AQUAMAN, DOLPHIN & TULA versus MERA & TEMPEST

Blackest Night (DC)
Where: Blackest Night #2 When: October 2009
Why: Geoff Johns How: Ivan Reis

The Story So Far...
In the forbidden zone of Space Sector 666: the landing sight of the defeated Anti-Monitor has given rise to a mysterious black battery. This was the dawning of a War of Light prophesized by the Guardians of Oa!

The first sacrifice was William Hand: the death-obsessed villain known as Black Hand who willingly becomes the avatar of the coming Black Lantern Corps! Across the galaxy - the dead will join him as undead ranks consuming the living to charge their black battery!

Every hero who discovers this cosmic conspiracy risks being claimed! On the beach of Amnesty Bay, the new King of Atlantis follows Mera to seek the remains of his former mentor and king. Garth aims to strengthen his rule by returning Aquaman's remains to the tombs of Atlantis, but will soon find the dweller of the deep now walks the earth as an undead Black Lantern!

Tale of the Tape...
Strength: Aquaman 4 (Enhanced)
Intelligence: Aquaman 4 (Tactician)
Speed: Tempest 3 (Athlete)
Stamina: Aquaman 5 (Marathoner)
Agility: Tula 2 (Average)
Fighting: Aquaman 4 (Trained)
Energy: Tempest 6 (Mass Destruction)
Total: Tempest 28 (Metahuman)

The dead are rising across the galaxy like a tidal wave of terror, but the Black Lantern Corps aren't your average zombies! They're an endlessly regenerating super-powered horde: cosmically charged by Black Lantern rings that're drawn to the emotional spectrum their shambling corpses inspire in the living!

Aquaman is recently deceased and perfectly poised to inspire intense emotions in his former wife Mera, and the new King of Atlantis: Tempest!

Emotional provocation adds an unexpected dimension to the battle, but Mera & Tempest are masters of hydrokinesis: techniques for manipulating water in a variety of states for offensive and defensive capabilities.

We saw Mera generate a hard water bubble to contain Ocean Master's explosive weaponry in Adventure Comics #444. The power of the pounding surf is one way they could keep their resurrected king at bay. Tempest also wields a vast array of magic powers. Things aren't necessarily as simple as that, though...

With every heart consumed, the Black Lantern Corps share an increased charge. Their rings allow them to regenerate from any injury, fly, and manifest solid structures similar to a Green Lantern. Aquaman arrives with the Black Lantern at a low charge, but can theoretically match any hydrokinetic creations with constructs of his own.

Aquaman can also still telepathically command marine life, albeit in the form of the ocean's dead! We saw him beat Sub-Mariner with the aid of a whale in the controversial crossover clash of Marvel versus DC #2. Imagine what he could do with an army of everything John West rejects! [They sell tinned fish, kids.]

Mera & Tempest will also have Dolphin and one-time Aquagirl Tula to contend with! Both had romantic ties to Tempest before they met their untimely demise, and both are making their Comic Book Fight Club debuts.

This early in the Blackest Night game nobody really knows what they're dealing with. Mera & Tempest are caught completely by surprise and their best bet may just be to use hard water to cut and run! Let's see how it went...

The Tape: Black Lantern Corps Ranking: Aquaman (#40)

What Went Down...
Arriving at the land grave of their former King: Atlantean soldiers are shocked to find his grave already disturbed! Through the thick fog emerges the greyed vision of Black Lantern Aquaman - his face twisted by decay and bitterness!

The former King drowns his subjects in vitriol and dark energy, claiming one of their fear-filled hearts to bring the Black Lantern charge to 2.63%!

Tempest reacts - sending the fresh bodies scattering as he rejects the former king as a fake. Molten red energy blasts Aquaman's body with accusation, magically igniting the air around him as his undead body refuses to burn!

The undead body's stubbornness is matched in voice as he questions Tempest's legitimacy as new King of Atlantis. Former Queen Mera intervenes - thrusting the points of her trident into her former lover's chest!

The unaffected corpse looms over his former wife and alludes to a romantic affair with the late heroine Dolphin. He stares blankly, offering mock apology for making Mera jealous as the Black Lantern Dolphin makes her presence known!

She reminds them all she found romance with Tempest after their fling, raking her fingers across his chest to draw blood! The young King finds himself caught between two former loves, as the Black Lantern Aquagirl claims him as well!

Tula clutches the shocked Tempest by the fabric of his uniform and hurls him towards the glass top of a nearby lighthouse! She chides him for her ill-fated career as Aquagirl and his promise of true love as he crashes uncontrollably!

On the rocky shores, Aquaman swats Mera away from her trident and demands she tell him if she misses their deceased son. She holds firm to the memory of the man he was, believing the real Arthur never demanded anything of her.

Surviving soldiers emerge from the chopping sea with weapons drawn. They race to Mera's aid in the name of Atlantis, but their bravery is short-lived. Aquaman declares he is still King - summon undead sharks to the slaughter!

Aquaman reaches for his Queen's heart, but she rejects him with the fury of the sea! His body is washed from her presence with great crashing waves!

Tempest struggles to rally his own counter-strike, magically unleashing the cold of the arctic sea in a focused blast! It freezes the lurching Dolphin at the head and shoulders for Mera to shatter with her reclaimed trident!

Triumph is short-lived as Tempest contends with Tula smashing him through more lighthouse glass -- and Mera finds the headless Dolphin reconstituting as its headless body continues to grapple with her weapon!

King Tempest radiates with hope that Tula can fight the darkness gripping her, but hope is his undoing. The intense emotion allows Aquagirl to plunge her hand deep into his chest and remove his heart. Garth of Earth is welcomed to the darkness with the darting arrival of a Black Lantern power ring.

Black energy engulfs Tempest's body and sends a shockwave that throws Mera helplessly flying inland! She crashes into a car in a parking lot as the undead Aquaman Family calls to her! Masked by fog, Mera has no choice but to run.

The Hammer...
Wow! The significance of Blackest Night warranted frequent reference in the years that followed, but I don't think I've seriously looked at Blackest Night #2 since it was released in 2009! I forgot just how dramatic the early issues were!

The Black Lantern return of Aquaman occupies a majority of this issue, but was easily overlooked, given the massive scale and mystery surrounding the DC-wide event, and the bitter state of the Aquaman property in the late 2000s.

The original Aquaman was finally killed off in 2007's Aquaman: Sword of Atlantis #50, but not before he was mutated beyond recognition as the squid-faced "Orin, Dweller of the Depths". If you're picturing that guy from the Sega video game ComixZone - it wasn't anywhere near that fun.

It was some kind of misguided effort to clean the slate, and lean-in to a new era of sword & sorcery in the vein of Pirates of the Caribbean and World of Warcraft. Not a bad idea in and of itself, but riddled with unattractive propositions, not the least of which was a different almost identical Arthur Curry assuming the mantle of Aquaman. An utterly pointless and unnecessary move.

If this treatment of Aquaman all sounds pretty stupid in hindsight - it was. In fact, it was pretty stupid at the time! A handful of short-lived revamps, and hangover from the nineties hook-handed beardy era, had started to feed into a sense that there actually wasn't a place of relevance for Aquaman in the modern comics landscape. Which is ridiculous on a lot of levels.

Fortunately, Blackest Night #2 restores Aquaman to his classic self, with a lot of emphasis on calling him Arthur Curry. It was the first step in a restoration process begun by the great Geoff Johns, continued with a bona fide resurrection in Brightest Day. A needlessly circuitous route back to basics, but welcomed.

I don't have a lot of love for the New 52 or DCEU, but both efforts have kept the Aquaman ball in the air. The days of self-loathing jabs seem to be a thing of the past. We're going to get an Aquaman movie next month, and we're living in an age when even Mera is a starring character in her own right. Not bad! I'm still looking at mid-seventies Adventure Comics as the evergreen example of quality Aquaman comics, but it's all relative.

I don't have strong feelings about Dolphin and Tula, but I will be sure to make some time in the future to take a closer look at Tula's death. She was one of the less significant victims of Crisis on Infinite Earths, poisoned by Chemo in issue #9. One of many deepcuts found throughout Blackest Night, which managed to revive a lot of continuity, despite being all about death.

Next year will mark the 10th anniversary of Blackest Night. I'm sure we'll be talking more about that. If you can't wait until then, you can always pick yourself up a collected edition via the embedded Amazon link provided! Doing so will keep Secret Wars on Infinite Earths among the living at no extra cost to you!

You can also find plenty more Blackest Night, Aquaman, and Halloween horrors by diving into the Secret Archive! Resurrect your favourite battles of the past by referencing links indexed by publisher, series, and issue number.

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Winners: Aquaman, Tula & Dolphin
#32 (+8) Aquaman [+4 kills]
#194 (new) Tula [+1 kill]
#316 (new) Dolphin
#549 (-10) Mera
#861 (new) Tempest (Garth)

ELONGATED MAN & SUE DIBNY versus
HAWKMAN & HAWKGIRL
Blackest Night (DC)
Where: Blackest Night #1 When: September 2009
Why: Geoff Johns How: Ivan Reis

The Story So Far...
As he had in life, the Anti-Monitor was to threaten the lives of all who know existence in death. Broken and defeated by Superboy-Prime in the Sinestro Corps War -- the cosmic villain was sent hurtling helplessly through space, to be claimed by cosmic conspiracy at his final resting place in the far lands of Space Sector 666. So was set into motion the forgotten Oan prophecy of the War of Light!

From the black battery that did rise from the Anti-Monitor's corpse, and through the Oan Guardian he had burned and corrupted, a dark force reaches out through space to grip it's death-obssessed avatar, the villain known as Black Hand. His is the sacrifice that gives birth to the first of a Corps of Black Lanterns who will rise from the grave, seeking to extinguish the light of life.

Summoned by black powerrings contrary to those that sprung forth from the fundamental energies of the emotional energy spectrum -- the dead will rise!

With their memories and abilities in the service of this wave of inescapable cosmic retribution, the Black Lantern will strike at the very hearts of their former friends and protectors of life. Ever hungered, they will be satisfied only by spreading their plague of death. The Blackest Night has begun!

Tale of the Tape...
Strength: Hawkman 4 (Enhanced)
Intelligence: Elongated Man 4 (Tactician)
Speed: Hawkgirl 3 (Athlete)
Stamina: Hawkman 4 (Marathon)
Agility: Elongated Man 6 (Rubber)
Fighting: Hawkman 6 (Warrior)
Energy: Hawkman 2 (Projectiles)


- Inspired by the famed contortionists he'd admired in his youth, Ralph Dibny set about investigating the chemistry behind a drink shared by the unusually agile performers, called Gingold. From the rare Mexican fruit used in the drink, Dibny was able to derive a highly concentrated formula which, upon being ingested, granted him a fantastic rubber-like elasticity!

As Elongated Man, Dibny uses his powers to fight crime, with a particular flair for solving mysterys with the aid of his sleuthing wife, Sue. Together the pair's crime-fighting skills even earned membership with the Justice League of America!

Additional: Sue Dibny was accidentally killed by the Atom's estranged wife, Jean Loring, during her attempts to reconcile their relationship in Identity Crisis.
Loring, having suffered a mental breakdown, attempted to provoke a reunion by staging threats to various other Justice League members' loved ones. She used her ex-husband's shrinking technology to enter [Sue] Dibny's brain, accidentally killing her in the process of causing a stroke.

After severall attempts to resurrect his wife in the pages of 52, Ralph Dibny became embroiled in a mystic plot hatched by the sorcerer, Felix Faust.
He was able to imprison Faust within the tower of Dr. Fate, but in doing so, garnered the ire of the bargaining demon, Neron. Neron killed Dibny, only to temporarily entrap himself within the enchanted walls as well, without Dibny to reverse the spell. In the afterlife, Ralph and Sue were reunited, gaining the ability to possess the bodies of the living via Rama Kushna -- the deity responsible for Boston Brand's similar spirit powers.

- There is much more than occupational curiosity that ties archaeologist, Carter Hall, to the ancient civilizations of Earth. In truth, the man who is also known as the gliding hero, Hawkman, has lived many heroic lives through the ages, dating back to the reign of Ramesses II in ancient Egypt.
It was then that alien "Nth metal" from the planet Thanagar bound his soul, as Prince Khufu, to an everlasting pact with the woman he loves, Chay-Ara -- forging a destiny to forever be reunited through reincarnation, and torn apart at the moment they find love. Just as they had been by the evil priest, Hath-Set.

In the modern age, the soul of Prince Khufu was forcefully reincarnated by the Thanagarians, granting Carter Hall the unique distinction of being aware of his constant resurrections. As Hawkman, he is reunited with the Justice Society of America, and Kendra Saunders, aka; Hawkgirl and the reincarnated Chay-Ara.

Both Hawkman and Hawkgirl possess enhanced abilities as a result of their exposure to Nth metal. Winged harnesses allow them the nimble flight of their namesake, which they use in tandem with a variety of medieval weaponry, most notably a fixed mace, but also spears, axes, and nets. Each possesses enhanced strength and durability beyond that of a human, and can heal non-lethal wounds with direct exposure to their Nth metal.

Math: Hawkman/Hawkgirl Ranking: Hawkman (#28)

What Went Down...
It is written on the pages of history that each time the betrothed souls of Prince Khufu and Chay-Ara admit their love for each other, they are to die before their time. Reborn in this modern age as Hawkman and Hawkgirl, the two heroes have remained distanced, the now aware soul of Khufu maddened by his beloved's refusal to explore their feelings. Though Hawkgirl had resisted for so long to preserve their time, she cannot fight fate. And so it would seem, fate is not without a sense of humor...

Finally Hawkgirl reveals her true love for Hawkman, only to suffer the killing blow promised hundreds of years prior by the curse that brought them together. It is impossible to seperate the truth of their endless cycle from the events begun in far-off space. Was it the ring of the Black Lantern that drove a spear through Hawkgirl's heart, the former friend who wears it, Sue Dibny, or their twisted fate?

It is undeniable that, with one of their own spears, Hawkgirl was impaled, and with his own fixed mace, Hawkman was smacked across the face. Even while the culprit stood far across the room with but an elongated limb.

Sadly, the forces behind the Blackest Night have chosen similarly kinred spirits in former JLA colleagues, Elongated Man and Sue Dibny, to execute the first in a checklist of heroes who are marked for death. As the first strike against the living heroes, it is an unchallenged ambush!

With a voice similar to a fallen friend's, the Black Lantern Elongated Man taunts an already bloodied Hawkman as it's twisted limbs snatch his helmet, and knock him through the air with the fixed mace, again.

Hawkman tries to strike at the Black Lantern's gut with his spiked gauntlet, but finds the same malleable resistance Ralph Dibny had in life, his stretchy body abosbing the blow with ease, only to reverse the fortunes of the close quarters exchange.

The Black Lantern denies Hawkgirl's aborted attempt to confess her love, even as he sees the violet energy of love emenating from her body. With rubber arms he charges the fixed mace with a whip of his extended arm, beating Hawkman's face to a bloody pulp. Despite this face, he does not give up on the woman he loves.

With her final words Hawkgirl ensures he knows she loved him. It is surely a hollow consolation for two star-crossed lovers so regularly torn apart.
Hawkman boils with rage, vowing to kill the creatures he cannot believe are his former allies. The Black Lanterns no doubt believe every word as they see the red of rage fill his very being.

The reincarnated hero can do little to fullfil his threats, but it is a warrior's death as the Black Lantern reaches into his chest and pulls his heart out. Black Lantern Sue does the same to Hawkgirl, registering the rising power level of 0.02%.

Black Hand is there to witness the handy work of his fellow Black Lanterns.
"You won't escape death this time." Perhaps it wasn't the curse, afterall.

The Hammer...
For the time being, we shall assume that this counts as a victory for Elongated Man and Sue Dibny. There is, of course, the possibility that there's more to these Black Lantern manifestations than simply the reanimation of corpses. I'm sure, regardless of the mysterys to be revealed, there will be an argument for culpability, but for the purposes of the Infinite Wars, we shall assume the abilities and presence of a character is enough to warrant their stat.

Which is to say, this is The Comic Book Fight Club, where we review and discuss superhero comics through the famous battles waged within. Each battle counts toward a greater tally as we gradually accumulate win/loss data, challenge the rank of the greatest fighting superheroes, and charge up our powerrings!

Proceedings have been sufficiently derailed throughout 2009, but still we remain steadfast in the review of issues collected and noted throughout the year. This is (ironically) the first year the Infinite Wars have actually made any conceited effort to reflect the releases of the week, so it's an overdue inevitability that we're finally here talking about one of the most eagerly anticipated events in comics history! A fact largely due to the teaser noted at the end of 2007's Green Lantern blockbuster event -- the Sinestro Corps War!

I suspect there will have been those that were outraged by the events of this first issue, particularly where the violent deaths of Hawkman and Hawkgirl are concerned. It's a trait some attribute as a trademark of writer Geoff Johns, who has made a habit of including the occasional brutality in his event comics.

The subject of brutality has been discussed in various facets previously on the site, as you might imagine. As noted during the review of Superman/Batman #15, I'm a great believer in accepting that there's some truth to acts such as these, and that while they might not be a requisite of the fiction, they should not be cause for disdain. The world of superheroes is bound to be a violent and unpleasant place, which is what seperates the titans of the DC and Marvel universes from average folk like you, or I. If there's a time to express that, I'm probably inclined to think "events" are a fair place to start.

It's also very hard to consider a high-concept event like Blackest Night without the expectation that death and resurrections will quickly follow. It is, afterall, an inherent property of the high concept of zombies -- which are essentially defined by being a mathematical principle of life and death. For every one we lose, they gain one, etc. Some will fall, but as comics have taught us, some will rise.
There's also still the distinct possibility that, come the end of Blackest Night, everybody gets to come back in a counter-balancing brightest day.

The Hawks apparently narrowly escaped death in the pages of Final Crisis, but have quickly followed up the fake-out with the real deal. They were apparently fair game, such is life (and death). Far be it from me to spend the entirety of this section offering concept-driven justifications for the writer and editorial staff.

Johns serves up his usual brand of traditional favourites and a general awareness of the many moving parts of the DC Universe, in this first issue. There'll be seven of them all up, so you can probably forgive the emphasis on set-up. For the most part, we already know what to expect of the Black Lantern heroes, and I suspect that will play out more thoroughly in other issues, like the forecasted BL Martian Manhunter return in GL #44, which is introduced in Blackest Night #1.

The recently resurrected Barry Allen looks to be a bigger part of things than might have been anticipated, which is bound to be double the case for anyone expecting a "Green Lantern" event. Blackest Night is definitely going DCU-wide and we get some great foreshadowing glimpses of that through memorial services for fallen heroes in the JSA and so on. That's not to say the GL's don't get a good amount of screen time. Fans receptive to quick recaps will absorb a lot of useful information for the coming months through recaps of the Green Lantern legacy of Women in Refridgerators, along with a glimpse of some of the War of Light occurring in conjunction with the Blackest Night. Scar finally makes her move, also, literally taking a bite out of her fellow Guardians.

Also acknowledged are the promos that teased Aquaman, which were quickly serviced with a glimpse of Mera and Tempest -- a couple of characters I certainly haven't seen in a while! Here's hoping that can lead to something, after Final Crisis provided another fake-out, this time alluding to a return of the deep sea JLAer. Light dressing for anyone eagerly awaiting the BL Firestorm, whose grave was visited by Professor Stein and current matrix wielder, Jason Rusch.

Long story short: plenty of excitement building, but we'll see how things shape-up as the series works it's way through. Plenty of Blackest Night issues on the way! I wouldn't be surprised to see a certain issue of Green Lantern mentioned earlier in this post, at some point in the future.

The Fight: 5 The Issue: 5

Blackest Night is an event maxi-series currently available monthly from DC comics. You can pre-order various collections featuring the spanning epic via Amazon. Be warned! The story is so large you may need to check the contents of each trade before ordering, to ensure you receive what you intend. You can find more collected editions based on the reviews in our Secret Archives, via the Amazon Online Store! By using purchase links provided around the site, you help sponsor future entries, as sporradic as they may be. All will be well!