Blackest Night

Lore & Background

For Barry Allen, this event is deeply personal and traumatic. The Black Lantern Corps specifically targets those with strong emotional bonds, briefly animating Barry's own dead body as a Black Lantern to serve as a beacon for Nekron. This forces the living Flash to race against time not just physically, but spiritually, as he must confront the hollow version of himself that seeks to drag him into an eternal void where no love or hope exists.

In Their Own Story

The rain in Central City felt cold, colder than any winter storm Barry had ever outrun. He stood before a grave, his hands trembling not from fatigue, but from dread. The earth shifted, and a hand, pale and clad in the tattered remains of his yellow suit, clawed its way out. It was him—Barry Allen, dead and hollow-eyed, with a black ring pulsing on a finger that had long ceased to beat. 'There is no speed here,' the corpse whispered, its voice devoid of life, only the static of the void. The living Flash backed away, realizing the race wasn't against time anymore; it was against oblivion itself.

Reader's Guide

The event begins with Nekron awakening in the Land of the Dead, seeking to restore balance by erasing all emotion and life from the universe. He empowers the Black Lantern Corps, an army that rises across Earth and beyond, targeting major heroes including the Flash, Green Lanterns, and Wonder Woman. Barry Allen faces a unique horror when his own corpse is resurrected as a Black Lantern. This undead speedster becomes a focal point for Nekron's plan, using Barry's connection to the Speed Force to threaten the very fabric of time and life. The living Flash must battle this hollow version of himself while trying to protect Central City from the rising dead. The climax involves the convergence of all emotional spectrum lanterns to create the White Lantern Ring, representing life itself. Through a sacrifice that unites the emotions of love, hope, will, fear, rage, and compassion, the heroes defeat Nekron. The Black Lantern Corps is dispersed, though the threat of death remains, leaving Barry with a renewed appreciation for the fragility and value of life.

Did You Know?

• Barry Allen's corpse was briefly animated as a Black Lantern, but Nekron's primary vessel was the body of the Martian Manhunter (J'onn J'onzz), not Barry's corpse. The Speed Force was used to help restore Barry to life,
• The Black Lanterns are not controlled by willpower but by their lingering attachment to those they loved in life, which Nekron exploits.
• This event established that the Black Lanterns represent the absence of emotion, and Nekron seeks to extinguish life and emotion, but death itself is not an 'emotionless void' that actively consumes all emotions.

Origins and Narrative Architecture

Following the events of 'Rebirth' and the 'Sinestro Corps War,' this storyline was first hinted at in the final pages of Green Lantern volume four, where Guardians Ganthet and Sayd warned Earth's Lanterns of an impending prophecy. This ancient warning predicted that two existing corps would be joined by five new entities driven by specific emotions, culminating in a catastrophic 'War of Light' destined to destroy the universe. The narrative foundation draws inspiration from Alan Moore's earlier work, specifically the story 'Tygers,' which foreshadowed the rise of Qwardian enemies and the eventual demise of key heroes like Hal Jordan and Sinestro. To fully realize this epic scope, DC Comics released a central eight-issue miniseries alongside numerous tie-ins across their monthly titles. The creative vision was brought to life by writer Johns and penciler Ivan Reis, with significant design contributions from Ethan Van Sciver and Joe Prado. This massive undertaking also extended beyond print, featuring an audio drama produced by Darker Projects, ensuring the story reached audiences through multiple mediums while exploring the profound theme of emotion as the core driver of the universe's fate.

The Rise of Nekron and the Black Corps

At the heart of this cosmic horror lies Nekron, a personified force of death who seeks to extinguish all life and emotion from existence. Nekron's agent, the resurrected villain Black Hand, executes a sinister plan by exhuming Bruce Wayne's skull from his grave in Gotham City to charge a black power battery. This act triggers a global assault as thousands of black rings descend upon the Green Lantern Corps' crypt on Oa and Earth, reanimating deceased superheroes into mindless undead soldiers known as Black Lanterns. The horror is compounded by the realization that these resurrected figures are not their true selves; Deadman discovers this truth when his physical body rises while his spirit remains free. The Black Corps grows rapidly, incorporating fallen heroes like Hawkgirl and Hawkman, who are killed by their own undead counterparts, as well as villains buried beneath the Hall of Justice. Nekron's ultimate goal is to strip the universe of feeling, using these reanimated champions to hunt down living heroes and drain them of their emotional energy.

Global Conflict and Heroic Sacrifice

The storyline unfolds into a desperate battle across multiple fronts, pitting the living against the dead in Gotham City, Coast City, and Oa. In Gotham, Hal Jordan and Barry Allen confront resurrected foes like Ronnie Raymond, while the Indigo Tribe temporarily intervenes to obliterate specific threats before departing. The conflict forces unlikely alliances as heroes realize that only by merging different lights of the emotional spectrum can they hope to defeat the Black Lanterns. Mera finds herself hunted by her own undead family, including Tempest, forcing her to flee and eventually merge with Firestorm's components to create a new hero. Meanwhile, the Spectre is bound by a black ring, reviving Crispus Allen as a Black Lantern, though rings fail to affect those who have found peace in death, such as Don Hall. The stakes escalate when Nekron summons his full power, reanimating the entire population of Coast City and sending rings to resurrect major figures like Superman, Wonder Woman, and Green Arrow. Barry Allen utilizes his speed to distribute a crucial secret to every superhero in America: the necessity of combining lights to counter the black energy. This leads to a massive confrontation where the Justice League, Teen Titans, and various Lantern Corps unite against Scar and the Black Hand.

Creative Scope and Thematic Legacy

Beyond its immediate plot, 'Blackest Night' represents a monumental achievement in comic book storytelling through its intricate planning and expansive scope. Geoff Johns had plotted the Green Lantern monthly series far in advance to ensure this event served as a cohesive conclusion to his trilogy. The project required a massive production effort, including a zero issue released on Free Comic Book Day to set the stage, followed by nine distinct three-issue limited series focusing on different heroes like Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman. While Ethan Van Sciver was originally slated for art duties, scheduling conflicts with 'The Flash: Rebirth' led to Ivan Reis taking over the primary penciling role, though Van Sciver still contributed essential character designs. The narrative deeply explores the concept of emotion as a universal force, contrasting the life-affirming colors of the emotional spectrum against Nekron's void-like blackness. By reanimating beloved deceased characters, the story forces readers to confront mortality and the nature of legacy. The event successfully expanded the DC Universe mythology, introducing new corps like the Indigo Tribe and solidifying the emotional spectrum as a central pillar of Green Lantern lore for decades to come.