Brightest Day #8 – Review

By: Geoff Johns & Peter Tomasi (writers), Patrick Gleason, Ivan Reis, Ardian Syaf (artists)

The Story: Defiance: Boston Brand starts his search for the White Lantern’s new “Chosen One.” The Martian Manhunter makes a startling discovery about his own past. Hawkman gets a guided tour of Hawkworld and makes a decision. Hawkgirl tries to slap down with Hath-Set.

What’s Good: This book is chock-full of movement, if only because it is filled with so many moving threads. No thread goes very far, although Martian Manhunter and Hawkman sort of dominate this issue, so the feeling of movement is not the same as a feeling of momentum, but if this was a movie, I wouldn’t want to get up and go to the bathroom, because if you blink, you might miss a detail. And with Johns and Tomasi, laying out the details, bit by bit, is what they excel at. They’re building a mystery and every piece seems important. They create dramatic tension with the mystery of the resurrectees in issue #1, reveal the missions in issue #7, but haven’t gotten to the why yet, so the series drags us along, not like a speeding train, but like an inexorable tide. I loved the reveals related to Hawkman, Hawkgirl and Martian Manhunter. They all surprised me and teased me for more.

Brightest Day #3 – Review

By: Geoff Johns and Peter J. Tomasi (writers), Ivan Reis, Patrick Gleason, Ardian Syaf, Scott Clark and Joe Prado (artists), Vicente Cifuentes, David Beaty and Mark Irwin (inkers)

Happy Memorial Day to all our American readers! Your brothers to the north are hard at work, but our LCSs are open!

The Story: Step right up! Boston Brand versus the Anti-Monitor! The mystery of Firestorm and Aquaman and the lingering effects of their black lanternhood! Martian Manhunter realizes who he’s up against! And Hawkman and Hawkgirl catch up with Hath-Set! Strap on your seatbelts!

What’s Good: The creative team has hit their stride and this event is moving! Johns and Tomasi have written a fast-paced, cohesive marathon of stories that are inching into focus in the big picture as the Brightest Day matures. Boston Brand, Hawkman/ Hawkgirl and the white lantern are anchoring this series with the sort of cosmic scale that it is rising to. And the strange, eerie, creepy troubles of Firestorm and Aquaman connect Brightest Day to unresolved threads of Blackest Night. But none of this is overt or in-your-face. Johns and Tomasi are skilled wirters who leave a lot for the reader to connect and a lot for the artists to tell.

Brightest Day #2 – Review

By: Geoff Johns and Peter J. Tomasi (writers), Ivan Reis, Patrick Gleason, Ardian Syaf, Scott Clark and Joe Prado (artists), Vicente Cifuentes, Tom Nguyen, Rebecca Buchman, David Beaty and Patrick Gleason (inkers)

The Story: The twelve resurrected are still trying to figure out why they’ve been brought back and what’s going on. Hawkman and Hawkgirl discover something more menacing about Hath-Set. Boston Brand (the former Deadman) sees some really weird stuff happening around Aquaman. And something is definitely wrong with Firestorm.

What’s Good: Each of the episodes (Martian Manhunter, the Hawk-couple, Firestorm, Deadman/Aquaman) has momentum and as the mystery deepens, each becomes more intriguing. Johns and Tomasi continue to deliver pretty crisp, realistic dialogue (except for some of Brand’s whining). They have obviously mastered the creation of tension. They also knew how to drive things up a notch with the final double splash page that has to be seen!

Artwise, once I got over the changing styles (5 artists and 4 other inkers), I found a lot of quality work that held my eye as I read. Since I don’t know who drew what, I can’t give credit, but the team drew some evocative effects, especially the Jason-Firestorm connection, the Firestorm Matrix, the Hawkman/Hawkgirl splash page, and the final, surprise splash page.