A complete listing of Blackest Night titles can be found on our Blackest Night Event page.

Review by Corwin C. Crowl

"Parallax Rebirth"

Writer: Geoff Johns
Penciler: Doug Mahnke
Inks: Christian Alamy, Rebecca Buchman, Mark Irwin, Tom Nguyen & Mahnke
Colors: Randy Mayor with Gabe Eltaeb
Cover: Mahnke, Alamy & Pete Pantazis
Variant: Jim Lee, Scott Williams & Alex Sinclair
Letterer: Rob Leigh
Associate Editor: Adam Schlagman
Editor: Eddie Berganza
Published by DC Comics

Atrocitous:  I sense great rage within this Black Lantern.  What is it about this one? What is inside it?

In the wake of their failure to destroy the Black Central Power Battery Ganthet executes a hidden protocol in all the power rings.  He effectively doubles their fighting force by causing all the rings spawn second copies.  These new rings have recruited new members but can fifteen people battle an army of Black Lanterns?  Hal rightfully has some worries as each ring finds a suitable candidate for its emotion.  Most glaringly the greed driven Orange Power Ring recruits Lex Luthor and the fear inspiring Yellow Ring has chosen the Scarecrow.  Unfortunately Hal has bigger problems as the Spectre seems trapped inside his deceased human host who has now been turned into a Black Lantern.  And to make matters worse this Spectre fueled Black Lantern hungers for Hal!

The action continues to from Blackest Night as the newly deputized Lanterns try to stem the tide of the Black Lantern Corps but nothing could prepare them for arrival of the Black Lantern Spectre.  Johns really drives the point home that the Spectre has something to do with rage.  So wholly expect to see the red entity in the future of Blackest Night but is it too late in the game to introduce the colored entities?  It does not seem so as Hal turns to the one thing that may give them a fighting chance, Parallax the living embodiment of fear.  In the past when Hal was possessed by Parallax he also became the host for the Spectre.  This three way union almost lead to the Spectre being infected and controlled by Parallax, so Hal believes this may be their one chance.  Much to the objections of the others he lets a newly freed Parallax posses him.  This would have been an awe inspiring moment if it wasn’t spoiled by the cover.  However, it makes me wonder if we are destined to see all the colored entities within the next two issues of Blackest Night.  Could they be the deus ex machina to save the Universe from Nekron? 

The fiftieth issue of Green Lantern features the art and inks of Doug Mahnke and five other inkers.  As a whole the art is great but certain pages suffer from a lack of inked detail while others show every gory detail of the morphing Spectre.  Almost every new Lantern gets some minor face time.  The Flash deals with Firestorm, Mera faces Aquaman, the Scarecrow finds what he has been missing in life and Lex gets to attack Superman and Superboy.  I must say the Mera scene is probably my favorite.  It was disturbing, melancholy and bad ass all at the same time.  The uniform amalgamations are also a great sight as classic uniforms as given a Lanternesque overhaul.  Besides the new Lanterns, Mahnke really went out of his way to draw a horrifying Black Lantern Spectre.  I wish we could have seen more of the bones, skulls and nightmarish stuff that form from his body and cloak. 

If I had to complain about something else it would be the panel layouts.  Now Mahnke does a wonderful job of giving us a story we could follow but it lacks real creativity and playfulness.  Now two or three times he does break panel borders and plays with our perception.  Most notably the diagonal panels as the Spectre is overwhelmed but for the most part the issue is filled with standard square and rectangle panels.  It would have been wonderful to see what Mahnke could have created with an additional three or four weeks.

I will not deny that I was filled with huge anticipation when I finally got my hands on this issue.  After my first read through I felt slightly disappointed.  A twenty nine page anniversary issue with three huge two page splashes seemed kind of light for a $3.99 book.  However, after my second and third read I got a better understanding of the pace and flow of the issue which made me realize I simply wanted more pages.  I wanted answers to all the new questions Johns has raised.  If Hal is now the host of the yellow entity will Sinestro have to wield a Green Power Ring in his place?  Can being a member of the Black Lantern Corps mean something more for Hal?  Out of the full spectrum he has yet to possess two colors and when do I get to see more Sinestro Corps Scarecrow?

8 out of 10 (On Its Way to Greatness)