Blackest Night #6
Geoff Johns (w), Ivan Reis (p), Oclair Albert & Joe Prado (i), DC Comics
Warning: very mild, vague spoilers
This is the event I’ve been waiting for since I got into comics: an event that has me excited for each new issue. Now I don’t mean excited in the sense of “I can’t wait to see what the big universe-shifting change at the end of the story is”, I’ve felt that way about lots of event comics. With Blackest Night I can’t wait to savour each issue. This was a great issue for that. After all, nothing much happened in this issue, but it was a damn satisfying read, because Johns understands what it’s like to be a superhero fan. After all, what DC fan wouldn’t want to see who each new ring goes out to? What DC fan wouldn’t want to see new costumes on old favourites? There have been other events that I was very lukewarm about as I was reading them, but in retrospect they were pretty cool, then there have been events that it felt like a slog to get through, but with Blackest Night I am pumped after reading each and every issue. It’s a shame that January is a skip month. Luckily I’ve got tons of tie-in books to tide me over. Including *gasp* a new issue of Starman. Excuse me, everyone, I’ll be over here doing a happy-dance. — Owen Craig
Owen’s rating: 4.5 out of 5
I liked this issue too, except for the part about the Flash running two seconds into the future to lose the rings. I can think of several other simpler and less ridiculous things that would have been more feasible and sensible.
I liked who the rings found, that was very cool. I REALLY liked that Ray Palmer got a costume that was like his “native” costume that he had in that miniseries he had in the 80’s, where he was trapped at a size of 1 inch or so and found a tribe of tiny savages and he became their hero, killing frog monsters (just frogs actually) or whatever.
http://dc.wikia.com/wiki/Sword_of_the_Atom_Special_Vol_1_1
“just frogs actually”
laugh out loud
2 seconds into the future is an awesome dodge, and classic (I mean CLASSIC) Flash
Ha, I agree it’s classic Flash, but only because Flash typically involves ridiculous things like that happening.
My issue is this: if he can travel through time at will (and don’t start with all that “it’s not very precise without a cosmic treadmill” crap Barry was spouting, apparently it’s precise enough to the second), then why doesn’t he do this more often? I guarantee he’ll only use this INCREDIBLY USEFUL SKILL when it’s a big awesome plot point thing at the most climactic moment possible.
It’s like that stupid Harry Potter book, the third one I think, where everything goes bad but they fix it by using the time travel device that Hermione had given to her so she could manage a double course load. They just go back in time and fix it. You know when else that ability would have been useful? Literally multiple times in EVERY OTHER HARRY POTTER BOOK.
My argument is, what’s wrong with Barry saying, “Oh, I took us into the speed force for a second” or “I ran so fast we went out of range” or something like that? Would have worked just as well without making me wonder why he doesn’t ‘run into the future’ when the next thing starts chasing him.
Bah! Bah I say!