Justice League: No Justice #1 – Scott Snyder, James Tynion IV, Joshua Williamson, Writers; Francis Manapul, Artist; Hi-Fi, Colorist
Ratings:
Ray – 9/10
Corrina: EVENT TIME AGAIN. :SIGH:
WARNING: SPOILERS BELOW
Ray: DC is not letting us catch our breath, as only weeks after their last major event ended, it’s time for another one: Justice League: No Justice #1. Picking up directly from the ending of Dark Nights: Metal, this weekly miniseries by the writing team of Snyder, Tynion, and Williamson is a high-octane, thrilling old-school book that unites heroes and villains against a much bigger threat. Francis Manapul handles the art, and while it definitely looks a bit different from his work on Trinity (he doesn’t color it himself, giving it more of a traditional comic vibe as opposed to his usual painted quality), it’s still gorgeous. However, the story is stronger than I expected as well. Picking up as the Green Lanterns rally at the Source Wall to face off against whatever comes out, the story then zooms to Earth, where all the major teams are being targeted by Brainiac. One by one, their defenses are cracked, and they’re captured and taken off-world. As Amanda Waller leads the global defense against what looks like an invasion, the heroes find out it’s anything but.
Brainiac’s assembled an oddball group of heroes, including Martian Manhunter (seemingly his second-in-command) and explains that he’s actually building a team to defend his homeworld of Colu against a much bigger threat from beyond the Source Wall. Called the Omega Titans, they’re ancient, giant beings that resemble Marvel’s Celestials, and while they don’t leave much of an impression right away, they’re certainly imposing. The greatness of this comic is in the interplay between the various characters. Beast Boy’s way of welcoming himself to “Team Bat” is one of the funniest things I’ve seen in a while, and it only gets better when Brainiac brings in the bad guys. Luthor makes an effective foil to the heroes, but the star of the villains is Starro – every bit the crazed multiversal conqueror he ever was. The issue ends with Waller making things MUCH worse, and we only need to wait a week for the next chapter. As exciting as this first issue was, that’s still too long!
Corrina: Yes, this is a great BIG event comic. The threat of the breach in the Source Wall provides a good excuse for Brainiac to kidnap Earth’s heroes and sort them into their Hogwarts houses, er, original Titan-type. It also looks fantastic, especially the sequences inside Brainiac’s spaceship, and there’s a terrific two-page spread with a gazillion (well, it seems) panels in the beginning that checks in on all our heroes.
But the downside of event comics is that each one can be boiled down to “wait, the universe is at stake!” Right. The entire multiverse is in danger. Must be Tuesday. So what makes this one different?
Not much. The last big even for the DC heroes was the dark multiverse. Now it’s these four original gods/Titans on the other side of the Source
What is fun about event comics is throwing our heroes together in unusual combinations. (It is the same thing that should be fun about Avengers: Infinity War but I will save that article for another day.) Unfortunately, those interactions are okay but not great. It is like a Silver Age team-up, except those team-ups were crazy, wild, and ridiculous (look Cary Bates wants to conquer the world!) and the tone of No Justice is too serious to be that fun.
It looks gorgeous. It’s got everybody in it. It has a decent premise. And I found it lacking in emotions or feels, meaning I finished it less with a sense of wonder and more with a “yeah here we go again” vibe.
Also, Waller is being totally evil again, kidnapping good people and screwing with the minds. I super-hate this version of Amanda Waller.
To find reviews of all the DC issues, visit DC This Week.
Disclaimer: GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.
