Brightest Day is the sequel to the maxi series Blackest Night, picking up the story of the twelve resurrected ones by the white light. It's was a giant sized issue, so there's plenty to cover.
The issue begins with a newly resurrected Boston Brand, standing over his grave with a sledge hammer. He begins to describe himself, about how he didn't really care about life until he lost his. After he's done destroying his tombstone, he notices a little bird, that has died after falling from it's nest. He picks the bird up, the the white ring on his finger activates: LIVE! The bird is now alive, and as Boston puts t back into the nest, the ring does something strange. HELP ME, it asks, and then teleports Brand away.
Mera is shown waking up in bed, inside a lighthouse, and as she gets dressed, she walks outside to see her husband, Arthur Curry, staring into the ocean. He begins to lament about why he is back, but Mera trying to change the subject jumps into the water. She asks for him to join her, but Aquaman declines, and as he says that he has a bad feeling, we see a reflection of his black lantern counterpart in the water. Boston Brand is shown watching them from behind some rocks, wondering why the ring brought him there. Just as he's about to speak, the ring once again teleports him away.
He appears in Iron Heights Penitentiary, outside the cell of the Reverse Flash. Barry Allen rushes in, and knocks on the cell of Digger Harkness, the resurrected Captain Boomerang. Barry vibrates himself into the cell, and warns Digger that he knows what kind of person he is, and that he should just quit so that Barry doesn't have to run a catch him like they always do. But Digger has a unexpected response, that he doesn't know why he, and not his son, or others were brought back, but he's not gonna to just sit around contemplating it all day. Barry asks is that's a threat, to which Digger replies no, it's a flash fact.
We now go to St, Rock, Louisiana, to the Stonechat Museum where the Hawks are. Hawkman is quizzing Shiera, showing her artifacts while she tells him what life that is from. Boston Brand appears in the room, as the Hawks begin to get frisky, which is when Brand realizes that he is invisible to the people around him. Hawkman begins to bum about how he doesn't know which day will be his last with Sheira, but Hawkgirl replies how that's an even stronger reason to live happily in the present. The scene with the Hawks is interwoven with a group of men in white snowsuits, who are in South America, searching the Peruvian Andes Mountains for something. Back in the meseum, a shard given to Shiera by a Star Sapphire, begins to shoot a beam at the Claw of Horus. The Claw points up, and as Hawkman puts it on, the fly out at the direction of the claw. Back in the mountains, it is revealed what he men were searching for and have located, the original bones of Hawkman and Hawkgirl.
In New York, Maxwell Lord has set up shop in the abandoned JLI embassy. He is giving himself plasma injections, which is used to dilute blood to prevent bleeding out. He goes to attempt his biggest push yet, trying to achieve an unknown goal, while noting that it will make or break him. He begins, and starts to bleed profusely from his eyes, nose, and even mouth, before finally collapsing. This is when Boston appears, and as he watches Max lay on the floor, he say that Max is always dangerous, because he always has a plan.
Boston now shifts to Mars, where the Martian Manhunter is using to heat vision to do what likes like mining. Hal and Guy visit, bringing gifts: a large basket of chocos (the martian's favorite cookie) , and of course milk. J'onn begins to take the lanterns on a tour of Mars, and the Martian reveals that he found a deep aquifer which he plans to use to make Mars live again.
On Oa, Jade is reluctantly being a guinea pig for Natu, having all sorts of test ran on her. Jade confronts Natu, saying that she knows the reason she been held for day there, is that Natu is worried about Jade getting back In Kyle. (I just read that line out loud, and it sounded like something from Gossip Girl. Sorry about that) Kyle appears, and begins to comfort Jade, about all that she did while she was a black lantern, and about how there are a group of people who couldn't be happier now that she's back. Natu watches them, and is clearly worried about the spark Jade Kyle still have, but Kyle eventually flies off with Natu. As they do, Jade notices a white lantern emblem in front of her, and then it quickly disappears, making Jade wonder if she's seeing things.
In New York again, Ray Palmer and Professor Stein watch Jason Rusch cry on the couch. They are at a wake for Gehenna Hewitt, the recently killed girlfriend of Jason. Ray and Stein discuss how the two halves of Firestorm have both been wrecks since Blackest Night, when Ronnie Raymond walks in the door. Ronnie walks over to Jason, trying to say something comforting, but really just ends up pissing Jason off. Jason goes in for a punch, but before he can connect, they merge, becoming Firestorm in the small room, while arguing within each other. Boston watches from that back, saying that for now they will function as Firestorm, at least until on them kills the other.
Nxt we're in Kahndaq, where the resurrected Osiris is being warmly greeted by his people. He has the stone figures of Black Adam and Iris in front of the people, and he is cheered as he grabs them, flies off, and tell the nation that he will be back with his family, bringing in a "Golden Age" of prosperity and power.
The last two are Hawk and Dove in Arlington, Virginia, out on a stakeout, trying to bust arms dealers. Dove is doing surveillance of sorts, but Hank is not so patient, busting into the van occupied by the arms traffickers. He takes them down, violently, leaving the van in flames. Dove tries to explain that he shouldn't attack like that, leaving such a huge violent scene, but Hank disagrees, saying that is the first of his preemptive strikes. Boston again watches in the shadows, noting how violent and reckless Hank is, before being teleported to his final destination.
He is in the rubble of Star City, and begins to recap the horror that took place in the destruction. The ring once again speaks, HELP ME. It then says HELP THEM, and Boston is painfully shown again the twelve he visited. The trees around him begin to shake, and the rubble is lifting, before we finally see that Star City is healed, completely fixe, with a star shaped forest in the center. Boston tries to converse with the ring asking what it wants as he tries to pull it off. Brand is perplexed as to why he's the only one with a white ring, and becomes even more so when the ring replies: HELP ME LIVE.
The epilogue takes place in Silver City, New Mexico, where the white lantern is in a crater in the middle of a road. Two men begin to climb inside, but stop when they notice something above. Sinestro is hovering high, saying "Ah, there you are."
The issue was a great setup for the Brightest Day saga, with Johns and Tomasi writing a very well crafter plot. I just hope they keep the story intriguing, instead of having a these heroes running everywhere wondering why they are back. Either way, Brightest Day will be the center of the DCU for a while, so we're gonna have to keep up.
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