Writer: Dan Abnett
Art: Cliff Richards
Colors: Rain Beredo
Letters: Andworld Design
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: June 9th, 2020
Darkseid is... here. Jesus. It's about damn time. Seriously. Godamnit.
The first page of the issue is great because it has Dex-Starr sitting on a console with the balls of the different continuities, and when Epoch asks where the Brax continuity is he just rolls it over the edge where Epoch picks it up and thanks to him. Good kitty.
But then, right away, it's a splash page of Darkseid and his new New Gods coming on the attack within the Ghost Sector. And that's what most of this issue is: the team trying to figure out what to do while Darkseid and his crew come at them. Epoch insists on going through with his plan (use the revision mechanism to recreate time) while Jessica believes that they shouldn't and that they need to take advantage of the situation.
She says that Darkseid is there to use the revision mechanism for himself, which means they have the advantage because he will not want to destroy it, while they have no choice but to stop him from using it. Jessica is able to convince Orion that they need to just blow their load here, so when Darkseid and his minions finally make it to the ship their plan goes into place. It's a pretty sweet battle with great art and a lot of ugly ass para-angels.
A big part of their plan though, as Orion explains, is that they simply put up a good fight. If it's clear that those who Darkseid sent into battle won't succeed then Darkseid will just show up and finish it himself. And that's exactly what he does. During this whole thing, Epoch has called on two different versions of himself from different timelines (one is "presently self" and the other is "recent self") to help, just Darkseid's boys just take them both out like they were nothing.
Yet! Darkseid has been lured out! And now it's time that out JLO team unleash their secret weapon... the Eskaton. And when they do, Darkseid kinda poops his pants.
Bits and Pieces
The art is excellent, there's lots of action, and there's plenty of work for the artist due to the number of participants in said action (Darkseid brought A LOT of his homeboys). The story legit feels like a piece of a climax and you can see that there are stakes here. This is one of the very good issues in a roller coaster of a title that I've so badly wanted to be consistently good. We can get so jaded by so many things for so many reasons, but this issue felt like... yeah man, I'm reading a comic book. "Eff you, Darkseid! Beat his ass, Jessica! Go, good guys!"
The art is excellent, there's lots of action, and there's plenty of work for the artist due to the number of participants in said action (Darkseid brought A LOT of his homeboys). The story legit feels like a piece of a climax and you can see that there are stakes here. This is one of the very good issues in a roller coaster of a title that I've so badly wanted to be consistently good. We can get so jaded by so many things for so many reasons, but this issue felt like... yeah man, I'm reading a comic book. "Eff you, Darkseid! Beat his ass, Jessica! Go, good guys!"
8/10
Thank you for the review. This is a bit of rant so bear with me. I honestly can't wait for this series to just be over so long as Darkseid comes out the other end. The series is a mess riddled with many issues, Darkseid's plan to begin with, everyone believing him, Jessica Cruz acting like the Justice League is a recognized authority out in space, but the biggest is Epoch's Revision Mechanism and the reasoning Jessica gives for why he shouldn't use it. Hear me out, her reasoning is that Epoch is a man, which is hard to say since he's essentially an over-analytical Time Lord with cool armor, while Darkseid is a God. Which is BS to me since DC and Marvel are flippant on what makes someone a deity almost every issue of every series involving one. Aquaman had Gods of the Sea just recently, the Justice League were dealing with Perpetual who's a cosmic goddess, etc. But they never clarify on what it really means to be one other than overly powerful. Now if she based her reasoning on Darkseid's skills as an even analyst, master planner, engineer, all of which were displayed in the series or even and his actual history of pursuing the elusive Anti-Life Equation, then that would hold up better. But simply stating, "He's a God" and Epoch is human, isn't enough, certainly not for a DC comic story when mortal geniuses like Lex Luthor and others tend to outsmart Gods or beings higher than Gods all the time.
ReplyDeleteI may sound mean but this book always felt like it wanted to be something else other than Justice League Space Team, like say a Green Lantern Corp or New Gods series. The latter of which would be welcomed since we STILL have no clue what happened to them other than they vanished.