“Brightest Day” #3 [Review]

“Revelations”

Writers: Geoff Johns & Peter J. Tomasi

Artists: Ivan Reis, Patrick Gleason, Ardian Syaf, Scott Clark, Joe Prado

Inks: Vicente Cifuentes, David Beaty, Mark Irwin

Covers: David Finch, Scott Williams, Steigerwald

[rating:2/5]

DC is trying so very, very hard. I mean, I’ve gushed about 52 on here before, right?  A team of C-list and below heroes and villains were suddenly catapulted into the spotlight, and it was just so damn good.  And ever since, DC has been trying desperately to recreate the success, but failing every time (well, Wednesday Comics didn’t suck necessarily, but your milage may vary depending on which characters you liked).

So far, Brightest Day is no exception, which is a real shame, especially given the success of Blackest Night.  The problem is that, unlike 52, there isn’t enough time spent with the characters.  Rather than spending full issues devoted to each character, the book juggles back and forth between the heroes (The resurrected Professor Zoom and Captain Boomerang haven’t gotten much face-time in this book, presumably since they’re locked up at the moment, while Maxwell Lord only appeared in the #0 issue (probably because he’s over in Justice League: Generation Lost right now.)).  When we do see the characters, it’s a muddled mess of hints that are dropped sometimes too vaguely to create anything other than general confusion, and sometimes a little too direct and in your face, leaving your eyes rolling.

And how ironic it is that in a story titled “Revelations”, we’re left scratching our head more than ever.  Nothing is actually revealed, unless you count the numerous questions that have been posed upon us after reading.  I applaud DC for their effort, but Brightest Day is still coming off as just a very poor man’s Countdown, and that’s the last thing you want.