Welcome to another edition of The Pull List Comic Reviews! This week, the Blackest Night event takes center stage, Bendis and Oeming make a triumphant comeback and Archie gets married (again). As always, WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD.

PULL OF THE WEEK:

Blackest Night #5 [of 8]
DC Comics – $3.99 US
Writer: Geoff Johns
Artist: Ivan Reis
Score: 9.0

The mastermind behind the dead rising stands revealed as the Blackest Night prophecy inches towards becoming true, but will the unified heroes of the world have enough to stop it? Not if a late dinner guest bearing gifts has anything to say about it.

Geoff Johns welcomes you all to hell. How could he not? In the thirty plus years that I’ve been reading comics, I can’t remember a time when things looked so grim in a story thanks to this issue. The big guns of the Justice League arrive in time to assist the Flashes – Barry Allen and Wally West – in confronting Nekron as the Black Lanterns’ power battery reaches full charge. Fast forward to the end of the issue and only two heroes remain standing while the rest are chomping at the bit, dying to feast on some good, old fashioned heart muscle. And this is only the fifth issue in an eight-issue series?!? Wow.

Johns, along with artist Ivan Reis, are obviously toying with us and giggling madly along the way. The re-emergence of “Bruce Wayne” – his name was in quotations in the issue as well – signaled that the next phase was about to begin, but what he did to heroes like Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Arrow, etc I don’t think anyone saw coming, characters and readers alike. The sixth issue cannot get here fast enough, if you ask me.

Holy Goldiggers, Batman!  Just days after we brought you the story that Archie Andrews was acquiring a to-be-named-later ball and chain, the aforementioned ball has been identified.  Archie is proposing to Veronica! With a heartbreaking cover that could melt even Kate Gosselin’s icy heart, Archie is seen on bended knee putting a dazzling ring on heiress Veronica Lodge’s finger while girl-next-door Betty Cooper looks on in tears.  On her blog at ArchieComics.com, Betty posted “I am so sad, I don’t even know what to say.”

No details about the wedding have been released as of yet, but on his blog Archie has asked Jughead to be his best man. So far, Jughead has not posted a response.  Meanwhile, the newly affianced Miss Lodge wonders if Betty would like to be her maid of honor, while Reggie considers asking Betty out. You may recall the “Love Showdown” storyline of 1994-95 when the famous love triangle threatened to come to a head. After much waffling, the other and less irritating Carrot Topped funny man chose Cheryl Blossom, a longtime thorn in Betty and Veronica’s sides. Predictably, she became a persona non grata in Riverdale and things returned to normal.

This time, it seems a choice has been made, and the question that remains is “Will the marriage happen?”  If it does, it will likely be a lavish event thrown by Hiram Lodge, Veronica’s permissive but protective father. Will Betty agree to be the maid of honor?  Who will be her date to the wedding?  Will there be a chick fight to the delight of adolescent boys everywhere featuring some hot comic-book-side-boob action?  Readers can’t wait to find out.

Archie issue #600 “The Proposal”, which is part one of a six part arc, will be available in stores on September 1. It’s written by Michael Uslan with art by Stan Goldberg.