If you recently read my article about the worst comic books ever, you might have noticed most of them were complaining about immature depictions of sex and violence. A number of comic fans share my sentiments that murder and childish depictions of sex do not equal mature (in fact, many even more so) and were heartened to see that DC Comics follow up to Blackest Night would, appropriately, be Brightest Day.
Much like with Marvel's Age of Heroes, the assumption was that it would usher in a new age of goodwill and family friendly comics. Once people started reading the new issues of Brightest Day, what we got were two issues in a row of pretty blatant, senseless murder.
Suffice to say, I was put off. The sequence above, of a mother murdering her family, is both graphic and extremely unpleasant. It felt gratuitous and, more than anything, I just plain felt uncomfortable. But it also got me thinking: why exactly did I think that Brightest Day would be such a joy fest?
After all, DC never promised it would be uplifting or an end to violence. The only thing they really flat out told us was that it was going to end the cycle of constant death and resurrection that have been a near weekly occurrence in the pages of DC's books. No word on changing the status quo on violence.
And really, it is my own fault. Blackest Night was one of the goriest, most violent mainstream books to hit the shelves. The villains were constantly ripping vital organs out of characters big and small. To use the most violent book in the world to lead into a kinder, gentler era of all-age fun wouldn't just be stupid, it would be potentially damaging.
How would DC sell their continuity to the supposedly family friendly readership of their new, cuddly title? "Oh, yes, this horror show of a comic brought about the return of Silver Age wackiness. No, no, no, you should really read up on how the Hawks got their hearts ripped out so you can understand what's going on here."
In the end, the only people trying to fool us in regards to Brightest Day's content is ourselves. I've made my peace with DC not being as sweet-natured as I'd like. There are plenty of books where violence is handled tastefully and sex isn't presented as a juvenile fantasy. And if I'm really hard up for cuteness, there's always Tiny Titans.
But I won't make a mistake of assuming anything about an entire series based on the title again any time soon.
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