Justice League #16 Review

Written by: Bryan Hitch
Art by: Fernando Pasarin, Matt Ryan, Brad Anderson and Richard Starkings
Cover Price: $2.99
Release Date: March 1, 2017

I know I haven't been too kind on the Justice League book since Rebirth started, but to be honest, it's hard to find more than a handful of fans on board with what Bryan Hitch has been cooking.  I could go into the usual list of the usual suspects, but instead I will tell you that the first issue of this Timeless arc may not have been as bad as some (including myself) thought.  Sure, it was a bit of a convoluted mess, without proper setup and hokey dialogue (stay with me here), but underneath all that seemed to be a story waiting for a cool kid to notice it, dress it up in hip clothes and She's All That it.  Time travel stories can be difficult at times, but when you throw characters and plot devices from your past books (JLA) and don't properly explain them, it's really hard to get off on the right foot or any for that matter.  However, having the Justice League spread out through time and space at "points of power" to save the superhero way of life sounds cool and the art was pretty kick ass.  So, does Part Two give us some much needed background and information to turn this story rightside up?  Let's find out...


The issue starts "about fifteen minutes ago" and while it doesn't fix all the time problems I had with the first issue like why Batman and Superman didn't accompany the other Leaguers to the U.N., the rest of the scene is pretty good.

We see the Infinity Corps tell Batman the what's what, see that everyone is aware of what is going on and find out Superman is the key to save everyone.  The best part is when Batman leaves to convince Superman to join them and we finally see what everyone who read JLA into this book always suspected...the Infinity Corps is not who they say they are.  I know that people will point towards Watchmen here, but I'm not making any crazy theories just yet.

We then head off to ancient (and dry) Atlantis where Arthur is undergoing a trial by burning...or lack of it.  Of course Aquaman passes with flying colors and not even the singing crystals of the Kindred story could bring me down.

We then head off to see the Green Lanterns in the 26th century as they deal with the Earth Corps.  After some show of power (and a glaring sign that Hitch has no idea what's going on in current GL continuity), Simon and Jessica seem destined to be the Light to a struggling Earth.  

We then head back to Infinity Corp and a Superman that looks nothing like any Superman I've ever seen.  I liked Fernando Pasarin's art in this issue, but not this panel.  It's a little nitpick and I got over it as we see that Molly has sent a message to all of the Justice League that gets us more up to speed and points the heroes toward their upcoming battle.  The upcoming battle that is about to start!

After Superman can't get a straight answer about Lois and Jon's survival, he takes matters in his own hands.  In a surprisingly good issue, this is where things start losing a bit of steam. After getting a bunch of "I don't knows" and "we can't tell you's"from the Infinity Corps, Superman finds out where the Timeless' central hub is and goes for a little meet and greet.

After a page or two of what seemed like filler to this reviewer, Superman gets where he needs to be, flexes his muscles a bit and comes face to face with...did you really think I was going to spoil it?  I would say that it's an awesome cliffhanger, but while it seems cool, it's a bit too confusing for me to say much at all.  Maybe the Timeless aren't the bad guys...maybe they still are...maybe I'm just a moron...maybe it's all of the above!

The surprise issue of the week goes to...Justice League!  It's not perfect, there are some continuity issues and the story is much more setup than I expected going in, but overall, this may be the best we've gotten from Hitch's whole Rebirth run.  I am actually excited to see how this battle turns out and what Superman's part ends up being.

Bits and Pieces:

I liked this issue of Justice League.  Yea, I'm as surprised as everyone else, but I'm not going to fake the funk.  Bryan Hitch sets up his story way better than the first issue did and everything we got here has me excited going forward.  I can't say this is a jumping on (or jumping back) point for readers, but stay tuned, maybe there is hope afterall.

8.0/10