Annoyingly my ISP decided to not like my domain this weekend. Makes blogging a bit tricky…
Picking up from where the preview left off, we get another page of Saarek and Ash discussing their situation in the Anti-Monitor’s empty boot. There was something about that visual of them hiding out in it that made me chuckle. Its a great image 
They seem to accept that since both have been sent on their mission to find the Anti-Monitor by the Scarred Guardian that she was obviously hedging her bets by sending two Lanterns on the same investigation.
Given Scar’s link to the Blackest Night I find it interesting that this seems to indicate that she doesn’t know where the Anti-Monitor (and thus the black power battery) is. While she’s been setting the scene for the Blackest Night, by causing the Sciencell riot and manipulating events, this makes me wonder if she’s as in touch with the forces behind the Blackest Night as we might believe. Alternatively she could be leading both Saarek and Ash into a trap. Given Saarek’s ability to talk to the dead, his role in the Blackest Night could be an interesting one, unless Scar manages to kill him.
Meanwhile on Oa, the Sciencell riot is spiralling out of control. The Green Lanterns are desperately trying to keep it contained, but its chaos. And then the rookies decide they’re through sitting on the sidelines, and break out of their containment to help, only to run into a load of Sinestro Corps members. However, at the last minute, they’re saved by the intervention of the Alpha Lanterns.
This scene was brilliant. Exactly how easy the Sinestro Corps would’ve been able to take down the Rookies would remain to be seen. They were brave enough to want to join in the fight, so that could’ve meant that they would have overcome the yellow weakness and been able to hold their own. However, the intervention of the Alpha Lanterns was brilliantly done. They were rendered very differently here to their previous appearances, which just showed them as Lantern/Manhunter hybrids. Here Patrick Gleason shows them mostly in shadow, save for their glowing power batteries. It makes them a really ominious prescence and helps show off just how powerful and inhuman they really are. While it wouldn’t work for all their appearances, here its chillingly effective.
With the Alpha Lanterns help, the riot seems to be quickly quelled, however just as the Lanterns think they can catch a breather, Scar decides to push things forward in preparation for the Blackest Night, and blows open Oa’s armour, exposing the planet and leaving it vulnerable.
Its a dramatic ending, and does hammer home the fact that the Blackest Night is about to begin. Its a pity we haven’t seen more of Oa’s armour through the series though. Its something that hasn’t really been used since it was introduced, although in fairness, there’s only so many times you can really have Oa being attacked.
So overall, another great issue. When you think about the big storylines Peter Tomasi’s juggling in this arc (Sinestro Corps invasion of Daxam, Sciencell Riot on Oa and the general manipulations of Scar), its amazing that he’s covering them all so well. One of the big strengths he’s displayed since taking over this series has been to juggle lots of things (be it plots or characters) in a satisfying way. No mean feat for a writer.
As a side note, I’m still wondering as to the timeline in the DCU at the moment. Rage of the Red Lanterns happens between Final Crisis 1 & 2, and Agent Orange happens right after that, presumably still during the Final Crisis 1/2 gap. since this story is running alongside Agent Orange, and has the Blackest Night lead in with Oa’s armour being blown open, I have to assume that Blackest Night is going to be happening right after Emerald Eclipse.
But what about the rest of Final Crisis? I’m going to have to assume that Final Crisis, Flash Rebirth (since the Blackest Night preview shows a more familiar Barry than we’re seeing in Rebirth at the moment) and Blackest Night all happen within a *really* short space of time in the DCU. That’s something I’d like to see addressed, the fact that the Earth falling to Darkseid, Barry as the Black Flash and now Blackest Night are all happening within a very short period of time. It might be fun to see the heroes a bit more beaten down, struggling to cope with all they’ve been through without any real down time.
I don’t actually think it’ll happen though. I suspect the issue of Final Crisis will just be ignored. It’ll be a pity if tha’s the case. I remember the Judge Dredd comics doing something similar back in the day, when they actually referenced the fact that all their big storylines had left Mega City 1 badly beaten, and vulnerable with shattered defenses. It really helped build the fact that it was a consistent universe.
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