By Sam Christopher
The huge—and apparently hugely successful—DCU event Blackest Night has spawned the obvious next phase in the use of GL’s oath as springboard for story, Brightest Day. And it looks pretty good so far. Here are some of the highlights…
But first, a word about the epilogue to Blackest Night in Green Lantern Corps #47. One thing that always bothers me in stories is when they assign very human—and usually very current localized cultural motivations—to beings which most likely would have very different views of issues, coming from radically different cultures. Not a slam on Peter Tomasi here, though, as I realize I’m asking too much. Just something I always think about, especially when there are thousands of aliens from all manner of planets and cultures are involved in a story. On the other hand—and especially given the revelations of Blackest Night—maybe the whole point of things like this is that all of these things are universal, which I can see but that still doesn’t take into account the idea of social “age” of the culture a character may come from. I mean, the way we handle things as a society is radically different from the way we might have handled the same things a thousand years ago. Of course, the case could be made here that GLs are only selected from cultures that have reached a certain… well, I think I’ve said enough about this comic without talking at all about the comic. Suffice it to say, I like the new status quo of the GLC and think it will prove interesting to see it evolve from here.
And now getting into the actual BD storyline, we start with Green Lantern #53, which acts as a kind of prelude to a few BD series including the Main Event itself. Hal and Carol hang out in a bar before doing the thing they most enjoy doing together. Well, let’s hope this is second, really. And there’s a thing here that puzzles me: Carol asks Hal if he’s still dating some other pilot chick. When does he have time for dating? Anyway, there’s also the Hector Hammond subplot, and the Larfleeze/Lex Luthor subplot, and the return of Sinestro subplot, and the Atrocitus… I guess you can figure out there are a lot of subplots. I really enjoyed this Geoff Johns/Doug Mahnke creation, and it only served to further whet my appetite for the coming tale.
And then we get into Brightest Day #1, in which Sinestro, Star Sapphire, and Green Lantern arrive at The Crater and attempt to lift Thor’s hammer—oh, wait, that’s a different story entirely. Actually, they arrive at The Crater and attempt to pull Excal—nope, still wrong, but at least they acknowledged this legend in the story. The White Light of Life that flowed from the center of the Earth and actually resurrected several characters has coalesced into a White Lantern power battery (as you’d have guessed if you’d read the BD #0 prelude) but no one can lift it… apparently. There are several threads shown here but the single most interesting to me is Aquaman and Mera, mainly the point of A-man still contacting only certain kinds of fish. Not that I’m not interested in the rest of it. The Hawks have a cool little mystery going on, and the awakening of Hath-Set is something else, too. The next best thing here is probably Firestorm. Imagine being trapped in the head of someone who you see as having murdered someone you loved. Then we go to Brightest Day #2. Great cover of Aquaman. Enjoy it, it’s the last you see of him here. The mystery of the Firestorm Matrix is further explored, as is Boston Brand’s plight, and the Hawks make an important life decision—one I have to say I’m very surprised they never made before. The best thing for me in this ish is Martian Manhunter’s tracking down Dr. Erdel’s daughter. It’s such a touching, tender scene all around. And then there is the insanity thing going on. Which I think has to do with J’Onn—maybe his mental powers are bleeding out somehow.
Then there’s The Flash #2. First, Barry has to contend with The Renegades, a team of very Rogue-ish people who say they’re a task force from the 25th Century whose special task is to fight the Reverse-Flash. Why are they here, you ask? Well, because Barry is going to kill one of their own in a few hours. They can tell him that but they can’t tell him why or how. Beyond that, there’s the resurrected Captain Boomerang, serving time for… something… in Iron Heights, and his “visit” from the Rogues. I like this so far, but this ish kinda felt like not much happened.
(A little music, please) Dun-De-DAH, Dun-dun-dun-dun-DA “Let the pigeons LOOSE!” Yes, ladies and gentlemen, we are pleased to announce the return of a magnificent series from its sojourn in the limbo of Jonni DC’s closet. Stand by for ACTION! Stand by for THRILLS! Stand by for HOT CHICKS! I am of course referring to Birds of Prey #1. I was suitably annoyed when DC let the original series fall into disrepute and cancellation a couple years ago, but I thought this new series was coming pretty much since they had Oracle in her own mini almost right after. Anyway… this first ish is fan-TAS-tic! We have Black Canary and Lady Blackhawk getting the call from Oracle before being joined by Huntress. There’s also a detour into a bar where Zinda meets up with Hawk and Dove, Hawk being the recently resurrected Hank Hall. And we meet a (maybe) new villain. I know, I know—you’re thinking this isn’t that big a deal really. But it is, my friends, it is, because… THE BIRDS ARE BACK! And they have Gail (Mistress of the Scribe) Simone and Ed Benes to convey their adventures to us.
Justice League of America #45 shows us what happens when the original GL’s power source comes looking for him. Jade is just getting to Earth with the Starheart in tow—and she gives the heroes a run-down on her father’s origin that I think we can skip here—only to be assailed by the German version of Rocket Red and the JLA. Then the JSA, following a comatose Alan Scott, flies into the picture. Well, falls, actually, as an insane Power Girl wrecks their plane trying to attack GL. Then Supergirl arrives in time to keep the rest of the heroes from dying in pitched battle with Karen—not too many folks can stand up to an angry Kryptonian after all—and there are revelations galore. Another James Robinson/Mark Bagley bit of excellence.
And speaking of the JLA, how about we go into Justice League: Generation Lost #1? After the end of the Blackest Night, Maxwell Lord was brought back to life. He immediately, of course, went to the tippy-top of the Most Wanted list. Everyone’s looking but there are those who knew him best. Booster Gold. Ice. Fire. Captain Atom. Not sure why Power Girl isn’t on this list but… Anyway, these heroes were the closest to Lord, and they’ll be the task force in charge of finding him after this first ish. I don’t want to say too much if you haven’t read it, but you really need to read this book. Very, very good, much better than I thought it would be when I first read about it a couple months ago. Looking forward to the next issue in a couple weeks.
Finally, we have the Titans: Villains for Hire Special #1. Meh. I thought it was interesting at first, but then we have all these vignettes of Slade showing up to entice all these villains—they’re on the cover, not giving anything away here—into joining him. He offers each of them something they… well, actually I could see every single one of them telling him to get lost. They don’t, though, and I can kinda see that side of it, too. I’ve never really cared about the Ryan Choi Atom either way, and this story did nothing to alter that. Easily the weakest book in this set.
