The Odd Gods
Writer: James Tynion IV
Art: Frazer Irving and Bruno Redondo
Colors: Irving and Sunny Gho
Letters: Tom Napolitano
Cover: Jorge Jimenez and Alejandro Sanchez
Variant Cover: Lucio Parillo
Associate Editor: Rob Levin
Editor: Paul Kaminski
Group Editor: Marie Javins
Cover Price: $3.99
On Sale Date: November 21, 2018
**NON SPOILERS AND SCORE AT THE BOTTOM**
The Earth, she’s-a still drowned. Maybe a gigantic fluffy towel could solve this problem? Maybe they’ll give it a shot in Justice League #12, which I have reviewed for your convenience!
Explain It!
Almost every spot on Earth is waterlogged, except for the Tomb of Arion—and it’s filling up rapidly! Mera is doing her best to hold back the evil water and its murderous denizens, but her powers are faltering. And Flash is starting to turn into the Creature From the Black Lagoon! Meanwhile at the Hall of Justice, the Legion of Doom have breached its walls, and now Cheetah and Luthor are prepared to snatch up the Totality, that chunk of the Source Wall that Batman’s been protecting with his life. Speaking of whom, Batman is elsewhere in the Hall of Justice, wearing a prototype of Luthor’s armor in order move his broken body around, is beating the crap out of the rest of the Legion.
In the Graveyard of the Gods, there’s an art change so stark that you might think an entirely different comic book has been mistakenly printed within the pages of Justice League. Wonder Woman and Aquaman are beating up Poseidon, because he killed Aquaman in the last issue, but clearly he’s okay now, so what’s the beef? Poseidon explains that he is the one at fault here; Arion the Ancient Atlantean wanted to make peace with these Ocean Lords, but Poseidon was jealous and convinced Arion to banish them, which was, in turn, his own undoing. We return to the Hall of Justice briefly to revisit the previously used art style, and to watch the Legion of Doom teleport away once Luthor has his hands on the Totality.
Back in Arion’s Tomb…boy, things get confusing here, the storytelling just falls apart completely here. Mera is able to grab some more of the Tear of Extinction and fashions it into a blade that skewers the attendant Ocean Lord. Now scared, he orders a retreat, to which Black Manta begrudgingly abides. In the Graveyard of the Gods, Poseidon gives Aquaman his trident so he won’t be jealous that his girlfriend has a weapon when he doesn’t. Back in the Blood Reef, Black Manta communes with the heads of the Ocean Lords about the other beasts they bred, who spew oceans of necrotic death. And then, he releases one! And yes, he says, “Release the Death Kraken.”
There were a couple of exciting scenes in this issue, but the art change, which wasn’t consistent to the scenes being portrayed, really threw me for a loop. It goes from a more standard comic book plotting to something you might see in a Vertigo comic, more suggestive and requiring a thorough read of the copy. That was really my problem with this issue, the acquiring of maguffins to reach the end of this crossover was a foregone conclusion. This is a rare case where having two artists on a book really hurt the final product.
Bits and Pieces:
Things move along on the three fronts being told in this crossover, but a change to the art style mid-issue could take the reader right out of it. It was nice to see Batman dole out some beatdowns.
4.5/10
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