Comic Book Review: Brightest Day #3

Written by Geoff Johns, Peter Tomasi

Art by Ivan Reis, Ardian Syaf, Scott Clark, Joe Prado

Inked by Vicente Cifuentes, David Beaty, Mark Irwin

Colored by MLT staff

Cover by David Finch, Scott Williams

Assistant Editor: Rex Ogle

Associate Editor: Adam Schlagam

Editor: Eddie Berganza

My Awe-Inspiring Opinion

#3 is certainly a vast improvement in storytelling from what was presented two weeks ago.  The plot(s) seems to be pushing forward very nicely leaving us with a lot of mystery to swim around in our minds.  You can tell Geoff Johns has put a lot of work into this entire event, Blackest Night and Brightest Day combined that is.  But while we are only three issues into this series, and the different storylines are presenting new problems for the characters to deal with, there seems to be a lack of aggressive expansion within Brightest Day.

As I’m sure we all know, Aquaman is having issues with calling upon dead sea creatures instead of the living ones.  Likewise, Martian Manhunter is unable to locate a mysterious creature, Deadman still can’t figure out why his white ring is causing him so much confusion and frustration, and Ronnie and Jason are still at odds with one another.  While this is all great for creating tension and drama, I have to ask this one simple question…How is this different from the previous two chapters? 

The characters are dealing with these issues in new ways of course, but the problems they face have not built upon themselves and don’t give us anything new to work with.  The only thing new that helped to keep my interest was the skeletal portal the two hawks discovered and the relational development between the current and former Firestorms.  Other than that, absolutely nothing seems to lend itself to the momentum of the story.  The mystery was established in issue #1, and nothing more has been revealed since then.

This is mainly due to the complexity of the series.  The reason why Tim Burton and Joel Schumacher’s Batman films were as successful as they could have been is largely due to the multiple plot lines that never truly made sense, or were way over the top and never came together as one cohesive story.  The same thing is happening here as Johns and Tomasi are having to five completely separate story arcs into one comic bi-weekly story.  Perhaps this is why Blackest Night had separate character stories that were both apart of and segregated from the main title.  I’m sure both writers have an ultimate plan, but currently Brightest Day isn’t measuring up to its predecessor.

As I’m sure most of you know, my approval of toggling artists in the same comic has never been high, it just creates too many distractions for me.  However, DC has made some good choices in allowing their free lance artists some less stressful work assignments while keeping the art styles similar.  I actually didn’t realize that the styles were different until I finished the book and flipped to the front page and saw the multiple artists working on this issue.  If only this type of decision making could continue, I would be a happy camper.

My Majestically Climactic Conclusion

The art is what’s winning me over here.  I wouldn’t recommend this to anyone except for those who appreciate good artwork.  Johns and Tomasi, I’m sure, are faced with writing this incredibly epic story while struggling with the decisions of the DC hierarchs.

Writing: 5

Themes: 0

Art: 10

Overall: 5 out of 10 

Comic News: Birds of Prey and Brightest Day...no rhyme intended

I'm so happy to see that the new secret members that were cleverly hidden in shadow of the Birds of Prey was revealed at long last!  What's most interesting is the fact that it seems as if the Birds of Prey will induct a male into their ranks...go figure!  Gail Simone, as I'm sure everyone reading has figured out, is at the helm of this highly  anticipated title.  Her departure from Wonder Woman was a low blow to myself and many other Simone fans, but this new writing project she is taking on is a more than acceptable replacement for her.  The icing on the cake is that Ed Benes will be joining her as the artist!  My favorite comic writer and my favorite comic artist on the same book, it's almost like I've died and gone to Colorado...oh wait....

With this new revelation of Hawk and Dove joining the feathered females, I've also come to realize that Brightest Day will be playing into the first issue of Bird of Prey.  In addition, Johns revealed that the reasons for the rebirth of the dead heroes will become known in Brightest Day.  I had originally given Blackest Night #8 a rating of 7.5 merely based on the fact that so many question were left unresolved; that Brightest Day is simply a change in the title "Blackest Night" and the story won't be completed for a while yet.  But it is comforting to know that Johns has had a plan for this entire event from the beginning.

Now, with the return of these heroes, springs some new and revived titles.  Obviously Birds of Prey will be at the head of this "soon to come" titles, and The Flash (Barry) takes new strides with Geoff Johns managing the literary side of things.  The Justice League: International will also be returning to stores in April in a mini series called "Generation Lost," where Fire, Ice, Booster Gold and Captain Atom go on the hunt for Maxwell Lord. I'm wondering how long it will take before Aquaman gets his own title back as well as Firestorm.  And what of Deadman?  Why has he been given a chance at life once again?  Another mini series in the works possibly?  Only time will tell what DC is going to do.  One thing we can count on is Brightest Day is the ultimate remapping for the DC Universe that anyone could ask for.