Blackest Night

   This isn't a review. Not even close. This is more of a lament for the fact that I let DC convince me that this comic was something I would be interested in.

   So, my reaction to reading Blackest Night #1, was very similar to how I felt after reading Battle for the Cowl. Now, I'm confident that this series will turn out to be far less a series of random fight scenes and nonsensical motivations than Battle for the Cowl. But I really had the feeling that I already knew everything that was going to happen in this issue. As if the actual series starts next month. It's the same feeling I get when seeing a movie that has its entire premise and plot outlined by the preview - Tropic Thunder being a particularly recent example. Or like when DC ruined the ending Watchmen by releasing the graphic novel adaptation twenty some years before the movie came out. The whole issue was set-up: outlining the characters, defining the conflicts, catching readers up on the relevant history, and giving a sense of the stakes at hand. Though these are necessary to tell a story that tries to balance a self-contained narrative and a reliance on years of DC continuity, after the months of preview issues, "Road to Blackest Night" tie-ins, interviews, and promotional images, this issue seemed perfunctory. 

  

   My problems with Blackest Night are more than a complaint about the set-up. Every issue might be someone's first. And, for the purposes of a collected edition, it's nice to be able to read a story that has a beginning. I understand that my dissatisfaction is based on external factors rather than the issue itself (which I thought was efficient and well-structured, though only superficially interested in character and theme). The problem is that I know that I'm not really the target reader for this (I don't particularly care for Geoff Johns's comics and the list of dead characters who are going to come back as evil zombies in this series consist mainly of the DC characters for whom I have fondness, and therefore no desire to see as evil zombies!) and I know that my tepid reaction to this series will be more a matter of my own preferences than of a failure on the part of Johns and Reis. I also know that it isn't fair to the comic itself to judge it based on how the months of promotional bombardment made the entire issue (save the last gruesome pages) seem extraneous. But, sorry DC, I'm doing it anyway. Your PR machine made me interested in the series, despite all my concerns. You didn't lie or trick me. You just got me to ignore the simple fact that this series would not be my cup of tea.