By: Geoff Johns and Peter J. Tomasi (writers), Ivan Reis, Scott Clark and Joe Prado (artists), David Beaty and Oclair Albert (inkers)
The Story: Aqualad learns who he is. Aquaman looks cool. Firestorm seems to have destroyed the universe.
What’s Good: What a relief! A great issue of Brightest Day! Out of the gates, Ivan Reis’ artwork (always one of my favorites) blew me away. Aquaman, possibly one of the lamest characters ever, looks cool, even when he’s summoning fish. Reis gives him gravitas, strength and confidence, in motion and stillness. Reis is drawing a man who’s got his own demons and grief to endure and his own kind of impatience and cautiousness. There’s obviously a whole lotta characterization in Ivan Reis’ pencils. Reis’ depiction of Atlantean tech was also pretty cool: I loved the (water) video touch screens, the (water) weapons.
Johns and Tomasi also delighted me with Atlantean tech like the biolock. It’s nice to see some plausible, forward-looking science fiction making its way into comic books in a natural way. The explanation of Aqualad’s origin also filled a lot of gaps for me. It was long overdue and I enjoyed it. It made a lot of other Brightest Day questions clear for me. On the Firestorm side, it held its own. It’s not as interesting as the ongoing Hawkman/Hawkgirl subplot I’m missing, nor as good as Deadman’s plot, but Firestorm’s problems held my interest. It could have been bad, but I’ve steeled myself for Deathstorm’s dialogue and in fact, enjoyed that sequence with the villain who swiped the White Lantern.
And, to be perfectly frank, I even enjoyed the art on the Firestorm/Deathstorm sequences. It isn’t Reis’ work, but few things are and the art fit the tale that was being told. And the art team on the Firestorm subplot really went over the top for me on the moody environment around Deathstorm, especially when he’s walking off with the White Lantern. Check it out!
What’s Not So Good: I can’t really complain about this issue, but I should complain about the consistency of the Brightest Day series. It’s more than a bit up and down and I’m never really sure what I’m going to get. Actually, that literally true, because I check the DC website on the issues before they come out and they don’t match up so good. Just sayin’. I’m not sure what the solution is for DC editorial, but they’ve got to do something to make the quality of the story and art a little more consistently good.
Conclusion: For those of you out there who have not yet bailed on this series, do pick this one up. It’s worth it. If you abandoned this series, I don’t want to be responsible for bringing you back.
Grade: B
-DS Arsenault
Grade
Conclusion