Comic Book Review: Brightest Day #7

Brightest Day promised answers this week, answers that are supposed to give us an answer to a very important question. The question is simple: Why were the twelve resurrected by the White Light? The answer was pretty anti-climatic since it was held for so long, so be warned that it's a little disappointing. (At least to me)


After Boston, Dove, and Hawk meet for a burger, the ring takes the three to Silver City, New Mexico, the site of the White Lantern. The White Lantern now intends to reveal its grand plan, which seems to revolve around Boston Brand. Boston and Hawk are zapped by the White Light, their costumes being transformed into an all white version. The Light begins to speak to them now, revealing itself to be the White Entity. The surprise here is that the White Entity is dying and looking for a replacement, a new champion to guard, watch, and protect the Universe.

The book now jumps between the main characters here, as all of them receive a vision from the White Light showing them a future of sorts. Quick recap of a couple characters visions.

Martian Manhunter: His vision shows him setting fire to a forest, presumably the Star City forest that the White Light created.

Firestorm: Black Lantern Firestorm is shown holding a black lantern, and the White Lantern instructs Jason and Ronnie to come together and stop the evil lantern.

Hawkman: His costume is transformed into white version, which look pretty lame, almost like something THe Village People wore. The White Light tells him to "Stop the Queen."

Shiera: She sees Hawkman being murdered by Hath-Set. The Light warns her that if that future comes true, there will not be another resurrection for either her, or Hawkman.

Aquaman sees the new Aqualad, and is told to find him first before "they" do. No idea who "they" are though.

The next scene is a two-page spread showing the vision of the remaining resurrected characters. Digger Harkness sees himself murdering Dove as the Light tells him to throw the boomerang. Jade sees her brother Obsidian, with the Light telling her to balance out the darkness. Osiris is told to free his sister Isis. Max Lord is instructed to save the world from Magog, because he will lead the world into war. Eobard Thawne's mission is complete, his being to release Barry Allen from the Speed Force. And most puzzling, Hank Hall is told to stop the boomerang that will kill Dove. Finally, Boston is told to find to replacement protector of the White Light.

It seems strange that the White Light would give them missions that contradict each other, and I get the feeling that it isn't at all what it says to be. And while I did find the reveal a little disappointing, the writing team did do a great job of setting up the next waves of stories. So as always, more answers bring more questions, and more mysteries. But it seems like Brightest Day will start to tie in very well with the books that carry its banner, so hopefully the story will progress quicker this next time around.

Comic Book Review: Brightest Day #4

Every time I review this book, I feel like I write exactly the same thing. The story doesn't progress far enough, it's very mysterious, I like some of the art, all probably things you've seen multiple times on my reviews of the other issues. I'm sorry to say that you're in for another similar review, as the same complaints remain valid in my mind. Spoilers:

Deep in the Peruvian Jungle, The Hawks stare in bewilderment at the portal in front of them, a portal that is powered by their dead carcasses. After some contemplation of their next step, The Hawks decide to enter the portal, which leads to vivid visions of all their previous lives. The scene is quite shocking for them, but they are able to pass though, and exit into another strange scene: Large floating rock masses, each with what appears to be villages established on top.

In Georgetown, Boston Brand is teleported into the room of a sleeping Dawn Granger. She wakes up, attacks him, and changes into Dove, but he begins to explain the unique situations that the white ring put him in, so she backs off. (I found it interesting that she can see him, unlike all the other people he's encountered). As Dawn backs off, another large bird attacks, Hawk, the resurrected hero who seems to suffer from a permanent state of roid-rage. Held in the clutches of a very Angry Hawk, Boston once again goes though his white ring speech, explaining everything that's happened since he resurrected that small bird in issue #1. Though whole resurrection thing catches Hawk's eye, and he tells Boston that he needs something done...

In Silver City, New Mexico, we meet the young man who will be the new Aqualad. His name is Jackson, and he's walking through the arid New Mexico heat with his girlfriend Maria. She wants to go swimming, but he doesn't as he's never learned to swim. She persist, and is about to jump off a boulder, into where a body of water once was. Jackson grabs her before she can fall to her death, as there's nothing but dried out fish where the water once was.

In the sea within the Bermuda Triangle, as rescue ship is searching for a wrecked airplane. They see two people strapped into an airplane seat, looking very dried out, almost even like zombies. Suddenly, something jumps out the water, an Atlantean woman, and a group of soldiers who she orders to attack the ship crew.

In Pittsburgh, Ronnie Raymond is passed out in bed, after exerting all his energy at beer-pong. He's laying there, when he hears a voice, so he turns around, to see Gehenna completely made of salt. She grabs him by the throat, and demands he say her name. As another student walks in the room, Gehenna disperses into a cloud of salt, leaving it all around the room. the bottom panel on the page shows Jason, asleep at his desk, with what appears to be the Firestorm Matrix pulsing over his head.

Back with Boston Brand, Hank Hall reveals his requests: For Boston to use his White Ring to resurrect Donald Hall, the original Dove.

I must say that I'm excited about this new Aqualad, and hopefully he'll emerge as a legitimately entertaining character, and not another lame cliche. I really hope things pick up in the next few weeks though, as the whole mysterious mysteries things is getting old. Check back in two weeks, where I may just copy and paste this article and give it a new title.

Comic Book Review: Brightest Day #3

Brightest Day continues to chug along this week, in the fourth installment (issue number three) of this universe spanning story. Summery:

Right after being teleported to the Anti-Matter Universe, Boston Brand confronts one of the most powerful DCU villains, The Anti-Monitor himself. At that very moment, the white ring decides to very inconveniently withdraw whatever veil was concealing Boston, making him visible to the Anti-Monitor. The Anti-Monitor is not happy at being disturbed, and is about to attack, when suddenly, the ring tells Boston to fight. So Boston thrusts out his ring bearing fist, and a white collage of the resurrected heroes attacks the Anti-Monitor, hurting him. Boston thinks he's finally realized his purpose: To gather the resurrected heroes, and together defeat the Anti-Monitor. The ring tells him NO, and as he listens, the Anti-Monitor stands up, and prepares to attack himself, but Boston, with newfound confidence in the ring, readies a counter. The ring fails him though, and the Anti-Monitor sends him flying into dark nothingness. With the ring letting him fall, Boston promises to be more careful, and the ring replies OK, sending a white safety net to Boston's rescue.

In Pittsburgh, Ronnie Raymond wakes up inside the University hospital, confused, with Professor Stein sitting by his bed. Stein goes on to explain the lab exploded after Ray Palmer successfully separated the Firestorm Matrix, landing both members of Firestorm in the hospital. The Professor warns that Ronnie and Jason must be separated from no one, and in Jason's room, he's getting a similar speech from his father. Jason's father is telling his son that he needs to return home to Detroit together, but Jason refuses to go, saying that he must finish his studies. His father demands that he return home now, and Jason replies with a angry comment regarding the death of his mother. Furious, his father exits the room, telling his son to do whatever he wants. Ronnie is now getting his things together to leave, and as he does, he begins to question why Ray and Stein have not been giving details, as they warn about the danger of being Firestorm, yet they don't provide any reasons. Ronnie, now fully dressed, exits the door, and he begins to angrily rant about the treatment he's been receiving from Jason, all caused by the actions of Black Lantern Firestorm. Ronnie says that he got another chance, and he's not going to waste it, so he walks out the door, and sees Jason crying on his hospital bed. Ronnie walks outside mumbling to himself: "You Should've Told Them..." As the words linger, a scene of Black Lantern Firestorm killing Jason's girlfriend flashes in his mind, hinting that Ronnie was either in control, or that he kept all the memories. As tears form in his eyes, Jason's dad drives by, yelling at him to stay away from his son.

Aquaman and Mera are standing in the shallow depths of the North Atlantic, as Arthur is attempting to use his powers properly. When Arthur sends out the telepathic signal, a zombie Shamu whale appears, and grabs Aquaman to violently drag him under the sea. Arthur quickly defeats the whale, and begins to contemplate why his powers have been acting so strange. As Mera follows him under water, she suggests that he return to Atlantis, so maybe the Atlantean scientists can run some tests. Arthur firmly declines, saying that he will not return to the people that abandoned him. Mera agrees, and tells him that the only home she needs is Arthur himself, so she smiles and goes in for a hug, masking the look of uncertainty on her face.

In Pearl River, New York, The Martian Manhunter is examining bodies of the family that was brutally murdered by their mother/hidden white martian. He looks into the bodies, that have had the skin pulled, leaving only the sinewy muscle, yet, he finds a lead: A hair of the family dog. J'onn locates the dog at a rescue shelter, and he begins to scan the mind of the canine, revealing the ugly scene of the Martian killing the family. Shocked by what he sees, J'onn is determined to fix the Martian problem, but he first sets off to leave the dog with the lonely, elderly daughter of Professor Erdel, only after wiping the traumatic Martian experience from the dog's mind.

A page here seems oddly out of place: A plane flying over the Bermuda Triangle is losing it's tower communications. In Silver City, New Mexico, the White Lantern begins to blink, and lets a flash of light explodes. Back in the Bermuda Triangle, the airplane is struck by a white streak of lightening, destroying it completely.

In the Peruvian Jungle, the Hawks are making their way towards Hath-Set, who is using their dead bodies for an unknown purpose. As the Hawks finally find the point where Hath-Set was, a portal is opened, a portal made from the bodies of the former Hawks...

What I previously liked about the book has now become somewhat of a hinderance in my opinion. It seems like the stories aren't progressing far enough each issue, leaving us with only a little for knowledge of the surrounding mystery. That being said, the story is still very intriguing, I just wish we could get a little more info every issue.

In a recent interview though, Geoff Johns promised that some characters purposes will become more clear in issue 7, so let's all hope that Brightest Day continues to entertain, and also for more zombie sea creatures, because those are just cool.

Comic Book Review: Brightest Day #2

The second issue of Brightest Day was released today, featuring a beautiful cover with ominous connotations for our recently resurrected Aquaman. But the cover is quite misleading, as the issue doesn't deal much with Aquaman but rather The Martian Manhunter. Spoilers:

Firestorm is still is Professor Stein's lab, they are very confused though, as Stein and Ray Palmer say they have bad news, yet they don't give any details. They are told not to move, and Ray Palmer jumps into their chamber, dressed in some kind of fire-proof suit. Ray's going to jump inside Firestorm to attempt to disable the Matrix bonding them together, though he doesn't reveal why. Firestorm suggest they try to split naturally, but Ray tells them no, saying it's too dangerous. So Ray dives into the insanely hot Firestorm, locates the Matrix and attempts to push the subatomic particles apart to disband it. But something goes wrong, as Firestorm begins to share the same thoughts, and then suddenly catches on fire, eventually exploding...

In Pearl River, New York, a mother is preparing dinner for her three children who are playing Rockband. As she finishes setting the table, something suddenly overtakes her and she begins to udder a strange phrase: "A-Alive... He's Alive.
She grabs a knife of her table, and begins to brutally murder her children, afterwards pulling off her skin to reveal a White Martian.

In Denver, J'onn J'onzz is visiting the casket of Saul Erdel, the scientist that brought him to Earth from Mars. He finds a picture inside the hands of the dead scientist, a picture of him and his daughter, the woman J'onn saw in his vision.

The Hawks are still tearing through the Peruvian Jungle, hot on the trial of whoever stoles the bones of their first bodies. They storm into a strange lair, filled with pictures of them from every life, pictures of them while just being civilians, and plaster masks, molded from the faces of their previous incarnations. They soon deduce that the owner of the lair is Hath-Set, their original murderer. Infuriated by his obsession with them, with his continuing to murder, Hawkman decides it's time to find him, and kill him.

Back in Denver, J'onn visits Erderl's now elderly daughter, whose name is Melissa. He takes the form of her dead father, and flies her into the sky as he tries to discover information into her past. Melissa is quite senile tough, she just believes it all to be a dream, so J'onn's ability to read minds come in handy here. She beings to narrate the memories of her past: After finding a Aztec tablet as a boy, Erdel became obsessed with the idea of aliens. After he had a daughter, he would feed her these ideas, and eventually when she got old enough, she helped with his experiments. Erdel's first attempt to transport a Martian to Earth went very wrong, as he bought White Martian to the world. The White Martian destroyed the lab, and ran out after almost killing the scientist and his daughter. But that bad experience didn't stop Erdel's endeavors, as he now became obsessed with bringing another Martian to defeat the monstrous one. Thus, that's how the Martian Manhunter came to Earth, but of course this story didn't end well either. Erdel died saving J'onn from a generator explosion that destroyed parts of the lab again, and knocked Melissa unconscious as well as scarring her forehead forever. Erdel's last words to J'onn were: "save us from my arrogance... my recklessness..."
After reliving the memory, J'onn very touchingly tucks Melissa into her bed, as she says goodnight to her father. J'onn promises to return visit her as her father again, and he then leaves.

In Dubai, Boston Brand is still following Aquaman and Mera, but he's getting frustrated that they can't hear him. The King and Queen of the ocean dive into the water, and dead fish rise to the surface, but before Boston could do anything, he's teleported away by the White ring. He thrown to a dark, unknown land, where he is falling very quickly. The ring saves him, and then to Boston's confusion, it tells him to FIGHT. "Fight who?" he asks.
The last page is Boston in front of the Anti-Monitor, and he stares in bewilderment as he ponders what the ring told him to do.

One thing I really like about the book, is the array of different artists. Instead of DC getting some nobody artist to draw the series as quickly as possible, they used some well known DCU artists to draw different stories in the book. I really wish we could have had more Aquaman here though, since his story seems to be the most mysterious and destructive. But with that said, the ring teleporting Boston to the Anti-Monitor Universe was a great reveal, and I look forward to the fighting it out.

Comic Book Review: Brightest Day #1

Last month, Brightest Day #0 set up the forward progress of the DCU. Today, we see where everything thing is heading, and the greater mystery begins to unfold.

Picking up right after Green Lantern #53, the white power battery is still set in the crater in Silver City, New Mexico. This is where Sinestro has brought Hal and Carol, to see if the Green Lantern can move the battery. The battery doesn't budge at Hal's attempt, and after seeing him fail, Carol brings up the story of the Sword and the Stone, noting that only the King, King Arthur, can remove the mighty sword from is stone sheath.

We are now brought to Boston Brand, the former Deadman, who reminds us that he no longer has powers, cannot been seen or heard while being left to the whims of the white ring. He is currently on a rusty ship in the middle of the ocean, and watches hopelessly as the child traffickers are about to abuse their crying prisoners. But the children don't get hurt, as Aquaman and Mera jump out to rescue the kids. They take out all the traffickers, with an impressive display of being bulletproof, and Mera's water-dragons. After beating out all the criminals, they realize that their is another boat with more traffickers on it, so Aquaman summons a unlikely creature to help out. With his call, an enormous octopus emerges from the water taking down the ship. But they realize something weird about the animal, it's dead. With another call, Arthur summons a zombie shark, and soon realizes that the animals are killing people instead of subduing them.

In Westport, Massachusetts, a butcher is slicing fish, while customers watch the news of Aqauman's return. One customer expresses his excitement for the return of the protector of the seas, and the sends the butcher in a blazing rage, using his knife to kill everyone in the room, and then running out the door.

In the Pittsburgh University lab, Firestorm in it's new combo os Ronnie and Jason, are arguing with each other, as the look for Professor Stein. After trading jabs at one another, the attempt to spilt into their regular forms, but it doesn't succeed and leaves them in great pain. After the failed split, Professor Stein speaks over a intercom from a room with Ray Palmer, where they reveal that can longer split, and that they have worse news...

On Mars, J'onn is moving the large block of ice he found underground, so he can melt it and create water to build back life on his home planet. As soon as the ice melts, a green stalk begins to sprout from the soil, and J'onn flies down to inspect it. He touches to little green plant, and immediately he holds his head as he becomes half black lantern. A vision appears in his head of his hands around the neck of Professor Erdel, the man who accidentally beamed J'onn to Earth. In the vision, he also notices a woman lying dead in the background. After returning to normal, he realizes that he was just a victim of a psychic attack coming from Earth, and sets off to the planet to find the girl in the vision he just had.

In the Peruvian Andes, the Hawks are being led by the Claw of Horus that was fused with Zamaron crystal. They now see the men in white snowsuits, who have the bones of the original Hawks incarnation, and chase them to a jet flying above. They break through the jet to take out the white snowsuit guys, and then discover the bones of their past selves, who perplexes them as they thought they were destroyed during Blackest Night. Before they can think about the discovery any further, a sneaky snowsuit buy send off a stun grenade of some sort, and with the Hawks distracted, he slips out with bones. As the Hawks rescue the unconscious guys with the falling jet, they realize that they're being targeted. The last panel of their story, is Hath-Set, who is in South America, holding their bones in the Peruvian Amazon.

The last pages are of the butcher we met earlier, as he watches his former shop explode, he walks into the ocean, only to emerge as Black Manta.

So with the second issue Blackest Night in the books, the mysteries kicks off, are there are many: The mystery of the white light, Aqauman's zombie issue's, Firestorm's splitting problems, J'onn's visions, and the Hawks bodies, it seems like there will be a lot to cover in twenty-weeks. While the issue was great, and the writing superb, a concern I have is the issue may have to many storylines for one issue. Even though the mystery deepened, we still didn't receive much progress on the stories themselves. Nonetheless, the book is sure to be entertaining to the end, and I look forward to discovering everyone's role is this new DCU.

Comic Book Review: Brightest Day #0

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.