Written by Geoff Johns; Art and cover by Ivan Reis and Oclair Albert;

The most highly anticipated book of the summer hit and it lived up to the hype and then some. We start the issue with Black Hand (fresh off his death and rebirth in Green Lantern) exhuming Bruce Wayne’s body.

He then monologues about killing his father and how he can hear the voices of the dead. The black power battery in Sector 666 then erupts with black rings all crying out the word “Flesh”.  We then move 24 hours later where we find out that it is the day that Superman had died. Since he came back to life, it was turned into a memorial for all the fallen heroes innocents. We are shown Coast City with Hal Jordan, Guy Gardener, John Stewart, and Kyle Raynor arriving. We are then shown a quick recap of the major events in all of their lives that relate to death.  The lanterns light a giant lantern in the middle of statues and promise to always keep it burning bright. We then move to Superboy, Superman and Ma Kent at Jonathan Kent’s grave, with another quick cut to Ronnie Raymond’s grave with Professor Stein and company there. We have some more quick jumps around to the Titans memorials with Kid Flash and Wonder Girl there, The Flash Rogues hidden cemetery with the remaining rogues there , Ted Kord’s grave in Chicago and then Valhalla Cemetery in Metropolis, where there are statues and remains of a huge list of heroes. Next is a move to Amnesty Bay where Aquaman is buried and the a scene where Alfred discovers that Bruce’s grave has been dug up and his skull has been stolen. We then get a moment with Hal Jordan and Barry Allen as Hal shows him the containment graves of all of the villains that have remains in league custody. Barry then asks how many heroes died while he was gone and we get a double page spread of all of them as tiny constructs of the ring. Barry then realizes that Ronnie Raymond (Firestorm) and Ralph and Sue Dibny had died and he asks how. We move on to St. Roch with Hawkman and Hawkgirl. Hawkman is on the phone with The Atom and is refusing to go with him to the grave of Jean Loring. Hawkman smashes the phone in anger and goes on to tell Hawkgirl about how Jean ruined a love that was as strong as their’s. We then move to see the Guardians, upset that the War of Light has erupted. The Guardians then notice the black rings arriving from Sector 666 and are about to call a code black. Before they can do it, Scar, attacks them ripping out their hearts. At this same time the lanterns on OA are trying to stop the black rings from making it to their target the crypt of the Green Lantern Corps. At this time Barry and Hal find out from Alfred that Bruce’s skull has been stolen. Also interspersed at that moment we see the black rings find their owners: J’onn J’onnz, Katma Tui, Dee Tyler, Ryan Kendall, Roy Lincoln, Al Pratt, Roscoe Dillon, Lisa Snart, DIgger Harkness, Jenny Lynn Hayden, Arthur Curry. We then see the former Green Lanterns Rise as a Black Lantern army. While Black Lantern Martian Manhunter sees Hal and Barry and says to them, that they should not be back, they should be dead. We then move back to the Hawks as Hawkman tells Hawkgirl that he does not even know why she is there, since she does not remember their eternal bond. At that time she is stabbed and it is revealed that Ralph and Sue Dibny are back as Black Lanterns. Hawkgirl says I Love You to Hawkman as she dies and he is killed seconds later by Ralph Dibny. Black Hand walks in and states that this time they will not escape death. The last panel is the Hawks being called by name and told to rise with their black rings. A phenomenal issue. The pacing and artwork were stellar,and this event book, unlike most over the past few years, was actually even better than the buildup to it. The book earns 5 Green Lanterns out of 5, but really the entire corps. You should

Put It On The Stack.