Quest's End
Release Date: October 20, 2020
Ever since this title became important again and just wasn't telling random "Tales of the Justice League" stories, I've been enjoying what we've been getting and really dig the idea of making a new Death Metal Justice League team for this tie-in. Pretty much, I just enjoy seeing our heroes win for a change, which never really happened in the lead up to Death Metal or even in the event itself and these tie-in issues are doing something interesting for the overall story. That being said, let's see if my optimism for this continues after this issue. Let's check it out.
While this issue continues the "Lord of the Rings" feel in our team's quest to get to Brimstone Bay and takeout Perpetua's throne by freeing the Legion of Doom members that I thought was interesting initially, the cracks in this concept start to show here as we move past the dangers of this quest, which was really just the Valley of Starros and they immediately get to where they are going..... On a pirate ship no, that Lex had built was just keeping docked in their direction. Yeah, there are some decent moments in the action where Lex and Nightwing have to get their friends to see reality and break the Starro connection, but the fun of this concept feels like it was used up the last issue and the rehash of it here just seems too long and pointless, especially when by the end of the issue we Batman/Martian Manhunter and an Omega Titan to contend with.
Not to mention the odd character choices here where we want to focus on Hawkgirl's connection to Martian Manhunter, who they're closing the gap on with his quest to take out Perpetua's throne, because while Lex Luthor is the guide on this quest, he's flip-flopping back and forth between hating Hawkgirl's commitment, to talking her up to the rest of the team, to realizing they're all doomed. It's all in your face, all at once by the end of this issue and it's the classic "Darkest Before The Dawn" situation that we've been getting from the Metal series, which in my mind includes all of Snyder's run of JL leading into this, that I feel is wearing thin. So yeah, there's not much to this issue since it's only there to get us to our destination immediately and to set up some big ass action in the next issue....... hopefully.
All in all, I enjoyed the art in this issue a lot, but wish that the Legion of Doom being a part of Perpetua's throne wouldn't constantly be changed by whoever is working on the story because here we see Brainiac attached to it like a Dark Multiverse antenna when he was supposed to be changed into the throne itself. Yeah, that's a bit nitpicky, but I would like some consistency with a story that just keeps moving forward without much explanation. Again, the art is fine, but the story just moves too fast, and this team and mission that I was initially excited for just kind of moves past all the interesting parts of the journey to get us at our climax, and ultimately, I just wanted more out of exploring this strange new Metalverse.
Bits and Pieces:
This story which was fun as a concept kind of falls flat for me here as we just get to the end of our journey and discover that we're all doomed like we get over and over again from the Metal stories and while it might lead to a fun action sequence in the next issue, all the interesting parts to what this team and scenario could have been was put on fast forward, losing all the fun aspects of seeing the Metalverse. The art was good though and this could lead to great things next issue, but this one didn't do it for me.
I'm enjoying these issues mostly because I'm a huge fan of the Wolfman era Titans. My only complaint is that the issues read way too quick but that can be said for most comics today.
ReplyDeleteI do have one question: is Cyborg's dad alive in current continuity? He was alive in Rebirth but obviously reality shifted at some point. and I noticed a c
Unless he died off panel during Death Metal, he should still be alive.
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