DC and Marvel go to war with crossovers that feature the dead rising
WHEN A SUPERHERO dies, it?s usually not even worth shedding tears for anymore, what with resurrections being a dime a dozen in the four-color world of comic books.

It?s actually more surprising when someone?s dirt nap lasts longer than 24 issues. But the skies have darkened, and the sound of fingernails clawing away at coffin wood has begun to fill the air.

It?s now superhero versus super zombies, and both comic book companies are doing it. Is DC?s ?Blackest Night? the better buy or is Marvel?s ?Necrosha? more worth your mutant money?

?Blackest Night?

Principal characters: The Green Lantern Corps and the Justice League

Timeframe: June 2009-April 2010

Breadth: Universe-wide, involving almost all DC Comics

Main creative team: Geoff Johns (writer) and Ivan Reis (artist)

Across space, the War of Lights has broken out, with Green Lanterns and Blue Lanterns fighting on multiple fronts to contain the Sinestro Corps, the Red Lanterns, the Orange Lantern and the Star Sapphires. It?s on Earth, though, that the disfigured Guardian Scar makes her move, reviving the deceased Green Lantern foe Black Hand and making him the first Black Lantern.

The black power rings revive the dead, both heroes and villains, giving them a hunger for hearts, which in turn, gives the rings more power. And with each superhero they kill?and, boy, have they killed some big names already?their ranks swell. The universe?s only hope might be the combined powers of all the other Lanterns, if they can stop fighting each other first.

Writer Geoff Johns takes a lot of traditional horror elements and melds them with superheroes to create a unique product. In recent years, DC has been notorious for killing a ton of its characters, most of the time out of sheer shock value. With 20/20 hindsight, it seems as if they were trying to make sure the graveyards were well stocked for the Black Lanterns. When the living are confronted by the dead, there?s a palpable sense of dread and panic, as well as hesitation to take a whack at their teammates who have passed away. The art is gruesome and gory, as it should be, and Reis is extremely adept at creating a tense, moody atmosphere that?s extremely apt for the tale at hand.

That said, when you stray out of the main comic, ?Blackest Night,? and the two Green Lantern books, ?Green Lantern? and ?Green Lantern Corps,? the quality of the tales takes a sharp dive. The story was originally a Green Lantern arc, but DC editors loved it so much that they decided to make it a company-wide affair.

As a result, the main story can drag a bit, with Johns filling in gaps with lots of talking heads and exposition. The initial wave of tie-ins were mediocre, too, with neither ?Blackest Night: Superman? or ?Blackest Night: Batman? really affecting the main story.

And if you want proof that DC?s making this up on the spot, the story hits the halfway mark this week and information on the second batch of tie-ins and mini-series hasn?t been released yet.

This is a comic for longtime fans who?ll get a kick out of seeing the zombified dead running around. For newbies out there, expect to feel a bit lost, as I myself did when faced with a horde of obscure dead villains. Hopefully, the action will pick up in subsequent issues, but like many recent DC crossovers, this is a continuity fan?s dream, and a new reader?s worst nightmare.

?X-Necrosha?

Principal characters: X-Force, New Mutants and X-Men

Timeframe: October 2009-March 2010

Breadth: Select X-Men titles

Main creative team: Chris Yost and Craig Kyle (writers) and Clayton Crain (artist)

Also making its debut this week is ?X-Necrosha,? an X-Men mini-event that might be the answer for budget superhero zombie fans. Not only is it only 13-weeks long, it?s also only 13-issues long.

Storywise, the vampiric mutant Selene has gotten hold of a transmode virus (think: The Borg from ?Star Trek?) and is intent on using it on the 16 million mutants who died on the island of Genosha, during writer Grant Morrison?s first story arc back on ?New X-Men.?

Along with a few key resurrected X-Men such as Caliban, Thunderbird and Blink, the dead will fall upon the mutant territory of Utopia, unless the X-Men have something to say about that.

While the first chapter of the comic hasn?t been released yet as of writing, it?s extremely possible that the dead resurrected in ?Necrosha? will be even more obscure than those in ?Blackest Night,? especially if you haven?t been following the X-Titles in a long while.

That said, expect this series to move at a faster pace, based on writers Chris Yost and Craig Kyle?s past work. Like ?Blackest Night,? though, this might not be the best jumping-on point if you?re a new fan. But if you?ve been living and breathing X-Men for a while, this is a must-follow event.