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2 months ago
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Blackest Night #8 Thoughts
Thoughts on Blackest Night #8:
--Shiera Hall is back! Kendra was the first Hawkgirl I ever read, but my further readings have made me a big fan of the classic. The reunion of these two was downright amazing. This leads into...
--The Hawks are now once again the Ultimate Power Couple in the DCU. And I don't just mean the "Power" part of this so much as I mean the "Couple" part. Part of Hawkman and Hawkgirl's schtick which has really stuck with me is the idea of them as a loving couple, and having that dynamic back has me very excited. Plus we now have the possibility of seeing the wedding of Carter and Shiera!
Others may point to Green Arrow and Black Canary, or (now) Aquaman and Mera, but in my book the Hawks own this title and hopefully Johns and company will run with it.
--Regarding Ralph and Sue Dibny... I don't want them back in the land of the living. I think what we need is a run of them as the Ghost Detectives! Chuck Dixon wanted to use them in his Batman And The Outsiders run but that obviously didn't run quite as long as it was supposed to. But that would be a great backup feature in Detective or something, the two of them solving mysteries as a ghostly couple.
--Martian Manhunter is back! And this time he has pants! Not sure where he is going to end up after Brightest Day, but it sure is great to have Big Green back. Now hopefully some people out there will listen to some smart folks and use J'Onn effectively.
--In the same vein, Aquaman is back, and he has both of his hands! Put the two of these guys in a $3.99 40-pager, I say! I mean, two of the co-feature books are going away in a few months so there's a spot in the lineup!
--Anti-Monitor back in the Anti-Matter Universe? That's bad. Very, very bad.
--I guess I need to stop complaining about Jim Starlin's Hawkman Special being taken off the board now, huh?
--In closing, I just want to say that from the opening salvo to the final panel, Blackest Night delivered on all fronts and stands as one hell of a good story and one amazing event. And now, with Hawkman and Hawkgirl back, I can hope for a new (Brightest?) day for the Winged Wonders.
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7 comments:
Brightest Day is going to be awesome. I'm ready to have Hawkman and Hawkgirl back in the limelight.
I have passed on every weekly series DC has put out so far, but I am buying Brightest Day. (Yeah, I know, it's actually bi-weekly.) This has been a tour-de-force and the ride is not over yet.
I'm hoping Brightest Day delivers. I don't know if Johns can top Blackest Night, but I'm keeping my hopes up. At least my Favorite Martian is back, so I shouldn't complain. (Thanks for the link, btw!) I'm still a little perplexed by the whole "they're back...for a reason" bit. I'm wondering what exactly that means...
No problem with the link. I really liked your feature on the Manhunter and have been enjoying your posts about comics lack of popularity as well. I would comment but I have an issue with firewalls and a 10.5 month-old.
Anyway. I have a good feeling about Brightest Day in regards to the Hawks. Johns really likes these characters and he tends to treat the characters he likes well. That having been said, I don't know what to think about the Manhunter. He didn't get a lot of play in Johns' epic Infinite Crisis story, being sort of shuffled over to the side. But that could have been simply a function of that particular story. And he played such a prominent role in Blackest Night, that I tend to think that he'll come out in good shape at the end of the Brightest Day.
Indeed, what does that mean? How does a psychopath like Professor Zoom fit into this group? That's one question I am very interested in hearing the answer to.
I'm hoping J'onn will be written correctly. So far, Johns seems to have a way of getting to the essence of a character (at least in my mind.) I think the Hawks are in for some good times, too. I'm still sore over some characters not coming back (e.g. Ted Kord), but hopefully the mystery behind "The Twelve" will wind up being a good one.
Luke, Geoff Johns handled J'Onn & Aquaman fairly well in the "Crisis of Conscience" JLA arc that both followed-up on Identity Crisis and led directly in Infinite Crisis. That said, J'Onn's something of a long term pet project for co-writer Peter Tomasi dating back to the mid-90s, so I suspect he'll have the reins on Martian Manhunter. That means, expect darkness.
I never embraced Kendra, while Shiera is tops. This = happiness. You're right about the power coupling as well. Arthur and Mera have been homicidally dysfunctional for at least 33 years, where Katar & Shiera have only been in a twenty year awkward period. The love was always there, though. Green Arrow has pooped the bed again, and Dinah needs to get it through her skull that she deserves better.
Well Frank, you pretty much called it with Black Canary... ;)
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