DC Comics reviews for 12/28/16 Detective Comics #947, The Flash #13
Justice League vs The Suicide Squad #2
The first issue of Justice League and Suicide Squad played out fairly straightforward, but with its second issue, the crossover takes some very surprising and exciting turns.
On paper, the Suicide Squad are desperately outmatched by the Justice League. Writer Joshua Williamson lets that expected scenario play out at the start of the issue before shifting that theory on its head when he pairs the team members off.
The most unexpectedly interesting match-up was Aquaman vs Killer Croc. Wonder Woman’s battle with Harley Quinn had some nice surprises in how it played out as well. Williamson definitely had to dumb down some of the Justice League members to create some semblance of a fair fight. Then again, it wouldn’t be much of a superteam crossover played out in a predictable manner.
Meanwhile, Maxwell Lord is plotting his revenge against Amanda Waller with his own super squad. Two members of Maxwell Lord’s squad also recognize time has been tampered. In other intriguing developments, there’s a tease to a member of a team that’s still absent in the Rebirth era. Aligned with strong personalities like Lobo, Doctor Polaris, Johnny Sorrow and The Emerald Empress, Max is pushing his powers of suggestion to the limit.
Tony Daniel steps up as artist for this issue. It’s a little disappointing that Jason Fabok couldn’t continue on as the artist for the entire crossover. Daniel’s art is fine, but it’s surprising DC wouldn’t have one artist, especially a big gun like Fabok, handle this big event instead of swapping them out each issue.
Daniel’s characters are daintier than I’d like for superheroes. The slimming effect isn’t very helpful for this bold clash of titans, but Daniel’s posing and layouts effectively deliver on the big throw down. Alex Sinclair tones down the colors so as not to overwhelm Daniel’s art with splashy, vibrant colors.
The issue ends on a pretty surprising note. One that takes this crossover to a whole new level. So far this crossover is delivering the goods despite the musical chairs art.
Rating: 8.5 out of 10