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Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Brightest Day Promo Poster - 2010

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This image has been making the rounds ever since it showed up on teh internets on Monday--a promo image by Ivan Reis and Joe Prado (cleverly reworking the Peter Blume painting "The Rock") which was sent to me by several F.O.A.M. members.

Maybe its just me, but I'm not sure what to think of this--in this big splashy shot promoting DC's big crossover event, and where's Aquaman? He's that dessicated corpse in the middle. Eep.

One thing that's interesting about this is how much Brightest Day is sticking to its core characters, most of whom are not DC's "big guns"--I mean, check this poster out--not a Superman or Batman or Flash to be seen! That's progress, of a sort.

And I've said this numerous times, but--wow its great to have Mera becoming such a big deal in the DCU. She's been criminally undervalued for decades (something her and her husband have in common) and its great to see her have such a prominent role in the series and in its promotional material. How long until we start seeing throngs of cosplay Meras at comic cons?

7 comments:

Joe Slab said...

I love this piece and hope to get a poster of it from SDCC!

Geoff Johns seems to be making good on his promise to put Aquaman and his cast of characters front and center in the DCU and we can see that here from the positioning of Black Lantern Aquaman, Mera, Black Manta, and Aqualad.

And don't worry rob!, yes Aquaman is not doing too well in this image, but I believe the real payoff for Arthur will be towards the conclusion of Brightest Day when he has resolved his past issues and defeated his dark demons...my hope is then we will see a new AQUAMAN #1!

Wooly Rupert said...

I'm not loving that tagline. "Sometimes the light reveals the darkest secrets" Uh...I'm pretty sure light always removes darkness. Did that really need to be there?

Also, color me crazy, but I never found Mera to be all that important. To me she was always the crazy ex of Aquaman. Granted I never read the old comics and a LOT of my affection for Aquaman is from cartoons and action figures. To each their own I guess.

rob! said...

Wooly-

Agree about the tagline.

Re: Mera--see, that's EXACTLY the perception us old school Aquaman fans have been fighting against for so long! Mera was a great character, a wonderful addition to Aquaman and the DCU, but she mostly has been "crazy Mera" for the last 20 years so most younger fans can't see what the big deal is. We're really happy Johns is bringing her back to prominence!

Rock said...

@wooley...

No surprise you never found Mera important, you never read the comics. Her only big appearances outside of comics are minimal, she only made cameos twice in jlu and twice in Batman brave and bold. Neither showing off her true power.

Blackest Night and Brightest Day are the first books to showcase her abilities for the general public.

HollyH said...

Huh. That's an... interesting image. (I'm really glad you linked to the painting it's based on! I love stuff like that.)

What I notice immediately actually is that not only is Aquaman the dessicated corpse in the center, but... the corpse is back in the Black Lantern Aquaman costume (black pants with the odd white lines on them, and a BL belt buckle). Granted, Aquaman just morphed magically into his current (based on his classic) costume when the White Lantern did its thing, so clearly magical costume changes are to be expected. It's just what my brain gets stuck on, I guess.

Anyway -- it's great to see both Mera and the new Aqualad so prominently positioned, even if it's being implied that they're on the "bad" side (I guess?). And, if I was a big Green Arrow fan, I might be peeved that he doesn't appear at all in this poster except for some green arrows in the tree that J'onn is stoking a fire under.

It sure is a gorgeous image, though.

Unknown said...

I just can't believe they're trotting out the Anti-Monitor again. :P

Andy Luckett said...

"Hmmmm" kind of sums up my feelings about this piece(which is great to look at, as is the painting it's based on).

I have a feeling that many of these character's "fates" as depicted here may be more symbolic of their current and upcoming issues rather than their final forms at the end of the story.

For example, we've already seen that Aquaman is having lingering effects from his time as a Black Lantern, the Hawks are currently being menaced in Hawkworld, etc. I just find it hard to believe that after bringing these guys back, DC would choose to kill/destroy them again, especially with Geoff John's recent comments to Newsarama.

So, I'm cautiously optimistic, but I'm itchin' like a fiend to find out what happens next. Brightest Day is an instant read every time I get home from buying a new issue.