Justice League #55 – Joshua Williamson, Writer; Robson Rocha, Penciller; Daniel Henriques, Inker; Romulo Fajardo Jr, Colorist
Ray – 9/10
Ray: This tie-in has sort of slipped under the radar compared to the main miniseries and one-shots, but Joshua Williamson has been telling a tense and creepy story that works as a great complement to Dark Nights: Death Metal. When we last left off, the team of Nightwing, Starfire, Cyborg, and Detective Chimp had found themselves trapped in a sea of Starros, which manage to trap them all in fantasy realities that lull them into a false sense of contentment. Lex Luthor, their reluctant ally, managed to pull Nightwing out of it and work on the rest, but their traps are harder to break. I find it amusing that Cyborg and Starfire spent half of Justice League Odyssey as Darkseid puppets, and they came back to Earth just in time to be brainwashed again. However, the real emotional high of this issue is Detective Chimp’s segment, as the grieving detective is reluctant to leave his fantasy world and lashes out against his allies when pulled out. It’s a more in-depth look at grief in a fantasy world than I’ve seen in a while.
Robson Rocha is one of those DC artists who has been hanging around for a while but gets better with every issue. He’s a great choice to depict a twisted hell world, and this story has a lot of clever touches like the reveal of just how the giant Starros are possessing the people without ever touching them. I like the sense of real tension between the team, especially where Luthor was concerned. I was a little confused by Luthor naming his boat Lana—did the team mean Lena, after his sister? The first half of this issue is pretty character-driven, but it picks up in a big way towards the last act as the heroes begin storming Perpetua’s base. The presence of the Omega Titan is a great and easy way to up the stakes in a hurry, and the reunion between Hawkgirl and Martian Manhunter…well, we can kind of predict it’s not going to go well. So far, all the tie-ins have been working together neatly to create a bigger picture of a truly epic event.
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GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.
