DC has announced over at The Source that DC will be following Blackest Night with Brightest Day, a yearlong, 26-issue biweekly series by Geoff Johns and Peter Tomasi that’s being described as “DCU: Rebirth.” Like Blackest Night, it will tie into just about everything, with some series (including the two Green Lantern books) getting a “Brightest Day” Banner…including The Flash.
I think it’s safe to say this is the cover for The Flash #1.
Dan Didio explains:
We’ll be launching the new FLASH ongoing series, by Geoff and Francis Manapul in April with a BRIGHTEST DAY banner, and there will be several more titles utilizing it come May and June.
With this book, Geoff and Francis are really bringing Barry Allen back into the spotlight and cementing him as the premiere Flash in the DCU in his own monthly. It’s no secret that I’ve been waiting a long time to see this. I’ve always been a huge Barry fan, and I can say that Geoff and Francis are reinvigorating him as a character in much the same way Geoff did with Hal Jordan. Should be fun.
Well, you can’t say they aren’t giving the new series a major push. (Now I’d really like to see numbers on Blackest Night: The Flash.)
I’d like to believe that Brightest Day represents the long-promised, well, brightening of the DC Universe we were told would happen after Infinite Crisis, but if Flash is a major component, and it’s going to be all about murder mysteries, I’m a little concerned. On the other hand, Pushing Daisies had a new murder mystery each week, and still managed to be a light-hearted comedy, so who knows?
Here’s hoping Brightest Day will live up to its name!
Update: The news on Brightest Day: Titans seems to suggest that Brightest Day will be continuing the grim-n-gritty approach that DC has taken from Identity Crisis onward.
Update 2: IGN interviews Geoff Johns about the project.
I’ve pretty much given up on DC doing away with the darkness and cynicism that colors modern comics. It’s simply where most of the entertainment spectrum is at these days, unfortunately.
I’m pretty disappointed by the Flash #1 cover. Beyond that incredibly awkward running pose, it doesn’t make sense that a top-notch investigator like Barry Allen would destroy the pavement around a murder investigation…as well as being odd that a speedster of Barry’s experience would blow up pavement like a rank amateur.
Also, here’s hoping Johns doesn’t get too bogged down in the investigator/detective elements. Yeah, Barry was obviously a police scientist back in the day, but that was never the defining or motivating aspect of his adventures.
At the end of the day, I just hope Johns brings the Flash franchise into some new territory. Sure, you gotta have the Rogues and the core supporting characters…but I don’t want it to be an endless meditation on What It Means to Be the Flash, Barry’s past, or the wonky metaphysics of the Speed Force.
Mark Engblom’s latest blog post: Epilogue
Well, DC hasn’t completely crushed out the last of my hope that I’ll see some DCU-based comics that I want to read soon. They’re working on it, but they haven’t quite succeeded.
I’m more of a Vertigo reader these days anyway. I suppose it’s kind of ironic that I’ve been moving from the DCU to Vertigo because the DCU is too dark.
Hey Kelson, I know that you’re probably a busy man, but in case you didn’t see it the Brightest Day cover to the Justice League of America issue has Jesse on the cover in her new Jesse Quick outfit. I don’t think it is confirmation that she’s the new speedster on the Justice League, since a lot of the Justice Society is also on the cover, but it is Flash news.
Yeah, I made a note of it on the Twitter feed: @SpeedForceOrg.
Wouldn’t it be funny if she were on both teams, but using a different ID on each? Liberty Belle on JSA, and Jesse Quick on JLA?
Could this be where we find the Wally stories?
The thought had crossed my mind, since DC hasn’t said much about the format aside from it being biweekly and fixed-length.
If there is a shot that Wally would play a role – the fact the Geoff Johns is writing it certainly plays in our favor.
Nice cover, but… wow, as a forensic scientist, Barry should know better than to contaminate a crime scene like that! Doesn’t he watch CSI?
Or maybe that’s just artistic license…
Presentation on a cover isn’t always indicative of an actual scene in the story – I think it’s a really fun cover. Flash on the scene!
You’d think he’d have a bit more of a controlled stop though.
A nice touch I just spotted: you can’t read them at this size, but on the large version at The Source, next to the Mercury Communications billboard at the upper left, the clock says Chronos and the next billboard says Quick.
Judging from his facial expression, it looks like Barry’s trying to make up for missing the bad-ass phase of 1990′s comics.
Mark Engblom’s latest blog post: Epilogue