Justice League Odyssey #11 – Dan Abnett, Writer; Will Conrad, Artist; Ivan Plascencia, Pete Pantazis, Colorist
Ratings:
Ray – 7/10
The first year of Justice League Odyssey has seen two writers and close to a dozen artists, but it’s all built to this moment in Justice League Odyssey #11– as the makeshift Justice League team and Darkseid battle to outfox each other in the competition for a complicated cosmic power that will let them remake the Ghost Sector. They’ve had multiple adventures to get pieces of the artifact of Sepulkore, but along the way, three members of the team have been tempted by ultimate power and had their abilities massively upgraded – which makes Jessica Cruz more than a little suspicious as to their true allegiances. Now, Darkseid intends to use the artifacts to regain his current power, and Cyborg has been tasked with wresting control from him thanks to his link to the technology. It’s certainly a high-stakes story, but the problem is that the first half of the issue is devoted to little more than Darkseid monologuing about exactly how this power works.
Things pick up in the second half, as the team begins to tear itself apart debating their best next move. Cyborg’s powers are acting up, which makes many people suspect that he may not exactly be acting under his own power. The last segment of the issue is essentially a two-character play as Darkseid and Cyborg confront each other and Darkseid reveals that he’s far from the patsy he’s appeared to be for much of his run.
However, I can’t say I’m thrilled at the idea of yet another story about how Cyborg’s machine half is evil and taking him over. The character was designed to be an allegory for amputees, not for a creeping technological takeover and the fact that writers keep coming back to this continues to convince me that Cyborg was elevated to lead character without anyone having a clear long-term plan for what to do with him.
To find reviews of all the DC issues, visit DC This Week.
Disclaimer: GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.
