Story: "Blackest Night Prologue: Tale of the Black Lantern" (22 Pages)

Credits:

Geoff Johns (plot, script)
Doug Mahnke (pencils)
Christian Alamy (inks)
Randy Mayor (colors)
Rob Leigh (letters)
Adam Schlagman (associate edits)
Eddie Berganza (edits)

Feature Character:

Green Lantern (Hal Jordan; appears only in flashbacks to earlier events)

Villains:

Black Hand (also in flashback preceding issue #33, and in flashback in between issue #34 and Green Lantern Vol. 2 #29, and in flashback in between issue #5, pages 2 and 14; next in Blackest Night #0)
Scar (last in Green Lantern Corps Vol. 2 #38; next in Blackest Night #0)
Gremlins (in flashback in between issue #5, pages 2 and 20) Evil Star (in flashback)
Parallax
Predator

Guest Appearance:

Sodam Yat

Other Characters:

Mr. Hand (William's father; also in flashback; dies)
Mrs. Hand (last in issue #33; also in flashback preceding issue #33; dies) David Hand
Jonas Hand (William's brothers; both last in Green Lantern Vol. 2 #29; both also in flashback preceding Green Lantern Vol. 2 #29; both die; see second Comment)
Marbles (first appearance; their dog; dies in flashback)

Comment: Story continues in Blackest Night #0.
In Black Hand's original origin he had three brothers; David, Joe and Peter. David was a great financier, and Peter a renowned scientist and both were considerably older than they appear in this story. The differences might be a result of the reality-changing event known as Infinite Crisis.