Brightest Day #3 (2010)

Brightest Day #3 (Early August, 2010)
“Revelations”
Writers – Geoff Johns & Peter J. Tomasi
Artists – Ivan Reis, Patrick Gleason, Ardian Syaf, Scott Clark & Joe Prado
Inkers – Vicente Cifuentes, David Beaty & Mark Irwin
Color – Aspen MLT’s Peter Steigerwald w/John Starr & Beth Sotelo
Letterer – Bob Clark, Jr.
Assistant Editor – Rex Ogle
Associate Editor – Adam Schlagman
Editor – Eddie Berganza
Cover Price: $2.99


Back to the straw that stirs the drink… the main Brightest Day crossovent book.

Can we expect all-out action and intrigue?  Ehh, probably just some more vignettes.


—

If you recall, last issue ended with Deadman plopped in front of the Anti-Monitor… which is right where we pick things up.  As the big bad looks on curiously, the ring commands Brand fight… and with that a burst of white energy is emitted, within which, all of those who had been brought back to life.  This only serves to tick off the Anti-Monitor… especially since it’s just the one blast.  Ya see, the ring won’t allow another.

The Anti-Monitor levels Brand with a blast… sending him into a Qwardian crater.  Ya see, this whole thing was the ring teaching Boston a lesson in self-preservation.  It’s dumb… but effective.

We shift over to Pittsburgh to check in with Ronnie and Jason who have managed to become separated from the Firestorm Matrix.  Professor Stein tells Ronnie what went down… in the explosion, everything was changed into salt, just like whatsherface during Blackest Night.

In the next room over, Jason is getting a talking-to from his father.  His pop plans to bring him far away from all of this, but Jason refuses.  Ronnie gets dressed and leaves the hospital… while recounting all of the recent madness.  He’s snapped back to reality by Jason’s father shouting at him to “stay away” from his son.

Next stop, somewhere in the North Atlantic… where Aquaman tries to summon a whale.  Of course, the whale that answers the call is rather zombified.

It pulls him under water where they wrestle a bit.  Mera suggests they head back to Atlantis so the doctors there may have a look at him.  He refuses… Atlantis is on his “s-list” at the moment.  Mera apologizes, knowing that Atlantis turned their backs on him… just like she had.

Pearl River, New York.  The Martian Manhunter arrives at the home where the Rock Band: Tom Petty Edition massacre occurred last issue.  As he peruses the scene, he notices… some dog hair?!

He tracks the pup to the Animal Shelter and gives it the ol’ psychic what-for.  Seeing through the doggo’s eyes, J’onn witnesses the brutal event.  He then mind-wipes the dog, planning to bring him to Melissa Erdel in Colorado.  Not sure they allow pets, but we’ll play along.

Next stop, Peru.  Hawkman and Hawkgirl are fighting their way through some disposable baddies, while nearby Hath-Set is doing… something… with the bones he’s collected.

We wrap up with the Hawks fighting their way through… all the way to a portal made from their remains?!

—


Well, I sure hope you were in the mood for more vignettes!


I know we’re still early yet in this series… I mean, there are still 21 issues to go at this point, but it already feels like we’re building to something.  Like there will be a new status quo once this wraps up.  If anyone were to tell me that The New-52! was already in the works at this point (remember, that was in the hopper for years, and was always the plan), I don’t think I’d wouldn’t believe them.


With that out of the way (for today), let’s get to the vignettes.  We had very very very little forward momentum this time around.


Our big cliffhanger last issue was just a test for Deadman.  Makes me wonder if the rest of the DC Universe is just okay with the Anti-Monitor still lurking in the antimatter universe?  You’d think they’d have sent some heavy-hitters in to put him down.  Oh well.


The Firestorm bit had a little bit of progression, in that Ronnie and Jason are no longer conjoined in the Matrix… Aquaman is still summoning undead sea creatures… J’onn gets a dog’s eye view of a massacre… and the Hawks track their bones to a portal.  And that’s it.


Probably the weakest issue so far, from a story standpoint.  I guess this is a classic “part four” issue… if we’ve learned anything from the past two decades of decompressed storytelling, it’s that we can probably skip every “part four of six” and not really miss a beat.  The art is still pretty fantastic… this title definitely feels like the “flagship” of the DC Universe from an art standpoint.


Overall… if you’re reading Brightest Day, you’ll probably want this one too.  Just know if you really wanted to skip an issue… this is (so far) the one you could safely pass up on.


—


Interesting Ads: