Pull List Reviews - July 15

Alright folks! I promised it on Twitter and now I deliver. This is the first of my (hopefully) weekly column here to review the comics on my pull list. And don't worry, fanboys (and girls). I'll try to do so as spoiler-free as possible. So without further ado...

Blackest Night #1
This is the book that DC fans (and in particular Green Lantern fans) have been waiting on since it's been teased in all the GL books for nearly a year. The Blackest Night has begun! (See Twitpic here.) This week we are hit with a double shot blast. The first is the main book in the new 8 issue mini-series. The basic premise for those of you living under a rock or who didn't pick up Blackest Night #0 back on Free Comic Book Day: A prophecy from the Book of Oa that holds the laws of the Green Lantern Corps foretells a "Blackest Night" when the dead will rise. These past few weeks in the GL books has shown that a black energy lantern has formed around the body of the Anti-Monitor who died back during the Sinestro Corps War and a the Black Hand has been sulking around graves and being generally creepy. Now with the start of the first issue of the series, the black energy lantern unleashes an army of black power rings in search of dead flesh to revive and join the ranks of the Black Lanterns. We're teased a bit with the actual number of heroes, villains and families dead in the DC universe before we get to the harsh first appearance of the first two Black Lanterns (besides the Black Hand of course) and it's a doozy who they are! I can't wait to see where this one goes! There are so many heroes in the DC world who are about to really hit a "blackest night".
Score: 5 out of 5

Blackest Night: Tales of the Corps #1
The 2nd Blackest Night book of the week, the weekly Blackest Night: Tales of the Corps, is just what the title implies. It's a handful of short origins of prominent members in the upcoming Blackest Night series. In this issue, we get a look at the origin of Bro'Dee Walker (Saint Walker) of the Blue Lanterns and Mongul of the Sinestro Corps along with the 1st appearance of the enigmatic Indigo of the Indigo Tribe. (Technically it's the 2nd appearance as she was first seen in Blackest Night #0 as a teaser). It's a great companion piece to the main Blackest Night storyline but not doesn't really hold up on its own.
Score: 3.5 out of 5

Superman/Batman #62
In this issue we get a one shot story with a flashback to the 1st team-up between Robin and Supergirl. It's a filler piece to be sure but not bad. It's actually gets pretty gruesome as Supergirl gets a few shocks on her tour around Arkham Asylum. I just wish this series would catch up with continuity somehow what with Bats being dead and Supes being on New Krypton.
Score: 4 out of 5




Action Comics #879
The "World Without Superman" is actually shaping up pretty well. This issue continues with the near capture of Nightwing and Flamebird by the U.S. military as they, in turn, try to capture renegade Kryptonians. All in all, it's a lot of fighting but we start to get hints (one of 'em pretty big) into what's really behind the new stars of Action Comics. There's also a backup story featuring Captain Atom. It's nice to look at with some great art but I have no idea what's happening yet.
Score 3.5 out of 5