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Kalvin Foo

Professor Schwartz

FSP 101-12

10 December 2009

Death as a Unified Entity in the Blackest Night

The Book of Oa, the doctrine of the Green Lantern Corps on the planet Oa, contains a

hidden prophecy in Cosmic Revelations preluding “A darkness with no satiation, a darkness with

no life,”- The Blackest Night (Green Lantern #43, 2). An event set into motion a decade ago after

the Infinite Crisis storyline and the fall of the Anti-monitor, Geoff Johns‘ Blackest Night comic

book crossover is introduced by the War of Light. This conflict involves the elements of light

spectrum embodied in the Red Lanterns, Agent Orange, Sinestro Corps, Green Lantern Corps,

Blue Lanterns, Indigo Tribe, and the Star Sapphires participating in the War of Light. However,

the emergence of all seven forces of light brings forth an overwhelming darkness, The Black

Lantern Corps—an undead force seeking violence against all life. This introduction of death in a

new form, a force of undead beings seeking to steal living hearts and quench the light, creates the

starting point for a sense of fear within the reader, acting contrarily to the traditionally dim view

of the death concept itself which is weakened by the presence of numerous resurrections within

the DC universe. However, as the war between Light and Dark is elevated to a universe-sized

scale, the fragmentation of light in this binary opposition is meant to show the reader the

infinitesimal worth of individual life as compared to the unified darkness of death. Combined

with the active threat of death perverting identities readers and living characters are familiar

with, the Black Lantern Corps stand as a paragon of death, which humans fear most. Thus, the

Blackest Night taps into the reader’s familiarity with the simplicity and reversibility of comic
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universe death and perverts it by reintroducing it as a conscious, unified threat that uncannily

haunts readers and comic book characters alike.

When assessing the classic literary conflicts between Dark and Light, Good and Evil,

Life and Death, Chaos and Order, both sides are broken down to the interpretation by the reader

and the specific meaning is extrapolated in terms of their personal experiences and perspectives.

While these opposing forces are known as binary oppositions, both sides may not seem to hold

similar fortitude in the reader’s perspective. When taken from a deconstructive point of view, the

Black Lantern Corps/Death and the other lantern corps representatives of life represent symbols

that the reader can draw from. Lacan, in his essay “The Agency of the Letter in the

Unconscious” analyzes the way people perceive the idea of language, no matter how it is

communicated as it is visual in this instance. In its simplest form, this theory denotes that when

presented with a signifier, the person interpreting it thinks of a symbol or accumulation of

symbols that have societally been rendered to have a specific scope of meaning. This is the

signifier/signified relationship, in which he shows that all meaning is based on the personal

experience of the one interpreting it, as “…it is itself only pure function of the signifier, the

algorithm can reveal only the structure of a signifier in this transfer” (Agency). Thus, what is

presented in the writing of Geoff Johns’ event and the art of each individual comic series may

have the same general meaning for everyone, but the fear derived for each person is on a

personal level. Because this is the case, binary opposition analysis will be conducted in regards

to the individual and his or her fear of untimely death and recognition of his or her own identity,

as those are universal to human beings.

While the Black Lantern Corps, embodied by William Hand and led by Nekron,

ultimately symbolize death and darkness, what they symbolize best is uniformity in motivation
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and action while maintaining a lack of genuine humanity. The culmination of the Red, Orange,

Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, and Violet lights of the seven lantern corps create a white light, a

perfect contrast to the Black Lantern Corps. As read in the Book of Oa, prophesizing the war of

light where

The light of the Emotional Spectrum will RISE! The Red throes of RAGE, the

orange light of AVARICE the yellow fire of FEAR, the blue rays of HOPE, the

indigo glow of COMPASSION, and the violet aura of LOVE— and in the

CENTER of it all, the green might of WILLPOWER. And as the light RISES, so

shall an UNKNOWN DARKNESS, (Green Lantern #43, 2)

showing the elements of the white light that counter the unknown darkness are immensely

fragmented. As emotion is presented to make the idea of light cacophonous in its structure, Scar,

the Black Lantern Guardian, is able to conclude that “Emotions cause chaos. They push beings to

places they shouldn’t go” (Green Lantern #44, 22). This feeds directly into the fear the reader

and characters feel in the presence of the darkness, as each individual fragment of light/life is

just a shard of the chaos, easily trumped by the unified, undead force. This is carried out

numerous times in the beginning of the arc as individual lanterns and other heroes face off

against these Black Lanterns to no avail, and only the perfect amalgamation of all the light or

emotional spectrums, such as Superboy’s use of tactile telekinesis while feeling all emotions in

Blackest Night: Superman #3, Dove’s use of pure white light, or the combined light of Hal

Jordan, Larfleeze (Agent Orange), Atrocitus (Red Lantern), Saint Walker (Blue Lantern), Carol

Ferris (Star Sapphire), Sinestro, and Indigo-1 destroying Scar (Blackest Night #5, 11 and 15).

While these occurrences of victory over singular or small groups of Black lanterns do occur, the

majority of encounters result in death triumphing as the black rings survive but characters do not.
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As a result, while the binary opposition of dark/black against light/white is balanced in

their oppositions in terms of death-life and uniformity-chaos, the individual perspective is faced

with an enormous dark force that is equal in magnitude to all life, while the individual is just one

small fragment to be crushed by the darkness. As such, the reader derives fear in that death

cannot be overcome by the individual, and death is made out to be unstoppable in the difference

between the significance of the individual that stands as a shard and the magnitude of all of

death. To further this point, death is an aggressive force, as shown by the physical manifestation

of darkness on the living, especially on the face such as with Donna Troy in Blackest Night:

Titans #3 when she is bitten, and Barry Allen coming in contact with the black residue which

spreads across his face in Green Lantern #45. In both instances, what start off as small infection-

like marks grow, symbolizing a corruption of the light. So instead of a fear from the singularity

of death striking the life from the individual, a great fear is instilled in that the identity and the

life of the individual can be slowly sapped while the victim has full knowledge of the

conversion. No matter the situation, whether through difference in strength between death and

individual life or corruption, life loses systematically.

In one instance, however, is this conversion accepted- in the case of William Hand, also

known as the Green Lantern villain, Black Hand. As his life is documented in Green Lantern

#43, the reader comes to find that at one point Black Hand, in his misfortunes, loses his hand, but

death, an underlying presence in his life, reattaches it. It causes a similar conversion, as “…[he]

could not only hear and touch death…[he] could now see it. [He] could see it all around [him]” and thus

opens him to a new understanding and familiarity with the death that permeates every dark corner in the

universe (Green Lantern #43, 12). As the original Black Lantern with a human origin, Hand plays a

strong role in the uncanny aspect of this story as his story and motivations can be derived from possibly

similar experiences that the readers can share. The subtle difference is that he develops a comfortable
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affinity for death due to his surroundings. In the Book of Black, one such experience is his rationalization

for people going to church, noting that “That’s when [he] knew why people were here… they were

afraid…” of death and the unknown (Blackest Night #5, 24). The idea of a child not

understanding the reason for church is wholly plausible, and this is just one of the steps that

Hand takes towards his full embrace of the darkness within himself, which the arc suggests all

humans have a speck of at least through the aforementioned relationship to Hand and thus self-

comparison. The reader becomes familiar with Hand’s development into the embodiment of the

Black Lantern Corps because while many actions seem farfetched in isolation, they are logical

when the chronological progression of his darkening state is presented to the reader. In this, the

reader relates to Hand’s decreasing humanity because the reader can grasp the progression. It is

afterwards that the reader realizes that death can be natural, and this slow realization incites fear

for the capabilities of humans to tap into darkness. Like Barry Allen and Donna Troy are slowly

corrupted by the blackness, so is the reader by following William Hand’s story.

The effect of the uncanny stretches beyond the reader’s familiarity with Hand, for

Freud’s theory describes the mixed feeling of both familiarity and unease, or the “unhomely”.

Each resurrection brings back a fallen foe or ally in the DC universe with a perverted nature

aimed at accomplishing Nekron’s goals. Geoff Johns focuses on bringing in characters comic

readers who are likely to be familiar with but deceased, such as the Martian Manhunter, the

original Kal-L, or Terra of the Teen Titans. Each of these had a distinct personality and

backstory during their lives but the introduction of the Black rings introduces an entity so

familiar yet altered As Wonder Woman views the rings, “The ring wears the body, not the body

wears the ring. Thus the ring is not the person, only its form. It’s shape. It’s memories,” an entity

that is similar enough to what the reader and comic characters know, yet with changes noticeable

to incite the feeling of the uncanny (Blackest Night: Wonder Woman #1, 7). A visual
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representation of this is the alteration in costumes, each maintaining their original structure yet

emblazoned with the Black Lantern Corps emblem and with a black color scheme. The reader

assesses this symbolism and relates this change in color to a change to death, while the form

remaining the same preserves the acceptability of the copied identity of the Black Lantern. As

such, readers and comic characters are able to believe that their friends have genuinely return

from the dead on numerous occasions, soon to discover the true nature of the Black Lanterns.

Furthermore, these doppelgangers do represent the evil twin as described by Freud,

representing the darker side to all identities. As stated before, the only universal way to incite a

response within the reader is to appeal to their feelings towards death or their identity. Blackest

Night; however, takes a step past stealing the identity of the dead, but goes on to steal that of

those resurrected as well. At this point, the reader realizes the fragility of identity in lieu of that

of life, for Nekron, by the end of Blackest Night #5, has reclaimed the identities of living beings

as well, such as Superman, Superboy, Wonder Woman, and Green Arrow. This forceful

conversion of those who were able to return to life into Black Lanterns is the final example of the

Black Lantern Corps’ existence as death embodied in a forceful, goal oriented entity- first

assuming the identities of the dead and then reclaiming the individuals who belong to death

itself.

Overall, the greatest threat and thus fear introduced by the Blackest Night is the

redefinition of death. Traditional comic book standards have made a mockery of the concept,

with no character staying dead for too long without being brought back to life or another

generation superhero of the same name being brought it. Notable examples are Superman and

Superboy’s resurrections through the Kryptonian Birthing Matrix, Barry Allen’s return from the

speed force, and numerous usages of Lazarus Pits and such. Because of this, both the reader and
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comic book characters come to find that “…Death is overrated…” as spoken by Hal Jordan, and

that it is only a temporary predicament at times Blackest Night #3, 19). Even with the presence

of demons in the universe, none of them truly embody death in its entirety. The Black Lantern

Corps changes that. As said before, they exist as a binary opposite to all light and life, thus

representing a force of infinite magnitude. It has metamorphosed from a destination for those

fallen in comic books to a conscious wave of entities all bent on conquering the fragmented

shards of light, and makes death a permanent state by making the Black Lantern Corps nearly

infallible. In other words, characters no longer simply die. Instead, their hearts are ripped out,

identities stolen, and converted to an agent of death themselves and thus, death is no longer an

endpoint, but a conversion. However, one point that must be emphasized is that the Black

Lanterns collect the hearts of individuals they drive towards a specific emotion of the spectrum.

At this moment, Kristeva’s theory of the abject can be applied in a literal sense because not only

blood, but the heart, an integral part of the body, is removed. So for those other than the

individual whose heart was removed, the visual of black blood spewed and a heart being stolen

serves not only as imagery of death, but that of the identity being attacked, especially taking into

consideration the process of conversion into a Black Lantern afterwards The corpses that make

up the Black Lantern Corps, as well, “...stand for the danger to identity that comes from without

… life by death,” completing the symbolism of the Corps as a death symbol, evolved (Kristeva

71).

As life’s first instinct is to preserve itself, the greatest threat to life would be the death.

However, the counter-perspective is never taken into consideration, as death is never presented

to have its own consciousness. However, Geoff Johns effectively renders the Black Lantern

Corps into the ultimate uncanny force, by making death into another lantern corps, with a similar
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desire to trump other colors. The Black Lanterns are physically reminiscent of familiar dead

characters, slightly altered to inspire a déjà vu feeling. They are conscious. They serve to attack

life and strip identity through assumption of dead characters and also the corruption of the living.

As a body, the Black Lantern Corps reclaim the resurrected, and lay to rest the assumption that

any comic book death can be reversed, and thus make death that much more lasting. Finally,

Death, embodied by the Black Lantern Corps, represents a physical attack from death that has

never happened before. It is a new form of death.

So where does the individual, whether the reader or the character, derive fear? They fear

for their lives and furthermore the identity associated with the individuality of life. However, this

individuality is representative of the fragmentation of life as portrayed by the fragmentation of

life within John’s story. Each character and reader realizes that they are a fragment of light, of

life, and thus fallible compared to the indestructible Black Rings. At the same time, they realize

that this is not a stagnant situation, as the forces of death actively attack life as opposed to

characters dying in the past. As death bears a new role in the reader’s eyes, the fear derived from

supernaturalism takes hold in the fact that death has become a belligerent force, seeking to rob

the reader and character alike of identity and life.

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Works Referenced

Freud, Sigmund. "The Creative Writer and Daydreaming." The Uncanny 1908. Trans. David

Mclintock.

Hoesley, Thomas. Personal interview. 06 DEC 2009.

Johns, Geoff "Blackest Night." Blackest Night v1 #1-#5 (Jun.-Dec. 2009). DC Comics.

-- “Prologue to the Blackest Night.” Green Lantern v4 #43 (Sep. 2009). DC Comics.

-- “Blackest Night.” Green Lantern v4 #44-#46 (Oct.-Dec. 2009). DC Comics.

Kristeva, Julia. "Powers of Horror." Trans. Leon S. Roudiez. Columbia University Press (1982):

71-72.

Krul, J.T. “Blackest Night: Titans.” Blackest Night: Titans v1 #2 (Nov. 2009). DC Comics.

Robinson, James. “Blackest Night: Superman.” Blackest Night: Superman v1 #3 (Dec. 2009).

DC Comics.

Rucka, Greg. “Blackest Night: Wonder Woman.” Blackest Night: Wonder Woman v1 #1

(Dec.2009). DC Comics.

Thomas, Martina. Personal interview. 06 DEC 2009.