Brightest Day #23 - Penultimate Awesome

Well after a week of digesting Ultimate X where I my passion for comics was ravaged like a slap of deer at Ted Nugant's house, I'm finally in a week where I don't have to worry about damaging my brain or losing control over my bowels. That's because this week the next issue of Brightest Day came out. That's right, the book that's like a three-way between Scarlett Johannsen and Natalie Portman in your brain is back! Not only is it back, it's the next to last issue! This series has been unfolding for over a year, telling a wide range of stories that cover a number of well-known DC characters like Aquaman, Martian Manhunter, Hawkman, Hawkgirl, and Firestorm. It came out biweekly and was rarely delayed. It's basically the complete antithesis of Ultimate X. Sorry Art Adams, but delays and replacement characters just don't cut it!

Everything has been coming together in the home stretch for Brightest Day. It's actually more akin to the two-minute warning in football because the last issue basically stopped juggling so many different plots and basically zeroed in on the one story that binds them all together. And that story is the White Lantern. As each successive plot has come to a close, the White Lantern has shown up and basically capped it off the same way North Korea caps off alleged treason. Aquaman, the Hawks, and the Martian Manhunter were all seemingly killed by the White Lantern after they finished their respective journey. The guy who has been the unwitting trigger finger of these killings has been Boston Brand, who for much of the book has been trying to get used to the whole being alive thing again. At some point it has to be pretty jarring when he realizes he has to eat, sleep, and take a shit. By that comparison being a corpse is a lot easier. At the same time he's been resisting the White Lantern because it's basically about as cooperative and understanding as an entire stadium of 6-year-olds with ADHD who had their Ritalin swapped out with crystal meth.

Brightest Day began with a mystery. That mystery has been all about the White Lantern. It keeps going on about a new protector the same way Donald Trump keeps going on about how Barack Obama was a Kenyan agent sent to overtake America and kill anybody who had a shitty comb-over. For a while it seemed like that protector was Boston Brand. Then for an issue it seemed to be Batman. At one point it seemed to be someone connected to Aquaman, such as the bastard son of Black Manta who couldn't keep his penis out certain affairs. Well none of these ended up being the protector. The White Lantern essentially took Boston on a trip downtown, but not before driving around Stone Henge and the Great Wall of China first. Now this issue promises (no bullshit for once) to reveal the protector.

It starts off like a monologue from Glenn Beck in that it shows how fucked the world is. Usually, the heroes of the DC Universe have to save the Earth from an outside threat. Well now the tables have turned in that the Earth is lashing out. Like Ned Flanders it had been happily hiding it's rage for years and now it's yelling "This is fuck-diddly up!" So it's unleashing Earthquakes, fires, floods, and Barbara Streisand concerts. It's forced every hero on the planet into overtime, but it leaves you wondering what the fuck are they trying to save now? The planet is off her meds and no one has a shot of ketamin to calm her down.

Boston Brand knows about this. The White Lantern told him that there was a powerful evil within the planet Earth that was basically going to turn it into a homicidal super-douche on par with Kim Jong Ill. The only way to stop it was to find the new protector for the White Lantern. So picking up from the events of the previous issue, Boston confronts Ronnie and Jason as Firestorm. Remember, they're the ones who have the White Lantern. They spent most of the previous issue getting it back from the Anti-monitor and a much lamer corps of the Black Lanterns.

Despite all their efforts, the White Lantern still comes off as a hell of a douche. It basically says it sat by and twiddled whatever it has as thumbs while Professor Stein died. It needed to see Ronnie and Jason witness this death so they would embrace being Firestorm again. It's a dick move, no one argues that. However, the White Lantern is at least trying to justify it's douche-baggery. The planet is having a bad case of PMS and it needs to move this shit along before there's no one left to be an asshole with.

This has led them to the Star City forest, which has major significance in that it's the one place where a pissed off Earth can't trash. The White Lantern does another dick move by not letting anyone else in to escape the carnage, but again it's not just jerking around. It explains to Firestorm that it needs the necessary life forces to defend Earth or stop whatever is fucking her up like a shot of tequila mixed with wood varnish. To add extra motivation for Deadman, the Lantern does what may be yet another dick move. It pulls Dove into this clusterfuck while she and Hawk are trying to protect people from the world they've so often protected. Confused? I think mindfucking has always been one of DC's most stringent policies.

Keep in mind, Dove is the girl Boston was banging before the White Lantern made him it's unwitting trigger-man. Now it's not clear why she's brought into the picture. It just says her presence is required. Perhaps the promise of pussy is the White Lantern's new way of keeping Boston Brand in line. You have to admit, that's pretty cruel. He tries to explain what's going on and warns them that he may or may not have killed Hawkman, Hawkgirl, Aquaman, and the Martian Manhunter. Just as OJ Simpson may or may not have brutally murdered his ex-wife. But before he can even say much, that whole dark evil that the White Lantern has been droning on about finally shows up. Suddenly, it doesn't seem like the biggest douche in the series anymore.

The evil that has turned the Earth into a kitchen run by Gordan Ramsey has taken a new form. It's a form that definitely has elements of the Black Lanterns from Blackest Night, only at least fifteen times more badass. This dark avatar as they call it, looks pretty damn pissed and is in position to give the White Lantern the same treatment that PETA gives Oscar Meyer.

What this creature wants is pretty simple. It craves death the same way Snookie craves a shot of tequila at P. Diddy party. So that leaves Boston, Firestorm, Hawk, and Dove in a pretty rough position. At the same time Digger Harkness, who was one of the villains brought back in Blackest Night, is brought into the scene for reasons that aren't entirely clear. This is a guy who usually wouldn't piss out a fire if it meant saving a bus of newborn babies. However, he has shown up in Brightest Day before, so his presence isn't coming out of nowhere like a steroid allegation from Barry Bonds.

While this is going on, Deadman is basically giving Firestorm the same look he gave all those other heroes before he turned them into dust for the new OxyClean guy to snort. It's pretty obvious where this is going. Firestorm gets the business end of the White Lantern's firepower. And no, that's not a joke about prison bitches. Yet like with the Martian Manhunter, the result is somewhat different. While it does look like Ronnie is being cooked like a Turduken at John Madden's house, he's not keeling over like Pamela Anderson in a sausage factory.

This time the White Lantern pulls out all the stops and like a party at Charlie Sheen's house, goes completely overboard. It doesn't actually kill Firestorm. In fact, it turns out it may not have killed anybody. It just made them more awesome. So awesome that I may have to take back every douche-bag joke I ever said about the White Lantern. Because once Firestorm becomes as fiery as his name implies, he's joined by a bunch of other elemental forces that have a striking resemblance to a few certain characters. By certain I mean the very characters that the White Lantern supposedly offed. Hawkman and Hawkgirl are wind, J'onn J'ozz is Earth, and Aquaman is water to round out Firestorm's fire. Throw in heart and you may have a Captain Planet reference, but without the lame hippie crap. There aren't many jokes I could tell about this shit. It's simply awesome beyond description.

So you have the four elements of life and a dark evil trying to suck the life out of them the same way Twilight sucks the life out of vampire movies. What's going to happen when these forces meet? They're going to kick some serious ass, that's what! Deadman's conscious is now clear and he can go back to banging Dove in between wolfing down cheeseburgers. First this crazy creature that looks like something that died under one of Snoop Dogg's pot farms has to be addressed. Even with a more awesome form of Aquaman, Firestorm, the Martian Manhunter, and the Hawks that's easier said than done. But it still looks pretty damn awesome.

While these newly reborn heroes test out their new awesomeness, Deadman has to work with Hawk and Dove to protect has to protect something that the forest has been guarding. As it turns out, the savior that the White Lantern has been bitching about has been buried in this forest the whole time. That dark creature was on it's way to destroy it because typically when you go on a rampage, you want to fuck up whatever may be in a position to stop you. That's what Deadman has to protect. The real savior that's going to end this shit once and for all is a corpse buried like a discarded candy wrapper. This sounds like a questionable way to end the book until you find out said corpses name. It's Alec Holland. For all you non-comic types, that's the name of Swamp Thing. That's right. The savior of the planet and the new guardian is fucking Swamp Thing. If you said you saw that coming, you're not only full of shit. You're lying through your shit-stained teeth!

So here we are, one issue left of Brightest Day. The loose ends are starting to come together! This issue finally started pulling back the veil from the White Lantern and revealed some of the biggest mysteries that have dominated this series from the beginning. You would think that a series that has been over two dozen issues in length would start dragging by now, but with so many epic plots and brain-melting battles it still feels like it just began a few weeks ago. Now we find out that those heroes we thought were dead didn't exactly die. They simply took on a new (far more awesome) form. That form is the key to stopping the planet from basically destroying itself in an amazing twist of irony. Also, we finally learn the name of the shmuck that's going to put a stop to it all! It's Swamp Thing! It's a twist without sounding like a twist. It's setting the stage for a finish that will leave your brain in pieces and your dick as hard as polished steel.

There's no cute way of saying it. Brightest Day has been awesome beyond words. It could have easily fizzled at any one point. With only one issue left, it's saved the biggest fight for last. It isn't just a mindless brawl to get everybody in the same arena. This battle ties together everyone else who has been involved in Brightest Day. It does so in a way that feels so right yet it's still so intense that you can't really predict how it's going to pan out. If there is any shortcoming at all it's that Geoff Johns left one too many loose ends to tie up in the final issue. Why are Hawk and Dove on the scene? Why was Digger brought in?

Since it is the next-to-last issue you can't expect all those issues to be tied up. Otherwise, why buy the last issue at all? I don't consider these really shortcomings, but if there's too many that could mean the final issue may falter when so many others that came before it have been so strong. The cynical part of me that's still jaded from reading Ultimate Marvel and ripoff characters worries that Brightest Day has set the bar too high for the last issue. However, this series has repeatedly delivered in a ways few comics have so I'm willing to give Geoff Johns and Brightest Day the benefit of the doubt here.

So loose ends aside, Brightest Day #23 still gets a perfect 5 out of 5. It has set an epic stage for the final battle in this incredible series. I came into Brightest Day not expecting it to even come close to the awesome that Blackest Night delivered. I was so wrong that I'm willing to whip myself to atone. Brightest Day is every bit as awesome as Blackest Night and deserves every bit of praise you can give a comic book. If you're a DC fan or a comic fan in general, what the fuck are you doing reading this blog? Go out and get this series! It's comics at it's finest. Nuff said!

Brightest Day #20 - When Awesome Meets Tragedy

I'm not going to justify it this time. I know I've gotten into the habit of apologizing for reviewing some books before others on a big week. This past week marks the release of some major titles, especially with the X-books. Uncanny X-Force came out and so too did Wolverine and Jubilee #2. Anyone who saw my reviews of the previous issues know I love those books more than a diabetic loves his insulin. But as much as I love X-books, Brightest Day has a special place above them all. For one, it's a limited series. This book won't go on forever and when it ends it'll be more tragic than the Kennedy assassination and Princess Diana's funeral combined. It's in the home stretch and in these final issues, the caliber of awesome has grown to a level that is giving so many nerdgasms that there's been an epidemic of blue balls.

The past two issues of Brightest Day have seen the lines blur between the life and death message left over from Blackest Night. There have been many different stories in this series and they've all been linked by one thing, the White Lantern. It's proverbial line of cocaine that all the superstars overdose on. For most of the series the nature of this beast has been pretty mysterious. It's been using Boston Brand as a guinea pig, taking his Deadman persona and dragging him through reams of proverbial mud. In that mud Boston has had to learn a number of harsh lessons. The latest lesson seems to be that the White Lantern is kind of a douche-bag.

It began a few issues ago with Hawkman and Hawkgirl. They had just defeated Hawkgirl's mother and broken the curse that had doomed them to more reincarnations than Sylvester Stallone's acting career. Then they were about to get down and dirty in ways that fans of the Lifetime channel masturbate to. That's when the White Lantern showed up. It told them that they had to live their lives separately. When they said bullshit, the ring did what it thought to be most logical. It killed them. It was a powerful moment and one that fucked Boston up worse than a weekend with Lindsey Lohan. Then it set it's sights on another hero, Aquaman. He happened to be fighting a war against Mera's people, led by her sister Siren. He and the new Aqualad raced to the surface to save the surface world. The White Lantern is there waiting for them.

Brightest Day #20 picks up from here with the White Lantern watching the battle in the same way a cannibal an autopsy. It's hungry for the outcome and Boston is basically along for the ride, unable to do jack squat like a dog that's been locked in a cage while a house is being robbed. In the last issue Aquaman suffered a serious blow when Black Manta showed up to join the battle. By serious blow I mean Black Manta cut Arther's fucking hand off. Even in a superhero comic, that shit's pretty hardcore. Along the way the White Lantern reveals that it orchestrated this. It opened the Bermuda triangle so that Mera's people could come through. Like a kid who put a mouse in a snake's cage, it's waiting to see what Aquaman does with it.

With one less hand to slam the ham with, Aquaman is in bad shape. It falls upon Jackson, Black Manta's bastard son, to give his dad a good old talking to. This time it doesn't involve a fishing trip (which is saying something because we're dealing with water people). He tries to stand up to his old man like a kid trying to hide his father's vodka stash. Black Manta uses this as a chance to up his douche-bag rating by telling Jackson he means nothing to him and neither did his mother. The only feeling he ever felt for them was the feeling he probably got when the condom broke.

Jackson's overmatched to say the least. Keeping in mind that this kid is new to the game and his balls have only descended so much, his ass is saved by Mera when she shows up with a new friend in Aquagirl. She's a lot like Aqualad, but she's hot and she has boobs. Jackson, being a teenage boy, certainly takes notice as any teenage would. In one panel his eyes are as wide as the day a man discovers internet porn. It's a beautiful thing.

The tide of the battle turns. Mera and Aquaman have a quick reunion, but minus the romance. Remember, she's the one that revealed she had been sent to kill Aquaman earlier in the series. So for once the man was the one that said "I need some space" and it wasn't because someone left the toilet seat up. Femanists feel free to write angry letters to DC, but you have to admit Aquaman does have good reason to pause. However, she's still a hot redhead in a skin-tight outfit. So Aquaman forgives her.

Then with Jackson's help, Aquaman seals the wound where his hand used to be. It'll still be a hell of a time trying to rub one out, but he doesn't need two hands to fight a battle. That's how tough he is. So anybody who says Aquaman is a pussy has no right to make that claim ever again. With only one hand, he leads Mera, Aqualad, and Aqualad with boobs into battle. It's an action-packed moment that DC fans should be drooling over like David Hasselhoff in a liquor store.

Now Aquaman and his buddies aren't stupid. They know they can't fight off an entire army. It would be stupid if just the four of them were able to fight everything off (I'm looking at you Curse of the Mutants). So to get them away from the shore, Mera steps up and shows that she's got some stones as well. She may have betrayed her people and the man she loves, but she's still pretty badass and is ready to prove it. All you mad feminists can stop writing your letters because Mera uses her connection with the sea to literally push it back and take her people with it. If Aquaman doesn't forgive her after this, then he's the douche-bag. So once again the feminists get it their way. Happy now ladies? Will you stop busting our balls for jerking off to your underwear catalogs?

Not to be outdone, Aquaman salvages some of our fragile male ego and goes after Mera's people. They're back at sea, but they're not gone. So to make sure that Mera doesn't get to upstage him again, he summons his own army of sharks and dangerous sea creatures to push them back to the Bermuda triangle. Again, if you think Aquaman is a pussy read this part of the book and you're obligated to shut up about it for the rest of your natural life under penalty of cleaning Dan Dido's septic tank. Between the fish, whales, sharks, and box jellyfish it's painfully clear that Black Manta no longer stands a chance.

It's a powerful moment, but as always the bad guys have to go on their rant of defeat. They know they're going to lose so they're only recourse is to piss and moan like a three-year-old whose mother wouldn't buy him a pack of gum at a grocery store. Mera goes out of her way to spite her sister, who calls her a traitor and shit. But either true love trumps family or Aquaman was just that good in bed. Again, Aquaman haters take notice. To end the battle, Jackson steps up again so he doesn't come off as a total novice/pussy. Using the power of his lineage, he opens the gates of the Bermuda Triangle and forces the invading army back in. It's the kind of security that the boarder police along Mexico can only dream of.

It ends the invasion. Mera gets cursed out by her sister. Black Manta vows to return to his son and perform a little retroactive birth control. It's more whining as they succumb to defeat. You want to feel bad for them, but they've been such world class douche-bags for the entire length of the Aquaman story that it's deeply satisfying to see them defeated. It's not quite as satisfying as the defeat of Mama Hawk a few issues ago, but it should still give fans a hell of a boner minus the side-effects of Viagra.

So now that the battle is over there's only one loose end to tie up. Now that the invading army is gone, Mera and Aquaman share a nice moment. They're still outcasts. Mera is hated by all her people. Jackson's heart rate still isn't going down and the presence of Aquagirl isn't making that any easier. Boobs will do that. However, like Hawkman and Hawkgirl they come together in a way that will make any female comic fans gush like a heavy dose of PMS. They kiss and make-up...literally. If you're not touched by this (even if you're a guy) then you need to drop this comic and go back to choking puppies.

Unfortunately, Aquaman and Mera face the same mishap as the Hawks. Just before they can enjoy their moment and settle into to some super hot underwater sex for which there is not yet a porno genre for, Boston Brand and the White Lantern show up. Boston still has no control and the White Lantern doesn't even give him the decency of an explanation. It just says that Aquaman's mission is complete. Then it kills him, leaving Mera in tears and readers shocked in a way that can only be matched by a few car batteries and some electrodes to the scrotum. It's every bit as powerful as the moment with Hawkman and Hawkgirl. Aquaman went through a hell of a lot, reuniting with Mera and finding Black Manta's son so they could stop the invasion. Then after all that, he's killed again. For anyone who has followed Brightest Day, it hits you like a baseball bat laced with cocaine. It hurts yet it feels so good. If your brain starts melting as a result, don't worry. That's normal.

The end of this issue marks the end of a trio of issues that have set new standards of awesome. For Brightest Day, that's like scaling Mount Everest, building the world's tallest building on top of it, and then climbing it so you can wave your dick at the world from the roof. Geoff Johns keeps hitting so many home runs that Barry Bonds is likely to show up at his house and ask where he gets his shit from. The story surrounding Aquaman took some time to develop and didn't really come into focus until the latter part of the series. However, once it did come together everything fell into place so nicely that it actually enhances to books before it. To say that's rare for a comic book is like saying a unicorn taking a shit in your hard is somewhat unexpected.

I've found very little to criticize with these books. Don't think I'm just singing and dancing naked in my living room, praising Brightest Day the way religious nuts praise images of the Virgin Mary that appear in snack food. I'm trying to find something for Geoff Johns to improve upon, but I can't find anything! Yes, Brightest Day is THAT good. Now you could say that the battle against Mera's people was somewhat rushed and that Mera pushing back the sea was a little contrived. But it helped keep the battle from being too drawn out. It all came together so nicely at the end that to criticize this would be like saying you found small mole on Scarlett Johanssen's ass.

Whatever flaws this book may have had, it's hard to argue that the ending was really powerful. Brightest Day is really stepping up the drama. The White Lantern is now not so pure. It brought back these characters in Blackest Night. Now it's killing them again. It's not doing it in a grotesque Ultimatum style slaughter. It's leaving a profound impact on the characters, the readers, and everything in between. It's not clear if these characters are truly dead or if there's something else the White Lantern is planning. With this series near it's end and the many plots it has going on being tied up, you can feel the finals secrets lying just ahead! For this, Brightest Day is placing itself in the same upper echelons as Blackest Night in the annuls of comic book awesome.

I don't think the score here will surprise anyone. Brightest Day #20 gets a 5 out of 5. I'd give it a higher score if I could, but I'm not going to skew the scale. This book is as awesome as they come for the world of DC. It doesn't matter what kind of comic fan you are, this issue and this series has something for everyone. It'll be a shame when it ends, but that's all the more reason to save this streak of awesome while it lasts. Nuff said!

Brightest Day #16 - From the Ocean to Awesome

The past few issues of Brightest Day have been like a topless Playboy model trying to break into your house to give you oral sex. She's been so good to you in the past, but she earned herself a time-out for getting sloppy on the job. She's still skilled at her craft, but she has to earn the right to be awesome at delivering the goods again. Two issues ago, the Brightest Day series hit a low point. Now bear in mind a low point for Brightest Day is like a bad throw by Peyton Manning. It's bound to happen, but he always makes up for it. The previous issue got the book back on track. It wasn't flawless awesome like much of Brightest Day has been to this point. Going back to the Playboy model I referenced earlier, it's the equivalent of three quarters of a blow job. So there's still a ways to go to reach the desired peak.

Brightest Day #16 is left with the less ominous task of improving on an improvement. The last issue had to claw it's way out of a whole. This issue has light already visible from the beginning. It just has to avoid tripping over itself to get there. What has caused some of the recent issues of Brightest Day to fall face first into a pile of horse shit lately has been a deviation from what worked so well earlier. Normally when you're on the yellow brick road, you don't want to veer off. Writer Geoff Johns did that a few issues ago when Deadman met up with Batman. Instead of balancing multiple plots in a way only he can, Johns focused on just one plot for an issue. This is all well and good, but if the way that plot is handled sucks then the whole damn issue sucks. It's like investing all your money in Enron and having no fall-back plan when your bank comes over to ass rape you into bankruptcy. The last issue was similar, but not entirely. It spent most of the time on one plot involving J'onn J'ozz. Granted, this story was much better done, but it still didn't tie into the rest of the series very well. It offered at the end a hint at the next issue, which would revisit the Firestorm arc.

Now you would think a story involving two college kids with the power to create another big bang would be a big fucking story, but no. Somehow this got put on the back burner. It's not the only one either. The Aquaman story was pretty important for a while, involving Aurthur finding the son of Black Manta and letting him know his biological father is a real asshole. So far we've been denied the inevitable kick in the balls this kid, Jackson, is poised to receive. Brightest Day #16 is left being the steel-toed shoe that does the kicking and it tries to get back on that yellow brick road by throwing in the Firestorm arc.

It starts off with Aquaman and Jackson. For the past few issues, they must have twiddled their thumbs or saw Tron Legacy because in their last appearance they hopped on a truck with Jackson's adopted parents to get away. Aurthur then took him to an old hang-out where he can prepare his next move. While there Jackson sees some pictures of Aurthur, Mera, and their son. The scene becomes more awkward than a pedophile in Toys-R-Us when Aurthur reveals that Jackson's biological father killed the cute baby boy in the pictures.

Now here's where this issue takes a definitive turn from the previous two books. Rather than sick entirely with the Aquaman plot (which isn't necessarily a bad thing) it actually *gasp* transitions to the Firestorm plot. This after *second gasp* it was hinted at near the end of the previous issue. I know it sounds like I'm making a big deal of this, but it's worth ranting about through a bull-horn. Part of what made previous issues of Brightest Day so awesome was Geoff Johns flaunting his ability to balance these plots in a single issue. It's not an easy thing to do. It's like having a big dick. You don't stand atop a building announcing it, but you wear slightly loose pants so that people can see the distinct outline to demonstrate your virility. Geoff Johns has been known for subtlety before and regardless of whether or not he has a big dick, the man knows how to flaunt it.

The Firestorm arc, if some are sober enough to remember, was once one of the most volatile plots. Not only did the Firestorm matrix split into a new incarnation of the Black Lanterns, but Professor Stein said that in it's current volatile state the matrix could cause another big bang. And by big bang I'm not referring to porno slang or the nerdtastic show on CBS with the hot chick. I mean an actual big bang that destroys the whole freakin' universe. Seeing as how this is clearly a bad thing, Firestorm seeks out help from the Justice League and they're not in a position to say no when the universe is in the hands of a couple of college frat boys.

While Ronnie and Jason are trying desperately not to undo what God and Allah did over a drunken bar bet, the Black Lantern Firestorm is handling his power with the same responsibility as 2-year-old armed with crazy glue. He has the black lantern in hand, which is like a pedophile who has keys to the boys bathroom at a pre-school. Not content to be a complete arrogant douche-bag, he plays tricks on Professor Stein and Jason's father that he absorbed earlier. He makes Jason's dad believe he can stop the Black Firestorm by killing the host (himself) so he forms a gun for him. It's his way to prove that he loves his son enough to kill himself. It's like a mirror reflection of the Old Testament, except Yahwe in this instance is a juvenile jerk-off. Firestorm made him the gun, but put no bullets in it. He essentially just fucked with Jason's dad for shits and giggles while on his way to deliver the lantern.

We go back to Aquaman (yep, Johns is flexing that package of his again) and the new Aqualad. At least that's how Jackson is being groomed. Aquaman is like a more pushy version of Yoda, dragging Jackson along this path and taking him to a special cave where there's another bio-locked chest to open. Along the way he teaches Jackson a bit about living underwater. He shows him that he can see in the dark and breathe underwater. Aquaman is also nice enough to not warn him when he gets a holographic recording (think Superman origins) from his biological parents. Except he's no savior or a hero. He's pretty much a key and not the kind used in cheap college sex jokes either. He's supposed to release Mera's people from their prison in the Bermuda Triangle. It's pretty much his purpose and the only consolation he gets from it is a new Aqualad costume. To be fair though, the costume looks pretty damn awesome.

It's a lot to take in for a kid his age. Most guys at his stage of life bury their faces in pillows because that hot chick with the D-cup breasts in Algebra class wants to file a restraining order because you kept staring down her shirt. But this is a comic! Surely Jackson can summon the inner courage that Clark Kent did back in the day and accept his responsibility.

Actually, he can't. He responds in a way you would expect a teenage boy to respond who got pulled over for a DUI. His words are and I quote "I want to go home." It may be the least heroic thing ever said in a DC comic. Jackson might as well put on a skirt and start sucking his thumb. However, he does redeem himself somewhat by lashing out at Aquaman when he tries to persuade him otherwise. As whimpy as some teenagers can be, they can also be rebellious and fierce.

Aquaman lets Jackson throw his little hissy fit. Over the course of the next two pages, Jackson's balls start descending again after having retreated to the back of his throat. Say what you will about Aquaman being one the lamest superheroes in DC (next to the Penguin), but the man is king of Atlantis. For a kid to fight back and hold his own is still quit a feat. Aquaman resists channeling his inner Namor and helps Jackson settle down. He gives a speech that is basically cut from every episode of 7th Heaven, saying how he went through the same crap when he was young. Except he throws in a few light kicks in the ass so he'll be willing to hero up and help fight back against the Xebels. That may mean pissing his father, Black Manta, off. Then again, what teenage boy wouldn't want to piss off the father that left him? It helps Jackson seem a bit more kick-ass and a bit less ass-kicked.

So Jackson comes full circle and embraces his new role as the new Aqualad. It's a nice little journey that has some parallels with Superman, but not so many that it would excite that inner copyright lawyer in all of us. It makes Jackson more relateable and likable. He's a guy who just found out his biological father is an evil asshole and that he's the key to preserving the whole (underwater) world. It's like finding out you're related to a serial killer and then become a police officer (the non-corrupt non-donut eating kind). For that, Jackson earns the label of awesome.

He's not the only college-age guy having his testicles forcibly descended. Ronnie and Jason are still stuck in the Firestorm matrix, trying to prevent another (non porno) Big Bang. The help they're getting is from the Atom. The theory is they're going to use Metamorpho to stabilize the Firestorm matrix. There's no long-winded Star Trek inspired explanation here. It's just adapting to whatever havoc he's unleashing at the moment. No Nobel Prize in nuclear physics needed.

As with so many things in science, what sounds good on paper doesn't always work out in real life. Communism sounded good on paper to some. Then Stalin put it into practice and nobody was a fan. However, Atom doesn't even get a chance to implement his plan because Ronnie and Jason do exactly what Professor Stein told them not to do. He warned them that if they argued like college students at a football game, they could destabilize the matrix. Well keeping in mind that Ronnie inadvertently killed Jason's girlfriend, it was bound to happen sooner or later. And it did in a big way.

I say big because Firestorm erupts in the heat of a the college-equivilent of a yo momma's so fat joke. As a result, that eruption essentially snuffs out everything. And by everything I mean everything. It appears they destroy the universe. All the stories, plots, and struggles in the entire DC universe post Blackest Night are suddenly meaningless. The universe is dead. Now given that there are still a number of issues left in this series, it's reasonable to assume that this is not the end. But still, it's over the top in a universal way. You expect that kind of shit from Jeph Loeb. Not Geoff Johns. It's a somewhat fitting way to end the book in that you can't really end it any other way. It sets the stage for what could be an either very interesting or very dull resolution in the next issue.

So is it safe to say at this point that Brightest Day has recaptured the magic? Well no one can fault Geoff Johns for not going the distance. It takes more stones than Stone Henge to use a plot that involves destroying an entire universe. Scale isn't the issue here. It's quality. Brightest Day has always set itself apart with quality, mixing action and more personal issues. In Brightest Day #16 the personal aspect was covered by Jackson and Aqualad. This was done very well, painting Jackson as a real kid who didn't ask for the responsibility he's been given and now finds himself in a position he can't easily walk away from. The fact he responded in such a whimpy manner shows he's human and since every other guy in comics is too macho to fit in their own scrotum, it's somewhat refreshing.

But as nicely developed as the Aquaman story was, the Firestorm plot left something to be desired. It was nice to see the Black Lantern Firestorm again, but it's still not clear what the hell he's doing with the lantern or what he has planned. It also felt like the conflict between Ronnie and Jason was a bit rushed. They argue for just a few panels and then the universe blows up? It's not that it's a bad idea (as much as blowing up a universe can't be), but it is over-the-top and it does happen a bit quickly. Now this could all be a ruse of sorts and the Atom hit a failsafe at the last second. Something has to happen to remedy this and that's it's biggest flaw. No self-respecting DC comics fan in the right mind believes that this is the end. It's that knowledge that somehow it will be retconned that makes this twist horribly flawed.

However, flaws are a matter of degree. Compared to the flaws of recent issues, does Brightest Day #16 still measure up? It doesn't fall flat, it doesn't trip over itself or sniff it's own farts, and it doesn't destroy the series. It does succeed at moving the story along in an engaging way and it's nice to get a sense of flow again from the last issue to this issue. Seeing more than one plot made this comic feel bigger than it was and for that, it is still pretty damn awesome. So for the final score, Brightest Day #16 gets a 4 out of 5. It hasn't taken that final leap back to the peak of comic book awesome. It just needs a few more pushes. With the end of this series in sight, rational and level-headed comic fans everywhere have to assume that DC is setting it up for an end so awesome that it will tear a hole in the space time continuum. Anything less at this point would be lame. Nuff said!

Brightest Day #14 - Teasing Awesome

Whenever I get a new issue of Brightest Day, it's rarely a disappointment. Some books you just expect excellence in the same way you expect douche-bags to attend a Kanye West concert. For the past few months, Brightest Day has been doing for DC what Madonna did for bat-shit religious sects like the Karbala. It took a tried and trued product of awesome and made it even better and even a little sexier (most men would still nail Madonna even if they won't admit it). The last few issues have been inching the overall story closer to a ball-busting, brain splattering conclusion. Boston Brand is getting closer in his search for the guardian to the White Lantern. The Hawks are battling it out on Hawkworld. J'onn J'ozz is trying to resist being pussy whiped by the other last Green martian. Firestorm has to contain his Black Lantern counterpart from setting off another big bang. And somewhere along the way, Aquaman is coming between Black Manta and his illegitimate son.

That's a lot of shit to deal with in one series, even if it is biweekly. For the most part, Geoff Johns has managed it with the same mastery that Donald Trump masters shitty hair styles. So when the last issue ended with a hint that Batman would be showing up, he upped the ante to levels that would make even Trump's over-sized balls shrivel. Each issue is getting more focused, giving screen time to only one or two sub-plots. This come at the unfortunate price of leaving other plots dangling worse than Hugh Hefner's scrotum. However, Geoff Johns has made it a price worth paying. The last issue focused on the Hawks and only spent a few pages setting up the story for Boston Brand, which picks up in Brightest Day #14. Just like the last issue, it remains pretty focused and the promise of Batman showing up should cause a certain level of tingling in the brain, heart, and lower extremities of DC fanboys (if that tingling turns to burning, please consult a doctor immediately).

The issue starts of literally right after the last panel of the last issue. Boston Brand sees the bat signal and that proverbial light bulb flashes over his head. Like bat shit creation scientists, he assumes on the spot that this is the guy who will act as guardian to the White Lantern. It's not a bad choice. Anyone who has been following the Batman comics lately knows that he's been feeding worms for a while, but he eventually got bored and kicked the grim reaper in the balls. Now he's alive again and back to making criminals shit themselves again. That's all the convincing Boston needs to re-take his Deadman form (which may come as a surprise to some people because he hasn't really demonstrated he could still do that) and seeks him out.

He leaps through the city like an acrobat on crystal meth, Along the way he comes across a crime involving guys in snow gear without any snow. This is another somewhat random occurrence you don't usually see in a Geoff Johns comic. Seriously, he just happens to pass by these guys? One could argue that the ring is guiding him, but that isn't made clear. It's the most random Johns has been this entire series. It may not be jarring to those used to reading half-rate stories written by underpaid writers who can't come up with witty dialogue unless their blood alcohol is no lower than .04, but given this is a Geoff Johns comic it does come as a shock to the system.

It does help that the fight is nicely done even if it is on a small scale. This is the first time Boston has ever got to kick ass in his new non-corpse body. It's the strongest he's been to this point. For so much of this series he's just been pissing and moaning about how it sucks to be running errands for the White Lantern. This makes him slightly less sissy and it's always fun to see poorly dress criminals get their asses kicked.

Dead or alive, even Boston should have been able to figure out who was behind this half-hearted crime. Yet he still managed to allow Mr. Freeze to sneak up on him. While he may not be a sissy for being a decent hero again, he still qualifies as a dumb-ass for not using more than two neurons to work out some strategy. It does play to his advantage though because when Batman does show up, he takes down Mr. Freeze with no fewer than two moves. It shows just how far ahead of Boston that Batman is in the kicking-ass-after-being-dead department.

This ends the fight against Mr. Freeze. He basically takes a nap for the rest of the issue while Boston confronts Batman. Dove shows up as well, having just missed the fight and essentially playing the role of the obligatory hot chick that's supposed to accompany guys like Boston on their journey. All card carrying members of the National Organization for Women should direct their outrage to DC and not me. I'm just the messenger here. There's no elaborate setup here with the ring. Boston basically just tells basically that he's the ultimate champion for this ring and he wants to get this shit off his back. It's about as poetic as it sounds.

Batman questions his assumption as he's prone to thinking rationally, something very few people in comics or in real life tend to do. But Boston won't hear it. He uses the old flattery approach, basically saying that Batman is the most awesome human being in DC comics and is the only one worthy of this power. By comparison, he's like a Miss California trying to give a lecture on the big bang theory to Stephen Hawkings. He can't get the ring off his finger fast enough. He's like Larry King at a divorce hearing. And as soon as the ring reaches Batman, he becomes a White Lantern and looks 128372948292 times more badass.

Now this is what's been building for several issues now. Batman becoming a White Latern is more juicy than Jenna Jameson's pussy at a Chip'n Dales. Finally, the White Lantern has a guardian! Finally, the other plots surrounding Brightest Day can start coming together! And the ongoing stories involving Batman's return (which recently concluded) are given a novel twist. It's such an awesome premise. At least...it would be.

I'm sorry to report that this euphoria lasts about as long as Charlie Sheen's patience with a call-girl. While in his White Lantern getup, Batman basically becomes a mouth-piece for the white ring. What he says is very un-Batmanlike. He calls Boston out, telling him that he was chosen to guide the White Ring because when he was dead he had some backbone. He doesn't have it anymore it seems. He saw his task as a chore and when he chose Batman, he chose poorly. So that means Batman isn't the proper guardian, thereby aborting all those potential stories before they were born. The crazy pro-life crowd would be making pipe bombs if they read this. If that weren't enough, one of Mr. Freeze's goons rubs salt in the wound by coming back to life and shooting Boston. So it's basically a giant-sized screw-up.

So Boston goes down and as expected, his life flashes before his eyes...again. Remember, he did die at one point so he's walked this road before. There's a nice little shot of his childhood. An old memory of his teen years that showed how he started to become a bit of a douche-bag by essentially worrying more about a cheeseburger than a pretty girl sitting next to him. Unless that's the best damn cheeseburger on the planet, that's just mean. He then flashes forward to his full-fledged douche-bag persona in his adult years. This is when he was working in the circus as his old Deadman persona. He's not ordering burgers this time, but he's essentially the Kanye West of circus acts. All the while Boston's spirit has to watch this and ponder how he was so much nicer when he was dead. That's got to fuck with him.

Given this level of douche-baggery, it isn't completely disappointing to relieve the moment when he got shot (the first time that is). And in front of a live crowd no less. By whatever spiritual awakening happens here, Boston has a change of heart. Somehow seeing himself get killed (again) reminded him that being an asshole in life isn't a good thing. Since he's learning slower than Paris Hilton in a calculus class, he begs for a second chance. It's a little melodramatic and predictable, but it gets the point across.

Boston gets his second chance. He wakes back up in the alley with Batman. The White Ring heals the gunshot wound and knocks the shooter out for good measure. Now you know you've got a long way to go when a ring kicks more ass than you do. It also leaves Batman, showing that he's not the one Boston was looking for. The ring goes right back to him and gives him a few life lessons in the process. None are all that provocative, but the part about there being more to life than a good cheeseburger really speaks to the soul.

Not much else happens. Batman leaves. There's no hint or mention of the other plots with the Hawks, Aquaman, or Firestorm going on (never mind the fact he's got the resurrected Black Lanterns on his ass). The title of the next issue does mention the Martian Manhunter, but there's no solid transition or scene to speak of. Boston just throws in a nice kiss with Dove, which feels about as meaningful as a kiss between Courtney Love and Pamela Anderson (minus the porno and herpes context). It's a random way to end an issue for a series that has prided itself on not being so random. Even if Dove is very doable, she's not doable enough to justify such a bland gesture. It doesn't strike at the heart or the balls for anyone with an appreciation for comic book romance. To say they're no Clark and Lois would be an understatement so vast it could be used as a new euphemism for anal sex.

Brightest Day #14 is quite an anomaly. It's the first issue of the Brightest Day series to truly disappoint. It's probably the weakest feeling I've had reading this series so far. My mind isn't blown and my heart rate is still steady. It's like taking a bong hit only to realize you're smoking your mothers flowers instead of pot. The whole tease about Batman being the guardian that Boston was seeking had so much potential. In a ways I can see what Geoff Johns was trying to do here. He set up the expectations so that even the characters in the book felt they had found what they were looking for when in reality they hadn't completed their journey yet. It's very existential and it's not the way most comic writers would do a scene like this. They would go the easy way and try to use Batman more. Johns doesn't usually like to take the easy way, but this is one case where the easy way is more awesome.

The best way I could sum up my issue with this plot is that it was subtle for the sake of being subtle. It moved things forward by not moving them at all. That's not to say there wasn't anything good in this book. There was plenty. Batman showing up definitely adds to Brightest Day's repertoire of awesome.The easy flow from the previous issue from this issue worked very nicely as well. It was also nice to see how Boston Brand went through so many transitions from life to death to life again. The White Lantern also showed some personality here, strange as that may seem. It's trying to guide Boston, but it isn't always listening. It seems to have a mind of it's own and it's definitely got some character. If it had big tits it would already have it's own fan club. However, this is not enough to make up for the shortcomings in this story.

It pains me to say this, but Brightest Day #14 is a disappointment. The past 14 issues (including issue 0 for those of you who lost count already), this series has been masterfully crafted. Geoff Johns always delivered quality stories because he was a surgeon in his craft. He took care of the big things and the little things. In this he did take care of the big things in that he moved the story with the White Lantern forward. However, for once he negated the little things. He did not add in the details to make it work. The overall product is bland. It's not bland in the sense that Ben Stein's voice is bland or that juice you let sit next to a radiator for six weeks is bland (and potentially life-threatening). It's just bland.

In scoring this book I can't give it too low a score because it isn't terrible. It doesn't destroy the overall Brightest Day series. It certainly doesn't make me want to pick up the next issue any less, but it does end a streak of mind-blowing, heart bursting, scrotum swelling awesome. So for a final score, I give Brightest Day #14 a 3 out of 5. It's respectable, but for a Brightest Day comic it can do so much better. Geoff Johns is more than deserving of a mulligan here. If he blows me away with the next issue again, all will be forgiven. Nuff said!

Brightest Day #8 - Focusing The Awesome

The last issue of Brightest Day was a case study in awesome. It was the kind of issue that you would put in a time capsule along with a copy of Ultimate X-men #1, Ultimate Spider-Man #1, and Superman #700 to show future generations how true awesome in comics should be done. What made it so great was that it took so many dangling plot threads and tied them together. The White Lantern, which Boston Brand had been struggling to figure out since the beginning of this series, finally started flexing it's power and in doing so it reached out to all the featured characters who up to that point had been dealing with their own shit. The Martian Manhunter, Firestorm, Aquaman, and the Hawks were all affected by this. It even affected characters that this series hasn't even touched on, showing that it's able to cop a feel from the greater DC Universe. The great revelation from all this awesome is that the White Lantern is connected to all those it brought back to life in Blackest Night and in order to proceed with the next step, it needs to find a protector in the same way all lanterns need to find a bearer of it's power. That's where Boston Brand is left to pay the tab. He is essentially the cleaning lady who has to clean the hotel room after Led Zeppelin has been in it.

So after an issue that awesome, how can Geoff Johns possibly follow it up? It's an unfortunate nature of comic book physics. When a book of great quality and supreme awesome comes out, the book that follows is usually doomed to drop-off of some kind. You can't reinvent the fucking wheel in every issue, otherwise readers will either overdose like they would if they took too many hits of crack or the readers will be essentially inoculated from any further surprises. So even if you had the equivalent of the Ebola virus of awesome, a reader with that kind of immunity wouldn't appreciate it. Now a lot of writers succumb to the temptation of trying to match such an issue the way professional athletes easy pussy on a road trip (just ask Kobe Bryant). Some writers are smart enough to keep it in their pants. Can Geoff Johns do it? Can he succeed where Kobe Bryant and Tiger Woods failed?

Brightest Day #8 starts out with the same guy that Brightest Day #7 ended with, Boston Brand. Coming back from what had to be the most awesome LSD trip ever, he now knows what he has to do. He has to search for that protector that the White Ring revealed. This involves him being a meat puppet for this thing just a bit longer. Since he's about as equipped to find this protector as Michael J. Fox is equipped to perform open heart surgery, he decides to seek out the Green Lantern (who hasn't shown up in Brightest Day since issue 0). The ring takes him to the guy in a flash, but with a twist. It takes Dove along for the right. Because what's a quest to find a protector without a hot chick being involved?

While Hawk is left hanging like the unfortunate soul left paying the bill after his buddies ditch him at a pub, the effects of the White Lantern's little tantrum start reverberating with the other characters. The first one to get their share is J'onn J'ozz. When he was touched by the White Lantern in a very non-Catholic Priest way, he was able to heal the ailing Miss Martian. This is important because she had been on the receiving end of an Exorcist style joyride in that she was essentially possessed while she went on a bloody Charles Manson like rampage. The White Lantern was able to heal her and allowed her to reveal to J'onn just what was behind this and it wasn't a Martian equivalent of PMS. It was the mischief of a White Martian, who are essentially the KKK or Nazi versions of the Martian race. They're also uglier than Janet Reno in a thong.

The White Martians are essentially the only other Martians left though. J'onn is the last of the Green Martians, the ones that are cool in the sense they don't fuck people up. So it's imperative for J'onn to make sure that these guys don't thrive and make all Martians seem like total douche-bags. He essentially is that last Baldwin actor who has to stem the tide of douchiness from his family name. To learn more he does a Vulcan style mind meld with Miss Martian (which sounds sexier than it really is). But in doing so, J'onn makes another startling revelation. Turns out he may not be alone after all. There is another green Martian and the chances of saving the non-douchebag reputation of Mars may have more allies than previously thought.

This joyful little cliffhanger leaves the Martian Manhunter story open for more awesome down the line. The next story is so big it takes up damn near the rest of the issue. This is the plot involving Hawkman and Hawkgirl, who walked through a portal made out of the bones of their reincarnated ancestors (seriously, you can't make that shit up) and found themselves in a cozy little place called Hawkworld. It's essentially like Pandora from the Avatar movie, but there's no exotic jungle and no sexy blue chicks running around in loin cloth.

In the previous issue both Hawkman and Hawkgirl flashed their White Lantern bling for a moment, which actually was good timing because Hawkman was about to get the shit kicked out of him by the animal-humanoid beings of this world and Hawkgirl was about to get thrown to the proverbial lions by Hath Set. This works out better for Hawkman because it earns him some street cred with the locals (and he didn't even have to nail the chiefs daughter). One of them ends up taking Hawkman on a quick tour of the fucked up world they call home. He demonstrates how their people are basically the equivalent of North Korean sweatshop workers in that they're forced to work mines in order to extract Nth metal (the Thanagarian equivalent of unobtainium from Avatar). And if those workers can't work, they're basically tossed aside like a used tampon.

Then Hawkman gets a little history lesson. It turns out this world was visited by both humans and Thanagarians thousands of years ago. It is essentially a bridge between Earth and Thanagar. Humans peacefully co-existed with the locals, but not the Thanagarians. Having wings kind of made them envious and it's hard to co-exist with someone when they've got the equivalent of a tripped out Bently and a house next to the Playboy mansion that overlooks the clothing optional swimming pool. This all got a lot worse when Nth metal was discovered in abundance. Seeing a chance to match the Thanagarians hardware, they turned into typical human douche-bags and set up a tyrannical rule while they extracted this precious cargo. It's sad, but painfully human. They turned the other races against one another (a fancy way of saying to blame the Jews/Blacks/Mexicans/Gays). It sounds like grounds for  Lord of the Rings style battle, but with a much lamer ending. The humans just grew tired of being douche-bag rulers constantly at war (seriously, when do humans ever get tired of power?).  So they re-integrated with the locals, but some especially asshole humans discovered the portal to Thanagar and thought that would be a better place to act like a total dick.

Fast forward to more recent times and these people are still living under the thumb of some douche-bag who has been ruling over the manhawks and created a floating cities fortress while they went back to work mining Nth metal. Not only was this asshole another tyrant, but she had boobs too. This queen, who has made their lives a living hell for thousands of years, is supposed to still be in that floating city and there isn't a damn thing they can do about it. Hawkman sees a chance to change that though. Now that he has the credibility of flashing shiny lights to a gullible crowd, the locals are rallying around him. And in them he doesn't just see a bunch of pissed of man-beasts, he sees a totally badass army that's way more intimidating than anything Pandora could muster.

While Hawkman's little flash helped him make friends with the locals, it only made Hawkgirl's situation even more fucked up. She's still stuck in a cage, at the mercy of whatever kinky shit Hath Set finds amusing. Her White Lantern episode prompted him to bring his queen in, who supposedly is very interested in Hawkgirl. Needless to day, Hawkgirl is pissed and unloads on Hath Set the way James Gandolfini unloads on hot dogs. She's about as impressed with the queen as Simon Cowell and takes her frustration out on Hath Set, who seems to want to impress his queen by trying to knife Hawkgirl on the spot. That's about as successful as Catholic abortion clinic.

Lucky for Hath Set, the queen doesn't let Hawkgirl completely fuck him up. She wacks her over the head Fight Club style and knocks her to the ground. That's when she makes another startling revelation. This queen that been fucking this world up for so long isn't some random shmuck. It's Hawkgirl's mother. That's right. Hawkgirl has the misfortune of her mother teaming up with a guy trying to kill her, which not only makes it a shit ton harder around Mothers Day. It changes the whole nature of the mission because keep in mind, Hawkman has an army now. He's going to try and overthrow this bullshit authority that's been in place. He doesn't know that part of that involves taking on his girlfriend's mother. If he was hoping to make their relationship one supported by family, then they're both fucked.

This little revelation sets the stage for a much bigger conflict with the Hawks down the line. At the same time, the stage is being set for the Martian Manhunter as well. The book could have easily ended with the Hawks and been pretty damn solid, but the story with J'onn simply can't end on some bullshit revelation. He needs a lead on this last green Martian. With help from Miss Martian, he finds a telepathic anomaly in the center of Star City. So without even taking her along for the ride, J'onn goes after the anomaly and sets things up nicely for his next challenge. So if the Hawk story wasn't good enough for the readers, they have something else to look forward to. If that still isn't enough, then you're just being an asshole.

So after an issue where every major plot from previous issues was tied together, Brightest Day #8 sets itself apart by focusing on only three major plot lines and the first with Boston Brand barely lasted a few pages. Now how does that factor into the overall awesome of this story? Well first off, it shows that Geoff Johns has some humility in that he doesn't try to make a story too similar to the previous issue in a vain attempt to continue the greatness established previously. He's willing to set that aside and focus on developing other plots in the background before getting to that next stage in the story. That means this issue doesn't have the same mind-blowing punch that the previous issue had. However, the stories he focuses on are so well-done you still get your mind blown in just the right way. I wouldn't say it's the best way to follow up the previous issue, but Geoff Johns makes it work.

With this focus does come some costs. While the revelations were awesome, some of the plots felt a bit rushed. The end scene with J'onn could have easily been saved for the beginning of the next issue and used to catch up with another plot like Firestorm or Aquaman. It feels almost cut and pasted and a missed opportunity in a sense. This does little to affect the enjoyment of the issue though. This comic is still pretty awesome. It might not be appropriate to add it in that time capsule I mentioned earlier, but it's definitely one any DC fan would be wise to pick up.

I want to give this a perfect score, but in the shadow of Brightest Day #7 that just doesn't seem appropriate. So for all the greatness and shortcomings that this issue brings to the table, I give Brightest Day #8 a 4.5 out of 5. I could easily make it something like a 4.75 out of 5, but that would be getting into complicated math territory and I would rather not turn this shit into a math problem. Brightest Day is still awesome as hell. If there are any newcomers to the DC universe, they should start here if they want to see what kind of awesome that DC is capable of.