Saturday, April 3, 2010

2010 DC Nation Brightest Day Checklist



I've been combing reports from Wonder Con '10 looking for information relating directly to the Martian Manhunter, and there isn't any that I can tell. Hence, let's have us a nice round of opinions and speculation, shall we?

  • The DC Universe has usually been good about not allowing their team concepts to overlap, so that you only have one JLA, one JSA, one Teen Titans, and so forth (as opposed to Wolverine being on four different teams, three involving X-People who may also bridge multiple teams.) That said, I think the DC Universe needs their own "Defenders," or at least a "West Coast Avengers," to provide a home for all those guys who either don't work in the Justice League or can't be fitted into the present line-up. Looking at this promo art, wouldn't Martian Manhunter, Aquaman, Mera, Hawkman, Hawkwoman, the Atom, Firestorm and Deadman make an awesome new group? Eight members isn't too unwieldy, and virtually everyone is related to everyone else. Almost everyone is semi-to-fully iconic as well, as opposed to all those lousy '90s teams made up of C- & D-listers. This could work!
  • Deadman, one of the real oddballs on the resurrection front, is in possession of a White Lantern ring at the end of Blackest Night.
  • I doubt Captain Boomerang will serve any greater purpose than answering Brad Meltzer's empty promise to give back to Geoff Johns a better model after Identity Crisis, and serving up a lame-o anti-villain with a scarf and a soul patch.
  • Jade: Part of the Stephanie Brown Freeze Burn Restoration Movement, or is the Starheart a big part of the emotional spectrum?
  • I've got to figure Flash is shown prominently because Johns and DC really want to get that franchise back and course, plus continuing to reestablish his friendship with the spin-off's continuing star, Green Lantern Hal Jordan.
  • Since Hal isn't in that teaser line-up, hopefully we won't see any more pretending that he's anything more that a Frienemy of Mars, as was attempted to justify the Cry For Justice team.
  • Osiris? Off to join the Titans, at least until the inevitable pseudo-sequel to 52/World War III and overall continuation of the Black Adam story. God willing, somewhere along the way the Marvel Family might get fixed, maybe? Nah-- not likely.
  • Hawk doesn't make much since here, until you realize he was the Monarch/Extant, which ties him directly into the redemption of Captain Atom in Justice League: Generation Lost.
  • Speaking of which, Max Lord will wipe the memory of his existence from the minds of everyone but the four reuniting JLI members. The cover to their first issue has yet to be fully revealed. Will J'Onn J'Onzz help fix the telepathic jabberwocky, or is that just the Jaime Reyes Blue Beetle? Monarch, even? The book is supposed to launch with a big traumatic incident out of Brightest Day, so there's no telling. Of the new roster, CBR could only get the following out of co-writer Judd Winick regarding a presently unrevealed member: "One character I was about to mention, I can't [laughs]. We can't mention him yet." I really want a Manhunter/Lord confrontation, darn it!
  • In closing, let me say again how great it is to have Aquaman, Manhunter and the Hawks living and working together again, and I really dig the prospect of Firestorm and Atom being involved, so long as it isn't a set-up for more tragic deaths.

4 comments:

Count Drunkula said...

I said the same thing: Aquaman, J'onn, Hawkman, Hawkgirl, Mera, Atom, Firestorm and Deadman is my new favorite Justice League line-up.

We'll see in a few weeks whether these stars of Brightest Day function more as a team, or if they have their own soap opera-ish sub-plots like in "52". Probably a bit of both.

Diabolu Frank said...

There's a lot of ballyhoo about "The Twelve," so there's that.

Count Drunkula said...

In an interview at WonderCon Geoff Johns gave to ComicVine, a site whose reviews I can't stand but they do get a lot of breaking news, Johns said that all of the resurrected characters were brought back because they have a story to tell.

It sounds like he and the editorial/writing teams came up with a list of all the characters who could come back and whittled it down to twelve that had the best, most compelling stories they could think of.

If true, that means no one was brought back arbitrarily or to appease fans, so even though there hasn't been a lot of mention of J'onn yet, he will have a story and a role in Brightest Day.

Here's the link to the video interview:
http://www.comicvine.com/wondercon-2010-geoff-johns/112-815/

Sphinx Magoo said...

I think this Brightest Day event came about because someone dope-slapped the DC editorial team and reminded them that they can't make any money via movies or TV or whatever off of dead characters. Someone always has to explain how the live hero in the cartoons is dead in the current storylines. Then a totally convoluted story is put together, but by that time the show has been canceled.

Looking forward to the return of Shazam and Highfather. Maybe even a couple of Martians...