Saturday, June 5, 2010

Brightest Day #3

The Brightest Day rolls on, and I have to say I'm enjoying the focus on (mostly) Silver Age heroes, especially considering what short shrift these characters have been given in recent years.

We also get the sense that we're getting close to the elusive answers about why certain characters were returned from the dead. Each hero is involved in a different mystery that's slowly unraveling as the story progresses.

We see Deadman (who's not-so-dead) facing off in what seems a terribly lopsided battle against the cosmically-powered Anti-Monitor.

We see Firestorm's alter egos adjusting to their new existence - and one of them is hiding a secret (and yes, I know he's not really a Silver Age character).

The Martian Manhunter uncovers a grisly murder (depicted in a disturbing fashion for a mainstream comic).

Aquaman and Mera are trying to cope with the frightening change in Arthur's powers - a change that's tied to the Blackest Night.

And DC's other power couple, Hawkman and Hawkgirl, discover the reason why someone has been gathering up the bodies from their past lives.

So a lot is going on here, and writers Geoff Johns and Peter Tomasi are doing an excellent job keeping the story moving along, and keeping the mysteries just out of our reach - but giving us enough to keep us coming back for the next chapter.

The art is also quite good, if not entirely uniform. It takes five pencilers and three inkers to keep up with this comic's twice-monthly pace, and so far, the quality has been outstanding.

While I'm not crazy about some of the grim and gritty images, I like this comic a lot - it appeals to the Silver Age fan in me, and is doing a fine job (so far) of bringing those characters into DC's modern age.

Grade: B+

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