We crave your hearts and your demise *Spoilers* (Brook’s Black Lantern)

This entry, much like the Franky/White Lantern design, is a no-brainer, as Brook is the perfect One Piece character choice for Black Lantern. *SPOILER ALERT for those who haven’t read that far ahead into the series* Brook is essentially, when you get down to it, a zombie. Formerly part of the Rumbar Pirates, Brook ate the Yomi Yomi no Mi, giving him the power to revive himself immediately after death. The power of the fruit keeps him alive in spirit, but not entirely in body, leaving him as a pair of bones in a nice suit. His apperance, reasons to carry on the torch for his former teammates and overall power make him an ideal candidate for the Black Lantern Corp.

The Black Lantern Corp is a difficult and interesting group to talk about. The members are not willingly chosen but instead judged by their emotional ties to the living and plucked from their graves to fight in the name of Death and the end of all things. As it is described in the comics, the darkness in existence before the creation of the universe is what powers that Black Lanterns. Banished at the dawn of time by the white light of creation, its fighting back causes the white light to be fractured into the emotional spectrum (thus creating all the other corp colors). The events transpiring throughout the titles of Blackest Night are a result of the darkness, once again, fighting back against creation. The Black Lanterns have no special abilities (they have all the same normal capabilities as the other corps do) but they are driven by pure instinct and desire to destroy those around them. As for the costumes, they are similar to the White Lantern design idea: the original costume design stays but the color and logo and switched out. The appearance of the flesh is decomposing, depending on how long the Bl has been deceased.

Here is Brook’s Black Lantern Outfit:

I’m really happy with the shoes. I had no idea what to do with them and the idea hit me last minute. In fact, the whole idea behind this design was to just throw the Black Lantern’s symbol everywhere, seeing as Brook’s outfit is mostly black to begin with. The repetition of the symbol works well for this outfit; there is a constant powerful reminder of what corp he belongs to but its always compilmented and cushioned by the black. You are never overpowered with the bright white of his symbol. Also in white is Brook’s normally purple cane. I wanted to change it to white not only to fit the color scheme of this design but to reinstate in the viewer the importance of bones. Bones structure our bodies, they help keep up together and functional and Brook is a “living” representation of that.

As a side note, as awful a practice as it is, I’ve always found ivory very interesting.