Right before Halloween, local comic book stores throughout the country got yet another dose of murderous zombie mayhem in the form of Blackest Night, the fourth issue of which came out just a few days ago. If you were looking for a healthy dose of horror in your weekly pile of comics, you definitely got what you were looking for in this book - and a good story, to boot!
While this Examiner has a few issues with writer Geoff Johns, he's definitely firing on all cylinders with this effort, possibly his most ambitious plot to date. Picking up where last issue left off, we find the Flash and his ersatz allies Mera (Aquaman's widow) and the Atom in dire straits, since the source of 'emotional light' that could destroy their power-blasting super-zombie enemies has been spirited away.
Not one to give up easily though, the Flash rallies his buddies even as he learns that another of their number, the newest Firestorm, has been killed and et by the zombies as well. This issue concentrates almost exclusively on Flash and company, and we follow them all over the place as they try to let the rest of the world know exactly what's going on and how they can possibly combat the zombie apocalypse that is upon them.
Of course you can't have a company-wide crossover without touching base with elements of the other major titles. While Superman, Wonder Woman and Bat-Man (unless you count the latter's hollowed out skull) are thankfully absent from this series so far (a singular cameo panel aside), we get to see what's going on with some of their enemies as the super-zombie thingies run amok across the face of the earth.
And, at the very end of this issue, we get to see the resurrection of yet another 'major' villain in the form of a zombie freak show, that being Nekron, a guy who (a few years back) tried to take over the universe with his own black power rings - perhaps hinting that he's the major mover behind this whole 'Black Lantern' thing in the first place. It would make sense; most of the evil leaders we've seen so far have been rather dim overall.
Despite their supposedly being all super-smart and blahblah. But this Examiner digresses. In the event that you're a fan of super heroes, or zombies, or horror, this is a series you'll want to be picking up. It's grand comic book spectacle done right, unlike some other misfire crossovers in recent years (namely anything else D.C. has published in that regard since 2000-ish).
And it's only four bucks an issue!
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