Justice League #22 Review

Legion of Gloom

Writer: James Tynion IV
Artist: Francis Manapul
Release Date: April 17, 2019
Cover Price: $3.99

I have really been enjoying this Justice League book recently and while I was all into these Legion of Doom issues at the beginning of the series, I kind of wish they weren't a thing anymore.  I'm saying that even though I know that we will probably get some vital bits of information going over to the villain side of things this week, it's just that I hate to break up the momentum that Scotty Snyder has built since this 6th dimension story started.  Oh well, I usually don't get what I want in life and maybe, James Tynion will impress me this time out.  Let's find out...


The issue opens with Perpetua, the Legion of Doom, what little Justice League was left on our Earth and a whole lot of narration and dialogue.  We do get an awesome guest star that was hinted at before and is the perfect addition to a book with Mixy in it, but a lot of the exposition going on is about things we already know.  This has been my biggest problem any time Tynion gets involved in this book...he says a whole lot, but at points it feels like it's just taking up space.

We move on with more of the same.  Page after page of Perpetua and her sons, but instead of clearing things up completely, we get half answers thrown out there with more questions and reading it, I felt like MC Skat Kat...two steps forward, two steps back.  We see the beginnings of the Multiverse, Barbatos, and Earth which is cool but feels more like filler than it should.  

We continue that trend when actual see what we already know...The World Forger, Monitor and Anti-Monitor going against their mother for her Doom ways and sealing her in the Source Wall.  We end with Perpetua telling the reader that everything is beginning now, but by then I was pretty drained from just reading this issue.

This issue was a total slog to get through.  It felt like I was being lectured to and I was pretty convinced by the end that Tynion might give us all a pop quiz.  Every last bit of momentum and energy that was building in this series felt crushed under the weight of the narration boxes and word balloons in this issue and I really hope these Legion of Doom issues end soon...or get back to being fun asides like they started out as.  Speaking of fun, why give Batmite facetime here and do nothing with him.  He could have at least been fun in an issue devoid of anything resembling a good time!

I did like the art in this issue, but I consider myself a Francis Manapul fanboy and love whenever he shows up for an issue or two.

Bits and Pieces:

This issue slams on the breaks to any good time momentum this book has been building lately.  I liked Francis Manapul's art, but the issue itself was wordy to the extreme yet still didn't give us a lot of new information.  I used to look forward to the Legion of Doom issues earlier on in the series, but this after this one, I may have to skip them going forward.

5.0/10