Blackest Night: Batman #1 (of 3)
Written by Peter J. Tomasi
Art by Adrian Syaf, John Dell, and Vicente Cifuentes
It’s a comics event, so of course DC is going to give us several tie-ins to Blackest Night, but this particular tie-in is so gripping that it almost rivals the main event. This three-issue miniseries from Green Lantern Corps and Outsiders writer Peter J. Tomasi follows the new Dynamic Duo of Dick Grayson and Damien Wayne as they team up with Deadman to try to stop the Black Lanterns from achieving their goal of snuffing out all life in the Universe.
The issue opens with Dick and Damien examining the desecrated grave of Bruce and his parents. Damien’s reluctance to look at his grandparents’ remains sparks a wonderful moment between him and Dick, as they talk about how their respective upbringings have brought them to where they are now. This small moment of bonding is short-lived, however, as Dick’s body is temporarily possessed by Deadman, whose own body was taken as one of the Black Lanterns. Deadman reveals to Dick that the Black Lanterns are not only recruiting deceased heroes and villains but also members of their family, such as Sue Dibny and the parents of Dick Grayson and Tim Drake. After placing a call to Tim, Dick and Damien race to the cemetary where Dick’s parents are buried, hoping to intercept their resurrected bodies.
There are several fantastic moments in this issue, such as Deadman’s vain attempt to prevent his body being taken by the Black Lanterns. There is also an awesome sequence involving the Black Rings and a plane carrying the bodies of a long-dead group of supervillains. Tomasi does a great job of summarizing the relationship between the two new caped crusaders while at the same time not holding the story back, and the art by Syaf, Dell and Vincente Cifuentes (which is quite a fun name to say out loud) does a wonderful job of conveying the dread in the characters’ faces. This may not be absolutely essential to the overall story of Blackest Night, but it offers a very entertaining side story for fans of the current Bat-books.
Rating – 4 1/2 out of 5 Dead Acrobats
I, too, loved the shit outta this book. GOOD READ!
The main reason I decided to get this mini was because of Tomasi’s fantastic run on Nightwing just a little while ago. He writes a pitch-perfect Dick Grayson.
Between this and GLC, Tomasi’s climbing the ranks of my favirite comic writers.
good book really good book
“The main reason I decided to get this mini was because of Tomasi’s fantastic run on Nightwing just a little while ago. He writes a pitch-perfect Dick Grayson.”
I couldn’t agree more. Tomasi’s Grayson is just perfect. I’d love it if after Winick (and Daniel) are done on Batman Tomasi took over.
This issue was just great. I can’t wait for the next.