In Brightest Day, in Blackest Night...

[wspatterson]

I admit, I was more than happy to be suckered into Blackest Night. Unfortunately, while the main story has been very enjoyable, the cross-overs haven't exactly been all that stellar.
Now we have Brightest Day coming up, with apparently a White Lantern. It's a bi-weekly story, no less, with a bunch of tie-ins. After the economic expenditure that I've made on Blackest Night, though, I think I may have to skip this one. At least Blackest Night was quite a while in the making. Brightest Day seems to be just a "Golly, gee, wiz, let's see what half-baked idea we can come up with to keep people buying."

[Mac Boyce]

Batman:DN and Superman: DN were entirely enjoyable. But I'm a little baised, being a DC fanboy and all! :D

[mortellan]

wspatterson wrote:

I admit, I was more than happy to be suckered into Blackest Night. Unfortunately, while the main story has been very enjoyable, the cross-overs haven't exactly been all that stellar.

Now we have Brightest Day coming up, with apparently a White Lantern. It's a bi-weekly story, no less, with a bunch of tie-ins. After the economic expenditure that I've made on Blackest Night, though, I think I may have to skip this one. At least Blackest Night was quite a while in the making. Brightest Day seems to be just a "Golly, gee, wiz, let's see what half-baked idea we can come up with to keep people buying."

Brightest Night! Argh how'd I not see that coming? DC is very good at telegraphing their events in advance. 52 leads to countdown for instance. This sounds like just another pendulum swing plot. All in all though I have loved the Green Lantern stuff since Sinestro Corp. It was certainly the superior of the DC events going on at the time. (Much like Annihilation at Marvel IMO was better than Civil War)

[wspatterson]

mortellan wrote:

wspatterson wrote:

I admit, I was more than happy to be suckered into Blackest Night. Unfortunately, while the main story has been very enjoyable, the cross-overs haven't exactly been all that stellar.

Now we have Brightest Day coming up, with apparently a White Lantern. It's a bi-weekly story, no less, with a bunch of tie-ins. After the economic expenditure that I've made on Blackest Night, though, I think I may have to skip this one. At least Blackest Night was quite a while in the making. Brightest Day seems to be just a "Golly, gee, wiz, let's see what half-baked idea we can come up with to keep people buying."

Brightest Night! Argh how'd I not see that coming? DC is very good at telegraphing their events in advance. 52 leads to countdown for instance. This sounds like just another pendulum swing plot. All in all though I have loved the Green Lantern stuff since Sinestro Corp. It was certainly the superior of the DC events going on at the time. (Much like Annihilation at Marvel IMO was better than Civil War)

I agree that GL has been a cut above most of the other things that DC & Marvel have been doing. Brightest Day, though, is just too much for me I think.

[joela]

Have the Blackest Night trades been released yet?

[wspatterson]

joela wrote:

Have the Blackest Night trades been released yet?

No.

[Matthew Morris]

I told my boss the Call quality folks need a motto.

In Brightest Day, in Blackest Night
No errors shall escape my sight
Let those who don't do what is right
Burn with my power, call audtiing's might!

She said I couldn't put that in my e-mails *sigh*

Though I have gotten away with 'Your friendly local call quality analyst."

[Gavgoyle]

I've really been enjoying the Blackest Night stories, and while I agree, not all of them have been stellar, most have at least been worth cover price.

There have been some truly excellent moments, though...(some spoilerish material, but nothing major)

Spoiler:

The Booster Gold/Blue Beetle issues were great.
Green Lantern Corps has been very solid with some exceptional bits (Guy Gardner: Red Lantern!!)
Superman/Batman with the Grundy Black Lantern was lots of fun.
The Titans 3 part series was really good and bled over pretty well to the Outsiders.
Superboy Prime's activites in Adventure Comics and the most recent issue getting Conner back to himself were all well done.
James Robinson's work in JLA and in the Superman 3-parter were all really well done, but could have used another issue each so they pacing didn't feel as rushed.
In particular, the Conner/Krypto moments in Adventure Comics and Superman were all really excellent.

[Freehold DM]

Damn. I can't believe

Spoiler:

They killed off Captain Boomerang II

. It would have been a lot better if they didn't rush the Flash mini series so it could have made a little more sense.

[Gavgoyle]

I agree, Freehold.

Spoiler:

Owen has the potential to be a great character, and I doubt this is the Big D for him... Probably like Hawkman and Kendra, he will be back to have to deal with the reprocussions of what he's done. "But... But... I let those women and children be killed to bring my dad back! It was the wrong thing, but for the right reason!"

The Rogues should have had their own 3 issue series that interrelated to the Flashes 3 issue series. The pacing was just to fast to develope the story the way it should have been done.

[Matthew Morris]

Hmm,

Not to perform Threadomancy (on this one especially) but I found something interesting.

In the lead up to Infinate Crisis in Titans, Kid Eternity says that something is allowing the doors between the living and the dead to swing open, and specifically calls out Donna Troy, Superman/Kal-el and Green Arrow as being brought back from the dead for that reason. He implies, but never states, that it's the 'Superboy punching realiy' thing, but then says the punching started with Superman's death. Doesn't Ollie's death preceed that?

I just find it interesting that Geoff Johns (who was writing the Teen Titans at that time) may have been laying the seeds for Blackest Night even back then.

[Chris Mortika]

Matthew Morris wrote:

He implies, but never states, that it's the 'Superboy punching realiy' thing, but then says the punching started with Superman's death. Doesn't Ollie's death preceed that?

Doomsday beat Superman to death in 1992. Oliver Queen got himself blown up in 2000, and Hal resurrects him in Zero Hour.

[David Fryer]

I was discussing the whole White Lantern thing wth a friend of mine and he gave me an interesting viewpoint. He is a minority which gave him sort of a different perspective then mine. He sad "You know, John Stewert will have to be the White Lantern or everyone will accuse DC of being racist." That was something that had never occured to me before.

[Matthew Morris]

David Fryer wrote:

I was discussing the whole White Lantern thing wth a friend of mine and he gave me an interesting viewpoint. He is a minority which gave him sort of a different perspective then mine. He sad "You know, John Stewert will have to be the White Lantrn or everyone will accuse DC of being racist." That was something that had never occured to me before.

Heh, me neither. Though it looks to be Sinestro.

Back with the first Power Rangers (The MMPR) when they had the asian yellow ranger (RIP Thuy Trang) the black black ranger, etc. I joked that the new 'White' Ranger was going to be some kid in a wheelchair for diversity.

[Matthew Morris]

Uses White Lantern Ring RISE

So now that it's over, who is happy with the list of the returned?

Spoiler:

Yeah Martian Manhunter, boo no Damage/Tempest/Gehenna. Boo Ronnie Raymond

[Paul Watson]

Matthew Morris wrote:

Uses White Lantern Ring RISE

So now that it's over, who is happy with the list of the returned?

** spoiler omitted **

Heh.

Spoiler:

Doubleplusgood (although really not surprised) Martian Manhunter. Yay Jade, if only for the conflict over Kyle. Meh Aquaman. Meh Raymond. Yay Sherirra. Boo no Kendra. Double boo no Gehenna.

[Matthew Morris]

Paul Watson wrote:

Matthew Morris wrote:

Uses White Lantern Ring RISE

So now that it's over, who is happy with the list of the returned?

** spoiler omitted **

Heh.

** spoiler omitted **

Spoiler:

I don't know enough about the Hawks outside of the DCAU, is the Hawkgirl that came back the same as the DCAU one? Red hair, natural wings? She was one of my favourites. Heck, DC owes the DCAU for my interest in DC. Double plus for J'onn. (and M'gaan, I like the Teen Titans)

[Grey Lensman]

Spoiler:

Good:

Martian Manhunter.
Hawkman and Hawkgirl. I would have preferred Kendra, though.

Kind of meh on everyone else.

Bad:

Leading into the return of Bruce Wayne so fast. I was enjoying the dynamic of Dick Grayson and Damien Wayne. Now the Justice League will probably be returning to a series of "Batman saves the JLA" stories.

[wspatterson]

Spoiler:

Hawk? Seriously? Did we really need Hawk back? Does anyone care? They should have left him dead and made Dawn the new White Lantern. I'm kind of tired of the endless resurrections, to be honest. DC & Marvel comics have become stagnant.

[Chris Mortika]

No spoilers from me.

I appreciate that Sue Dibny didn't come back. She's an Ord, and for them, dead is dead.

I am a litle more surprised that Ralph is still singing in the Choir Invisible. There are still a lot of good Elongated Man stories to tell. Maybe the DC editors' pool isn't sure how to handle a widowed superhero who isn't all filled with rage.

Maxwell Lord and his magic bloody nose? Captain Boomerang?? Reverse Flash???

Ronnie Raymond?!?!?

Why not Ice?

I am looking forward to what happens with Deadman.

I like the analysis at the end about Batman. Good; characters are examining evidence and drawing conclusions. And I particularly liked the dialogue, earlier in the book, about how the heroes who have died and come back from the dead aren't tinged with death, but are rather fueled with a burning desire to live.

Looking forward to the White Lantern.

[Paul Watson]

Chris Mortika wrote:

No spoilers from me.

I appreciate that Sue Dibny didn't come back. She's an Ord, and for them, dead is dead.

I am a litle more surprised that Ralph is still singing in the Choir Invisible. There are still a lot of good Elongated Man stories to tell. Maybe the DC editors' pool isn't sure how to handle a widowed superhero who isn't all filled with rage.

Maxwell Lord and his magic bloody nose? Captain Boomerang?? Reverse Flash???

Ronnie Raymond?!?!?

Why not Ice?

I am looking forward to what happens with Deadman.

I like the analysis at the end about Batman. Good; characters are examining evidence and drawing conclusions. And I particularly liked the dialogue, earlier in the book, about how the heroes who have died and come back from the dead aren't tinged with death, but are rather fueled with a burning desire to live.

Looking forward to the White Lantern.

Technically, Sue and Ralph are

Spoiler:

dead but still very much active as a pair of ghosts who can possess people (although they only seem to do this to people of their old gender). I'd like to see more of the Dibnys as Ghost Detectives.

Also agree 100% about Hawk. her was a boring one-note character before and he appears to have got worse (and larger for some reason).

[Matthew Morris]

Chris Mortika wrote:

Why not Ice?

I am looking forward to what happens with Deadman.

I thought the living dead black lanterns (Ollie, Ice, Donna, etc etc) were already back, just controlled.

Lots of speculation that Boston is the White Lantern.

[Aberzombie]

For me....

Spoiler:

Very happy to see Martian Manhunter back, and looking more like his old self, but with pants! He's one of my favorite characters.

Not so happy to see Max Lord back. Dude was always a douchebag in my book.

I used to collect the older Hawk and Dove comics before they went all Monarch/Extant on Hank Hall. If written properly, the duo can be very interesting.

I'm ambivalent about Firestorm. I always liked Ron Raymond, but I also liked Jason as well. I hope they keep them both and that the characters work out their differences.

Glad to see Aquadude back. I always liked him.

[wspatterson]

Chris Mortika wrote:

Why not Ice?

Ice was one of the white lanterns, I believe.

[DM Wellard]

Ok so now supposedly dead is dead..anyone want to take a bet on how long that one lasts?

And yes I'm looking forward to Brightest day and then maybe we can give the DCU shattering events alone for a few years.

[Grey Lensman]

Not counting the return of Bruce Wayne, I'd say 1 to 2 years. Enough time for writer A to kill off a character that writer B wants to use when they get a turn at the book.

[VM mercenario]

Ok, for my opinion

Spoiler:

J'onn is back!!! AWESOME!!!
Real!Aquaman is back! Well, finally.
They traded Kendra for Shayera? Why? Just Why? She was finally starting to fix things with Hawkman and then...
Reverse Flash and Captain Boomerang? Again, why? We already have Zoom and Captain Boomerang II we don't need the old ones back. (Incidentally why bring Barry back? We already had a Flash. For years. Only major hero that had stayed dead...)
And Hawk!!! He's back... Once again, why? Noone really like's the character, most people barely remembered him and also he's a jerk. That girl Hawk was a jerk but a Charlie Sheen kinda jerk wich is fun (also she was hot). Hank Hawk is a IM A REPUBLICAN REDNECK kinda jerk, wich is not fun (also he's crazy) (and a supervillain). So why bring he back?
Ronnie Raimond... Yeah... he had a very nice and sweet goodbye in the firestorm comics, and Jason was starting to have a good life... So why not f**k with both of them? But that's not the worst...
They didn't brought Ted Kord back, but they brought Max Lord?!
As if they hadn't destroyed Max's character enough...
And they didn't bring back the Dibnys nor the dozens of interesting Titans (Those kids drop like flys, don't they? And some were really interesting. Kid Devil, anyone?

All in all great story, but the end? Not so much.

[Matthew Morris]

VM mercenario wrote:

Ok, for my opinion

** spoiler omitted **

All in all great story, but the end? Not so much.

From what I've read, Johns has a thing for 'silver age' heroes. Reading on HTMLcomics, I like Gehenna and felt that this (like Infinate Crisis) just had a bunch of unneeded deaths. Superboy slaughtering the Titans in infinate crisis was another example.

Spoiler:

And don't get me started on Cry for Justice maiming Roy and killing Liam. I've heard rumours they wanted to kill Mia as well

[LazarX]

Matthew Morris wrote:

Heh, me neither. Though it looks to be Sinestro.

As we've found out... looks are deceiving. Right now it seems Boston Brand (a.k.a. "Liveman"?) is the current and unwilling standardbearer of the White Lantern Corps. He's got competition for the Lantern itself though.

[Freehold DM]

Brightest Day, huh...

Spoiler:

I'm right up there with not wanting Hank back. AND they're going to be putting him in Birds of Prey as well? Big mistake. They should have brought back the female Hawk...and that's not just my love of cheesecake talking...okay, maybe it is, but I think Hank and his bro should be together, not Hank and his psuedo-cousin(unless that was retconned). If they're going to allow sausage on B.O.P, they should include Hawkman and Hawkwoman as well, and I'm pretty happy to see them back. Aquaman I'm rather 'meh' on, as I feel the raging misinterpretation/underestimation regarding his powers will bring all the wrong kind of attention to the title. Max Lord's return is a huge can of worms, as I never thought the guy much of a villain(I greatly prefer him as comic relief, despite the AMAZING job they did with the death of Ted), and with him back people are going to start demanding the return of the One True Blue Beetle, which will further polarize the proverbial room on the title.

Captain Boomerang back? Not good, it's going to cause Robin to have a minor meltdown as he seeks revenge for his father's killer, and I really wanted to see Robin and Captain Boomerang II go at it/learn how to deal with each other. However, I sense there were some behind the scenes problems with the latter character, and I think he was killed off more as an editorial decision than anything else. I'm not a big Flash fan, so the return of Zoom really doesn't bother me, but I see him as "what am I doing here?" dead weight. Still, that's probably just me.

I'm not a fan of Jonn coming back, either. Before you go for the torches and pitchforks, let me explain: if he stayed dead, he would have been forever remembered as a unique hero(ever read the miniseries? It was AMAZING!), now that he's back he'll end up being reduced to second-string Superman status- not in the eyes of dedicated fans of course, but I think that's what's going to happen to his character. Ronnie Raymond's return is something that hardcore Firestorm fans have been clamoring for for years, his mixture with the new Firestorm might breathe some life back into the character.

Overall, it's a mixed bag. I'll be reading it to enjoy the(imo ONLY) lurid relationship of Hawk and Dove, to see what happens to the other lovebirds(the Hawks), and to see what's going on now that Deadman is Liveman.

And yeah, I'd rather the Dibnys continue as Ghost Detectives with Deadman-esque powers. And Flash returning AGAIN? *sigh*

[LazarX]

Bringing Hawk back was a great idea, putting him in with Birds of Prey is breath of fresh air for that team with the tension it brings. It's also an out of the box move in putting a male character and may bring some depth to taking the BoP team a bit more seriously in it's thematic structure.

[Eric Hinkle]

joela wrote:

Have the Blackest Night trades been released yet?

Well, they're out now. And I've been looking at them -- so can anyone tell me if this story is worth the investment in time and money (thus far there are 6 books, ranging from $25-$30)? I heard a lot of good things about it back when it was being sold.

[Andrew Betts]

I haven't gotten to finish Blackest Night yet, although I was loving it while I was on top of it. Reason for my fall behind?

Alan Scott

Spoiler:

And a couple weeks ago

[Dragonborn3]

Guys, guys, can't we all agree that the original white lantern was the best?

[Xabulba]

Dragonborn3 wrote:

Guys, guys, can't we all agree that the original white lantern was the best?

The original white lantern today.

[Matthew Morris]

I want to read the Titans 'Blacket Night' and the Outsiders as well. I didn't get to collect them, but it's my understanding there's a lot of heart twisting and continuity porn. (and a loophole for Terra)

The Teen Titans was interesting since it focused on Rose, Slade and Joey. It also showed just how frakked up Slade Wilson really is. (He loves his kids, despite being a mass murderer). Of course, they seemed to ignore that in the 'Deathstroke's Titans' mess...