Thursday, July 8, 2010

One Good Thing And One Bad Thing About Brightest Day #5



BAD THING: As much as I appreciate the sentiment, the opening scene in which Aquaman and Mera go into action to fight an oil spill... too much, too soon DC.





GOOD THING: There isn't a page of this comic that feels like filler, with three plots each getting a fair amount of development this time. In addition to the revelation regarding Mera's past and what that means to Aquaman, we also get to explore an apparently familiar realm with Hawkman and Hawkwoman and discover a little more behind the purpose of The White Ring that Boston "Deadman" Brand was given.







The Final Verdict: Apart from an opening page that aims for relevance but comes off as just a little bit tacky in light of recent events, I think this may have been the best issue of Brightest Day so far. The action on all the features storylines moves well and nothing here feels like padding.

4 comments:

  1. Rezzing Don Hall? Oh good lord, Geoff, why?
    And surely this was written before the Deepwater Horizon fire.

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  2. Actually, you shouldn't be so quick to blame Geoff. And I think this may mark the first time anyone has been upset about Geoff bringing someone back from the dead instead of killing them. :)
    But I digress. My point is that you didn't see the whole scene (because I only showed one page) but the attempt to rez Don DOES NOT WORK.
    Basically what happens is this.
    1) Hank takes Boston and Dawn to Don's grave.
    2) Dawn says she's not sure it's a good idea (what with having more than one avatar of Order around) and notes her so-far unexplained connection to the White energy and that the Black ring didn't work on Don Hall.
    3) Hank, in an atypical moment of what passes for sentiment from him, asks Boston to try and rez Don, saying that the White Rings brought them (him and Boston) back to life and that "between all three of us, who deserves a second chance more?"
    4) Boston tries - and fails - to rez Don. The White energy asks Boston what he is doing.
    5) Boston says that he had a quick vision of Don but that Don said he was at peace and that Hank shouldn't worry about him anymore.
    6) Hank, in typical form, says that's a load of horse crap.
    7) Dawn says that maybe the White ring can only bring back those who are not at peace with how they died and says that her sister is not at peace.
    8) Boston goes over to Holly Granger's grave and tries to rez her. The White energy outright says "Boston, you shouldn't be doing this."
    That's all we've got so far...
    As for the incident with BP in the Gulf of Mexico and how this comic had to have been sent to the printers before then... I think this one issue was late enough along they could have done a rewrite...

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  3. See, I hate this part about Hank Hall trying to resurrect his brother -again-.
    It got covered -twice- during the late 80s series, once somewhere during the unholy mess resulting from Armageddon, and then this again.
    At some point, really, after the first 'Don Hall didn't leave anything left undone" response from Hank Hall, you'd think this would have sunk in for future reference. But no, the lunkhead has to be beaten over the head with it again and again and again, and more to the point, Dawn Granger -lets- it happen again. It's kind of like she's that wife who sits by and lets Tim Allen make a fool out of himself with tools on Home Improvement.

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  4. Thank you, David. Now I won't be able to read Birds of Prey without imagining Hank Hall sounding like Buzz Lightyear in my head.

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