Justice League #18 Review

Bad Brains

Writer: James Tynion IV
Artist: Pasqual Ferry, Hi-Fi, and Tom Napolitano
Publisher: DC Comics
Release Date: February 20, 2019
Cover Price: $3.99

The Justice League is obviously the place to be for the big goings-on in the DCU and while I have been enjoying it, for the most part, I still feel like I haven't gotten my footing completely.  That may seem damning for a series on its eighteenth issue, but that has been a bit of the fun...a bit a said.  The other bits have been frustrating and I need Snyder and Tynion to fill me in on some major pieces of information before I start giving this close to perfect marks.  Does this Legion of Doom issue get us closer?  Let's find out...

The issue opens in the awesome looking Legion of Doom HQ where Lex Luthor and Brainiac are about to put their heads together to figure out how to wake up Perpetua.  Yep, she came back last issue, but she is still dormant.

We quickly get Luthor and Brainiac "Of the Mind" and find out that Brainiac hasn't exactly been on the up and up/  He wants Perpetua and her power all for himself and that doesn't sit well with Lex.  You see, Brainiac is acting like a caveman turned immortal who converted the power of the Totality back in the day and with that...story time!

I have enjoyed the Legion of Doom breaks throughout this series, but with Tynion taking over more and more of the other issues, this doesn't have that special feeling it did at the beginning of the series.  That and the fact that Tynion seems to want to overexplain everything that pops up made this issue a bit of a slog to get through. 

I am a Vandal Savage fan, though, so it's cool to see him again.  However, knowing how his story ends (for now?) makes this just extra flavor to the meal we already ate a while back.  Yea, it fills in some blanks but they were blanks we really didn't notice and didn't really need to be filled in.  Once Lionel Luthor joins in, things do pick up, but again, it just feels like a Director's Cut of the story we already know and while we almost got a rundown of all the Forces...we didn't even get that.

The best part is near the end when it is once again revealed that Luthor is one of the most cunning and brilliant minds in the Universe, but that just leads to a cliffhanger that felt like it should have been the start of the issue, not the end. 

There really is nothing new to see here.  Luthor gets Brainiac on the Doom Trolley and away they go.  The rest is all filler...yea, there are some cool ideas at play, but it is still 100% filler. 

I loved the look of this issue.  It was more of a cartoony look than what we've gotten recently and that was okay with me.  I especially liked the look of Vandal Savage during his part.

Bits and Pieces:

This Legion of Doom issue gives an expanded look at a lot of stuff we already know and while it gets the bad guys on the same page, it didn't need a whole issue to do it.  I really liked the art, but this one just didn't feel necessary in the overall scheme of things.

6.0/10