the way she becomes Star Sapphire is awesome. Especially for anyone who loves the pairing of her and Batman!

[@callianr6980]

Naturally, the Blackest Night tie-in was written by Greg Rucka. Who's more than proven himself a capable Wonder Woman writer at this point.

[@JaelinBezel]

And really, doesn't it take more courage to offer your hand in peace to those who wish you harm than it does to stab them through the chest? Killing them ends their threat as soon as possible but also ends anything else they might become. Offering your hand to them gives them the opportunity to stab you in the back but it also shows them there are people willing to give them a chance. To me, making that gamble takes way more courage than closing their story once and for all. To quote one of my own characters: "Mercy and compassion are luxuries only the strong can afford to show. I'm not strong. I never was, and I never will be."

[@dylansharp8471]

What about DCAU Wondie?