I was looking forward to Brightest Day coming on the heels of Blackest Night. I am a fan of Aquaman, Martian Manhunter, Ronnie Raymond, Hawkman and the Atom so I imagined that the vast majority of Brightest Day would easily appeal to me. Unfortunately, this slow moving event has been a disappointment. Perhaps that will change with Brightest Day #8. Let’s hit this review.
Creative Team
Writers: Geoff Johns and Peter Tomasi
Pencils: Ivan Reis, Pat Gleason, and Ardian Syaf
Inks: Vicente Cifuentes, Rebecca Buchman, Mark Irwin and Ivan Reis
Colors: Peter Steigerwald and John Starr
Art Rating: 7 Night Girls out of 10
Story Rating: 4 Night Girls out of 10
Overall Rating: 5.5 Night Girls out of 10
Synopsis: We begin with Hawk, Dove and Deadman discussing what to do next. Hawk says that the white lantern told him to protect Dove. Dove wonders what she needs protection from. Deadman says that the sooner he finds the “Protector” the sooner he will get the white power ring off his finger.
Deadman says that Green Lantern should be able to help him get some answers. Deadman tells his ring to take him to Hal Jordan. Just as Deadman is teleporting away, Dove reaches out and grabs him. The two heroes teleport away from the scene leaving Hawk by himself next to the white lantern.
We cut to Miss Martian (Damn. Still alive.) telling J’onn about how a green Martian almost killed her. The white light from J’onn healed Miss Martian. J’onn reads Miss Martian’s thoughts in order to view the attack on her by the green Martian. J’onn is stunned since he thought that he was the last remaining green Martian.
We zip over to Hawkworld where Hawkman is talking with Tonrarr, the leader of the Lionmane pride. Tonrarr and Hawkman pass by a giant statute of one of the Hawkpeople and a Thanagarian.
Tonrarr shows Hawkman some cave drawings. The drawings show the history of Hawkworld. That Hawkworld is the gateway between Earth and Thanagar. That humans from Earth came to Hawkworld hundreds of thousands of years ago and peaceful coexisted with every race on Hawkworld except for the Hawks. The humans discovery of the Nth Metal made relations with the Hawks even worse. Humans gained the power of flight.
The humans then caused war between the races on Hawkworld and it descended into chaos. The humans then allowed some of the races to mix. The humans armed with Nth Metal and their loyal blood relatives, the manhawks, then discovered the portal to Thanagar and sought conquest of Thanagar. They left Hawkworld behind still in chaos with the secrets of the Nth metal under their feet.
Then the Queen appeared and took control of the manhawks and built and raised the Nth City to the clouds. Queen Shrike still supposedly resides in the cloud city after two thousand years.
We then see a massive crowd of the various races of Hawkworkld assemble around Hawkman and cry for his help. Tonrarr the world’s oppressed souls cry for Hawkman. Hawkman replies that he does not see oppressed souls. That he sees an army.
We slide up to the Nth City where Hawkgirl is free from her bonds and beating up some guards. Queen Shrike and Hath-Set watch. Hawkgirl then attacks Hath-Set.
Queen Shrike then steps forward and puts a beating on Hawkgirl. Queen Shrike then removes her mask. Hawkgirl is stunned that Queen Shrike is her mother. Queen Shrike knocks our Hawkgirl. Queen Shrike and Hath-Set comment how the bright white light from Hawkgirl healed their old injuries.
We shift to J’onn and Miss Martian combining their telepathic power to find the green Martian, J’onn says that he senses that the green Martian in the middle of Star City where the forest is located. J’onn flies off to Star City. End of issue.
Comments
The Good: Brightest Day #8 was another slow and largely dull read. However, there were a couple of bright spots to this issue. The reader finally gets some answers concerning Hawkworld and the connection between Earth and Thanagar. I liked the latest twist on the Hawks’ continuity and this relationship between Earth and Thanagar.
Longtime DC readers understand just how convoluted and a mess Hawkman and Hawkgirl’s continuity has become ever since Crisis on Infinite Earths. I am not going to even try to begin to untangle the messy reboots and retcons that DC has done with the Hawk franchise over the past twenty-five years. Suffice it to say, Hawkman and Hawkgirl are in desperate need of some serious continuity cleansing,
At this point, I am more concerned with Johns and Tomasi being able to properly fix and streamline Hawkman’s continuity than I am with this plotline being entertaining. My main hope is that Johns and Tomasi are able to finally do what no one has been able to do since Crisis on Infinite Earths which is to restore Hawkman and Hawkgirl as viable characters that are important pillars of the DCU.
It is critical that once Tomasi and Johns are done performing their continuity work on the Hawks in Brightest Day that DC stop obsessively picking at the Hawks’ continuity. It is time for DC to trust their writers, pick a direction with the Hawks and stick with it.
The Deadman arc is showing some real potential. To be sure, Deadman is the star of Brightest Day and, therefore, gets the most important story arc. Deadman’s search for the “protector” could be a fun galaxy spanning mission that leads him to cross paths with many aspects of the DCU. All this story arc needs is better pacing and some plot progression in order for it to fulfill its potential.
Brightest Day #8 features artwork by committee as six artists combine their efforts in order to deliver this issue. I must admit that, this issue was actually a pleasant looking issue. That is not an easy task when utilizing artwork by committee.
The artists manage to blend their styles as best as possible in order to avoid giving this issue a disjointed appearance. I enjoyed the art in the scenes on Hawkworld and the scenes with Hawkgirl the most. While the story may be slow and boring, the solid artwork succeeds in keeping the reader’s attention.
The Bad: Most of my disappointment with Brightest Day stems from the fact that it is written by Geoff Johns and Peter Tomasi. I hold both writers in very high regard. I normally enjoy Johns’ work and he almost always hits a home run when it comes to fixing continuity problems and re-branding characters that need a new purpose. Tomasi has quickly risen up my list of favorite writers. Tomasi is a talented writer who rarely disappoints me.
Therefore, I had extremely high expectations for Brightest Day given the two talented writers at the helm. I also admit that I do hold Johns and Tomasi to a higher standard than I would hold most other comic book writers. Unfortunately, Brightest Day is the weakest effort that I have read from both of these talented authors.
Brightest Day #8 is another shallow read. The skeletal story to Brightest Day lacks the necessary meat to keep readers satisfied and entertained. However, the fact remains that the various plotlines in Brightest Day are not awful. They are simply resoundingly average. Brightest Day reads more like a mechanical exercise with Johns and Tomasi half-heartedly going through the motions for this story that reads like it was editorial mandated.
The true fatal flaws of this title would be the pacing and the plotting. The pacing is atrocious. Brightest Day #8 creeps along at a ridiculously slow pace. There is next to no plot progression with each issue. Brightest Day #8 continues that trend as we only examine three of the plotlines and only slightly inch along those plotlines.
We are almost a third of the way through this twenty-six issue story and we are still performing back-story and set-up work for each plotline. That is inexcusable. This type of work should have been completed by the third or fourth issue.
It is becoming evident that the writers simply did not have enough content to support a bi-weekly 26 issue title. Instead of forcing these various plotlines into one bi-weekly event, DC would have been better served to have delivered these various plotlines as five separate four issue mini-series. It would have allowed for each plotline to have more impact on the reader. It would also have made each plotline a more compressed and entertaining read.
The Martian Manhunter plotline is a miss with me. That is a real shame since I am a huge fan of J’onn’s character. I was looking forward to J’onn being re-established in the DCU since I found DC’s handling of his character rather poor ever since the conclusion of 52.
Unfortunately, all we are getting with J’onn is a generic plotline involving another green Martian on Earth. We already went through J’onn dealing with this subject matter on his mini-series in which he was “stunned” to find other Martians still alive. J’onn went through all the soul searching of being the last of his people and then the subsequent re-examining of his position on Earth after he found and then lost all but one of his fellow Martians. What is that one Martian from that mini-series up to anyway?
We also just finished with Superman dealing with not being the last Kryptonian for the past couple of years. This is just not the fresh and interesting approach that I was expecting from Johns and Tomasi concerning J’onn’s character. This plotline feels unoriginal and tired.
I would have rather have seen Johns and Tomasi focus more on J’onn himself and his place on Earth and his position within the DCU than to examine once again on the possibility of another Martian being alive. It would have been more interesting to see Johns and Tomasi build up the fact that J’onn is the conscience of the DCU. That J’onn in the heart and soul of the JLA.
The double hook ending to Brightest Day #8 was a miss for me. J’onn going off to the forest to confront the green Martian did little for me since I find his general plotline to be underwhelming. The “surprise” reveal that Queen Shrike was in fact Hawkgirl’s mother also had zero impact.
First, I have no knowledge at all of Hawkgirl’s mother. Therefore, her appearance is muted since I have no connection with her character. Second, even if the writers wanted to use a new and unknown character for a big reveal then they would have been better served to hold off on this reveal. After all, I just learned about Queen Shrike’s character in this issue.
It would have been wise to introduce Queen Shrike, build up some anticipation and excitement in the reader concerning her true identity and then reveal her identity. Even if it was a character that we did not know, at least it would have had more impact due to the reader’s anticipation over Queen Shrike’s identity.
Overall: Brightest Day #8 continues the trend of this title being a disappointing read. This title certainly has failed to live up to my initial expectations. Perhaps Brightest Day will read better in trade format. At this point, I certainly would not recommend getting Brightest Day. If any of the plotlines in this story sound interesting to you then I would suggest waiting and getting Brightest Day when the trade is released.