Death is Only a Feeling, or Why the Ending of Blackest Night May Be the Worst Decision DC Have Ever Made

As you may have noticed, at the end of the Blackest Night story, DC decided, in one massive splash page, to completely destroy any value that death once had as a plot point by bringing back a dozen dead characters for seemingly no reason whatsoever.

Looking at that splash, I can’t help but feel that some of characters picked out for a do-over are somewhat odd choices (although Batman is getting a whole series dedicated to his return, of course), so with that in mind, let’s have a look at the Shocking Resurrections!, one by one:

Max Lord (although it looks nothing like him).

As much as I love the Justice League International era, I was never too comfortable with Max’s descent into full-blown villainy; I felt he worked much better as a slimy figure who always seemed to straddle the moral line, and the sight of him blowing Ted Kord’s brains out always seemed a little jarring to me. His return, therefore, struck me as a good opportunity to return to this portrayal. Then, of course, the first thing he does following his return is use his mind-powers on Guy Gardener. It looks like we’re going to be treated to Geoff Johns-branded eeevil Max again. Ho-hum.

The Reverse Flash.

I didn’t even know he was dead. How about that.

Hawk (apparently).

Nope. Didn’t know he was dead either. The only thing I’ve ever seen him in is Justice League Unlimited, so I can’t say I have any strong feelings either way regarding his return. His costume is lame, however.

Jade.

Jade’s a character who I feel works much better as the obligatory “dead loved one” for Alan Scott and Kyle Rayner (Women in refrigerators arguments aside). Despite my affinity for the Green Lantern books in general, I’ve never found her to be a very interesting character. The only purpose I can see her resurrection serving is to create a tiresome love triangle between her, Kyle and whats-her-name.

Captain Boomerang.

Captain. Boomerang. The deeply unfunny comedy Australian Flash villain who was so lame he was killed by Robin’s dad. Did Geoff Johns run out of characters to resurrect or something? Geez…

Firestorm.

I have nothing against this guy, but I’ve never been able to get over how ridiculous he looks. The nobility of his death in Identity Crisis has also now been completely nullified, but that’s never stopped DC before (see: Barry Allen, Hal Jordan, Ollie Queen, Connor Kent, Supergirl, etc, etc, etc).

J’onn J’onzz, the Martian Manhunter.

Nope, can’t fault this. Good to have you back big guy. Also pleased to see he’s back to his round head look instead of the wierd pointy one he had for a while.

Aquaman.

This is hardly a surprise as his return has been teased from the moment he kicked the bucket. That said, I’m not sure I can see the point of bringing him back unless a writer can come up with a good take on him, and it’s well-known how difficult comic writers find to make him interesting. The only time I’ve ever been even slightly interested in him was during his beardy, one-handed era in the late ’90s.

Besides, I’ve been completely unable to take Aquaman seriously since Kevin Smith and Scott Mosier’s take on him on SModcast:

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Hawkman & Hawkgirl.

Hang on, weren’t they just killed off? I understand what Geoff Johns was trying to achieve by killing them at the start of Blackest Night, but bringing them back at the end of the same story removes any dramatic impact that thier scene in Blackest Night #1 once had. I would have thought that, as a storyteller, Geoff Johns would understand how cheap this seems. Interesting that their magic maces were resurrected along with them, too.

Deadman.

The dude who’s whole deal is that he’s dead? I suppose there’s story potential there, but still…

Osiris.

Or, the guy who was introduced and killed off within the space of a year, and whose sole narrative purpose was to be killed off (by a talking crocodile) in order to give Black Adam a reason to be really cross. Forgive me if I don’t consider this to be the most shocking resurrection since Jesus.

And with that, we have witnessed the complete obliteration of the value of death as a plot point in comics. Even Captain-bloody-Boomerang is back. Nice work Geoff Johns.

Also, Osiris is back while Ted Kord is still pushing up the daisies? There’s no justice.

-Ian