Just Stay at Home

Well well well. I'll be if this isn't some interesting news. The return of dead titles? That's a clever bit of trickery. A great idea, really. If they have to skip a month (and I'm going to cut Ivan Reis some slack because it looks like he's actually going to finish this big event without any help) this is certainly a clever way to do it. Let us exam each resurrected title in turn:

The Power of Shazam! #48: Black Lantern Osiris? Yes please. But could that really be all? Do the members of the Marvel Family have any other serious dead adversaries? I can't think of any... But there's always Billy and Mary's parents...

The Question #37: Ah, I've been waiting for this since Blackest Night was announced. No one else could write it but Greg Rucka. I'm wondering how exactly they'll do the Black Lantern Question. Most of the Black Lanters are distinguished by their gruesome faces. That won't work with the Question...

Suicide Squad #67: Booyah! More John Ostrander Suicide Squad is always good. And there are a lot of dead guys on that team...

Phantom Stranger #42: I loves me the Phantom Stranger. And Peter Tomasi does good work. This is a definite buy.

Catwoman #83: Black Lantern Black Mask, eh? I suppose it was inevitable... But I didn't see it coming. Sometimes my prognostication skills are better than other times.

The Atom and Hawkman #46: Oh, this oughta be fun. The Atom stuck up against three Black Lanterns? One his loopy, loony, murdering ex-wife? Craazy.

Weird Western Tales #71: Black Lantern Jonah Hex will be worth the price of admission alone.

Starman #81: This is the biggest surprise, I;d say. I never thought James Robinson would ever return to Jack Knight. But there you have it. I hope it lives up to the standards of the original series.

Which one are you looking forward to the most?

Apologies to all as this is another post about Blackest Night. I'm really busy these days and when you discount stuff like the print culture of the city of Edo during the 17th through 19th centuries Blackest Night is pretty high up there in my mind.

Anyway, I realized that the revelation of what was at the heart of the violet power battery tells us more than we might think. In short, it proves the hypothesis that the Black Lanterns are not the people they appear to be; they are lacking in souls.

Now, I'm sure most of you gathered that already, but it's still nice to have it proved. And here's how I figure it works: Hawkman and Hawkgirl are already Black Lanterns. That can't be disputed. But it should also be noted that Hawkman and Hawkgirl were the reincarnations of Khufu and Chay-Ara. That means they share the same souls. And since Khufu and Chay-Ara are also Black Lanterns that means Black Lanterns have no souls.

If you needed a soul in a Black Lantern then the Hawks and the antecedents couldn't possibly coexist as Black Lanterns. Unless, of course, I"m missing something. Am I?