I felt that the first volume of this series was slow moving, and relied too much on dangling mysteries to string the reader along, rather than provide anything substantial in the present. Now that I have read Volume Two, I think I have a better idea of the overall story structure. We are now in the second act of this epic saga.

And, with gears finally turning at an engaging speed, it truly is starting to feel epic. Now that the “returnees” have seen their individual assignments, they are more focused, albeit still clueless as to the grand payoff. This is best seen in Boston Brand, formerly the ghostly hero known as Deadman, and the glue that holds this series together.

Now that Boston knows his mission, he is only too happy to see it completed, but doesn’t really know what he’ll do next, nor does he want to admit that. That is this frustratingly tantalising series summed up: We don’t know where we’re going, but we damn well want to get there fast. And, like Boston, we are learning to appreciate the moments in between.

Ex-Deadman does get plenty of those moments himself, fleshing out his backstory and making him an even more interesting character with a troubled past, rather than just our grumpy protangonist for the first time. And, appropriately for the title, the others get their time to shine too.

Firestorm is always a character I found to be mind-numbingly annoying, as he is an obvious attempt to “relate” with teenager readers (does that ever work?), but his lightly-humorous, heavily-dangerous new situation with his successor Jason does provoke some interest. I only found him annoying in-context in this story, as opposed to rolling my eyes at terrible dialogue. The final page of this collection also made me profoundly curious as to what happens next for him.

The Martian Manhunter’s sci-fi murder mystery is perhaps the one I’m most interested in, but I found myself lumping it in the same category as Aquaman’s family troubles and Hawkman and Hawkgirl’s action/fantasy. The problem with these characters is that they cannot escape their origins. MM must always be dealing with yet another Martian survivor; Aquaman must always be dealing with Atlantean politics; and the Hawks must always be dealing with their romantic reincarnation cycle.

Superman stories do not always have something to do with Krypton, nor Batman stories with his parents. Yet I feel those four characters will never see their second acts, not even in Brightest Day‘s.

Nevertheless, the big wheel of the DC Universe is undoubtably turning with gusto, and I am very eager to see if this glowing tale further focuses itself with laser-like precision in the next (and final) collection.