Archive for the ‘Blackest Night’ Category
Or – “The War Of Light Rages On, And The Key Players Gather For Operation Roy G. Biv…”
Indigo-1 and her Indigo Tribe have provided Hal Jordan and the heroes of the galaxy with the weakness of the Black Lanterns’ rings: multiple spectrum emotions. In an attempt to give the BLC as much multi-spectrum as possible, Indigo-1 has gathered the primary bearers of the green and violet light, and has brought them both to Korugar to find the man who embodies yellow. Sinestro is, however, understandably distracted by the return of his dead friends and lovers, and also might have a little problem with NOT KILLING HAL. Five bucks on the gourd-headed guy…
Or – “Ray Palmer, Lightly Braised In A White Wine Sauce, With A Fried Egg On Top, And Spam…”
Al Pratt: “Um, excuse me, is this the undertaker’s?”
Black Hand: “Yup, that’s right, what can I do for you, squire?”
Al Pratt: “Um, well, I wonder if you can help me. My Atom has just died and I’m not quite sure what I should do.”
Black Hand: “Ah, well, we can ‘elp you. We deal with stiffs.”
Al Pratt: “Stiffs?”
Black Hand: “Yeah… Now there’s three things we can do with your Atom. We can bury him, burn him, or dump him.”
Al Pratt: “Dump him?”
Black Hand: “Dump him in the Thames.”
Al Pratt: “What?”
Black Hand: “Oh, did you like him?”
Al Pratt: “Yes!”
Black Hand: “Oh well, we won’t dump him, then. Well, what do you think: burn him, or bury him?”
Al Pratt: “Um. Well, I.. I.. I.. I’m not very sure. He’s definitely dead.”
Black Hand: “Let’s ‘ave a look... Oh, he looks quite young.”
Al Pratt: “Well, from the Silver Age, anyway…”
Black Hand: “SCAR! I THINK WE’VE GOT AN EATER!”
Scar: “I’ll get the oven on!”
Al Pratt: “Um, er… excuse me, um, are you… Are you suggesting we should… eat my Atom?”
Black Hand: “Yeah. Not raw, not raw. We cook him. He’d be delicious with a few french fries, a bit of stuffing. Delicious!”
Al Pratt: “Actually, I do feel a bit peckish… No! NO, I can’t!”
Black Hand: “Look, we’ll eat your Atom. And if you feel guilty afterwards, we’ll dig a grave and you can throw up into it.”
Al Pratt: “All right…”
(FIN)
Or – “In Which A Hero Must DIE…”
Every few years, we see the League at a crisis moment, a flashpoint where all the popular heroes are off doing their crossovers, and the remaining members are Tasmanian Devil, General Glory and The Creeper. With a whole new League around the corner, the few remaining members of the JLA have been dealing with a growing sense of unrest and aimlessness. Who will stay? Who will leave? And didn’t they promise that Leaguer would die?
One of the Legion of Spoilerites attending the Armageddon Comic Con in New Zealand dropped us a quick note from one of the panels. The attendee told us that Greg Rucka let slip that Dennis O’Neil would be working with him on the Blackest Night: The Question issue. This news hasn’t been announced from DC yet, and the January solicitations don’t mention O’Neil anywhere in the issue info, so for now, we’ll say O’Neil is rumored to be working with Rucka until something more official is announced.
Thanks for the head’s up Dan!
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At least Pa Kent stayed down
The zombie menace has been turned on its ear thanks to the Psycho Pirate, yet Kal-L, Zor-El, and the walking corpse of Earth-2 Lois Lane continue to vex the Last Son of Krypton, his half-clone, Supergirl, and the rest of the Kryptonians orbiting on the other side of the Sun.
In this issue: we’re down a man, but we still soldier on, just like the Five Doctors… (Does this mean Rodrigo is Tom Baker?) Could the foul-mouthed kid from the Bad News Bears really have a head that’s sufficiently gourd-like? We need you to nerd the hell out, then send us pictures… If you don’t Stephen will read some of his poetry. Plus: Is it just a coincidence that Corps is one letter from Corpse? Tim Drake wants a speckled lemonade and some bottomless steak fries! And the robot overlord decrees a change in the running order, and you MUSTOBEY ROBOT OVERLORD, or risk being marked as not one with Landru… Please lock your seatbacks and tray tables and return the stewardess to her original upright position, as the major spoilers podcast is on the air.
Show Notes after the Jump!
Once again, Matthew and Stephen are back to weigh in on one of the titles released this week. As their Robot Overlord, I have proclaimed the rotund duo review Blackest Night: Batman #3. Will they agree or will they end up fighting to the death?
Diamond Comic Distributors released its list of the top selling comics for September 2009, and it was a very good month for DC as Blackest Night and the related tie-in issues helped the company dominate the top ten comics sold for the month.
1 BLACKEST NIGHT #3 $3.99
2 CAPTAIN AMERICA: REBORN #3 $3.99
3 BATMAN AND ROBIN #4 $2.99
4 GREEN LANTERN #46 $2.99
5 WOLVERINE: GIANT-SIZE OLD MAN LOGAN #1 $4.99
6 BLACKEST NIGHT: BATMAN #2 $2.99
7 NEW AVENGERS #57 $3.99
8 GREEN LANTERN CORPS #40 $2.99
9 DARK AVENGERS #9 $3.99
10 BLACKEST NIGHT: SUPERMAN #2 $2.99
One would think capturing six of the spots in the top ten would make DC the top publisher for the month, but as my uncle Arthur used to say, “Volume, kid. Volume. That’s how you make your money.” And that saying seems to hold true for Marvel who was able to capture 47% of the market share. DC did come in with a respectable second, taking 32% of the market, which left a mere 21% for the rest of the publishers to fight over. And the rest did make a stand, with less than a percentage separating Dark Horse and Image Comics.
It is interesting to note that in the Top Ten list, the only DC book that was more than $2.99 was Blackest Night #3, while Marvel’s showings were all $3.99 and higher. With that in mind, it is easy to see why Marvel also captured the largest percentage of the dollar share for the direct market as well. While Marvel has had the $3.99 cover price for a while, it will be interesting to see how many Marvel titles remain in the top ten in the months to come if DC keeps their regular titles below the $3.00 mark.
We’ll have a complete listing of the Top 300 Comics for September in a few days when Diamond releases the information to us.
If you’ve been wondering what is going on with Blackest Night, and why there is a skip month in the series, EIC Dan DiDio spelled it out yesterday at the Baltimore Retailer Summit.
Or – “Hey, Vent! You Ready To Move Out?”
When you read monthly comic books the way that I do, often times you get to the point where you feel like you know what’s coming, when every title feels like you’ve read it before. On the other hand, you have the odd experience where you read a title or issues that you KNOW you’ve read before, but you cannot for the life of you remember how it’s supposed to end. With over a hundred monthly titles coming out, sometimes you need to play catchup, you need to go where everybody knows your name to the land of the Rapid Fire Revieeeeewwww!
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DC Entertainment sent Major Spoilers the cover images and solicitation information for titles arriving in December 2009.
BLACKEST NIGHT #6
Written by Geoff Johns
Art and cover by Ivan Reis & Oclair Albert
Variant cover by Rodolfo Migliari
Sketch variant cover by Ivan Reis
The secrets of Nekron are revealed as darkness consumes the DC Universe.
Everything else: TOP SECRET.
Retailers please note: This issue will ship with three covers. For every 25 copies of the Standard Edition (with a cover by Ivan Reis & Oclair Albert), retailers may order one copy of the Variant Edition (with a cover by Rodolfo Migliari). For every 100 copies of the Standard Edition, retailers may order one copy of the Sketch Variant Edition (with a cover by Ivan Reis). Please see the Previews Order Form for more information.
On sale December 23 • 6 of 8 • 40 pg, FC, $3.99 US
Or – “Corpses, Corpses, Everywhere, And Not A Brain To Think…”
I had intended to review an entirely different book today, but upon visiting the comic store, I realized I had missed the latest issue of DC’s most impressive summer crossover in years. A space story that’s also a horror story that’s also a superhero story that’s also a story about loss and death, the first two issues of Blackest Night were both shocking and entertaining, and took full advantage of our emotional attachment to DC’s characters (mostly by brutally killing them.) Issue #3 promises more skull-faces, more monstrous perversions of lost friends, and even a little bit in the way of explanations, along with a much-anticipated debut. What are you waiting for? Push the button, Frank!
DC has released a glimpse of even more Blackest Night tie-ins, and the one for Booster Gold #27 has my attention.
First up is a glimpse of the cover to Booster Gold #27, which is part II of our Blackest Night tie-in. Here, Booster Gold and Blue Beetle must team-up to stop Black Lantern Blue Beetle from eating their hearts. And as you can see by our cover, courtesy of series’ artists Dan Jurgens and Norm Rapmund, Booster’s just hanging around, and Ted, well, Ted’s dead, baby.
If done right, this could be a real mind-F of a story. The guilt of the best friend that has died, plus the guilt of having to live up to your namesake equals story telling gold – Booster Gold that is. Of course the Jamie Reyes/Ted Kord story has already been told in the Brave and the Bold animated series.
Or – “Hal Jordan: The Triple H Of The Green Lantern Corps…”
There are 7200 Green Lanterns in the universe… An equal number of Sinestro Corpsmen. There are thousands of Star Sapphires, at least four Blue Lanterns, Agent Orange, a horde of Red Lanterns, and a dozen or so of the Indigo Tribe. So why does EVERYTHING in the endless reaches of the universe seem to revolve around one womanizing ex-truck driver from Coast City? Is it the hair?
Fans at the San Diego Comic-Con were told that more Lantern rings would be on the way, and if Bleeding Cool has the news right, then you might be able to get your hands on all of ‘em if you and your local comic shop are willing to spend some money.
So for every 25 copies of Doom Patrol #4, Booster Gold #26, R.E.B.E.L.S. #10, Outsiders ‘24 and your retailer orders, they can order a bag of fifty Sinestro rings, Agent Orange rings, Indigo Tribe rings and Star Sapphire rings respectively.
And for every 50 copies of Justice League of America#39, Blackest Night #5 and Adventure Comics #4 sees you with a bag of fifty Red Lantern rings, Green Lantern rings and Blue Lantern rings, also respectively.
Each ring will ship every two weeks, Yellow on November 4th, Orange on November 18th, Red on December 2nd, Green on December 16th, Blue on December 30th (well, December 23rd now, I guess, thanks to Comic Book-Free Day), Indigo on January 13th and Violet on January 27th.
Rich Johnson has a good point about this promotion over the Black Ring event earlier this year in that these issues don’t have high sell rates, which would mean retailers would have to purchase more, just to qualify for the ring order – something they may not be willing to do if the issues don’t sell.
Easy solution? Buy the book, get the ring. Problem solved. DC numbers soar through the roof as Green Lantern fans buy books to get the rings, shop owners get more people into the store buying books, so their bottom line rises as well, and the recycling companies get a boost in business, as Green Lantern fans ditch the book they just bought in favor of a piece of non-biodegradeable plastic.
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