Beginning tomorrow (Thursday, July 8, 2010), DC Comics will start rolling out the Hardcover compilations of their last Big Event, “Blackest Night.” In case you missed out on it, or just on parts of it, these editions are going to be well worth the money at your LCS.
Yes, the trade paperbacks might be cheaper, but I don’t think they’ll be out until at least November or December. Plus, these will look beautiful on your bookshelf.
Thankfully, DC Comics is also releasing them in what should be an ideal reading order:
————————————————–JULY 8————————————————–
BLACKEST NIGHT
Written by GEOFF JOHNS
Art by IVAN REIS & OCLAIR ALBERT
Cover by IVAN REIS & RUDOLFO MIGLIARI
As the war between the different Corps rages on, the prophecy of the Blackest Night descends in this hardcover collecting the best-selling BLACKEST NIGHT #0-8. Now, Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps lead DC’s champions into battle to save the universe from an army of Black Lanterns made up of the DCU’s deceased heroes and villains! $29.99
BLACKEST NIGHT: GREEN LANTERN
Written by GEOFF JOHNS
Art by DOUG MAHNKE, ED BENES & OTHERS
Cover by IVAN REIS & RUDOLFO MIGLIARI
The Black Lanterns descend on a spectrum of Corps across the universe in this hardcover collecting GREEN LANTERN #43-52. Plus: Black Hand’s connection to the Black Lantern Corps is explained, and key plot points essential to enjoying the storyline to its fullest are revealed. $24.99
BLACKEST NIGHT: GREEN LANTERN CORPS
Written by PETER J. TOMASI
Art by PATRICK GLEASON, REBECCA BUCHMAN & OTHERS
Cover by RUDOLFO MIGLIARI
Green Lanterns Kyle Rayner, Guy Gardner and John Stewart join the rest of the GL Corps in the desperate struggle to preserve the Central Power Battery and Oa itself from being consumed by the Black Lanterns in stories from GREEN LANTERN CORPS #39-47. $24.99
These first three hardcovers are going to get you the real meat of the story, and if this is all you get, I think you can be satisfied. However, if you are a completest like me, then you’re going to want these books, too:
————————————————–JULY 14————————————————–
BLACKEST NIGHT: BLACK LANTERN CORPS VOL 01
Written by JAMES ROBINSON, PETER J. TOMASI & J.T. KRUL
Art by ED BENES, ARDIAN SYAF, EDDY BARROWS & OTHERS
Cover by RUDOLFO MIGLIARI
Superman, Batman and The Titans battle their greatest foes and long lost loved ones, newly undead as evil Black Lanterns, in this collection of three 3-issue BLACKEST NIGHT miniseries. $24.99
BLACKEST NIGHT: BLACK LANTERN CORPS VOL 02
Written by JAMES ROBINSON, GEOFF JOHNS & GREG RUCKA
Art by SCOTT KOLINS, NICOLA SCOTT, EDDY BARROWS & RUY JOSE
Cover by RUDOLFO MIGLIARI
The Flash, Wonder Woman and the JSA come face to face with their greatest foes and long-lost loved ones, newly undead as evil Black Lanterns, in this collection of three 3-issue BLACKEST NIGHT miniseries. $24.99
These two compilations are not necessary reading, but will help to act as exposition to a lot of things that are merely referred to in the main “Blackest Night” book and the Green Lantern/Green Lantern Corps volumes. These mini-series were wildly uneven, but I imagine that they will read much better in this form than they did as single issues published concurrent with the main “Blackest Night” issues. Made for some weird timeline shifting in your head to put it all together. My personal faves were Batman, The Flash, and Superman.
————————————————–JULY 21————————————————–
BLACKEST NIGHT: TALES OF THE CORPS
Written by GEOFF JOHNS, PETER J. TOMASI & STERLING GATES
Art by JERRY ORDWAY, IVAN REIS, DAVE GIBBONS, DOUG MAHNKE & OTHERS
Cover by DAVE GIBBONS & RUDOLFO MIGLIARI
From the pages of TALES OF THE CORPS #1-3, GREEN LANTERN #49 and ADVENTURE COMICS #4-5: Witness Saint Walker’s pilgrimage of hope, Carol Ferris’ sacrifice for love, the first appearance of the Indigo Tribe and much more! $24.99
BLACKEST NIGHT: RISE OF THE BLACK LANTERNS
Written by GEOFF JOHNS, GREG RUCKA & OTHERS
Art by RYAN SOOK, DENYS COWAN & OTHERS
Cover by RODOLFO MIGLIARI
Seven classic DCU titles – THE ATOM AND HAWKMAN, THE QUESTION, PHANTOM STRANGER, STARMAN, THE POWER OF SHAZAM!, CATWOMAN and WEIRD WESTERN TALES – are resurrected alongside GREEN ARROW #30 and ADVENTURE COMICS #7 in this BLACKEST NIGHT tie-in hardcover! $24.99
“Tales of the Corps,” as a mini-series, was actually put out before “Blackest Night” began, and was meant to be a primer for the various Lantern Corps that were formed in the wake of the Sinestro Corps War. It’s good reading, and will work well as reference material, especially if you haven’t been reading Green Lantern or any its related titles all the way back to Rebirth and Recharge.
“Rise of the Black Lanterns” was a really cool event-within-the-event, bringing cancelled or long gone titles back for one more issue. DC rolled these out as a kind of halftime show, opting to skip publishing an issue of “Blackest Night” one month and put these out instead.
————————————————–IN CONCLUSION————————————————–
Go forth, buy, read, and enjoy one of of the biggest and baddest comic book events in recent memory.
Personally, I can’t wait for the eventual Absolute Edition!
Images and quotes from DC Comics’ solicitations.
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Whoa, cool. This might take my slot for Established Series in a Franchise Universe that I wanted to find a place to pick-up at.
The price is a little heavy for me, but I might be able to swing it. Great update.
I’m personally grateful as well! I stopped buying single issues when I realized what a massive undertaking it was turning out to be and decided I’d wait for the trades. Nice to finally have a coherent and easy to follow guide!
Yay! So glad I thought to put this up then.
As a Green Lantern mark, I’ve read a good portion of this already. It’s the series that got me back into comics.
I think one could read the Blackest Night trade by itself and still be OK; I wouldn’t necessarily tell someone to hold off until one could acquire the GL and GLC trades, although I think the others (especially the GL one) are great books on their own as well.
I do think though that while Blackest Night is a great series, it’s not the most friendly for someone new to or revisiting the DC Universe. A lot of the drama works off of the Black Lanterns’ connections to the current heroes, and if you don’t know backstories, a lot can go right over your head. That’s why I generally stayed away from most of the Black Lantern Corps and Rise of the Black Lanterns series (Batman & Flash were the two I did get).
Tell ya what though – I thought I’d hate Brightest Day, but so far it has kept me interested. The amount of story that this whole thing encompasses (from Rebirth through Sinestro Corps and Blackest Night and now to Brightest Day) is enormous and I give a hell of a lot of respect to Geoff Johns for that.
Brightest Day is off to a slow start, but knowing what Geoff can do, I’m willing to keep reading. Any other writer, I’d have been gone by now. Plus, as with Blackest Night, if you aren’t following the 2 (soon to be 3) Green Lantern titles, you will miss a few things.
I’m really enjoying Generation Lost, though. That grabbed me right from the beginning.
I was reading this whilst screaming out loud “I can’t buy these. I have to pay for school” over and over again.
Seriously great list!