DC This Week Roundup — ‘Justice League,’ ‘Justice League Odyssey,’ ‘The Batman’s Grave’

Justice League #46 – Robert Venditti, Writer; Xermanico, Robson Rocha, Artists; Daniel Henriques, Inker; Romulo Fajardo Jr, Colorist

Ray – 7.5/10

Ray: Robert Venditti’s run continues with an action-packed issue that finds the Justice League making an unauthorized stop on Themyscira. The Amazons are none too pleased to see the men and threaten them until Hippolyta steps in—but the Spectre’s continued influence soon sends the Amazons into a blood frenzy, and much of the issue is devoted to keeping the trained warriors from killing them or each other. It provides some great action scenes, but there is very little meat to the issue until the last few scenes when the heroes finally find Jim Corrigan at the gate to Tartarus. It seems he’s untouchable even there, as the Spectre’s hold over him gives him protection from the monsters, and given his desperation to die, this has driven him more than a little insane. The reveal of the true villain of the arc is dramatic, but this story so far has had a lot of flash and relatively little meat.

Justice League Odyssey #21 – Dan Abnett, Writer; Will Conrad, Artist; Rain Beredo, Colorist

Ray – 8/10

Ray: This title has been building towards a massive showdown for a long time, and it’s finally here. Dan Abnett’s run has been at its strongest when it focuses on the ragtag group of space heroes still standing against Darkseid, and the opening page—with Dex-Starr being a cat and playing with time orbs again—is a fun little prelude to Darkseid’s invasion. Basically every plot thread from the series, including the savage Eskaton, comes here in an issue-long battle sequence that involves three forms of Epoch. But even as Darkseid is finally—maybe—defeated, there’s the lingering question of Epoch and his massively dangerous plan to rewrite the universe. It all builds to a showdown between him and Jessica Cruz that’s more dramatic for just how anticlimactic it is. It’s another seemingly hopeless spot for Jessica, which I’m sure she’ll get out of quicker than expected. Still a fun, solid read even if it feels like it should be wrapping soon.

The Batman’s Grave #7 – Warren Ellis, Writer; Bryan Hitch, Artist; Alex Sinclair, Colorist

Ray – 7.5/10

Ray: After an extended hiatus, Warren Ellis’ and Bryan Hitch’s side-of-continuity Batman epic returns for its second half. It’s still an odd book—it essentially feels like a collection of random Batman perils strung together by a vague mystery and some entertaining dialogue from Alfred. Batman finishes up at the GCPD and is greeted by the Batmobile exploding. This leads to some funny scenes where he has to walk home, and some very droll comments from Alfred—although he has an even more powerful Bat-tank in waiting. A new villain is introduced, a ruthless Serbian mercenary who has been dispatched to finish Batman off and has been sending him messages. The action at the second half of the issue is fun, although it feels awfully Miller-esque at times, especially the last page. It looks fantastic, but I’m still not sure it’s coming together as a coherent story.

To find reviews of all the DC issues, visit DC This Week.

GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.