gotta hand it to you, Arthur

i still don't know where Brightest Day is headed, but just to keep our attention from meandering from the meandering series, they give us some (regurgitated) shock and awe. in 2028, some other villain will use telekinesis to rip off Aquaman's hand once again.

the Devil makes work for idle hands, while God cuts them off - wait, what?

snaps: Brightest Day #1

... where we find the resurrected heroes from Blackest Day go about their business. apparently, there's no big meeting with the rest of the DCU (maybe that happens in JLA?), especially Aquaman and the Hawks. there are mysteries in place that Johns and Tomasi dangles in front of us, though am not sure am sufficiently intrigued. i know its the White Lantern thing and all, but for something called Brightest Day, this thing's still a bit dark (pirate rapists and zombie sea creatures anyone? oh, and wait till you see the return of the real "egghead"). also, that character line intros are tolerable and kinda smart-ass sometimes in Matt Fraction's Uncanny X-Men, but here its becoming annoying.

man, that chin itself is a lethal weapon.


this is Sinestro defending himself from unpowered mortals.


here's a thought, guys: Ronnie, hang out with Jason, and be his girlfriend.


hey, isn't that the Infinity Gauntlet??


i don't really get that helmet. it screams L-O-S-E-R.

snaps: Blackest Night #8

... where the Rainbow Riders finally get to defeat Nekron and the Black Hand (as if there was any doubt). and in a complete reversal of a cookie-cutter comicbook event, NO ONE DIES (well, except the bad guy and the jury is out on that, and because they were fighting dead people to begin with), and A FEW DEAD PEOPLE COME BACK (not just all you hoped for). all in all, i'd still rank Blackest Night below The Sinestro Corps War, primarily because there were no more surprises after the first issue. plus with the Internet talk these days, you basically get a preview of what's going to happen anyway ... what's that? Brightest Day is going to be a gay musical starring our DC heroes? for sure?

"and that's for not getting my back when i got captured by that loser Libra!!"


why do you have to be a heartpuller?


coming soon to Broadway: Brightest Gay Day!


"uh, J'onn ... are you gonna reimburse us for that funeral we threw you?"


goodbye, Infinite Crisis!


goodbye, 90's!! farewell, beard and hook!!


William can't even wipe off his drool with his Hand.

snaps: Blackest Night #6

... where we learn that Lantern rings can deputize another for 24 hours. the question is, how sure are we that that timeframe would be the limit? and once someone gets deputized, they would be willing to give up the ring? also, a bunch of other characters become the second Rainbow Seven.

1) Nok! Nok! who's there? see below.


2) it's the Ultimate Warrior Atom!!!


3) mermaid got your tongue?


4) no tongue, no jaw - how the hell does she talk? amazing.


5) uh uh. sure. are you gonna be the "villain" in the next GL crossover?

snaps: Blackest Night #5

... where everyone has a grand old time with dead people.

1) ok, who was the joker in the cave then???


2) your name is Bartholomew Henry. you're 53 years old. you're kinda old.


3) i believe she was referring to this.


4) i'd wager its the second, Mr. Jordan.



5) oh, shoot ... here we go again!!

death is everywhere

drive-by readings

Blackest Night #3 (DC) Geoff Johns Ivan Reis Oclair Albert Joe Prado Alex Sinclair Nick Napolitano Ethan Van Sciver/Hi-Fi (variant cover)

ok, maybe brute force is the answer to kill these Black Lanterns. turns out the Indigo Lanterns (representing compassion, natch!) hold the key or at least the plan on how to beat them. hint: you have to be gay. you know, like a rainbow? no? sigh.

since when did Ralph talk like the Joker? Atom "hates being in the dark" yet shrank to minutiae in the blackness post-Jean Loring imprisonment. right now, we are still in Barry/Hal-centric mode (as this is indeed, for all intents and purposes, a GL-driven crossover). and we get some Firestorm love as it looks like the new version isn't up to snuff. heh. snuff.

we also have a heart to heart talk between Barry and Hal regarding their philosophies. i thought i'd never write that sentence except when looking back at old Justice League stories. i thought we moved past that, had Kyle and Wally. nope ... back to old. what are the bets that Grant Morrison's reconstituted Batman will be reversed down the line and they'll bring back Bruce Wayne back?

but anyway - we get more dead people coming back (hell, the dead obviously outnumber living people at this point, so from a numbers standpoint, the heroes have no chance). note that they're all in the JLA HQ in Washington, DC, and they have all their dead in the building! so you see Maxwell Lord getting out of his cadaver with his head(!) still attached. (and is that a piece of Wonder Woman's lasso around his neck?) things look bleak around here, the Purple Ones notwithstanding.

Nok Klek. this means you ain't seen nothing yet.

drive-by readings: Blackest Night #2

Blackest Night #2 (DC) "Blackest Night" Geoff Johns Ivan Reis Oclair Albert Julio Ferreira Alex Sinclair Nick Napolitano Mauro Cascioli (variant cover)

okay, am not sure who's batting it out of the park more here - Geoff Johns, or the stellar art team of Ivan Reis and Oclair Albert. i'm giving it to the latter duo (a highlight being the shark scene), as the story doesn't really get advanced much here. more deaths, more recruits, even right within the same sequence (Aqualad). i was mildly surprised to see Dove not get recruited - apparently, you had to have a violent death, and thus a troubled soul, to become part of the Black Lantern Corps (figures). the bile coming out of the lips of some of DC's beloved (currently dead, now zombified) characters are deliciously malevolent, its so wrong yet so right. and i've never seen Aquaman this intense, even during his time as arrogant ruler of Atlantis (nice touch on Mera holding her own and not being salad dressing this time). there also seems to be a subtle push to make Hal Jordan the resident DC Universe lothario (what, Guy Gardner lost his mojo because of Ice?). basically, since these zombies are practically unkillable, brute force is not the answer. i may be in the minority here, but this is scary.

drive-by readings: Blackest Night #1

Blackest Night #1 (DC) "Rise" Geoff Johns Ivan Reis Oclair Albert Alex Sinclair Nick Napolitano Ethan Van Sciver/Hi-Fi(variant cover)

my man-crush has done it again.

oh, shit.

oh, shit.

oh, shit!!!!!!!!!!!

(yes, that's all am gonna say)

at first glance, it looks like Dark Reign has better chance of having long-term ramifications and status quo changes in the Marvel Universe. but for sheer living in the moment, visceral kick in the face, leave-us-hanging-with-bated-breath-opener, Blackest Night takes the cake. and that's a summer blockbuster.

and here we go again ...

Sinestro kills Laira, now a Red Lantern, pushing Hal Jordan over the edge once more, and that's when Atrocitus makes his move. whoa! (couldn't be worse than when he got Parallaxed, could it?)

over at whatever-weird-shit-Warren-Ellis-writes-for-a-living land, the X-Men find themselves beating up extraterrestials who have a surprising link to them ...

whatever Ellis does, its always somehow grabs your attention, even if you have a deficit of that.


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Green Lantern #37, Astonishing X-Men #28

nooooooooooooo!!! pt. 2 (yesss!!!)

as if Kyle Rayner going over to the dark side wasn't enough ...


yes, that's Mr No Fear, Hal Jordan himself, once again co-opted into Parallax.

but thank goodness, his new tenure is much shorter than Kyle's (who gets saved by a painting, as foreshadowed in Tales of the Sinestro Corps: Parallax).


and don't tell me this scene does not make you cry and relive your childhood again!


and as much as we get annoyed by Guy Gardner, we look forward to seeing him cut loose next ish, now that the GLs are licensed to kill.

i have a man-crush on Geoff Johns! wooohoooooooooo!

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Green Lantern #24