The Four Color Media Monitor

Not that it makes it any better nor tasteful. Comic Book Resources reports from the SDCCI that Johns has told the audience:

Johns discussed the nature of the particularly gruesome violence seen in “Blackest Night” #1, saying, “It pushed the boundaries for sure,” but that “Blackest Night” is a horror story about superheroes, and is thusly super-horrifying. With respect to the murders of Hawkman and Hawkgirl – two characters Johns brought to prominence and that he said he had “a lot of love for” – Johns said their end was fitting given the couple’s dominant theme: love that was never to be. He added that the most horrifying Black Lanterns are the “lighter” characters like Ralph and Sue Dibney, a couple that represented “pure love,” making their murder of the Hawks “the most horrific way I could have played it.” Johns also said that beyond thematic resonance, there is an in-story reason why Black Hand chose the Dibneys to execute the Hawks, and that it will be revealed as “Blackest Night” continues.

Yes, now he's throwing away, under the bus, the very superheroes, Hawkman and Hawkgirl, whom he'd supposedly gone out of his way to make prominent. But if there's anything worse, it's the continued abuse of the Dibnys. Turning them into homicidal zombies is truly disgusting and an insult to their original themes. I also found that Johns has spat on the recently killed Jean Loring's grave by claiming in his script that she made the Atom feel small. If that's how it's going to be, then it shows he doesn't have much respect for the "little guy".

A clever fan asked whether Hal Jordan will battle with an undead Abin Sur, to which Johns responded, “Absolutely.”

Luckily, I won't be there to see how it plays out.

Another clever fan asked Johns if Krypto the Super Dog would battle Dek-Starr, the ultra-violent feline of the Red Lantern Corps. “It was supposed to be a secret, but yes,” Johns confirmed to huge applause.

But not from me. I've got a feeling that battle will be even worse.

I have no respect for Johns anymore. He and others of his ilk have already been shoving horror elements down the throats of readers even before this tripe, and they're not making it any better by keeping on with it.

Labels: Atom, dc comics, dreadful writers, golden calf of death, Green Lantern, misogyny and racism, violence