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'Brightest Day' shines light on new DC Universe life'
Source: USA Today
By Brian Truitt, USA TODAY
The DC Comics event series Blackest Night pitted superheroes and villains all over the universe against death itself. How do you top that? Focus on the positives and negatives of life, naturally.
The mega-popular follow-up Brightest Day continues the story writer Geoff Johns began in Blackest Night (and even before that in Green Lantern) and teams him with co-writer Peter Tomasi, his one-time editor on Green Lantern: Rebirth. The first hardcover collection, featuring issues 0 through 7, is in stores now, while No. 16 of the year-long biweekly series hits comics shops Dec. 15.
The world was saved from an invasion of Black Lanterns at the end of Blackest Night, and a white light turned up on Earth that resurrected 12 previously deceased heroes and villains for mysterious purposes.
Johns and Tomasi, who have been working together for more than 10 years, have worked out their own shorthand, which helped when they discussed exactly who would come back — a plan they had in place all the way back when Blackest Night began.
Some characters they knew immediately, Johns says. Dead Justice League members Martian Manhunter, Firestorm and Aquaman were no-brainers. It was the other ones that created debate and discussion, such as Flash villains Captain Boomerang and Professor Zoom, Hawkman and Hawkgirl, and hero-turned-villain Maxwell Lord, whose neck Wonder Woman broke a few years back. (His return, and act of making most of the world forget whom he was, is the main plot of the other biweekly series, Justice League: Generation Lost.)
Second chances are at the heart of Brightest Day, but life is the series' grand theme, according to Johns.
"Life is not simple, and life isn't perfect," says Johns, DC's chief creative officer. "Being returned to life and getting a second chance at life doesn't mean everything's going to be wonderful again. Pete and I talk about this a lot, but it's really about embracing life for what it is, the good and the bad, and making the most of it."
Tomasi reminds that life, or what they knew of it before their death, wasn't always easy for these characters. "It's looking at life as a wall sometimes and climbing it and seeing the other side and seeing what it has to offer in positive ways, too."
The series so far has been a starring vehicle of sorts for Boston Brand, aka Deadman. Mostly a supporting character since he debuted in the 1960s, Deadman was a circus trapeze artist who was murdered during a performance, and subsequently garnered the power to "possess" people and creatures that are alive.
When Brightest Day opens, he's alive again and outfitted with the White Lantern ring. His mission — which the ring reminds him often — is to find the right man or woman to wear the ring and harness the power of the white light.
"As much as we love all those other characters, Deadman coming back to life is probably the most interesting thing because it's so unexpected," Johns explains. "The fact that he doesn't really know what to do now, he never expected this to happen and he wants to uncover the mystery, he doesn't really know how to embrace life. He's a perfect point-of-view character for us.
"If Brightest Day was just Firestorm and Aquaman and Martian Manhunter and the Hawks, I just think it would miss this massive element of freshness that Deadman brings to everything."
Tomasi adds: "If all these other characters are a big piece of a heart, so to speak, Deadman's vital for completing that heart because he makes it beat. He's a great guide through all of these stories."
The writers have used Brightest Day to give life to new characters, as well. Martian Manhunter always thought he was the last Martian, but has discovered the presence of another, D'kay D'razz, who's obsessed with mating with him.
And Deathstorm has popped up, obsessed with destroying Firestorm and having the ability to conjure Black Lanterns. "He's a character that's really fun to write. We wanted to basically create a 1990s villain who loved being from the 1990s," Johns says, laughing. Tomasi says that Deathstorm "has got some big surprises up his sleeve, which are pretty great. There'll be cool stuff coming up with him."
Johns and Tomasi worked in conjunction with the guys behind the new Young Justice cartoon series to fashion a secret origin for Jackson Hyde, the new Aqualad. His debut, as well as the reintroduction of the villainous Siren, are aspects of the writers' plan to rebuild Aquaman's supporting cast, which started with his wife, Mera, being turned into a rage-fueled Red Lantern during Blackest Night.
"We all feel Aquaman is a character capable of standing alongside Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern and The Flash," Johns says. "He just has to be treated that way and be at the center of this stuff. Having Mera play such a big role in Blackest Night, to a lot of people's surprise, and having her be a bit of a breakout character just helps elevate Aquaman."
While the stories of Aquaman, Deadman, Hawkman and Hawkgirl, Firestorm and Martian Manhunter have been the primary focus of Brightest Day, Johns says that Hawk and Dove will be coming back soon — stopping in from Gail Simone's Birds of Prey book — as will Captain Boomerang, who stars in the Johns-penned issue No. 8 of The Flash out today.
Tomasi and Johns are tight-lipped about whether all 12 characters will still be alive once Brightest Day ends, or if in fact there will actually be a White Lantern. They will, however, reveal that there will be a lot of new stuff spawned from it. "Probably not necessarily what you expect," Johns says.
The plot will only thicken more until they reach that end, which the writers figured out even before beginning Brightest Day.
"Stories will change as you're throwing characters around and talking and bouncing ideas off each other," Tomasi says. "Things have evolved and changed as we've gone along, but there's always been a clear endgame that we've all been working toward."
The DC Comics event series Blackest Night pitted superheroes and villains all over the universe against death itself. How do you top that? Focus on the positives and negatives of life, naturally.
The mega-popular follow-up Brightest Day continues the story writer Geoff Johns began in Blackest Night (and even before that in Green Lantern) and teams him with co-writer Peter Tomasi, his one-time editor on Green Lantern: Rebirth. The first hardcover collection, featuring issues 0 through 7, is in stores now, while No. 16 of the year-long biweekly series hits comics shops Dec. 15.
The world was saved from an invasion of Black Lanterns at the end of Blackest Night, and a white light turned up on Earth that resurrected 12 previously deceased heroes and villains for mysterious purposes.
Johns and Tomasi, who have been working together for more than 10 years, have worked out their own shorthand, which helped when they discussed exactly who would come back — a plan they had in place all the way back when Blackest Night began.
Some characters they knew immediately, Johns says. Dead Justice League members Martian Manhunter, Firestorm and Aquaman were no-brainers. It was the other ones that created debate and discussion, such as Flash villains Captain Boomerang and Professor Zoom, Hawkman and Hawkgirl, and hero-turned-villain Maxwell Lord, whose neck Wonder Woman broke a few years back. (His return, and act of making most of the world forget whom he was, is the main plot of the other biweekly series, Justice League: Generation Lost.)
Second chances are at the heart of Brightest Day, but life is the series' grand theme, according to Johns.
"Life is not simple, and life isn't perfect," says Johns, DC's chief creative officer. "Being returned to life and getting a second chance at life doesn't mean everything's going to be wonderful again. Pete and I talk about this a lot, but it's really about embracing life for what it is, the good and the bad, and making the most of it."
Tomasi reminds that life, or what they knew of it before their death, wasn't always easy for these characters. "It's looking at life as a wall sometimes and climbing it and seeing the other side and seeing what it has to offer in positive ways, too."
The series so far has been a starring vehicle of sorts for Boston Brand, aka Deadman. Mostly a supporting character since he debuted in the 1960s, Deadman was a circus trapeze artist who was murdered during a performance, and subsequently garnered the power to "possess" people and creatures that are alive.
When Brightest Day opens, he's alive again and outfitted with the White Lantern ring. His mission — which the ring reminds him often — is to find the right man or woman to wear the ring and harness the power of the white light.
"As much as we love all those other characters, Deadman coming back to life is probably the most interesting thing because it's so unexpected," Johns explains. "The fact that he doesn't really know what to do now, he never expected this to happen and he wants to uncover the mystery, he doesn't really know how to embrace life. He's a perfect point-of-view character for us.
"If Brightest Day was just Firestorm and Aquaman and Martian Manhunter and the Hawks, I just think it would miss this massive element of freshness that Deadman brings to everything."
Tomasi adds: "If all these other characters are a big piece of a heart, so to speak, Deadman's vital for completing that heart because he makes it beat. He's a great guide through all of these stories."
The writers have used Brightest Day to give life to new characters, as well. Martian Manhunter always thought he was the last Martian, but has discovered the presence of another, D'kay D'razz, who's obsessed with mating with him.
And Deathstorm has popped up, obsessed with destroying Firestorm and having the ability to conjure Black Lanterns. "He's a character that's really fun to write. We wanted to basically create a 1990s villain who loved being from the 1990s," Johns says, laughing. Tomasi says that Deathstorm "has got some big surprises up his sleeve, which are pretty great. There'll be cool stuff coming up with him."
Johns and Tomasi worked in conjunction with the guys behind the new Young Justice cartoon series to fashion a secret origin for Jackson Hyde, the new Aqualad. His debut, as well as the reintroduction of the villainous Siren, are aspects of the writers' plan to rebuild Aquaman's supporting cast, which started with his wife, Mera, being turned into a rage-fueled Red Lantern during Blackest Night.
"We all feel Aquaman is a character capable of standing alongside Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern and The Flash," Johns says. "He just has to be treated that way and be at the center of this stuff. Having Mera play such a big role in Blackest Night, to a lot of people's surprise, and having her be a bit of a breakout character just helps elevate Aquaman."
While the stories of Aquaman, Deadman, Hawkman and Hawkgirl, Firestorm and Martian Manhunter have been the primary focus of Brightest Day, Johns says that Hawk and Dove will be coming back soon — stopping in from Gail Simone's Birds of Prey book — as will Captain Boomerang, who stars in the Johns-penned issue No. 8 of The Flash out today.
Tomasi and Johns are tight-lipped about whether all 12 characters will still be alive once Brightest Day ends, or if in fact there will actually be a White Lantern. They will, however, reveal that there will be a lot of new stuff spawned from it. "Probably not necessarily what you expect," Johns says.
The plot will only thicken more until they reach that end, which the writers figured out even before beginning Brightest Day.
"Stories will change as you're throwing characters around and talking and bouncing ideas off each other," Tomasi says. "Things have evolved and changed as we've gone along, but there's always been a clear endgame that we've all been working toward."
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