Zero issues are a tricky thing. Typically, they serve as more of a primer than an actual kick-off to the story. And that’s the case here. Judged as a primer, Blackest Night #0 does an admirable job of catching readers up on the new status quo for the 12 characters Johns resurrected at the end of Blackest Night.
Boston Brand, dubbed “Aliveman” by some fans since Deadman no longer seems appropriate, serves as our guide. As far as he knows, he is the only White Lantern in the wake of Blackest Night. He seems to have some new life-restoring power and some unknown force is pulling him conveniently into the lives of the other 11 resurrectees.
With that framework established, Johns devotes as least a couple pages to each character. Here’s a brief rundown of what everyone is up to:
(These are in no particular order since I don’t have the issue in front of me.)
- Aquaman – Having resurrection sex with Mera and reluctant to go back into the water (maybe he saw Jaws in the afterlife)
- the Hawks – Having doubles resurrection sex and wondering when their curse will tear them apart once more.
- Firestorm – Jason blames Ronnie for the death of his girlfriend but they are fused together
- the Rogues – both imprisoned. Digger more or less taunts Barry and invokes the already tired phrase “It’s a Flash fact.”
- Max Lord – Maxing out his mind control powers. If you’ve read interviews with JLI scribe Judd Winick, you know what he was up to.
- Jade – Being tested by Kyle’s current girlfriend Soranik. Kyle shows up to set her on her path – away from him.
- Martian Manhunter – attempting to bring life back to Mars while accepting house-warming (planet-warming?) cookies and milk from visiting Lanterns.
- Orsis – returns to Kandahaq to revive the Black Adam family
- Hawk – still kind of being a douche
By and large, it’s an interesting read that breezes by. Sometimes (especially during the scene with the Hawks) the dialogue is cringe-inducing. But that’s true of most comics and doubly true of Geoff Johns.
The art by Fernando Pasarin is passable. The caharcters were recognizable and the story was easy to follow. But it didn’t grab me the way Francis Manapul’s art did in this week’s Flash #1. The artwork in The Flash made me very forgiving of any weaknesses in the script. The art in Brightest Day neither enhanced nor detracted from the story.
Which brings me to my next point. For $4, there wasn’t a lot of story to sink your teeth into. A primer is great when it’s free or you can pick it up for $1. But shelling out the cost of a value meal for what amounts to 50 pages of house ads on steroids is a bit hard to swallow.
Do you need to read Brightest Day #0? I doubt it. I imagine you can pocket your $4 and pick up the story with issue #1 and not miss a beat.
If you do decide to pick up #0, the odds are you’ll be satisfied as long as you go into it with the expectation that your buying a pricey appetizer rather than a meal.
Read this at the comic shop. It seems unconscionable that anyone would buy this book. Besides the reveal within the first 5 pages (which you can easily preview online) absolutely nothing happens that Blackest Night didn’t convey in the 3 pages that resurrected these characters.
There are so many things that I could complain about this book. But its basically everything bad I’ve ever said about Johns. The only thing that really bugs me in Mera and Kendra. Johns and Kendra for years has been portrayed as highly independent strong character that upset the status quo by not acquiescing to Hawkmans entitled demands on her. One of the few good things about Blackest Night was making Mera a strong lead. This book’s hyper sexualized portrayal of Both of them (even from fanboy Fanboy par excellence, johns) was surprising and shameful.
As for Flash, well I have to eat my words. While you may be right that Manapul’s art really compensate for any deficiencies in the the writing. I think that script was really strong and just fun. It played at what Johns is really good at: world-building. However as soon as I ended the book and saw the advertisement for his next big event. Ahhhhhh. Really? In the first issue?
Once again, we’re on the same page about pretty much everything. I’m hoping to get a Flash 1 review up later today. But, I was also very pleasantly surprised by the book. The tone reminded me of the Waid/Ringo era of Flash. And that’s a good thing.
As for Brightest Day, the hyper-sexualized portrayals of Mera and Kendra surprised me. But I’m past the point of being shocked by that sort of thing. Maybe a little disappointed. I’m still nursing my wounds after the scene in Cry for Justice where Ollie bragged about getting the Birds of Prey drunk before taking advantage of them.
I am disappointed with Kendra’s new status quo. After years of building her up as a strong, interesting character, Johns has basically overwritten her with the silver age Hawkgirl. Whatever.
If Brightest Day 0 was free or sold for a discount, it would have been a good primer for what’s to follow. I’m cautiously optimistic about Brightest Day as a whole. But for $4, I expect a full story. Not just teases and jouse ads no matter how well done they may be.
[...] at the recent Brightest Day #0. It’s a full issue of set-up for later in the series. Not only that, it’s a full [...]