Brandon Borzelli's Geek Goggle Reviews

Blackest Night #4Blackest Night #4 of 8
DC Comics
Johns, Reis, Albert & Prado

Flash, Atom and Mera continue to run around Earth attempting to hold down the fort while more Black Lanterns sprout up all over the place. The comic loops in some more DCU characters and reveals the master behind the Black Lanterns as their power gauge reaches 100%. The comic is essentially well executed filler that feels more like a JLA tie in than the main series. It's apparent that this comic is aimed at the hardest of hardcore DCU fans as it deals solely with the Black Lanterns as seen on Earth rather than even attempting to involve any of the Green Lantern cast or bulk of any of the colored corps war. This comic really just isn't essential reading nor is it memorable.

Brandon Borzelli's Geek Goggle ReviewsIf a comic solicitation read: Barry Allen aka the Flash, Mera and The Atom attempt to fend off zombies until someone else, somewhere else (in another comic book) figures out how to shut down the zombies, would you buy this comic for $4? I wouldn't have. Yet, this series is supposed to be the main Blackest Night story that would lead you to believe it's the core title for the event and it simply is not. How can it be when focuses on the Flash?

Flash races around the globe trying to round up the Golden Age Green Lantern and other heroes to try to keep the Black Lanterns from killing everyone. He's stalling in hopes of the real Green Lantern Corps figuring out a way to stop the Black Lanterns somewhere off in space. Flash finds various obscure heroes to help out. Some turn into Black Lanterns, some don't. He gives a lot of clichéd speeches and pep talks. While it makes the issue move along it sounds hollow. I felt like the dialogue could have come from any hero except Batman. It was all a little too corny. Is the objective really to prop up Barry Allen in hopes of gaining some new fans for the character?

Eventually enough people die, the power level reaches 100% and the master arrives. Barry Allen races off to Coast City where everything is going down in a big way. I'd don't know what the real payoff here is. I guess Barry Allen and company fight more Black Lanterns for three more issues and then Hal Jordan kills off the Black Lantern battery in the Green Lantern title and shows up on Earth to end the threat in issue eight. At this point there aren't too many heroes left on Earth to help out.

As far as the art goes, it's good. There are plenty of detailed battle scenes with many, many characters. For the major DCU fan you should have a blast trying to figure out who's who on each page. The gruesomeness of the Black Lanterns is not subtle here at all. This comic definitely delivers some disturbing, dark images.

This comic is a Flash vehicle and to a lesser extent, a JLA tie in. If you are looking for the meat of the war of light or the plot behind the Black Lanterns then absolutely skip this issue. Just because the master is revealed in this issue doesn't mean this issue is a must for the storyline. If you like Barry Allen, Mera, The Atom, and some others like Atom Smasher then you might like this issue. Otherwise there just isn't much in this comic book to justify the price tag or hype.

2.5 out of 5 geek goggles