| abstract | - At the end of "Blackest Night", 12 heroes and villains were resurrected for some unknown purpose. The events of Brightest Day follow the exploits of these heroes and villains as they attempt to learn the secret behind their salvation.
- Brightest Day is published by DC Comics. Cover price is $2.99.
- Brightest Day is a DC Comics event, beginning in April 2010 and lasting until 2011. Following the events of the Crisis Crossover Blackest Night, Brightest Day depicts the repercussions of the Black Lantern attack in the DC Universe, which has led to the resurrections of many previously killed off characters (collectively known as "The Twelve") and the dawning of a new age, referred to by many as "The Brightest Day" (in reference to the Green Lantern Corps oath). Unlike Fifty Two, Countdown to Final Crisis, or Trinity (all of which were big event storylines taking place between Crisis Crossovers that were published weekly), Brightest Day is divided up amongst many titles. Many, many titles. The core book itself is a 25 issue bi-weekly mini-series, as is the companion series Justice League: Generation Lost (with the 25th issues of both being extra-sized finales). Other titles also play a major role in the series, most notably the Green Lantern family of books. Also, several new books have been launched from the event, including a new Green Lantern title (Green Lantern: Emerald Warriors), relaunches for Green Arrow and Birds of Prey, and the return of Barry Allen to The Flash after over twenty years. Like with Fifty Two and other event storylines, there are multiple plot threads, in this case all sharing the theme of having a fresh start and a new lease on life. Most focus on the Twelve and missions given to them by the White Entity:
* Six of the Twelve are featured in the main series:
* Aquaman is reunited with his wife, struggling with his new power to control dead ocean life even as Mera's people hunt the two down to kill them. He has been tasked with finding Black Manta's son before others do in order to reseal the Bermuda Triangle to prevent rebel Atlanteans from laying siege to the surface world.
* Hawkman and Hawkgirl are on the trail of their archenemy Hath-Set, who has constructed a gateway from the corpses of the heroes' prior incarnations to a dimension called "Hawkworld". There, they meet Hawkgirl's evil Egyptian mother, who seek to use the two as bait to attract and merge with the Cosmic Entity of Love called "The Predator". They have to stop her from doing this, as well as find a way to nullify the resurrection curse placed upon them by Hath-Set.
* Martian Manhunter has gone home to try and restore Mars, but returns to Earth to deal with a murderous Green Martian who is targeting people close to the hero. He has been ordered to burn down the new forest; initially thought to be the one in Star City (see Green Arrow below), but later clarified to be the one he's been tending on Mars.
* Firestorm's two hosts, Ronnie Raymond and Jason Rusch, get stuck together, and it's not going well (for one thing, Jason hates Ronnie for killing his girlfriend as a Black Lantern). But there seems to be a third consciousness in the Firestorm Matrix... the taint of the Black Lantern ring has made it so that the Black Lantern Firestorm (now called Deathstorm) has become part of the Firestorm Matrix. Breaking free, Deathstorm merged with Jason's dad and Martin Stein and stole the White Lantern power battery; Jason and Ronnie must unite and work as a team in order to stop the Anti-Monitor from using the Lantern to increase his power.
* And Deadman is now a White Lantern, charged with helping the Twelve in order to help the Entity to live. Or rather, find a replacement for the already-dying Entity and save the Parliament of Trees from a Black Lantern-possessed Swamp Thing.
* The tie-in books follow the rest of the Twelve are as followed:
* The Flash: Barry Allen, like the Twelve, has recently returned to life thanks to the schemes of the time-traveling Twelve member Professor Zoom. While he's still readjusting to normal life, Captain Boomerang (another of the Twelve) has to prove himself to the rest of the Rogues. Zoom already completed his mission in resurrecting Allen, while Captain Boomerang is to launch a deadly assault on the superheroine Dove. While starting off with the "fresh start" feeling that most of the tie-ins shared, many of these issues were devoted to laying groundwork for the next big event, Flashpoint.
* Justice League of America: The newly resurrected Jade is offered a membership slot on the JLA, to replace Hal Jordan on the roster. Unfortunately, her return from the dead also brought back the Starheart, the source of power for herself and her father Alan Scott, the Golden Age Green Lantern. Now the Starheart has possessed Scott, turning him evil and leading to a team-up between the JLA and Justice Society of America to stop him. Jade was told to "balance the darkness" of her brother Obsidian in their fight against Scott.
* Justice League: Generation Lost: Max Lord has returned, and has made the entire world forget he existed. His job is to stop Anti-Hero Magog from sparking a worldwide war, but he's obviously not going to stop there. Only four surviving members of Justice League International (Booster Gold, Fire and Ice, and Captain Atom) remember the threat he poses, and they team up with legacies of other members Blue Beetle and Rocket Red while tracking him down. Has its own tie-ins with the Booster Gold and Power Girl series.
* Birds of Prey: The team is re-forming, with Hawk (one of the Twelve) and Dove (somehow connected to the White Light) as members. Like Flash, is a Red Skies Crossover, as Hawk and Dove's participation in the event occurs in the main Brightest Day book (where they assist Deadman) instead of in Birds. Hawk has been told to stop Captain Boomerang's attack on Dove.
* Titans: Deathstroke has formed his own mercenary version of the Titans, having murdered the current Atom as their first assignment. One of his recruits is the resurrected Osiris, who has been tasked with the job of restoring Isis to normal (something Deathstroke claims to be able to help with, though in the end it turns out to be lies). As such, Osiris quits the team and goes about his own quest to "free" his sister via mass destruction against evil doers.
* Brightest Day Aftermath: The Search for Swamp Thing: John Constantine has finally returned to reinteract with the wider DCU to inform them of the consequences of an actively protective Swamp Thing who punishes anyone who might "hurt the earth". But can anyone do anything about it? Other books feature other new beginnings and/or fallout from Blackest Night:
* The Green Lantern books are dealing with the new status quo involving multiple Lantern Corps, as well as a mysterious villain (eventually revealed as Krona) manipulating their enemies against them; these would lead into the Bat Family Crossover "War of the Green Lanterns", which will end the Brightest Day storylines in the Green Lantern books.
* The main book features most of "The New Guardians" (Hal Jordan, Carol Ferris, Sinestro, Atrocitus, Larfleeze, Saint Walker, and Indigo-1) looking for their corps' emotional entities before the mystery villain can capture them all.
* In Green Lantern Corps, John Stewart and Ganthet have joined Kyle Rayner as part of the Honor Guard. Their first mission involves dealing with the Cyborg-Superman, who has taken control of the Corps' Alpha Lanterns; followed by a Weaponer of Qward who has found a way to harness the power of the White Lantern.
* New book Green Lantern: Emerald Warriors features Guy Gardner, as part of a deal with Ganthet and Red Lantern Corps leader Atrocitus, going out to explore the unknown regions of space in order to locate someone that's quietly manipulating the Corps.
* War Of The Green Lanterns: Technically post-Brightest Day, but the conclusion of the event's storylines, "War of the Green Lanterns" sees Krona in control of all seven emotional entities, using Parallax to brainwash the entire Green Lantern Corps, and having the others possess the Guardians. Only a few (including the four Earth Lanterns and Ganthet) are able to resist, so they use rings of other-colored Lanterns to try and save the Corps. After many trials & tribulations, the war ends with John Stewart destroying Mogo, Sinestro being reinstated back into the Green Lantern Corps, and Hal Jordan exiled from the Corps because of his use of his ring to murder Krona.
* Green Arrow: Following the destruction of Star City in the Cry for Justice miniseries, the power of the White Lantern has caused a massive forest to grow out of the ruins. Green Arrow (exiled from Star City after murdering the villain responsible for the carnage) has set up shop in the forest, protecting innocents who venture into the area. While at first separate from the other storylines, the final batch of issues ties it into the main series as the new forest is strongly connected to Swamp Thing.
* Adventure Comics: Ray Palmer, after already starting to rebuild his life after his return in Final Crisis & role as an Indigo Lantern in Blackest Night, finds himself the target of a conspiracy which seeks to steal his shrinking technology and the white dwarf star matter which powers it. Along the way, he has to bring himself to face his father & uncle, who have found themselves targets in the process. Mainly a backup feature in Adventure Comics, the series had two book-end issues.
* Action Comics: Lex Luthor had A Taste of Power during Blackest Night, and in true Orange Lantern fashion he wants more. He seeks to create a Black Lantern Ring for himself using the full resources of his recently regained LexCorps Empire. Not officially part of the Brightest Day branding, but tied so closely to Blackest Night that it's worth including.
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