See what happens when you let things spoil?Hello everyone! This week we’re going to talk about a topic that caused quite a controversy in the comic world. Last week, in the Blackest Night tie-in issue of Green Lantern Corp (GLC #46 to be exact) there was a moment that you either loved or hated. But why? Was this as offensive as they say it was, or was it a necessary evil to tell the story?
CBR and IGN seemed to have a problem with it, as well as our own writer Josh Mocle. Even a small but very vocal group on Tumblr went nuts over the issue(ironically stemming from a post Matt made, who I’m fairly sure loved the issue, and the moment in question.). IGN said:
Green Lantern Corps #46 continues the Lanterns’ struggle to defend Mogo from a horde of Black Lanterns, with Tomasi throwing in an extra wrinkle in the form of undead versions of Kyle and Guy’s past and present loved ones. Because we’ve seen this type of thing so many times over the course of this event, these two scenes make for the issue’s least entertaining sequences. In the case of Kyle’s run in with a Black Lantern version of Alex DeWitt, the original Woman in the Refrigerator, the sequence is more problematic than being unentertaining; it’s downright misguided. Though Tomasi tries mightily to spin this infamous story development to his advantage, he only really reminds us how truly awful, obscene and stupid it was when Ron Marz had Major Force chop up Kyle’s main squeeze and stuff her in a fridge. And at a time when Cry for Justice is reminding fans of DC’s troubling propensity for using female characters in such a way, that hardly seems wise.
While they ended up giving it a positive review, albeit not as positive as the review I gave it, I found it a tad odd that we’re oddly forgiving of some returns, but not others.
My question is, why WOULDN’T this happen? I cannot think of a more appropriate resurrection from the legions of Nekron’s minions in the realm of the dead. Why, you ask? He did it because Nekron has been doing his damndest to extract some sort of emotional response out of every hero possible. I’m going to run down the ways why I think this was probably one of the best moments in the entire event.
Manipulation:
The Black Lanterns are bastards. We all know that. From Ralph and Sue Dibny showing up at the end of Blackest Night #1 to Alex DeWitt’s return inside of that unfortunately iconic fridge. Nekron desperately wants to tear out the hearts of every single living being and turn them into a Black Lantern themselves. And seeing as how he has been attacked by a Black Lantern Jade and even killed (albeit briefly), Nekron could simply not get a hold of Kyle Rayner. So what’s an evil force of nature to do? Oh, that’s right. He’ll take it to the next level and be as in your 
face and offensive as possible. This type of manipulation even has precedence. Terra appeared as being perfectly alive and healthy in the Blackest Night: Titans mini to coax am emotional reaction for Beast Boy (they even made out…ew). So is this construct THAT far fetched? Not especially.
Kyle Rayner:
I touched on this a bit, but some people might still not understand how effective this might have actually been if the Blackest Night happened 10 years ago. The event affected Kyle for a long time, and haunted him. Wouldn’t it haunt you? But Kyle’s reaction to being forced to live through the murder of Alex DeWitt and still moving on shows how much growth the character has gone through. I’m not even sure Spider-Man, a character who I believe was a lot of inspiration for Kyle, could say the same about Gwen Stacy, if there were ever a Blackest Night type event for the sum of the Marvel Universe (no, not Necrosha).
Continued belowBlinders:
If anyone read the comic, they would see that while this happened, there was also the building up of a female character to be one of the most powerful in the universe, seemingly matched only by Sinestro, the White Lantern. This female would be as David and Brandon call her, “Dove: The Sneaky White Lantern.” Why this was ignored by the critics of this moment I’ll never know.
Dove has quietly been gaining traction in the Blackest Night as someone the Black Lanterns can’t touch, and she can even kill with ease. This not only expands on a relatively new character, but a female one at that. But instead of taking both of these plot points as they were presented, we ignored a positive character development, and instead focused on a dark moment in a HORROR BOOK.
Yes, People. This is a Horror Title:
Probably the biggest misconception of the book is that it is indeed a horror title at its core. In a sense, this is like a cosmic version of Night of the Living Dead, complete with characters being turned into zombies and death and mayhem around every corner. As witnessed in the Blackest Night: Superman mini, even characters like the Psycho-Pirate, a Black Lantern, was causing a riot in Smallville by making people lose their minds with all the various emotions. This caused mass hysteria and destruction, and the opportunity to kill more people and absorb them into the Black Lantern Corps.
But no, this had nothing to do with the dozens of heroes (male and female) and the presumably millions of civilians (universe-wide, mind you) that have so far been murdered by the pen of Geoff Johns and Peter J. Tomasi. Instead, some people are complaining about the wanton death and destruction there. Why is that?
Emotional Connection:
Because we have an emotional connection to what happened to Alex and Kyle. This is not a bad thing. Is it exploitive? Maybe. But that’s the point. Is it crass and disgusting? Not to me. It’s just more masterful storytelling from, in this case, Peter J. Tomasi; someone who’s been telling a brutal story from the beginning. No one is safe, not Kyle, not Guy, and especially not the other Green Lanterns. A Rannian GL lost both of his legs in this issue. It’s brutal to a whole other level.
In closing, while I do agree it was a graphic and heart wrenching scene for the reader and Kyle especially, that is exactly the point of the Black Lantern Refrigerator. We can move past it as it happened so long ago.
