Justice League #68 – Brian Michael Bendis, Ram V, Writers; Scott Godlewski, Sumit Kumar, Artists; Gabe Eltaeb, Nick Filardi, Colorists
Ray – 8/10
Ray: Bendis continues to be great at dialogue and not so great at action and plotting, which works for a quirkier Justice League book. At times the banter in this run seems to approach the level of the iconic Bwa-ha-ha League, but with higher stakes. That also means that sometimes he can undercut his own plots, as tension seems to get defused very quickly. Last issue saw Superman face off with the new United Planets super-team as they demanded to take custody of the Phantom Zone—only for one of their members to remind them that Superman was a founding member of the UP and could just be deputized to keep it. Likewise, the destruction of the League’s base causes some discussion—and is then quickly rebuilt at super-speed.
The main plot seems over very quickly, and then it’s on to the other story that hasn’t always been a natural fit for the book—the crossover with Checkmate. Daemon Rose, aka Leo Lane, is on the run from an army of Deathstrokes that don’t have the intimidation level of the real deal but are still plenty deadly. This story is basically hard-boiled spycraft, and that’s why it’s not a great fit for the narrative. Bendis’ snarky dialogue often really undercuts scenes of characters battling for survival, and the cliffhanger here seems rather casual given the stakes. Still, this is a fun group of characters and Bendis is covering a lot of ground in the DCU and finding space for smaller moments and under-used characters.
The Justice League Dark story by V and Kumar continues to be the smoother of the two stories, with a high-intensity underwater battle against Merlin. Characters like Constantine, Etrigan, and Ragman are literally out of their element as Zatanna battles for her life against the mad wizard, and some of the art is truly stunning. But while Merlin is the big threat here, he’s not the only one—this installment ends with the return of one of the most terrifying threats in the DCU as the scale of the book only keeps building.
To find reviews of all the DC issues, visit DC This Week.
GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.
