Brightest Day #16 - Mobile Edition

DC Comics
Brightest Day #16
By Hervé St-Louis
December 18, 2010 - 22:38

DC Comics
Writer(s): Geoff Johns, Peter Tomasi
Penciller(s): Ivan Reis, Scott Clark, Joe Prado
Inker(s): David Beaty, Oclair Albert
Colourist(s): Peter Steigerwald
Letterer(s): Rob Clark Jr.
Cover Artist(s): Gary Frank, Nathan Eyring, Ivan Reis
$2.99 US

Aqualad learns of his past and his father and the dangerous people from Xebel, the penal world from which Mera hails. Will Aqualad accept his fate as the new champion of Atlantis, preventing a war between the surface world and Xebel?

This is Aqualad’s debut and origin issue although not all is clear. It seems like Mera’s sister is not his mother after all. Odd. This Aqualad, however, is quite refreshing compared to the previous one and much more powerful. Like everybody, I really liked the hard water constructs used for screens in the Aquacave. A lot about Aquaman’s origin has been changed recently. The whole Atlan and the magical parts he played seemed to have been removed from Aquaman’s past. I hope that is explained in the future. Of course the fight between Aquaman and Aqualad was to show us the extent of the kid’s powers. It wasn’t necessary and big cliché. I like the parts with Firestorm, even if they were short.

Reis is of course a great penciller. His Aquaman is solid, a necessity for such a story. The parts with Clark and Prado were also good, but not as solid and consistent. It’s not that the art was bad, it’s that it the mix was jarring.