Green Lantern #43 ( DC – Johns / Mahnke / Alamy )
“The official prologue to BLACKEST NIGHT starts here as the first Black Lantern is born! Black Hand has been an enemy of Hal Jordan since Hal’s early days as a Green Lantern. But even Black Hand is unaware of the true power he holds that will connect him to the Blackest Night! Discover this villain’s connection to death and the Black Lantern Corps!”
DC’s big summer cross over starts here! Don’t be fooled by the title though, this is an issue about William Hand, a.k.a The Black Hand. For months we’ve known that he was going to be the general of the Black Lanterns, much to the bafflement of fanboys everywhere. Really, how could a low level GL villain really be the newest scourge of the galaxy? The, oh so disturbing, answers are held within.
A couple big kudos go out to DC and creators here.
First is the writing of Geoff Johns. We all know he one of the greats in the business, especially when it comes to making lame characters cool. That is exactly what he does with William Hand. People are just going to love to hate this guy, in the same way we love to hate Hannibal Lector. He is a deeply disturbed and creepy individual who now has the cosmic power of Death at his disposal. Beyond re-creating a character, Johns has made a different kinds of Death for the DCU. Now more of a cosmic force than a god on downhill skies. Death is angry. Angry that so many it has taken have returned ( Superman, Green Arrow, Hal Jordan, Superboy, Barry and Bart Allen) and it wants them back.
Second kudos goes out of DC itself. Mostly because they could have veryly easily put this story out as a one-shot, or a Secret Origins, filled with this story and some crappy reprints of old stories where Hal kicked the crap out of Black Hand. They didn’t do that though, they made it part of the GL book, where it is part of the overall story and not a lame attempt to price gouge the fans.
If you haven’t been following the War of Light so far, don’t worry. Go pick up this issue and you’ll be on your way to understanding what Blackest Night is going to be about. In a word….Death.
Grade: A+
