DC Comics reviews for 7/17/19 – Batman #75, Aquaman #50

Justice League #28

Justice League retains its big money reputation this week despite some artistic hiccups. James Tynion IV is really thriving creating the opening salvo of the Year of the Villain arc. He’s become one of my favorite writers in terms of world building and staging an epic conflict and this issue is no different.

Martian Manhunter and Hawkgirl travel to the desert to confront Lex Luthor so J’onn can attempt to convince his old friend not to go forward with his deadly plan. Meanwhile the rest of the League (minus Mera naturally) travels to Qward to find the Anti-Monitor and are greeted by a far more sinister surprise. Tynion sets the stakes strongly here and he keeps that tension filled sense of what’s going to happen next on every page. There’s an art to building suspense and Tynion is clearly becoming a master as we see in the slow burn of Luthor and Manhunter’s conversation or the mounting sense of dread on Qward.

The art is the only real letdown here. Javier Fernandez’s pages look too unfinished and too sketched out to really deliver the ideal level of drama in the Manhunter/Hawgirl/Luthor scenes.

Daniel Sampere handles the other scenes and his art is strong enough that he probably should have just handled the entire issue. Justice League is back to being DC’s top title so it’s surprising that the art has been so inconsistent. Hopefully as Year of the Villain continues that won’t be a lasting problem.

This was a strong week for DC, but as usual you’ll definitely want to make sure you don’t leave the comic book shop without grabbing the latest issue of Justice League.

Rating: 9 out of 10