If Only Every Issue Could Be More Like This
After a few less than spectacular issues, Brightest Day finds its stride again as it returns to the stories of Aquaman and Firestorm.
Aquaman's story really has proven to be the saving grace of Brightest Day. It is easily the strongest of the stories being told and hasn't yet taken a serious misstep in the course of the series so far. The plot of Martian Manhunter's story has skidded to a halt as it has been spinning its wheels lately waiting for... something. The Hawks haven't been able to salvage their story since it took a nosedive into Hawkworld. Deadman can hardly even be accused of having a story in this series, because everything that goes on with him has really just been a series of teases and distractions biding time to reveal who the White Lantern will be. And the Firestorm story has only recently picked up the pace after spending plenty of time establishing that Jason and Ronnie don't get a long and being ominous about it.
This chapter of Aquaman's story is simply the origin of Aqualad. It is an effectively paced story that has Aquaman explaining to Jackson his true origin and bonding over their shared experience of finding out as a teenager they are not who they had believed themselves to be. Aqualad's origin isn't perfect. There are some fuzzy things about the timing of it all regarding when he was born and when Mera left him with his adopted family, and the idea that he has his Aqualad gear ready and waiting for him is pretty silly. But the strengths of the story and of the character of Aqualad make it easy to overlook those details. The best thing about Aquaman's part of Brightest Day is that it has always had a very clear direction and momentum going for it. This chapter maintains that, setting up Jackson as the new Aqualad and pointing the new duo to the next stop in their story.
Firestorm gets one of his better chapters in this issue as their plot has finally gotten moving and the fused pair are desperate to rescue their respective father figures from Deathstorm. It is actually Professor Stein and Mr. Rusch who steal the show this time around in a scene that has Deathstorm toying with how he intends to use them to kill Ronnie and Jason. This chapter does end on a rather weak cliffhanger though, because no one will believe for a second that what appears to have happened as actually happened.
On another note... as cool as Deathstorm looks, is it really a good idea to make him Firestorm's main villain? I get that Firestorm has never exactly had a great gallery of enemies to work from. But seriously? What is Deathstorm now, exactly? Besides kind of annoying as his charm really didn't survive Blackest Night. It just feels like Firestorm is getting kind of screwed in the villain department because some people fell in love with Deathstorm's visual design. Also, pointing out how Deathstorm can transmute organic material really doesn't do Firestorm's character any favors. That kind of limitation put on characters has always been pretty stupid and nonsensical. We don't need the reminder that Firestorm is burdened with something so lame.
Overall, this is the strongest issue that Brightest Day has had in a couple months. The quality of Aquaman's story holds high and Firestorm's story picks up its game. Hopefully, we will get more issues like this as Brightest Day closes in on its final issue.
