Written by Geoff Johns and Peter Tomasi
Illustrated by Pat Gleason and Scott ClarkThe hottest series in comics blazes on as the legacy of the new Aqualad is forged and the extent of his powers is revealed! Plus, Aquagirl joins the battle, and Firestorm seeks out the Justice League’s help!
Brightest Day continues! The Martian Manhunter is a Green Lantern and he–WAIT, what? J’onn is a Green Lantern? What kind of effery is this? Well, it’s one of those things you’ll have to check out to believe, so follow the cut to see what I thought about the continuing adventure of the Brightest Day Ressurectees!
Did you notice something about that solicit? Namely the fact it doesn’t mention #15 at all? Not one bit? Well, I think that was intentional because of the nature of issue #15. What had the potential to be a great issue about The Martian Manhunter turned into a glorified “Elseworlds/What If?”story. What if J’onn J’onzz had become a Green Lantern after reinvigorating his world? What if they celebrated the life he returned as well as the ordered he maintained since the Blackest Night?
It’s a nice thought, but when it ends up being a mind game from everyone’s least favorite green Martian and J’onn’s new love/hate interest. She just wants to mess with him even more.
But you know what? It’s not working. What starts as a cool moment that you enjoy despite the fact it’s not real drags on for 90% of the issue. Even after we know it’s fake, there’s a murder mystery happening on Mars and someone is taking out the entirety of the JLA, somehow succeeding.
But it only registers in the Manhunter’s head that it’s not real when he kills the final member of the team, and then he’s somehow awoken from his ecstasy induced stupor. Then he confronts D’Kay for what she’s done to his mind.
Yeah, that’s it. That’s the story. There’s really not much of any seeming importance in this issue, which is a shame, because until now, J’onn’s story had been one of the better ones. You know it’s sad, when the last two pages, which is basically just a teaser from the solicit is more exciting that J’onn becoming a Green Lantern.
Perhaps even more disappointing is the art.
I, along with a great deal of the writers here on Multiversity, love Pat Gleason and his beautiful visuals. But here, it’s just….ugly. The only characters that seem to have been rendered with any care are D’Kay and J’onn, and the rest are just ugly props to further a story that never got off the ground. In one splash page he tried the best he could, but the believability just didn’t mesh with the art and words. What a shame.
In the end, this issue just plays out like bad fan fiction merging the DC Universe with Inception. Only instead of a mind bogglingly engrossing, we get…this.
Final Verdict: 5.0 — Browse, buy only if you’re a completionist.
