Comic Books

> > 5
BRIGHTEST DAY #5

Deadman discovers the truth behind the formation of the White Lantern and what it means to the twelve returnees and the rest of the DC Universe. Plus, Aquaman, Martian Manhunter, Hawkman, Hawkgirl and Firestorm discover the price for their resurrections…and why they may be doing more harm than good to the world.

Written by GEOFF JOHNS & PETER J. TOMASI
Art by IVAN REIS, PATRICK GLEASON, ARDIAN SYAF, SCOTT CLARK & JOE PRADO
Cover by DAVID FINCH & SCOTT WILLIAMS
Variant cover by IVAN REIS

Price: $2.99
iFanboy Community Pick of the Week Percentage: 0.1%
892
Pulls
Avg Rating: 3.5
 
Users who pulled this comic:
 

Comments

  1. Avatar photo DavidCW says:
    July 6, 2010 at 2:47 pm

    More Deadman!!!!!!

  2. Avatar photo horrorofsorts says:
    July 6, 2010 at 3:50 pm

    Maybe this will actually give us an answer!!!…. or maybe not

  3. Avatar photo Conor Kilpatrick (@cskilpatrick) says:
    July 6, 2010 at 3:55 pm

    @horrorofsorts: An answer to what?

  4. Avatar photo RoiVampire says:
    July 6, 2010 at 4:26 pm

    @Conor I think he’s talking about an answer as to why these 12 were the ones ressurected, which is what the solicit promies, we’ll see

  5. Avatar photo drakedangerz says:
    July 6, 2010 at 4:38 pm

    The solicit states that Deadman finds out why, not that the readers will find out why. 

    And honestly, I’m having fun with this book. It’s only been 4 issues so far, it’s not all that pressing to me to figure out why they were brought back just right now. 

  6. Avatar photo Conor Kilpatrick (@cskilpatrick) says:
    July 6, 2010 at 5:07 pm

    @RoiVampire: Five issues into a 26 issue series is a bit early for major revelations. But we’ll see.

  7. Avatar photo brassai2003 says:
    July 6, 2010 at 5:35 pm

    HBO or AMC  should do a Blackest Night then Brighest Day series.

  8. Avatar photo RoiVampire says:
    July 6, 2010 at 5:41 pm

    @Conor Hey I’m with you, I never read too much into solicits but when the first sentence is "Deadman discovers the truth behind the formation of the White Lantern and what it means to the twelve returnees and the rest of the DC Universe."  I’m gonna expect some kind of "WTF" moment or something

  9. Avatar photo DarkKnightJared says:
    July 6, 2010 at 6:08 pm

    I believe Johns has said that #7 is when we’re really start to see where this plot is going to go–so not yet, but close.  

  10. Avatar photo Minion says:
    July 6, 2010 at 6:39 pm

    How long is Brightest Day?

  11. Avatar photo DamonS23 says:
    July 6, 2010 at 6:43 pm

    All I want from this story is some focus.  I only care about the Deadman story so far and because the rest of the stories have been so brief it is REALLY difficult for me to care about any of the others.

  12. Avatar photo Conor Kilpatrick (@cskilpatrick) says:
    July 6, 2010 at 8:00 pm

    @RoiVampire: That’s why I don’t put a lot of stock into what the solicitations actually say. They are often written way before the actual books are, and often by marketing people.

    @Minion: Looks four comments above yours.

  13. Avatar photo JimBilly4 says:
    July 6, 2010 at 8:02 pm

    It might be that I have no investment in the characters, but the story has not been very gripping so far. The art is what keeps me coming back, for now. That and hope that Johns and Tomasi have some magic they have yet to pull out of their bag.

  14. Avatar photo DamonS23 says:
    July 7, 2010 at 5:20 pm

    Cool the hawks are on the cover! I don’t have to worry about reading more that 2 pages of a story that doesn’t interest me. Oh and @Conor we are 6 issues in don’t forget 0.

  15. Avatar photo Reform says:
    July 7, 2010 at 8:50 pm

    love this story so far Johns is putting another great story out.

  16. Avatar photo Mangaman says:
    July 8, 2010 at 8:31 pm

    I have to be honest, I’m REALLY not a fan of Johns applying real world politics in the DC universe. I feel like he’s very much pushing an opinion on me, the consumer. First the pirates cameo and now oil leaks? I already watch the news, read papers, and independent blogs about these issues, I don’t want them in my comics and if it happens again I’ll happily drop Brightest Day. There’s plenty of other good stuff to spend my cash on like some of the lesser known Image titles. We already know that if superheroes existed they’d easily solve those types of problems. It’s not clever it’s just telling.

    This issue was such a waste of money. Hopefully the next one will really pick up the story.

  17. Avatar photo Mangaman says:
    July 8, 2010 at 8:33 pm

    typo: *an opinion towards me

  18. Avatar photo JaqueNargg says:
    July 8, 2010 at 9:58 pm

    @Mangaman. I see your point, but Johns is writing the opinion from Aquaman’s perspective. Arthur would despise off-shore drilling, and would want to put a stop to it if such a catastrophe occurred.

  19. Avatar photo buck2889 says:
    July 8, 2010 at 10:02 pm

    @mangaman Are you honestly suggesting this was written after the BP oil spill?  Maybe it wasn’t drawn yet, but there is no way it hadn’t been at least plotted out.  It’s not that outrageous to believe it was coincidental is it?  I mean, is there really that much for Aquaman to "fight" other than pollution and pirates?  Personally, I enjoyed the issue.  I really wish Martian Manhunter would show up again, but for now I am satisfied with how the story is developing.

  20. Avatar photo stasisbal says:
    July 8, 2010 at 10:13 pm

    @Mangaman – I haven’t picked up my comics yet but I saw that scene in the online preview and I immediately rolled my eyes.  I completely agree with your sentiment not just with this series but with comics in general.  I’m not saying comics can’t or shouldn’t deal with genuine real world issues but superhero comics are my ultimate escapism and I can’t help but be drawn out of a comic when they start superimposing current events or figures (get your Obama out of my comics!) into the stories.

    I realize this kind of thing might appeal to some people or help draw new readers in because they can ‘relate’ to the obvious links to the real world and that’s fine.  I should just not read books that layer in reality to a degree that bothers me and stick with all the excellent comics that don’t.  And again, I specifically mean comics of the more superhero/mainstream variety where I’m looking for something very specific from my entertainment. I wouldn’t be opposed to reading a comic that included or dealt with an oil spill (or whatever) in genuine and thoughtful way.  It’s not the what; it’s the how and the where.

    I’ve gone on long and off topic so I’ll shut up now.

  21. Avatar photo stasisbal says:
    July 8, 2010 at 10:19 pm

    @JaqueNargg and buck2889 – Started typing before I read your posts and while I certainly see your points and obviously can’t speak for mangaman, I still find this type of thing annoying and it still takes me out of the story.  Not my bag, baby.

  22. Avatar photo Mangaman says:
    July 9, 2010 at 5:22 am

    @buck2889: I’m not even going to respond to your question because you and I both know it’s TOO coincidental NOT to be about BP. The average reader isn’t stupid enough not to connect-the-dots, and Johns being the veteran writer that he is should know better. As Stasisbal said, comics are about escaping the real world. If I can’t do that in the DC mainstream I’ll further delve into the Indie crowd. I already got a foot in there what’s another foot?

    @Stasisbal: I knew I wasn’t the only one out there. Glad you spoke out. I remember wooting when Flanagan mentioned disliking the sort of throwaway politics done in a PoTW in 2008. If it’s nuanced enough I probably wouldn’t have said anything in the first place. But it was UP IN MAH FACE. I mean I was quiet about the Somali Pirates fiasco, so you can see it was building up ever since Brightest Day #1.

    Actually now that I think about it I wouldn’t be surprised if Johns next scene with Manhunter is something akin to this: "Next Week! Martian Manhunter beats up the president for assigning NASA the mission to developing Muslim relationships with the US instead of offworld!"

  23. Avatar photo Mangaman says:
    July 9, 2010 at 5:23 am

    *error: I didn’t meant to infer that the average reader is stupid. They are not. It was a typo xD.

  24. Avatar photo Minion says:
    July 9, 2010 at 6:50 am

    I’m not really concerned about the oil spill part of the plot. What is annoying me is that Aquaman suddenly doesn’t even mention the problem he has with summoning dead fish.

  25. Avatar photo stuclach says:
    July 9, 2010 at 9:24 am

    Not bad.  I’m enjoying the series.  However, I’ve already had just about enough of Hawk’s "I’m angry about everything all the time and constantly act like a dick" routine.  I know that is what the character is about, but that doesn’t make it any less irritating. 

  26. Avatar photo drakedangerz says:
    July 9, 2010 at 9:57 am

    I had a blast with this issue.

  27. Avatar photo Slockhart says:
    July 9, 2010 at 2:58 pm

    Had they just launched Hawkman, Martian Manhunter, Aquaman, and Firestorm ongoings/minis, and made this purely a Deadman book, this could be one of the best books on the shelves.

  28. Avatar photo DamonS23 says:
    July 9, 2010 at 4:15 pm

    @Slockhart You are SOOOO right!

  29. Avatar photo WadeWilson says:
    July 9, 2010 at 8:19 pm

    Even though there was no zombie sea-life in this issue, it was still pretty awesome.

    Was the oil spill thing a coincidence? I mean, was this written before the whole BP business, or was this directly commenting on it? 

  30. Avatar photo Minion says:
    July 9, 2010 at 8:51 pm

    Slockhart as much as my Wallet says no. My love for the characters wants that to happen soon.

  31. Avatar photo PraxJarvin says:
    July 10, 2010 at 1:34 am

    I enjoyed this issue quite a bit. 4/5

    As to the oil spell, on average a comic is written 3-4 months before it is published. With a bi-weekly book, I imagine there’s an even bigger buffer (With 52, I remember someone saying they needed to have 26 scripts in hand before the first issue would see print for a weekly, I remember hearing they got in about 20 but Didio let them go anyway!). My money says coincidence. However, it’s definitely within Aquaman’s character to disprove of it. Ruling: You can unbunch your panties, guys. 😉

  32. Avatar photo drakedangerz says:
    July 10, 2010 at 1:17 pm

    Arg! I hate it when comics deal with real world issues!!!!

  33. Avatar photo Chrisflinchbaugh says:
    July 10, 2010 at 10:31 pm

    An incredibly fast paced book. Great ride.

  34. Avatar photo DenverDave says:
    July 11, 2010 at 12:41 am

    Iven Reis looks a lot like Alan Davis in his prime. 

    I really liked his layouts; each page had four horizontal panels. The other artists did the same. I think it helped the flow.

    Liking the Aquaman stuff, not too interested in the Hawkman/woman story. I would Love to see Manhunter again too.  

  35. Avatar photo AmirCat says:
    July 11, 2010 at 1:17 pm

    @DenverDave – I want to see Martian Manhunter too! Next issue shoud focus on him. I think we can all agree tha Hawkman is a cool looking character who has a great legacy, but is in such a cluster-f**k storywise that he’ll never be interesting. He is the Hulk of DC comics. Just throw him in an arena and have him fight monsters and ghouls; but please keep the chest hairy … always.

  36. Avatar photo DamonS23 says:
    July 11, 2010 at 8:30 pm

    @Amircat  Some of the best Marvel stories come from the Hulk.  Did you mean to imply that the Hulk’s legacy is a cluster-f or were you just using him as an example of a dumb brute to fight things?

  37. Avatar photo kennyg says:
    July 14, 2010 at 4:21 pm

    I thought of BP with the oil spill part of the story, and no it didn’t bother me, or pull me out of the story, or anything like that. This would totally be something that would piss off Aquaman, and his response was totally in-character. Reminds me of an earlier series where he stopped some whalers – that’s real-world, and that was in character. Comics do this all the time. Marvel does it too, possibly more than DC since there are no fictional cities like Gotham/Metropolis/Central/etc. I have no problem with ties to the real world or real events. I suppose they could make up something… oh wait, they do that all the time!

  38. Avatar photo JimBilly4 says:
    July 28, 2010 at 4:26 pm

    @DamonS23 I can only assume he meant that Hawkman should be used to smash things in a fun way, similar to  how the Hulk is often used. The Hulk’s story is simple and reverberates well with the nerds reading it. Banner was a nerd scientist. Is constantly pushed around by everyone, especially the military, until he is bombarded with gamma rays saving some kid and now his rage has been unlocked. Now he can change from weakest man around to most powerful. He is the id unleashed. Now when he faces a problem he doesn’t need to compromise or give up. He can smash right through it. Instant catharsis for the repressed angry child in all of us. 

Leave a Comment