Add to all this that Brightest Day -- though I've not heard anyone say so directly -- seems to me an intentional lead-in to a number of the new DC Reboot series, and that makes Brightest Day one of the most compelling titles I'm reading right now.
[Contains spoilers]
Two villains and a hero -- the Martian D'kay D'razz, Hawkworld's Queen Shrike, and the new Aqualad -- all receive origins in this volume, and all are relatively confusing. D'razz's involves an unlikely Martian-transport accident before Martian Manhunter's self-same accident, and then the writers tie D'razz's current mayhem to both Manhunter's death in Final Crisis and resurrection in Brightest Day, instead of just the latter event. Aqualad's "couple adopt an orphaned baby" beginnings is too much (though perhaps intentionally) like Superman's, and his ties to Aquaman's wife Mera's own "secret" past are too much tied in obscure Aquaman stories that haven't themselves been revisited in years while the character's been in limbo.
Worst, however, is Hawkgirl Shiera Hall's mother Queen Khera emerging as Brightest Day's limbo-Hawkworld's Queen Shrike. Hall herself hasn't appeared in a comic for ten years or longer, and Shrike isn't apparently Hall's mother proper, but rather the mother of Hall's ancestor-by-reincarnation, the Egyptian Princess Chay-Ara. How Hall immediately recognizes her, and the overcomplicated two-page spread that details a series of murders and suicides that lead to Shrike becoming a pharaoh and then queen of Hawkworld, become less important than the reader's basic understanding that this person is "good" and that person is "bad." I give Johns and Tomasi points for not glossing over the minutia Mera and Hall's individual origins just because we haven't seen them in a while -- at the same time, the book's momentum comes to halt with these double-page origins, filled with details that I can't imagine will factor all that heavily later.
This is the exception, however, because otherwise the various plotlines of Brightest Day move rather swiftly. Johns and Tomasi's Aquaman, with Ivan Reis's art, is as self-sure and commanding as he should be, and the writers even make his telepathic powers look cool as he touches his fingers to his forehead at the end of the book; I also root for this Aqualad mainly because of how much I like his counterpart in the Young Justice cartoon. The Hawkman/Hawkworld story, despite the complicated villain, is nicely violent (too violent, some might argue, but I've come to believe that Hawkman stories lend themselves to a certain amount of bloodshed). The Deadman/Dove thread gets some life (and some neat guest stars) once the curmudgeonly Hawk drops out of the picture; the Martian Manhunter delves too long into obvious fantasy sequences, but I find Manhunter's conflict with D'razz very compelling -- on one hand, she's the last female of his species, and on the other, she's a mass murderer.
Still best, as was the case in Brightest Day volume one, is Johns and Tomasi's take on Firestorm. Again, as is Johns's wont, the writers offer a new take on the character's old paradigm -- now, Firestorm's two halves must remain in peaceful emotional sync or else destroy the universe-- a hard task under regular superheroic circumstances and even tougher when one side played a role in killing the other's girlfriend. Firestorm is an established hero, but this revised approach makes everything that was old now new (and young) again. It's hard not to see the similarities between where this is going for Firestorm and the descriptions of Gail Simone's new Firestorm series; we don't know if Firestorm is a relaunch a la Batman or a reboot a la Superman, but the former increasingly seems more likely the case, and that the events of Brightest Day will still have an impact going forward.
Indeed, given titles for Aquaman, Firestorm, Hawk and Dove, Deadman (in DC Universe Presents) Resurrection Man (who cameos here) and certain others -- and the similarities, at least, between Firestorm here and the upcoming Firestorm series -- Brightest Day seems more and more like a "backdoor pilot" for the DC Relaunch, and it's surprising more hasn't been made of that. Given that we wait-for-traders will be sobbing quietly at midnight on August 31, waiting for the DC Relaunch to visit us in collected form sometime in May 2012 (oh, the humanity!), you'd think DC would do well to point out that if fans want their first taste of the DC Relaunch, they might very well find it in Brightest Day.
Over the last four chapters of Brightest Day volume two, Johns and Tomasi leave every character with some kind of cliffhanger, and even despite knowing how some of volume three will shake out, the suspense is exciting. As a semimonthly series (which we'll lump in with DC's previous weeklies), I can't say Brightest Day is "better" than 52 solely because of 52's scope and ambition, but Brightest Day is a good story, and shows weeklies can work after the relative disappointments of Countdown to Final Crisis and Trinity. Being semimonthly perhaps helps Brightest Day substantially; the title is focused, action-packed, and rarely slow (Martian Manhunter dream sequences notwithstanding). I'll say again -- Brightest Day is one of the better titles I'm reading right now.
[Contains original and variant covers.]
Wednesday marks the end of the DC Universe as we know it ... be here for some universe-ending thoughts from Collected Editions.
I wonder how D.C. is going to avoid creating continuity after the relaunch. Since the whole point of the relaunch is to make comics more accessible for new readers and not bog them down with continuity. Do they not realize that after two or three years there will be new continuity that new readers will have to catch up on? Perhaps they will treat it like a sitcom: every episode (story arc) events happen but the next week (story arc) no reference is made to those past events. This way a person can pick up any comic at any time and not have to worry about things like history, continuity or character development. On the flip side, they could just do a reboot every few years just to keep things fresh. Sure it would suck for a long time reader who actually invest their time and money following a title for an extended period of time, but you've already got those people so you can take them for granted and pander to the new people who may or may not be out there. Personally I enjoy shows like Lost where if you put your time in and invest in the characters and story you are rewarded with things like charcter development and continuity, and if you happen to miss the boat at the beginning you can always catch up on dvd (trade paperbacks).
ReplyDeleteYou've quite astutely brought to light the "continuity lie" there. DC claims this new relaunch is more reader-friendly and clears of 70 years of continuity that bogs down writers and their stories -- but if this relaunch were to be wildly successful, then one day they'd end up with fifty-two issue #100s, and then issue #200s, and so on.
ReplyDeleteAn ongoing comic book universe tends toward entropy -- they want success, and success means histories get longer and continuity builds upon continuity. (Unless DC plans yearly jumping on points, about which I don't object, but I haven't heard such plans.) Fans up to this point didn't need reboots to start reading comics, they just started reading and figured things out as they went. What sustains a comics universe instead is good writing, such that Green Lantern is popular now even despite seventy years worth of continuity.
The reboot is good for creating some buzz about the DC Universe, but what DC will need to do is have this same level of buzz, this same level of commercials and previews on disparate sites and so on, for years and years and years, which I haven't heard them talk about. My outside opinion is that DC intends to bring in new readers now, and then go back to business and usual, and that's not going to work.
The lone saving graces to that are the fact that (1) all back issues will now be perpetually available online, so a reader who joins up a year from now can read everything that lead up to that point right away without having to pore over back issue bins for it, so it'll be less hard for a new reader to catch up than it's ever been before; and (2) we still don't know DC's collection plans for the relaunch, but I'm guessing they'll include clearly marked, numbered volumes, also to make it easier for a new reader to catch up. So maybe the reboot works as a place to start over and do things differently under the new technologies, and that'll make all the difference.
In terms of the previous weekly series I have read, Brightest Day ranks below 52 but above Countdown. I'm enjoying the Aquaman story the most and am looking forward to the "aquawar" in the third volume. The Aquaman story reads a lot like an Aquaman "Rebirth" story. But I suppose you could argue that each of these stories for the various characters really act as a "Rebirth" for each.
ReplyDeleteAnd like you say each of them bar Martian Manhunter are getting a solo series in the relaunch.
Overall a good book, solid art (especially Reis') and looking forward to the conclusion.
I'm eager for volume three and I've liked this series, though the forthcoming "Aquawar" doesn't move me quite as much. That Mera's people have popped out of a rather confusing piece of retroactive continuity, that it's not quite clear to me what they want yet, and that they seem entirely evil without any shades of grey, all make them rather uninteresting to me. Dig the Aquaman story ("Aquaman: Rebirth" indeed, and I still can't get over how *cool* Reis made Aquaman's telepathy look), but I haven't quite latched on to the "Aquawar" plot yet.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your thoughts, though, and I look forward to hearing how you liked volume three.