Finding your place in life after death isn’t easy, especially when you feel like you’re out of place in general.
What They Say:
BRIGHTEST DAY continues, but in ways you can’t possibly expect! What does BRIGHTEST DAY mean to the DC Universe? Is everything from here on out going to be bright and shiny? ANo, BRIGHTEST DAY means something else entirely, something we can’t tell you…yet. But we can tell you our heroes will need to rise up more than ever to combat the forces of evil, and a select few will uncover a secret that binds them ALL.
The Review:
The opening issue of Brightest Day with its extra sized issue zero that came out prior to this really got me enthused for the series as it took Boston Brand, as the sole member of the twelve who came back to life, and placed a White Lantern ring on him and had him travel around the world to see how the others were coping, not that he could interact with them in the slightest. His role as the first White Lantern in a sense, as the twelve in total had the rings only in a deputized form for a brief period, puts him in an interesting position as he’s like the others in that he doesn’t quite know how to fit into the world again, but more so because of his role as Deadman in that he has been interacting with it over the years whereas most others had died only in the last few years before coming back, at least continuity wise. That journey he took was the ideal way to do the stage setting for the series so that it can get underway here.
This issue starts us off with something I definitely wanted to see, as well as the way those involved are relatively self-aware of what’s going on. The revival of the Entity in Blackest Night has provided the balance to the Black Lantern’s to be sure, at least in the short term, but the release of those energies has coalesced into not only the ring that Brand is wearing, but also an actual White Lantern battery that has been discovered. The arrival of Star Sapphire, Sinestro and Hal Jordan to investigate it in an uneasy alliance shows that it’s a sword in the stone device at the moment, unable to be wielded by anyone outside of whoever the chosen one may be. The frustration of Sinestro is very plain, especially after his attempts at wielding the Entity’s power previously, so seeing him denied there and unknowing of what will come from this new Corps if it actually forms has a lot of potential, especially with his Corps revolving around fear.
As expected, Aquaman is taking a central role in this series and Boston Brand comes across him early in this issue as he and Mera are dealing with some pirate slavers off of Somali who kidnapped a number of children. Aquaman and Mera are definitely taking a proactive role over the seas since his return to the waters but Mera has retained a bit too much of her Red Lantern time as the rage is too bluntly done, both in word and deed. What’s disturbing about their attack on the pirates as they try to save the children is that Arthur calls up a giant squid from deep below to help tackle one of the support ships, but it turns out the he’s called upon decomposed remains that are done there and is unable to control or it talk to it, much like the decomposed shark the follows. His ties to his Black Lantern self seem to still be there and it has him appropriately shaken.
That becomes the dominating story of the issue while smaller plots that will pick up take up the rest. Arthur’s return has the Black Manta ready to take on his role again and we see how violent he is at the news of Arthur’s return to life and active role in the seas. The storyline I find the weakest so far is that of the new Firestorm as the two antagonistic personalities inside it, which are fused together at this point and unable to separate, is fairly uninteresting. Jason’s continued anger towards Ronald over the death of his girlfriend really feels inappropriate considering it wasn’t really him but rather the Black Lantern ring that had downloaded his memories that did it. Jason’s inability to really process this makes him a very unlikable character at this point. You really feel for Ronald as he has to deal with it since the two cannot separate and continued test and attempts with Professor Stein hasn’t helped in the slightest.
The minor Martian Manhunter pages here are really curious as I’m unsure of just how far they’ll go in altering things in the attempts to revive Mars to what he knew in the past. There’s trouble abound here as memories start seeping in that aren’t his and didn’t happen, which easily distracts him from his original goal. The second largest story in this issue focuses on Carter and Shiera as they’re trying to find their place in life again as well, to no be defined by their curse and the memories of the past. It’s very easy to understand their issues and what they’re working through, but it’s an oddly structured story here as they just happen to run into a group that has found the bones of their original bodies and run into all sorts of problems there. It leads to the revelation that Hath-Set has plans for the two, but the coincidences just don’t work in the story’s favor here to set up what will come. I’ve long enjoyed these characters in their different forms, but they really need to stop being defined by their past like they have been for some time now.
Digital Notes:
This Comixology edition of Brightest Day contains both the David Finch primary cover and the Ivan Reis variant cover which puts its focus on Aquaman. With the variant included in here as it would be with a trade paperback release, it’s definitely a welcome value added piece for digital fans rather than making us choose between two editions to buy, a practice I do not like as I’ve seen it done elsewhere.
In Summary:
As the opening issue after the special zero issue setup, there’s a lot going on here and it’s going at a somewhat slow but solid approach. I much liked how Blackest Night did a similar route in taking its time to lay out the elements right and with a lot more time to work with here, there’s even more potential, both for the story to grow and for the team to lose the audience. I really liked the zero issue and I liked a lot of what’s here, but the tough part is going to be finding the right balance for each issue with the separate storylines that will eventually come together for the larger narrative. At this stage, I like pretty much all the characters involved outside of Firestorm, which is sad because I loved the old Firestorm series back in the day, and have hopes that through Brightest Day we can get some of these guys back to where they belong in the larger DC Universe. This is a very good first step towards it all.
Grade: B+