Brightest Day 1 Review

The four page spread in Blackest Night 8 was the high point of the whole event to me. The 12 disparate characters seemingly resurrected at random included some of my favourites; Martian Manhunter, Aquaman and Firestorm have always been favourites of mine. I was over the moon when i realised that they would be the focus of DC's new biweekly and so the debut of Brightest Day has me intrigued and impressed in equal measure.

Aquaman and Mera are the real standouts so far. Their attack on the slaver ship was bad-ass, which isn't something usually associated with poor under-appreciated and oft-mocked Aquaman. Here he shows why he is a force to be reckoned with. He shrugs off a bullet to the head without even passing comment. As to what he accidentally summons to aid him? I don't want to spoil it but the new twist on his powers is disturbing.

Disturbing new development seem to be happening across the board for the resurrected so far. Whether its Boston Brand forced to observe but not participate in the action, Firestorm's inability to power down on J'onn J'onnz's telepathic vision something is clearly wrong with those who came back. Martian Manhunter's scene was tinged with sadness for me, because J'onn has earned some happiness after years of being the Justice League's lovable loner. But if we're judging by the fates of the others, his quest to revive the barren planet Mars will have tragic results.

The art is clear, coherent and consistent. The large number of artists involved could have led to a mess of mis-matched styles, but this was a very good looking comic.

Overall, a very promising start to Brightest Day, and two weeks may be too long to wait for the next dose