Blackest Night collections

[Unicron]

I found several suggested read orders for the BN collections, since one complaint has been the lack of actually ordering them chronologically.


Titans #15 Tempest returns. BN: Prelude
Green Lantern #43 Prologue
Blackest Night #0
Blackest Night #1 Power Levels 0.01% to 0.02%
Green Lantern Corps #39 Issue happens side-by-side with BN #1.
Green Lantern #44 Power Levels 0.75% to 1.20%
Blackest Night #2 Power Levels 2.63% to 3.43%
Starman #81
The Power of Shazam #48
Blackest Night: Batman #1 No power levels but the Bat Symbol is destroyed
Blackest Night: Superman #1 Power Levels 3.44% to 3.82%
Blackest Night: Titans #1 No power level's but Hawk is out of his grave
Green Lantern #45 Power Levels 45.43%
Green Lantern Corps #40 Power Levels 45.96% to 46.31%
Blackest Night: Batman #2 Power Levels 46.65% to 47.01%
The Question #37 before BN #3 because when Jason touches Ronnie in BN #3, he sees Vic Sage's empty grave
Blackest Night #3 Power Levels 50.32% to 56.59%
Adventure Comics #4
Adventure Comics #5
Justice League of America #38
Blackest Night: Superman #2
Suicide Squad #67 Power Level's 57.01%
Blackest Night: Titans #2 Power Level's 57.03%
Green Lantern #46 Power Level's 75.25%
Blackest Night: Batman #3
The Phantom Stranger #42 takes place after BN: Batman #3 Deadman's involvement.
Catwoman #83 The blackout in Gotham is mentioned.
Green Lantern Corps #41 Power Level's 85.26%
Blackest Night: Superman #3 Power Levels 93.01%
Blackest Night: Titans #3
Outsiders #23
Outsiders #24
Outsiders #25
Justice League of America #39
Justice League of America #40
Teen Titans #77
Teen Titans #78
Weird Western Tales #71
Solomon Grundy #7 after BN: Batman, Etrigan has been involved in S/B 66 & 67
Superman/Batman #66 the blackout may be a BN: Batman reference.
Superman/Batman #67
Green Lantern #47
Blackest Night #4 100%. Nekron Rises.
Blackest Night: Flash #1
Secret Six #17 Continuing from Suicide Squad #67
Secret Six #18
Doom Patrol #4
Doom Patrol #5
Booster Gold #26
Booster Gold #27
R.E.B.E.L.S. #10
R.E.B.E.L.S. #11
R.E.B.E.L.S. #12
Blackest Night: JSA #1
Blackest Night: JSA #2
Blackest Night: JSA #3
Green Lantern Corps #42 Power Levels 100%, and "100% Power Level Exceeded."
Blackest Night: Wonder Woman #1
Green Lantern #48
Blackest Night #5
Green Lantern Corps #43
Green Lantern #49
Blackest Night #6
Blackest Night: Wonder Woman #2
Blackest Night: Wonder Woman #3 Takes place in-between pages at the end of BN #6.
Blackest Night: Flash #2
Green Arrow #30- after BN #6 but before Adventure Comics #7.
Green Lantern Corps #44
Blackest Night: Flash #3 At the end everyone races toward the Spectre.
Green Lantern #50 - Parallax Rebirth. The Spectre is fought.
The Atom and Hawkman #46 the other Corps' are fighting the Spectre as seen in GL #50.
Adventure Comics #7 BL Superboy is freed. before GL #51 since BL Superboy is not seen with the rest of the BL's
Green Lantern #51 The Spectre is defeated and Parallax is taken away.
Green Lantern Corps #45 The GLC appear to transport to Earth
Blackest Night #7 Sinestro as White Lantern
Green Lantern Corps #46
Green Lantern #52
BLACKEST NIGHT #8

 

[Myasishchev]

Adventure Comics #4
Adventure Comics #5

I have pared down your list to the essential reading.

There are parts of the main miniseries that are pretty good. Much is incomprehensible. Much is bad. We don't need to see William Hand lick Bruce Wayne's skull, but we do. And we can't unsee that.

Also, I liked the concept of the Black Hand better when he was called Thanos. Thanos probably licked a skeleton too, but that was okay because it was off-panel, and--critically--she consented.

Oddly enough, I always thought Hal Jordan was right in Zero Hour (as Parallax), and the heroes were wrong. IIRC, he was attempting to create a multiverse in which everyone would be happy, and no one would die (as he put it, "Everybody wins!"). The heroes, after decrying his presumption that he had the right to create such a multiverse, willfully eliminated all timelines but their own from existence. The morality of the story never made sense to me.

The heroes of (old) New Earth are murderous pretenders. Always have been since CoIE. And I always thought it was super-convenient that all of DC's intellectual property from Earth-2 managed to cross over to the (old) New Earth, but the other six billion average joes and janes just died, while everyone from Earth-1 took their places. Or, alternatively, it was a whole mix and match, but ultimately billions died because of the Monitor's plan to create a stronger Earth, apparently fully endorsed by our evil, self-interested hero set. (I suppose Power Girl was spared by the universe because she had a marketably different costume.)

But here's an interesting, less-cynical question: if Zero Hour led to a new Big Bang, and Alex, Kal-L, Superboy-Prime, and Lois of Earth-2 were all outside the universe, does that mean they'd been waiting for fourteen billion years instead of twenty?

Puts a whole new spin on their damage, doesn't it.

Y'know, I was reading IC the other day, and it's almost like they go out of their way to dehumanize Alex. Like, Lois Lane of Earth-2 dies and the text almost wants to make you think it's his fault somehow (presumably her heart just gave out*), and they take time to tell us that the death of his mother-figure and the single person he chose to save when roughly twenty-four billion people died creates "very little sadness" in him. He's not even just too busy, it's verified that he barely cares, by the Psycho-Pirate, who would know.**

*Too bad Clark didn't use his heat vision. IT'S THE ONLY THING KEEPING HER ALIVE. Final Crisis is like a collage of awesome panels held together with really shit glue.
**It's always kind of amazed me that someone like the Psycho-Pirate would even need to go into supervillainy. You have the world's greatest superpower, my friend: to make people like you. Of course, the creepy side of this concept was explored when you had a genuine sociopath on the other end in Alias. But, still--there's just not much percentage in fighting an omnipotent Egyptian and his amphetamine addict sidekick when you can be subtle and just get laid every weekend and always get a promotion despite no actual talent. Even so, I feel he gets a bad rap for helping the Anti-Monitor. Like, yeah, he was a dick and took advantage of the opportunity, but what are you gonna say to the deathless monster that commands a universe made of matter that should kill you when you touch it? "No"? Nah, didn't think so.