As with all company wide crossover events, there tends to be a number of spin-offs and crossovers and it’s usually difficult to tell what’s actually necessary to understand the full scope of the main plot. Maybe you bought Final Crisis: Revelations thinking you might need it to understand Final Crisis when you probably should have picked up Superman Beyond instead. Maybe you bought all the crossovers to Civil War only to find out you could have done fine reading the main event and only a couple others. Usually, you end up dropping a crap load of cash and in this economy that’s the last thing you’ll want to be doing. So here’s a little guide on what books you can probably live without and which ones are more important then you might think. The number grade at the end isn’t actually for the quality of the story, but for the relevance of the book. 5 is a must-have, 4 is pretty important but not the end of the world if you miss it, 3 is kinda-sorta important but not horribly so, 2 is not at all important but an ok addition to the overall event, and a 1 is...well it has zombies in it.

THE CORE TITLES

Blackest Night #1-8, Green Lantern #43-current, Green Lantern Corp #36-current: Now the thing is, I’ve had a few customers complain that there are too many books for this crossover even after I mentioned they could skip everything besides these three titles. Honestly I don’t think 3 titles is the end of the world, but if you have to I suppose you could skip Corps even though half the time it’s the most interesting title. You do need Green Lantern though, because as many customers have also pointed out to me they feel the actual Blackest Night series has had a few lack luster issues. A lot of the bulk plot developments actually happen in Green Lantern, so this is very similar to the Sinestro Corp event where you really did have to buy both GL and GL Corps otherwise you would have missed a lot. The numbers above also disregard the fact that the past 5 years of those titles have been build up for this event and it wouldn’t hurt to read the earlier issues, but as far as decent jump on points these will do ok. Relevance: 5, 4 for GL Corp

MINI-SERIES- All of these minis were priced at $2.99, which considering the glossy covers isn't too bad.

Blackest Night Superman #1-3: While not bad, it’s a push to actually call this one necessary to the overall plot of Blackest Night. While it’s nice to see what exactly Superman is doing during a universe wide crisis that doesn’t feature him, this is pretty much just a side story with some fun elements. The script is a bit hammy, but that’s what you usually expect from James Robinson and it’s actually one of the reasons I do like his work. It’s a decent use for the character of Earth-2 Superman, but easy to skip and unless he plays out a huge role in Blackest Night down the road there’s no reason to shell the extra cash out. This mini does roll over into the BN JSA. Relevance: 2

Blackest Night Batman #1-3: Again, this is actually kind of fun since it’s a Tomasi script but it’s just showing us what Dick Grayson and the rest of the Bat orphans are up to during a Green lantern event. A good example of the generic 'facing the ghosts of your past' forumla a lot of these BN crossover books are utilizing, this case being Dick and Tim facing their parents come back from the dead. The only possible relevance is that it’s the start of the Deadman sub-plot that’s been branching into a few aspects of Blackest Night, but that may actually pay off more towards the aftermath and Brightest Day. Relevance: 2

Blackest Night Titans #1-3: This was one of the weaker stories for me, but it wasn’t horrible or anything like that just a little meh. If you’re a Titans fan it’s good because there are plenty of dead members to utilize. Also, dead babies. I found this one easy to skip, but there are few elements dealing with Donna Troy and Dove that are a little important to the overall Blackest Night storyline. They are easily recapped in an issue of BN though, so I would only bother if you're really hardcore about getting everything bit of the story. Relevance: 3, but leaning towards 2

Blackest Night Flash #1-3: Granted, while the rogues subplot isn’t utterly important I’m always a sucker for a Captain Cold story so I want to say this one is worth checking out. However, the focus on Barry Allen is major and it ties into the events of Blackest Night #6. Considering the importance of Barry Allen in the main Blackest Night title this one can play out to be a must have for the overall plot. Relevance: As it is now, I’m leaning in at a 3.5, but it’s a Johns script with Kolins art so it really doesn’t hurt to say you should check it out. #3 hasn’t arrived yet, so it can easily become a 4.

Blackest Night JSA #1-3: A certain part of this issue ties directly into Blackest Night, but the overall story is stretched a little thin considering how many members there are living and dead. Again, this has a Robinson script so it’s fairly fun but it mostly stands as a ‘well, the JSA were around for this crisis too’ sort of read. Still one more issue to come out and this branches from the BN Superman mini, so there’s always a chance it becomes more of a key plot. Relevance: 3

Blackest Night Wonder Woman #1-3: This is probably one of the best minis that’s overall not a major part of the crossover but so well done it should be. Since Wonder Woman has picked up a slightly more intricate role than just being there for the big fight, this mini does a good job of fleshing out those details and offers up a great script by Rucka and beautiful art by Nicola Scott. Relevance: 3.5, you can skip it and not miss anything earth shattering, but it’s a solid add-on

THE TIE INS (+RING ISSUES) : Note- A number of these issues, depending on how the retailer handled the promotion, were supposed to come with a replica plastic ring. So regardless of the story, tons of people were checking these out anyway. However, every single tie-in issue with the exception of Superman/Batman was priced at $3.99 so this is where the relvance meter drops hard.

Adventure Comics #4-5 ($3.99): Not at all really relevant, but a fun addition to the zombie mayhem. Considering how much Johns focuses on Superboy Prime there’s a slight chance this may be important later, but at the moment not a big deal. I've had a number of customers think this was an annoying break in the Conner story, so if you don't like Prime skip it. Issue #7 is supposed to feature the possessed Conner Superboy, which looks like maybe a fun read but probably not a huge deal if you miss it. Relevance: 2

Booster Gold #26-27 ($3.99ea): A pretty good tie in overall, but since Booster has no real role in BN it’s easily avoidable. Jurgens did a good job of not allowing the crossover to interupt his normal flow greatly, and considering how much resurrecting Blue Beetle has been a sub-plot in the overall series this was a natural fit. Relevance: 2

 

Doom Patrol #4-5 ($3.99): Had some fun aspects to it (zombie Cliff Steel’s body was a nice touch), but the series has been a little lackluster for me so far as a whole and this just felt like a random interruption. Relevance: 1

Justice League of America #39-40 ($3.99): And here’s what some members of the JLA were up to, whoop-a-de-do. And zombie Dr. Light, cause we probably shouldn’t have killed him but we needed to utilize him somehow during a crisis level event. It really wasn’t as bad as I make it sound there, but relevant? It’s a good thing this came with the red ring, because I doubt the Blackest Night banner would have altered the sales that much otherwise. Granted, the events in these issues are a little more important to the actual title as we see in the new line-up changes. Relevance: 1 (Zombies!)

Outsiders #27-25 ($3.99ea): Decent since Tomasi was writing, and some nice elements with Katana’s family and the interactions with Terra, but again mostly a showcase for zombies and a violet ring promo. Felt more like an interuption, but could have been worse. Relevance: 1

 

Rebels #10-11 ($3.99ea): I’ve actually been enjoying this series a lot, and giving Vril Dox a Yellow ring was a fun touch. There’s a little bit more interaction with actual elements of the BN, such as the Sinestro Corp, but beyond that no real repercussions or anything for the main plots of BN. Worth checking out and it may aim you towards looking at more issues of Rebels, so in that aspect pretty good use of a promotional event. Anything that leads you towards Starro the Conqueror should be considered a good thing. Relevance: 2

Superman/Batman #66-67($2.99ea): Not at all important, although it was fun that at the start of the Solomon Grundy series the Phantom Stranger gave all the scary warnings of having a living zombie like Grundy around for Blackest Night. Little stuff like that makes it feel like a connected universe, and can go a long way without forcing a bunch of crossovers down our throats. Lots of good monster action and a nice integration of a crossover event into the smaller happenings of Bizarro, Frankenstein, and Man-Bat. Relevance: 1

Teen Titans #77-78 ($3.99ea): Again, sort of fun and some interesting stuff with Deathstroke, but since this tie-in didn’t even have a promotional ring offered it was and is very easy to gloss over considering the cost. Relevance: 1

RESURRECTED TITLES: DC decided to release new issues of previously cancelled titles, which is a cute idea and a little tricky to navigate. Some of these are turning out to actually be a little more interesting than the others, while a couple are sadly a waste of time. Thankfully, all are priced at $2.99 which is a bit more manageable

Starman #81: A fun return to the Shade and the O’Dare family, and a good choice of zombie resurrections with decent art. IF you are a Starman fun this is worth your time, but if you’re just a BN or Green Lantern reader then none of these characters will sadly mean anything to you. Relevance: 2

 

Catwoman #83: While the art was nice and it’s interesting to see the Black Mask again, I could of sworn this thing was offered with Fabian Nicieza scripts and ended up with Tony Bedard instead, which might explain why it sort of reads like a last minute rush job. I like Bedard (well, most of the time) but this was one of the weakest by-products of Blackest Night. It would have made a little more sense if Will Pfeifer wrote this. Relevance: 1

 

Weird Western Tales #71: I wanted to like this one, cause hey zombie Jonah Hex, but ouch. A stiff script and too many western zombies so you couldn’t flesh any of them out made this really weak. And I really didn’t mean to put those puns in there. And hey, the Ray is here, and some other guys, and....stuff happens. Seriously, skip this one. Relevance: 0

Phantom Stranger #42: Y’know, I read this one while on tons of cold medication, and it read kind of weird for me considering it was a Tomasi script. Not horrible, but kind of jumpy for him? Could have been the art and script not really flowing together. Maybe it was just the meds. Anywho, this actually shows you the skip between the Spectre turning into a Black Lantern and him popping up again in BN #6, as well as pushing that Deadman sub-plot I mentioned earlier a little further, so this one was actually sort of tied into the actual main event. Relevance: 3, but I felt like I could have skipped it without missing a beat.

Question #37: Not at all important to anything BN related unless Renee Montoya shows up and saves everyone’s collective ass at the end. However, I found it very enjoyable and wish they had more time to play with it. Nice to see Lady Shiva pop up during all this, and the use of all these characters made sense. A nice example of utilizing the event for something more than just ‘hey, zombies!’. Plus you get some Sienkiewicz, even though it's just inks.  Relevance: 2

Atom and Hawkman #46: Considering this one was scripted by Johns and features characters dealing with stuff smack dab in the middle of BN #6 and #7, this one is actually kinda handy. Gives you an idea of a smaller plot point going through the event with the Indigo tribe and also gives you the seeds to the Hawkman/Hawkgirl stuff you pretty much knew was going to have to happen considering this is a series about death and rebirth and Blackest Night #1 ended with the murder of the two characters in the DCU who’s entire schtick is death and rebirth. Relevance: 4

Power of SHAZAM #48: Another issue that is not at all relevant to the main plots of BN yet turned out to be one of the stories I enjoyed the most. It’s almost important simply because it shows that it’s possible for some of the walking dead to retain their humanity, even though the core titles established that these zombies are just bodies animated by rings with no souls behind them. Unless this depiction was a big mistake, there is room to play around with the events of this issue. This is actually a decent read if you liked 52 and gives you a little bit of closure on the Osiris character. Relevance: 2, although after re-reading the solicitation for this issue it seems like no one at DC knew what this was going to be about so I probably read too much into it.

Suicide Squad #66, Secret Six #17: Simone and Ostrander just had fun with this crossover, so this is another good example of writers just embracing the concept of an event and running with it. There is still an issue to go on this story, but considering what’s been laid out for us so far it’s doubtful it will have any major ramifications to Blackest Night. Relevance: 2

 

There are still a few tie-ins to come out like Black Lantern Green Arrow #30, but if you made it through all of the above then you can probably figure out for yourself if it’s worth checking out. I also neglected to mention a lot of the previous trade paperbacks that can catch you up to speed, and while I enjoyed and recommend them all you can probably just look up the info you need on wikipedia.

Also, why the hell didn't we get a new issue of Resurrection Man out of all of this?