GREEN LANTERN: BRIGHTEST DAY
DC COMICS
WRITER Geoff Johns
ART Doug Mahnke and Shawn Davis
*Just a side note to start things. People have asked where the Torchwood reviews are and the answer is that I haven't gotten the chance to watch the second and third episodes yet and unlike some professional reviewers I don't review things I haven't watched or read.
I really want to start writing more full reviews about comic book trade collections and OGN books. And in my reviews I tend to call both graphic novels for a FYI.
The problem with me reviewing more graphic novels usually comes that I can just read so many graphic novels at once that I tend to read tons from the library and then send them back quickly for the next person.
So here I go with seeing how this works. I'm going to try and review every graphic novel I read. I might fail to do so but nothing wrong with a little failure. Live and learn and all that. Writing reviews also usually gets my writing blood flowing before I work on my own stories later in the night; so the more reviews I write actually means I get more work on my own projects completed.
The Green Lantern books have been some of the best comics for the past few years. Right there with Captain America, X-Factor, Secret Six, and Birds Of Prey in my view. I actually think the first volume of Brightest Day was the weakest Green Lantern story in a while but I was still happy when I found out that one of our libraries had one of the tie-ins to the main series in Green Lantern: Brightest Day.
And I have to say I enjoyed this more than Brightest Day: Volume One. Mar did also. The Green Lantern is one of the few superhero books she has enjoyed. The highlight of the story was the humor that had a center point as Larfleeze. I read somewhere that DC will be doing a Red Lantern book. Hell with that I want a Larfleeze book. That or a Larfleeze/Atrocitus road trip buddy book.
And speaking of Atrocitus. He was also one of the big highlights of this story. I just love his design and how he was written here.
I almost teared up at the entry story at the back of the book. Dex-Starr is just pure fucked up joy and both of our cats I think want to dress as Dex-Starr next Halloween.
At least that's what they tell me.
{NOTE: If anyone was getting any ideas about dressing your cat as Dex-Starr, that might not be a good idea. Might be pretty dangerous because they all have a little Dex-Starr in them}
There are a couple well written guest appearances by Lobo, The Flash, and The Spectre that fit perfectly into the story. I've always been a huge fan of both Lobo and The Spectre but they both have been so miss used a lot the past few years but here they were inserted in a way that both benefited this story and their individual stories. This is a very good way of using a shared universe.
Oh and Dex-Starr Vs. Lobo's dog. Not that was badass and the outcome the natural order of things.
The overall story is a build toward War Of The Green Lanterns, but in a story that weakens this story on its on, and there is a little preview at the end of that story for that crossover. When Flash confronts Hal about working with the other Corps you can't help but say he's right. Hal is ignoring death and destruction around him to keep things in his hands. He may say that's not his reasoning but I find it as always a matter of ego with Hal.
This story is action packed and it flows down a smooth storytelling path. One of these days someone is just going to field goal punt one of those asswipe Guardians because they have been painted as such tainted characters much the way Professor X has been in the X books at Marvel that it is hard not to cheer the bad guys getting their hands on them some day. Doing so might make for good stories but I wonder if like with Professor X it might hurt the characters worth in the long run writing them this way?
But then again maybe the Guardians get rebooted as Smurfs who get to hang with Neil Patrick Harris when the DC reboot happens?
I have loved the whole of the stories that have involved all of the new Lantern Corps but the Green Lantern line needs to settle for a while I think and focus on exploring the rest of the DC Universe. Though these stories have been great I'm beginning to wonder when they will hit the wall and get stale. Keep the Lanterns unique and don't overexpose them and also keep the Green Lanterns the center point.
GREEN LANTERN: BRIGHTEST DAY
4 out of 5 stars
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