Review: Blackest Night #4
It was with a slightly heavy heart that I picked up Blackest Night #4 from the to-read pile the other night. I haven't been a huge fan of the series so far but as the big current crossover event I feel an obligation to keep up with what's going on lest something come out of nowhere and land in the middle of one of my regular DC reads.
I will be the first to say that I might be wrong about this series; at the very least, #4 made me more willing to give it another shot, as I was pleasantly surprised by this latest issue. It seemed to find some engaging elements this series has sorely lacked up to this point and focused on more interesting characters and situations.
Even though I just panned the Blackest Night series like nobody's business a couple of weeks ago, I found myself really enjoying this one. For one thing, the book seems to have finally discovered a sense of humor. Whereas I found previous issues off-putting in their deadly seriousness in the face of a fundamental plot point in conflict with the heightened sense of melodrama, I found Blackest Night #4 got its entertainment legs under itself a little more sturdily, maneuvering between creepy, dramatic and a little funny with a lot more agility than before and less heavy-handed chest-beating operatics.
Also, the story seems to have rediscovered superheroes' prime characteristic, which is the ability to get stuff done. That's what all the faces, whether mutants, supernaturals, accident results or dedicated psychos, have in common: agency. Issue #4 isn't about everyone being trapped between previously unknown forces both hostile and friendly. Instead, the heroes who are on-camera get inventive and start trying to make things happen. That's a lot more interesting to watch than page after page of forgotten figures showing off their new looks.
Mainly this just felt like a better comic book: hints at the involvement of more interesting characters, more action being taken, more initiative being shown, more meat on the bone in general. It made me more interested in the rest of the series overall, surprising no one more than it surprised me. Honestly, I'd keep subscribing to the various books anyway because I want the full set of Freedom Power Rings for Pride 2010, but now it seems like that might be less of a chore and more of an enjoyable experience.
Klarion
Posted to Review on 13 November 2009
· Comments (1)
Other stuff like this: Blackest Night, DC Comics, Green Lantern, The Flash
I totally agree!! This issue was more of "Let's just kick some ass" than "What's happening!?" I felt more intune with this issue too. It didn't feel like a chore to get through it.