Brightest Day

"Brightest Day"
Variant cover of Brightest Day 0 (June 2010 DC Comics), art by Ivan Reis
PublisherDC Comics
Publication dateJune 2010 – June 2011
Genre
Title(s)
Brightest Day #0–24
Main character(s)Green Lantern
Reverse-Flash
Jade
Osiris
Maxwell Lord
Hawkman
Hawkgirl
Aquaman
Martian Manhunter
Firestorm
Captain Boomerang
Deadman
Hank Hall
Anti-Monitor
Black Manta
Siren
Creative team
Writer(s)Geoff Johns
Peter Tomasi
Penciller(s)Scott Clark
Patrick Gleason
Joe Prado
Ivan Reis
Ardian Syaf
Inker(s)Oclair Albert
Dave Beaty
Vicente Cifuentes
Mark Irwin
LettererRob Clark
ColoristPeter Steigerwald
Editor(s)Eddie Berganza
Rex Ogle
Adam Schlagman
Volume 1 (hardcover) ISBN 1-4012-2966-2
Volume 2 (hardcover) ISBN 1401230830
Volume 3 (hardcover) ISBN 1401232167
Volume 1 (paperback) ISBN 1401232760

"Brightest Day" is a 2010–2011 crossover storyline published by DC Comics, consisting of a year-long comic book maxiseries that began in April 2010, and a number of tie-in books. The story is a direct follow-up to the "Blackest Night" storyline that depicts the aftermath of the events of that storyline on the DC Universe.

Plot

At the end of the 2009–2010 Blackest Night storyline, 12 deceased heroes and villains are resurrected for an unknown purpose. The events of Brightest Day follow their exploits as they seek to learn the secret behind their resurrection.

The story begins the day after Blackest Night showing Boston Brand smashing his tombstone. Nearby, a baby bird falls out of its nest and dies, but Boston resurrects it. The ring then takes him to everyone that was resurrected and he (while being invisible) sees how they are celebrating their new leases on life. Boston then asks the ring why it is showing him this; its answer was - it needs help. It then takes him to the destroyed Star City and creates a forest.

Characters

Main characters

Supporting characters

Assignments

Brightest Day #7 reveals that the twelve resurrected must complete an individual assignment given to them by the Life Entity to be fully resurrected.

Publication history

The series, written by Geoff Johns and Peter Tomasi, was published twice a month for 24 issues (25 if including issue #0) alternating with Justice League: Generation Lost written by Keith Giffen and Judd Winick. Johns has discussed the general theme:

Brightest Day is about second chances. I think it's been obvious from day one that there are major plans for the heroes and villains from Aquaman to take center stage in the DC Universe, among many others, post-Blackest Night. Brightest Day is not a banner or a vague catch-all direction for the DC Universe, it is a story. Nor is Brightest Day a sign that the DC Universe is going to be all about 'light and brighty' superheroes. Some second chances work out...some don't.

Brightest Day also crossed over into the Green Lantern series, the Green Lantern Corps, Justice League of America, The Titans and The Flash. Gail Simone returned to a new volume of the Birds of Prey comic book, which also went under the same banner. Other tie-ins included the first issues of a relaunched Green Arrow and the Justice Society of America. Jeff Lemire wrote the one-shot Brightest Day: The Atom Special with artist Mahmud Asrar, which acted as a springboard for an Atom story to co-feature in Adventure Comics with the same creative team.

The Green Lantern series featured more of the characters Atrocitus, Larfleeze, Saint Walker, and Indigo-1 in a story arc titled "New Guardians". Johns said that Firestorm is a "main character" in Brightest Day.

The first issue, issue #0, was penciled by Fernando Pasarin. David Finch, a newly DC exclusive artist, illustrated the covers for the entire series.

Brightest Day event was also used to introduce Jackson Hyde, the new Aqualad created for the Young Justice animated series, into the DC Universe. Similarly, the final issue reintroduces Swamp Thing and John Constantine into the mainstream DC Universe after their extended time in DC's Vertigo Comics imprint.

Titles

Involved, but not listed, under the Brightest Day banner

  • Action Comics (beginning with issue #890–900) focuses on Lex Luthor and his universal quest to locate the energy of the Black Lantern Corps. Incidentally, issue #890 was labeled as Blackest Night Aftermath.
  • Booster Gold (vol. 2) #33–43 picks up on elements of the search for Maxwell Lord in Justice League: Generation Lost.
  • Power Girl #13–23 is loosely connected with Justice League: Generation Lost.
  • Untold Tales from Blackest Night #1 (October 2010)
  • Green Lantern: Larfleeze Christmas Special: while not bannered as a "Brightest Day" tie-in, this issue is a tongue-in-cheek one-shot issue focusing on Larfleeze's misunderstanding of the meaning of Christmas.
  • Shazam! #1: this one-shot is loosely connected with Osiris' mission to rescue his sister Isis.
  • Teen Titans (vol. 3) #83 explains why Blue Beetle would be taking a leave of absence from the Titans, and the events of Generation Lost #2 are indirectly mentioned there as well.
  • War of the Green Lanterns is a storyline that crosses over all three Green Lantern titles, and is a direct continuation of the "Brightest Day" story arcs (Green Lantern #63-67, Green Lantern Corps #58-60, Green Lantern: Emerald Warriors #7-10 and War of the Green Lanterns: Aftermath #1-2).

Brightest Day Aftermath: The Search for Swamp Thing

In June, a three-issue miniseries involved the return of John Constantine to the DC Universe and his attempt to convince Superman and Batman that the choosing of Alec Holland (the new Swamp Thing) as the Earth's new protector is inevitable and the resurrected Alec Holland will have to die, so that his soul can merge again with the Green.

Collected editions

The series is collected into a number of volumes:

Other titles are also being collected:

In other media

A Brightest Day skin attributed to Batman is one of the special skins in Batman: Arkham Origins.

References

  1. ↑ Segura, Alex (January 11, 2010). "DCU in 2010: Kick Off Your Monday With Some Major News". The Source. DC Comics.com. Retrieved January 11, 2010.
  2. ↑ Phillips, Dan (January 11, 2010). "Geoff Johns Discusses Brightest Day". IGN. Retrieved January 11, 2010.
  3. ↑ Rogers, Vaneta (January 12, 2010). "JUSTICE LEAGUE INTERNATIONAL Returns in "GENERATION LOST"". Newsarama. Archived from the original on January 15, 2010. Retrieved January 12, 2010.
  4. ↑ Segura, Alex (February 11, 2010). "Your first look at BRIGHTEST DAY — what does it mean?". The Source. DC Comics.com. Retrieved February 11, 2010.
  5. ↑ Siegel, Lucas (January 11, 2010). "UPDATE 4: DC's BRIGHTEST DAY w/ David Finch!". Newsarama. Archived from the original on January 13, 2010. Retrieved January 11, 2010.
  6. ↑ McGuirk, Brendan (January 13, 2010). "Gail Simone Returns to 'Birds of Prey' in 2010 -- EXCLUSIVE". ComicsAlliance. Archived from the original on January 16, 2010. Retrieved January 13, 2010.
  7. ↑ Renaud, Jeffrey (April 13, 2010). "Lemire Embiggens Ray Palmer". Comic Book Resources. Archived from the original on April 15, 2010. Retrieved April 13, 2010.
  8. ↑ Renaud, Jeffrey (January 11, 2010). "GEOFF JOHNS PRIME: "Earth One", "Blackest Night" & More". Comic Book Resources. Archived from the original on January 13, 2010. Retrieved January 11, 2010.
  9. ↑ Hudson, Laura (March 13, 2010). "Emerald City Comic-Con: The DC Nation Panel". ComicsAlliance. Archived from the original on January 3, 2011. Retrieved 2010-03-28.
  10. 1 2 Melrose, Kevin (January 11, 2010). "DC announces Blackest Night follow-up: Brightest Day". Robot 6. Comic Book Resources. Archived from the original on 2012-05-12. Retrieved 2010-01-13.
  11. ↑ "DC Universe: The Source » Blog Archive » OPENING THE VAULT – A LIVE-ACTION BLUE BEETLE?". Dcu.blog.dccomics.com. 2010-06-15. Retrieved 2011-02-06.
  12. ↑ Parkin, JK (2011-05-04). "DC Comics releases full cover for Search for Swamp Thing". Comic Book Resources. Archived from the original on 2012-08-11. Retrieved 2011-05-07.
  13. ↑ Vankin, Jonathan. "DCU Comics - Brightest Day Aftermath: The Search #1 (of 3)". DC Comics.com. Archived from the original on September 27, 2014. Retrieved April 16, 2012.
  14. ↑ Vankin, Jonathan. "DCU Comics - Brightest Day Aftermath: The Search #2 (of 3)". DC Comics.com. Archived from the original on July 21, 2013. Retrieved April 16, 2012.