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“Brightest Day” – Review

The whole “dark” turn comics have taken in the last 5 years never made sense to me. I understand that a lot of it stems from a movement to make comics “more real”, to tell better stories, and to make the characters more three dimensional. But killing, suffering, and having nothing to live for never seemed to jive well with the self-sacrificing upright character, brightly clad in outfits that even an 80’s dance instructor wouldn’t be caught dead in. The whole point of comics is to present us normal, flawed humans with examples of perfection that we should strive to be like. No one in the world could stand up to their desire to help or passion for justice. I can’t argue that comic book writing has been the most amazing it’s ever been, but is the trade off worth it to take these supermen, and bring them down to our levels, so much so that we the readers end up being better people than them? I’ve screwed up a lot of my life, but I’ve never had a drinking problem, beaten my wife, or murdered anyone, so I guess I’m a little bit better than heroes like Iron Man, Yellowjacket, or Wolverine. Maybe Marvel should give me a monthly book (just kidding; I’d rather die, thanks). But in the last few months, it feels like the tides are changing in the comic world and perhaps a new, more positive light is being shed across the capes and utility belts of our heroes.

DC’s “Blackest Night” event is still underway and should end around March. I was a bit worried at first on how high the body count would get and what would be left of my favorite characters. However my fears have been dashed with DC’s newest announcement of “Brightest Day”. Brightest Day will be a bi-weekly series, in the vein of 52 and Countdown that will clean up the universe after the tragic events of Blackest Night. The banner will carry through a new Flash series, Justice League, Green Lantern, and in the upcoming re-structured Birds of Prey series. In addition, another bi-weekly series called “Generation Lost” will rotate with Brightest Day and will follow the fan favorite Justice League team which includes: Booster Gold, Blue Beetle (Ted Kord), Fire, and Ice. In addition, our favorite Batman, long thought to be dead, will be returning to Gotham in a mini-series entitled “The Return of Bruce Wayne”.

Marvel’s latest screw ups: Dark Reign and the Siege are thankfully on their last legs. The Siege, which features Asgard being taken under siege by Norman Osborne in a President Bush inspired metaphor (way to beat a dead horse, Marvel) has only a few months left. And when it ends, so do all of the Avengers books. That includes: Dark Avengers, New Avengers, Mighty Avengers, and Avengers: The Initiative. Thank. God. In fact, Marvel keeps referring to something called the “Age of Heroes” as coming very soon. And with the recent return of Steve Rogers and Thor, it seems like this is a large overhaul that will return the Avengers to their classic roots: original heroes, no complications, and no ridiculous similes. Just good old fashioned superhero antics.

So there you have it: some possible major changes that could be affecting the comic book industry for the better. I for one would be happy to do away with the doom and gloom that has been plaguing the industry for so long. Now if we could only get an Inferior Five monthly…