Blackest Night #8

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Standard Cover (above): Concentrating on the foreground characters first, we’ll start with Sinestro and then work clockwise up from him: Sinestro; Flash; Agent Orange; Scarecrow; Atrocitus; Hal Jordan; Saint Walker; Indigo-1; Carol Ferris; Lex Luthor; the Atom; and Wonder Woman.

Now working down the left of the cover: just below Agent Orange’s jaw is Guy Gardner; below him is the Octopus-Indigo; between Flash and Sinestro is John Stewart; below Flash is Zilius Zox; below him is Ganthet.

Working down the right hand side: to the right of Carol Ferris is Veon; just below her is Kyle Rayner; below him (between the green and orange rings) is Arkillo; just below Sinestro’s hand is Bleez; below her is Brother Warth.

Variant Cover (on the right): Hal Jordan on the left with various hands reaching out to him.

Page 1 – Panel 1: Green Lantern Hal Jordan. It used to be said that Green Lanterns were born without fear; that’s changed over the years to them being able to overcome fear. Here, Jordan talks about what does scare him.

Page 1 – Panel 2: Star Sapphire Carol Ferris, the long time on again, off again girlfriend of Jordan. With him admitting he’s scared of getting close to people, it makes sense that she’s the one who appears here.

Page 1 – Panel 3: Black Hand, one of the main villains in BLACKEST NIGHT.

Page 1 – Panel 4: This is Sinestro who has recently connected with the Entity (as seen in the previous issue) and become a White Lantern. As an aside, the idea of Hal Jordan, jet fighter pilot and typical jock, quoting a Latin poem is just baffling!

Pages 2 and 3: Working from the top down we have Sayd; Carol Ferris; Flash; Jordan; Saint Walker; Indigo-1; Ganthet; Sinestro; and Nekron.

Page 4 – Panel 1: A white light explosion as Sinestro attacks Nekron.

Page 4 – Panel 2: Left to right are Jordan; Carol Ferris; Saint Walker; Ganthet; the Atom; and the Flash. Nice little recap of what’s happened to Sinestro fitted into normal dialogue.

Page 4 – Panel 3: Sinestro chains Nekron with his white ring constructs. Abin Sur was the Green Lantern of Sector 2814 before Hal Jordan; he was also Sinestro’s friend and, as was recently revealed, his brother-in-law, Sinestro having married Sur’s sister Arin. Sur’s mission that Sinestro mentions was to prevent the Blackest Night from happening.

Page 5 – Panel 1: Sinestro tears the heart of Nekron from his chest as his Black Lanterns have done to so many heroes and villains throughout BLACKEST NIGHT, destroying him.

Page 5 – Panels 2 to 4: It appears Sinestro speaks too soon as one of the millions of resurrected dead of Coast City retrieves Nekron’s scythe and . . .

Page 6 – Panel 1: . . . Nekron returns.

Page 6 – Panel 3: The “trespasser” Nekron refers to is the Entity rather than Sinestro himself.

Page 6 – Panel 4: From left to right are Mera; Indigo-1; Saint Walker; the Atom; Carol Ferris; Flash; Hal Jordan; and Ganthet who claims that no-one will be able to control the Entity. The cry of “Rings!” comes from . . .

Page 7 – Panel 1: . . . the Orange ring wearing Lex Luthor.

Page 7 – Panel 2: As Luthor loses conciousness from being smacked on the head with the Orange Power Battery, his constructs begin to fade.

Page 7 – Panel 3: Larfleeze, Agent Orange, is revealed as the attacker.

Page 7 – Panel 4: Left to right are Flash; Sayd; Larfleeze; Saint Walker; Ganthet; Hal Jordan; Atrocitus; and Wonder Woman. They all fall towards the No Fear monument that was last featured way back in issue #1. The thought balloon of “And that moment is fleeting.” thunders into every one’s head and comes from . . .

Page 8 – Panel 1: The Black Lantern Martian Manhunter who attacks Hal Jordan. To the left is Wonder Woman; to the right are Flash and the Atom. In the top left hand corner are the Black Lanterns of Dolphin; Aquaman; Superman; Donna Troy; Animal Man; Ice; and Green Arrow. In the top right are Firestorm; Hawk; Hawkman; Hawkgirl; and Max Lord.

Page 8 – Panel 2: Still in their apartment are Susan and Jim Jordan and their children Howard and Jane. Jim is Hal’s brother.

Page 9 – Panel 1: Starting at the top and then working clockwise are: a Black Lantern (BL) Osiris being punched by Saint Walker; BL Superman; BL Dolphin; Ganthet; Indigo-1; Mera; Larfleeze being attacked by BL Aquaman who’s being attacked by Atrocitus; the Atom; Saint Walker; BL Superboy; and BL Terra.

Page 9 – Panel 3: The Atom translates Indigo-1’s message to say that the cavalry have arrived. Note that his blasting the Black Lantern Firestorm seems to be separating out Jason Rusch who has been trapped inside the Black Lantern since issue #3.

Page 9 – Panel 4: Jordan’s ring construct that attacks the Black Lantern Martian Manhunter is how the Manhunter appeared in the good old days.

Pages 10 and 11: As mentioned above, back in issue #6 (Page 13 – Panel 3 to be precise) Indigo mentioned that her tribe could collect members of all the Corps. Numbered left to right and top to bottom are:

1) Slushh 2) Octopus-Indigo 3) Tomar-Tu 4) Arkillo 5) Kryb 6) Morro 7) Bleez 8) Karu-Sil 9) Kilowog 10) One of the Five Inversions 11) Another of the Five Inversions 12) Prince Khufu 13) Bird-like Indigo Tribe member 14) Kyle Rayner 15) The Atom 16) Indigo-1 17) Ganthet 18) Saint Walker 19) Atrocitus 20) Qull of the Five Inversions 21) Princess Chay-Ara 22) Fatality 23) Graf Toren 24) Stel 25) Mura the Melting Man 26) The last of the Five Inversions 27) Arisia 28) Brother Hymn 29) Brother Warth 30) Munk 31) Miri Riam 32) Guy Gardner 33) Romat-Ru 34) Firestorm 35) Zilius Zox 36) Carol Ferris 37) unknown Star Sapphire 38) Wonder Woman 39) Max Lord 40) Hawkgirl 41) Donna Troy 42) Ice 43) Starfire 44) Soranik Natu 45) John Stewart 46) Tekik 47) Hal Jordan 48) Sayd 49) Black Hand 50) Hawkman 51) Freedom Beast 52) Animal Man 53) Fire 54) Beast Boy 55) Hannu 56) The Flash (Barry Allen) 57) Alan Scott 58) Larfleeze 59) Superman 60) Power Girl 61) Atom Smasher 62) Booster Gold (and Skeets) 63) Mera 64) Martian Manhunter 65) Green Arrow 66) Dove 67) Hawk 68) Aquaman 69) The Flash (Wally West) 70) Wonder Girl 71) Cyborg 72) Black Canary 73) Robotman (maybe?) 74) Mr Terrific 75) Uncle Sam 76) The Flash (Jay Garrick)

Pages 12 and 13 – Panel 1: And as if one big spread wasn’t enough, here’s another. Numbered left to right and top to bottom (excluding Nekron, the Entity and Sinestro on the ground) are:

1) Kryb: 2) Tomar-Tu: 3) Wonder Woman: 4) Slushh: 5) Sister Sercy: 6) Bird-like Indigo Tribe member: 7) Carol Ferris: 8) Ratchet: 9) Arkillo: 10) Skallox: 11) Octopus-Indigo: 12) Kilowog: 13) The Flash: 14) Hannu: 15) Maash: 16) John Stewart: 17) Kyle Rayner: 18) Munk: 19) Hal Jordan: 20) Guy Gardner: 21) Miss Bloss: 22) Fury 6: 23) Romat-Ru: 24) Graf Toren: 25) unknown Indigo Tribe member: 26) Zilius Zox

Pages 12 and 13 – Panel 2: From the top down are Deadman; Guy Gardner; Octo-Indigo; and Low.

Pages 12 and 13 – Panel 3: Deadman has taken control of Gardner’s body temporarily but, as he says, can’t get the power ring to work. I have to wonder that if that’s the case, how come he doesn’t plummet to the ground?

Pages 12 and 13 – Panel 4: Deadman has indeed been floating inside the rings as seen in issue #6 and in the back-up story in GREEN LANTERN #49 dealt with in the TALES OF THE CORPS.

Pages 12 and 13 – Panel 5: As Deadman talks, Nekron separates Sinestro from the Entity.

Pages 12 and 13 – Panel 6: Black Hand kills two Lanterns, a red that might be Skallox and an Indigo Tribe member.

Pages 12 and 13 – Panel 7: Deadman reveals that if Black Hand’s heart were to start beating again, if he were returned to life, Nekron’s tether to the world of the living would be removed.

Pages 12 and 13 – Panel 8: From left to right are an Indigo Tribe member; Romat-Ru; Stel; Jordan; Gardner; Miss Bloss; and a Red Lantern. Gardner calls Nekron Skeletor who was the arch-enemy of He-Man.

Page 14 – Panel 1: In the foreground are Sinestro, Nekron and the Entity. Behind Nekron can be seen Octopus-Indigo, Jordan and Kilowog.

Page 14 – Panel 2: As Jordan attacks Nekron, Carol Ferris retrieves Sinestro.

Page 14 – Panel 4: Black Hand attacks Jordan. Just below Jordan’s left hand is the Sinestro Corps member Bedovian; to the right is Kilowog.

Page 15 – Panel 1: The Flash rushes in and saves Jordan.

Page 15 – Panel 3: Over Jordan’s shoulder is Arkillo; to the right, in the background, are STRIPE and Booster Gold; on the far right is Superman. Jordan refers to Doomsday, the monster that killed Superman several years before.

Page 15 – Panel 4: Jordan approaches the Entity and, like Sinestro before him, merges with it.

Page 15 – Panel 6: Superman’s black power ring disintegrates . . .

Page 15 – Panel 7: . . . as does Wonder Woman’s sapphire ring . . .

Page 15 – Panel 8: . . . and the Flash’s blue ring.

Pages 16 and 17: Say hello to the White Lantern Corps! All the heroes who have died in the past and returned and who were recently overtaken by Nekron and the black rings are freed by Jordan. In the air, left to right, are Donna Troy; Superman; Superboy; and Wonder Woman. On the ground are Ice; Impulse; Jordan; Animal Man; Flash; and Green Arrow.

Page 18 – Panel 1: Black Hand is struck by the white light.

Page 18 – Panel 3: Jordan takes Deadman’s advice and unleashes the Entity on Black Hand.

Page 18 – Panel 5: Black Hand comes back to life.

Page 19 – Panel 1: Way back in GREEN LANTERN #43, Nekron’s Guardian Scar had vomited up a black power ring for Black Hand; now Hand brings forth a white ring.

Page 19 – Panel 2: The ring flies past Ice; Impulse; Hal Jordan; Superman; Superboy; Animal Man; and Flash all of whom have returned to their normal costumes.

Page 19 – Panel 3: The ring flies through Nekron’s heart and keeps going.

Page 19 – Panel 4: Left to right are Dove; Power Girl; Black Lantern Hawk; and Metamorpho. The ring zooms by them heading for the Black Power Battery.

Page 19 – Panel 6: From top to bottom are Indigo-1; Kilowog; Green Lantern Alan Scott; Captain Marvel (or is he called Shazam these days?); and Power Girl again. The ring is looking for the power source of the battery . . .

Page 20: . . . the Anti-Monitor who is returned to life.

Page 21 – Panel 1: The Anti-Monitor wastes no time attacking Nekron. Working clockwise from the Anti-Monitor are John Stewart; Cyborg; the Flash (Jay Garrick); Starfire; and Power Girl.

Page 21 – Panels 4 and 5: Nekron banishes the Anti-Monitor back to the antimatter universe of Qward.

Page 21 – Panel 6: Black Hand’s obviously not well as he throws up yet more white power rings.

Pages 22 and 23 – Panel 1: The rings pierce Nekron and he explodes.

Pages 22 and 23 – Panel 2: The white rings search for various people; Amon Tomaz is Osiris; Jennie-Lynn Hayden is Jade; Digger Harkness is Captain Boomerang.

Pages 22 and 23 – Panel 3: Left to right are Atrocitus; Saint Walker; Firestorm (Ronnie Raymond); Hawk (Hank Hall); Professor Zoom (Eobard Thawne); and Max Lord.

Pages 22 and 23 – Panel 4: Here we have Hawkman (Carter Hall); Martian Manhunter (J’onn J’onzz); Hawkgirl (Kendra Saunders); and Aquaman (Arthur Curry). Note the other exploding Black Lanterns in the background of this and the preceding panel.

Pages 22 and 23 – Panel 5: Deadman (Boston Brand) who till now has been a ghost.

Pages 22 and 23 – Panel 6: Left to right are Flash; Mera; Hal Jordan; and the Atom.

Pages 24 to 27: A four page spread of the heroes and villains returned to life. Left to right are Professor Zoom; Max Lord; Hawk; Jade; Captain Boomerang; Firestorm; Martian Manhunter; Aquaman; Hawkman; Hawkgirl; Deadman; and Osiris.

Page 28 – Panel 1: Left to right are Alan Scott; Kyle Rayner; Flash; Mera; Flash (Jay Garrick); Guy Gardner; Wonder Woman; Hal Jordan; the Atom; Animal Man; Cyborg; Carol Ferris; and Superman. The big red BABUM is the noise of Mera’s heart being driven by the red ring she’s been wearing for a while.

Page 28 – Panel 2: Carol steps forward as Mera’s red ring shatters, her love for her husband Aquaman overcoming her anger. Trouble is, as mentioned above, it’s the ring that’s keeping her heart going.

Page 28 – Panel 4: The resurrected Aquaman.

Page 29 – Panel 2: Carol Ferris links the hearts of Aquaman and Mera as Saint Walker negates the red ring effects. A similar thing happened in GREEN LANTERN CORPS #43 after Kyle Rayner was killed.

Page 29 – Panel 3: Mera is revived . . .

Page 29 – Panel 6: . . . and reunited with her husband.

Page 30 – Panel 1: Hawkman and Hawkgirl, freed from their black rings.

Page 30 – Panel 3: Hawkgirl mentions Kendra, Chay-Ara and Cinnamon, three of her previous incarnations. Both she and Hawkman have lived many lives and until now, Kendra was unable to remember any of them unlike Hawkman. This caused tension between them as Hawkman loved her but Kendra fought against what he saw as their destiny and what she saw as a lack of free will.

Page 30 – Panel 4: Now, as she says, she remembers everything. Their time with “the Justice Society and the Justice League” is still something of a headache in terms of continuity despite Geoff Johns’s sterling efforts at sorting it out. The Hawks who served with the Society around the time of the Second World War were Carter and Shiera Hall but years later, despite having secret identities with those names, they were actually Katar and Shayera Hol from the planet Thanagar. That was further tangled following CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS requiring the ret-con of different Hawks into the League pre-CRISIS than the ones who were in the League post-CRISIS. Eventually it all became too much and for several years, Hawkman was basically unusable within the DCU.

Page 31 – Panel 1: The reveal here is that this isn’t Kendra, but Carter’s wife Shiera.

Page 31 – Panel 5: Wonder Woman; John Stewart; Martian Manhunter; and Superman. The Martian Manhunter was killed during FINAL CRISIS but has returned along with the others.

Page 31 – Panel 6: I really hope that smirk isn’t some mad villain inhabiting J’onn’s body, waiting for a time to wreak havoc.

Page 32 – Panel 1: The Manhunter is receiving a telepathic cry from . . .

Page 32 – Panel 2: Jason Rusch who is trying to get out of Firestorm’s head.

Page 32 – Panel 3: The two men separate, dissolving Firestorm.

Page 32 – Panel 4: Left to right are Flash; Tomar-Tu; Superboy; the Atom; Ronnie Raymond; Mr Terrific; Aquaman; what looks like Wildcat; Mera; Jason Rusch; John Stewart; and Wonder Woman. Jason’s referring to the Black Lantern Firestorm having killed Jason’s girlfriend Gen back in issue #3.

Page 32 – Panel 5: The Professor Stein that Ronnie mentions is his old teacher and sort of co-host of Firestorm, Martin Stein.

Page 33 – Panel 1: Left to right are Donna Troy; Cyborg; Dove; Hawk; and Starfire.

Page 33 – Panels 2 and 3: Guy Gardner restrains Max Lord who used to be a good guy until INFINITE CRISIS revealed him as the murderer of Blue Beetle, not to mention his attempt to mind-control Superman.

Page 33 – Panel 4: Speaking of mind-control, here he goes again; a side-effect of his meta-gene ability to influence others’ minds is the nosebleeds.

Page 33 – Panels 5 and 6: And Guy Gardner succumbs while Max fades into the mist.

Page 34 – Panel 1: Left to right are Soranik Natu; Kilowog; Jade; and Kyle Rayner. Jade’s obviously over joyed to see her boyfriend again . . . unaware that in the time since her death, Rayner and Natu (who watches with some confusion) have begun a relationship themselves.

Page 34 – Panel 2: Left to right are Superboy; Osiris; and Kid Flash.

Page 34 – Panel 4: Professor Zoom; Flash; and Captain Boomerang. Zoom is presumably changing his vibrational rate to return to his home time in the future.

Page 35 – Panel 1: Behind Flash and Captain Boomerang, left to right in the air, are Octopus-Indigo; Zilius Zox; Dela Pharon (she’s the only blond Star Sapphire anyway); Supergirl; unknown Sinestro Corps member. On the ground are Romat-Ru; Dr Mid-Nite; Stargirl; Wonder Girl; Brother Warth; Saint Walker. Flash is referring to Ralph and Sue Dibny, the Elongated Man and his wife.

Page 35 – Panel 5: “Why?” Flash asks when told the Dibny’s aren’t here. It’s a good question as the resurrections seem to be somewhat arbitrary. Presumably the Dibny’s story will be told elsewhere.

Page 35 – Panel 6: Left to right in the air are Steel; Atom Smasher (technically not in the air, but really tall!); a Green Lantern that might be Stel; Tri-Eye; Arisia; Bleez. On the ground are Booster Gold; Uncle Sam; Hal Jordan; Martian Manhunter; Superman;Flash; Jason Rusch being comforted by Mera; and Robotman.

Page 36 – Panel 1: Deadman realises he might need a name change sometime soon.

Page 36 – Panel 2: Left to right are Flash; Mera; Jason Rusch; Wonder Woman; Cyborg; the Atom; Kyel Rayner; Superman; Martian Manhunter; and Deadman.

Page 36 – Panels 3 and 4: When Deadman was dead, he couldn’t be seen. Now he’s alive . . . well, the results are obvious.

Page 36 – Panel 5: Left to right are Flash; Green Arrow; Carol Ferris; Hal Jordan; Skeets (in the air); an unknown in a red mask; and Booster Gold. Being thrown on the floor is Lex Luthor.

Page 37 – Panel 1: Once more, left to right are Saint Walker; Sayd; Martian Manhunter; Hal Jordan; Atrocitus; Carol Ferris; Sinestro; and Booster Gold; with Flash and Lex Luthor in front of them. In front of them is Larfleeze.

Page 37 – Panel 2: Sinestro spells out why the others are laughing at Larfleeze. Known for his avarice, it’s against his nature to give anything away yet he’s done that with Luthor.

Page 37 – Panel 4: Ganthet is pushed aside by one of Larfleeze’s ring constructs as he demands Sayd make good on the promise she made in GREEN LANTERN #48, to serve Larfleeze once the Blackest Night was over.

Page 37 – Panel 6: The Guardians of the Universe appear in the top left corner as Sayd mentions Black Hand has disappeared . . .

Page 37 – Panel 7: . . . along with, as Saint Walker says, Indigo-1 and the rest of her tribe.

Page 38 – Panel 2: The Indigo Tribe, led by Indigo-1 and Munk, have obviously returned to their home world. Indigo-1’s speech mentions Abin Sur, Krona and Larfleeze by name which will presumably be picked up on at some point.

Page 38 – Panel 4: Wearing chains and a collar that look remarkably similar to those worn by Nekron, Black Hand is shown as a prisoner of the Indigo Tribe.

Page 39 – Panel 2: The Flash and Green Lantern at the grave of Bruce Wayne where they still ponder why only some people were resurrected and not others. Jordan says that “dead is dead from here on out” – I give it two years before someone is brought back from the dead in the DCU!

Page 39 – Panel 3: The Black Lantern Batman appeared in issue #5 but at that point was referred to as “Bruce Wayne” (including the quotes) by Nekron who obviously knew what Jordan surmises here – that the real Bruce Wayne is alive elsewhere. Tim Drake, by the way, is currently using the name Red Robin.

Page 40 – Panel 1: A White Power Battery has crash landed somewhere, leaving a huge crater and will no doubt be picked up in the forthcoming BRIGHTEST DAY.

Page 41: The final thoughts of Black Hand, written in the Indigo Tribe language. Mentioned by name are Hal Jordan, Abin Sur, Sinestro, Munk, Larfleeze, Atrocitus, Saint Walker, Star Sapphire, Parallax, Hector Hammond, and the Shark.

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