I made a mistake in choosing to review this comic book. As much as I enjoyed Blackest Night and thought it ended very well not everything was wrapped up by the end of the series. In fact, the very ending of Blackest Night created some new questions. Foremost among these questions is, why were these particular twelve characters brought back to life? Let's be honest, there were a lot of characters that potentially could have been brought back to life. I mean, Blue Beetle, Elongated Man, the Question; any or all of these characters could have been brought back. Also, of the twelve that where brought back you know some of them are going to cause trouble. These and other unanswered questions are what Brightest Day is all about. With twenty-six (or is it twenty-seven) issues to find the answers and discover what these twelve characters will do with there lease on life, along with how they will affect the people around them, it should make for a good story.
SPOILER WARNING This issue is a solid, though not spectacular, start as we see Deadman’s white lantern ring takes him on a tour giving him and the reader just a quick peek at what the different characters have been doing since their return. For example, we see Martian Manhunter back on Mars planning to bring life back to his home world and we see Aquaman and Mera at Amnesty Bay renewing their relationship. END SPOILER WARNING All of this is really just meant to bring the reader up to speed and set the stage for what is to follow. That is the reason I said it was a mistake to review this issue. Since this is just the beginning of such a long and complex story how much of it could I reasonably expect to be told in just the first issue.
The best I can say, at this point, is that if you liked Blackest Night there is a good chance you will like Brightest Day. At the very least you should give it a try for a couple issues because you know Blackest Night left you wanting more. After giving Brightest Day a try for a couple issues we should all be able to tell if the series can stand on its own. The first issue was good enough for me to stick with it for a while.
Keith Forney