Green Lantern Classics: Black Lantern Abin Sur

Abin Sur was the prior Green Lantern of Sector 2814. He held the job for a while then retired peacefully to a small planet in the Andromeda to pursue his love of music. Kidding! Like the vast majority of space cops, he got killed so a younger character could fill his shoes. That young rookie was, of course, Hal Jordan of Earth.

But that wasn't the end of Abin Sur. Nope: in the "Blackest Night" crossover, he was risen from the grave as a zombie fighting for Nekron to extinguish all life in the Universe, primary because life kept playing loud music late at night or something.

And that's where this version of Abin Sur comes from. The only problem is that Blackest Night was kind of a let down. Broadly speaking, the concept was decades old (Alan Moore introduced a prophesy of the event in the 80's, though I don't think he mentioned zombies), and expectations were sky-high for Geoff Johns, who'd already expanded the Green Lantern mythos brilliantly. In the end, the zombie-thing just felt silly and the story was kind of dull. On top of that, the subsequent company-wide reboot more or less made the whole thing feel pointless. Technically, most of it is still in continuity, but - let's face it - it really isn't relevant anymore.

The figure is certainly sporting a nice head sculpt. I also love the hands: this is an appropriately creepy toy. You also get some added effect from the sculpt thanks to some added articulation. Mattel went with the double-hinged elbows and ball-jointed wrists. Curiously, they stuck with the single-pin knees. I'm not really complaining - I don't need double-pin knees on this guy - but I was a little surprised they included them on the Manhunter and left them out here.

The only extras packaged with Abin Sur's corpse are a stupid 3D mask and the head/ass of Arkillo, the Collect & Connect character. It's a good head sculpt, by the way.

What's missing (at least in my humble opinion) is a bloody heart. I mean, look at this left hand: he should clearly be holding one.

Ultimately, I think I respect this figure more than I like the concept. He's really embedded in a single story-line I just don't care that much about. But there's no denying the head and hands are good work, and the added articulation works well here.

But, honestly, I really just bought this so I'd be another step closer to completing Arkillo. Toys R Us marked all these figures to less than nine bucks, so I picked him up.