Justice League #31 – Scott Snyder, James Tynion IV, Writers; Jorge Jimenez, Artist; Alejandro Sanchez, Colorist
Ratings:
Ray – 8.5/10
Ray: It’s rare that an ongoing series spinning out of a major event is bigger and more epic than the event it comes from, but Snyder and Tynion’s Justice League run takes the world of Dark Knights: Metal and spins it out into a saga encompassing, time, space, and alternate realities. When we last left off, the Justice League has been split into three teams, with one manning the home front, one heading into the future where they encountered Kamandi and their allies, and one squad heading to the past where they encounter the classic Justice Society of America.
That’s a lot to juggle in one issue, but the creative team pulls it off and gives all three timelines an effective story – even as the present-day squad starts to fray in the aftermath of J’onn’s apparent death. While Starman wants to focus on tracking down the remaining pieces of the Totality, Hawkgirl is becoming more militant and wants to hunt down Lex Luthor and assassinate him. And poor Jarro and Shayne are caught in the middle.
It’s the past and future segments that will get people talking, as the Justice Society segment features characters who haven’t appeared in a long time, like the original Hourman and Atom. The JSA is suspicious of this weird group of visitors, but the current Flash and Green Lantern are able to find common ground with their counterparts and pursue the Totality – which happens to be on a certain Hawaiian naval base on an inconvenient date.
In the future, meanwhile, the Trinity is able to partner with Kamandi quickly, but they quickly find a more dangerous enemy in the form of Brainiac – who has now taken to bottling possible futures, not cities. And then there’s the ending, featuring the Anti-Monitor and an unexpected hero who has been absent for a while. There’s so much going on in this series that it can be a little hard to keep track, but it always delivers an exciting read. And Jarro’s “Radical Teen” phase is officially the best thing.
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Disclaimer: GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.
