Blackest Night collections

[Unicron]

Out of curiosity, has anyone bought the recent BN collections? I've seen them floating around the local bookstores, but as I seldom read comics I'm not entirely clear if there's a particular read order or if they're intended to be a full collection of the storyline, or only parts of it. I'm also curious whether similar releases like Agent Orange and Rage of the Red Lanterns would be considered to fit in as well.

 

[Mr Light]

Blackest Night was the culmination of the past five years of Green Lantern and Green Lantern Corps, and it was pretty good. There were a ton of tie-ins that were completely superfluous, though. Basically outside of the GL and GLC and Blackest Night mini, it was a vast collection of "beloved character comes back from dead to fight hero" over and over and over. So if that sounds interesting get 'em all I guess

Here's the chronological order of Green Lantern: Rebirth (the mini that resurrected Hal Jordan and began the modern relaunch). No Fear. Revenge of the Green Lanterns. Wanted Hal Jordan. Sinestro Corps War. this was the second act of the epic and a damn good read, it's a must read. Secret Origin. This introduces one of the players in Blackest Night. Rage of the Red Lanterns. Introduces two of the new corps for BN. Agent Orange. Introduces more corps for BN, takes place right before BN.

Then in Green Lantern Corps, which I find even more entertaining than GL and has absolutely amazing art... Recharge (introduces the new characters and premise). To Be A Lantern. Darker Side of Green. Sinestro Corps War (it was a GL/GLC crossover). Ring Quest. introduces major new player. Sins of the Star Sapphire. introduces new corps for BN. Emerald Eclipse. sets up BN.

So basically I'd recommend at least BN, and BN:GL and BN: GLC. If you want the immediate lead-in to BN then get GL: Rage Red Lanterns, GL: Agent Orange, GLC: Sins Star Sapphire, and GLC: Emerald Eclipse.

If you want to go further back, GL Rebirth and Sinestro Corps War.

 

[Unicron]

I remember when the Sinestro Corps event happened, but I wasn't aware of it being a BN tie-in/setup the way AO, Rage and Sins are. I'm not sure where I'd stick them anyway, since my shelf space is full...

 

[Mr Light]

Well, Rebirth basically began the Geoff Johns Green Lantern epic. It brought back the Green Lanterns en masse. Then that build towards the Sinestro Corps War, which was a huge deal because there was another Lantern Corps!!! But then at the end of SCW, it was revealed that something even worse was coming, the Blackest Night. A War of Light when SEVEN different Corps would go to war and the Black Lantern Corps would be born... the dead would rise! So then the next two years were spent introducing the other Corps and leading into the Blackest Night.

 

[Gryffindorian]

I'm sooo behind on my DC (and Marvel) reading, but I do have Blackest Night and The Sinestro Corps War among other things. The next thing on my to-buy list is a JLA TPB that ties in to the BN saga.

 

[Mr Light]

I don't think I've read that one yet, but the recent JLA run has not been well received. Actually JLA hasn't been that good since the first 5-10 issues of this relaunch...

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I assume that all of the various Corps-es will continue to exist even now that Blackest Night (which I have not actually read ) is over? Will the Black Lanterns be one of these, or were they all wiped out?

 

[Mr Light]

Spoiler: After Blackest Night

After Blackest Night comes Brightest Day. And yeah all the corps are still around and interacting with each other, but the Black Lanterns were destroyed. Well, until they come back anyway The new stories have been interesting as well, they resolve around the mystery of the new thing introduced at the end of Blackest Night.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

^ I just did a bit of searching on Wikipedia. It says that the Orange Lanterns have an oath. When did they say it in the comics? I always thought the Orange oath was just one word ("MINE!").

This is what Wikipedia says is the Orange oath (Linky):

This power is mine, this is my light.
Be it in bright of day, or black of night.
I lay claim to all that falls within my sight,
To take what I want...That is my right!!

That doesn't seem right. The article gives no references, and that oath doesn't even have the rhythm that the other ones do. Is it fake?

 

[Mr Light]

That does sound vaguely familar. Maybe it's in their appearances after BN in Green Lantern or Action Comics.

 

[Unicron]

I thought the orange lantern oath simply consisted of "MINE!" I've also heard there will be a white lantern oath, which hasn't yet been introduced. I will admit I got a chuckle out of the description of the finale quoted on this page (the Newsarama one).

I saw some fan art of Bender as an orange lantern, and I think it would be amusing to see some of the other Futurama characters with the various powers. My list would be:

Fry - Blue Lantern (he always hopes Leela might go out with him)
Leela - Green Lantern
Amy - Star Sapphire
Hermes - Yellow Lantern (as the one most likely to worry about stuff, and the resident bureaucrat)
Professor - Black Lantern
Zoidberg - Red Lantern (he's red and did go crazy in one episode, and he'd probably still be a loser).

 

[Admiral_Young]

That is Larfreeze's oath. Geoff Johns I think tweeted that or some such during "Blackest Night". Geoff has considered "Blackest Night" the finale of a trilogy that started with "Green Lantern: Rebirth" and the middle part of it is "The Sinestro Corps War". The arc is referred to as the War of Light.

 

[Mr Light]

And yet, BN was set up for a whole new bevvy of stories It's not quite as universe shattering but it's still really interesting.

 

[Mike Farley]

Don't think that oath is official. As far as I know we haven't see it in the books yet. Maybe in the upcoming Larfleeze Christmas Special.

 

[Unicron]

I know it's mentioned on the DC Wiki (the "new" oath), but since Larfleeze is the only legitimate member of his corps, his original oath seems okay to me.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

^ yeah, I definitely like the "MINE!" idea.

Would be nice if they'd give a translation of the Indigo oath, though. Is there some reason why Indigo Tribespeople don't speak English?

 

[Mr Light]

^

Yes there is: Nok.

 

[Smiley]

I saw the group of hardcovers at the bookstore, but I have no idea how any of the books correspond to the main miniseries. Are some prequels? Are all of the rest simultaneous events or different viewpoints of the same events? As someone with a little familiarity with DC Comics, I know that the ones that collect issues of GL and GLC are probably important titles. However, I'm guessing that a casual browser isn't going to invest too much time and energy trying to figure the whole thing out and will just move on to the next thing that looks interesting. That is a problem with all of the tie-ins to these big events.

 

[Gryffindorian]

IMHO, Blackest Night isn't as epic as, say, Infinite Crisis or Final Crisis. In that regard, a lot of the crossover titles that relate to BN are fillers or stories from a certain point of view, e.g., the GLC's. I finished reading Marvel's Ultimatum and have been reading Ultimatum: Requiem, which is really nothing more than a recap or tie-in stories from the X-Men's, Spider-Man's, and Fantastic 4's perspectives.

 

[kkozoriz1]

I thought the orange lantern oath simply consisted of "MINE!" I've also heard there will be a white lantern oath, which hasn't yet been introduced. I will admit I got a chuckle out of the description of the finale quoted on this page (the Newsarama one).

I saw some fan art of Bender as an orange lantern, and I think it would be amusing to see some of the other Futurama characters with the various powers. My list would be:

Fry - Blue Lantern (he always hopes Leela might go out with him)
Leela - Green Lantern
Amy - Star Sapphire
Hermes - Yellow Lantern (as the one most likely to worry about stuff, and the resident bureaucrat)
Professor - Black Lantern
Zoidberg - Red Lantern (he's red and did go crazy in one episode, and he'd probably still be a loser).

And Nibbler as the Guardian.