Black Hand Breaks The Fourth Wall

The first page of BLACKEST NIGHT #1 contains the narration of Black Hand who says:

Death compels us because powerful or weak, loved or hated —

— no one escapes death.

That includes you.

If you’ve read the notes, you’ll see I’m unsure as to whom he’s referring. One possibility (particularly as the illustration is his eye staring straight out at the reader) is that he’s breaking the Fourth Wall and directly addressing us.

This would be unusual for most comics characters but Black Hand does have precedence. Here he is in his first appearance in GREEN LANTERN #29 from 1964:

But it wasn’t just a one-off, either – here’s his second appearance in GREEN LANTERN # 39 from the following year:

Of course, GL beats him and lands him in jail but he’s not downhearted:

So it’s entirely likely that Black Hand was indeed telling us, the readers, that death comes to us all.

Cheery thought, eh?