Brightest Day #1 Review
Brightest Day #1
By now we all now Brightest Day is a 26 issue bi-weekly series, so obviously the firs issue isn’t going to be full of action and plot twists, it’s mainly just foreshadowing, anticipation, and momentum that gets put into these first issues to establish what’s going on and what needs to be done about it. Simply put, Brightest Day does a pretty good job starting out the series. It lays groundwork for the story without giving too much away too early, and gives background on what has changed about the 12 people who have been resurrected since Blackest Night #8. Anyway, let’s get on to the review, shall we?
Geoff Johns and Peter Tomasi is obviously a great pairing, and you always know that everything they write builds to the next thing, and obviously these first issues of Brightest Day are doing exactly that, prepping and exciting us for the rest of the series. Overall I think most of the characters are written very well throughout, one of my favorite sequences is the Black Manta one in the bait shop and the Martian Manhunter scene on Mars was inspirational and I hope the Martian doesn’t run into too much trouble during Brightest Day. About the Manhunter though, I like the reborn one, he seems more focused and possibly even tougher. The Firestorm scene is cool, It definitely makes me excited for #2. If there’s any sequences I don’t like it’s the Hawk’s one, although it is still a fun read with straight up superhero action. I really liked the last scene with Black Manta walking into the ocean and popping back out in-costume, it’s kind of foreshadowing Aquamans Brightest Day troubles.
This issue is drawn by Ivan Reis, Patrick Gleason, Ardian Syaf, Scott Clark and Joe Prado, with inks by Vicente Cifuentes, Mark Irwin, Oclair Albert and David Beaty and colors by Aspen MLT’s Peter Steigerwald. I love all of the pencilers on this issue along with the inkers and the colorist I am pretty fond of, but I must say Steigerwald brings down Reis’ work like crazy, it’s just not as good looking as a Reis Drawn, Alex Sinclair colored issue. Although, Stiegerwald also mixes with the other artists very well, especially with Patrick Gleason, and the overall tone of the book fits the tone of the art these guys are putting out. The cover is drawn amazingly by David Finch, and if there’s anything to complain about in the art compartment, I can’t find it.
Overall it’s a pretty good issue that helps prepare us for the other 25 issues of the series that is written excellently and drawn in a way that totally fits the book. I didn’t care much for the Hawk’s scene, other than the usual superhero action it’s pretty unneeded and could have been better if focused on as much as scenes like the Aquaman or Black Manta scenes. Hell, even Martian Manhunters 2 or 3 page scene was cooler than the Hawks one. Here’s how I rate the issue overall:
A COMIC BOOK BLOG RATING
Pros
Cons
Amazing writing by Johns and Tomasi, The tone of the art fits the tone of the book perfectly.
The Hawk's scene was lackluster and could have been much better with more focus and a clearer story.
Rating
Brightest Day Reviews: #0 | #1
Brightest Day Tag: HERE
–moyermason@yahoo.com
1 Comment
Brightest Day seems to be hit or miss with fans and critics, but I’m really enjoying it. I just hope that they allow the artists to only focus on a specific character or character set throughout Brightest Day. That would help make it more fluent and enjoyable.
It’s nice to see Patrick Gleason drawing characters outside of the Green Lantern Corps. His work on Martian Manhunter was quite nice. More J’onn J’onzz, please, Mr. Gleason!