DC Comics 4/22/26 – JLU 18, Absolute Wonder Woman 19

JLU 18

JLU 18 is picking up the familiar theme of big world event, villains try being heroes before reverting to their old ways. The big difference this time is the Justice League knows the threat of Darkseid isn’t done and they’re trying to get the villains in a mindset to think beyond themselves for the greater good.

Writer Mark Waid did a solid job of setting up this tricky dynamic while letting the villains retain their core personalities. Lex Luthor, in particular, comes off very entertaining in JLU 18 with his very loose moral code.

Waid also spends time in JLU 18 branching up some of the massive JLU team with Mr. Terrific, Hawkwoman and Guy Gardner pairing up and Booster Gold, Martian Manhunter and Mary Marvel heading off for the storyline currently playing out in Waid’s Action Comics.

JLU 18 looks fantastic thanks to the artwork of Clayton Henry, who DC should just keep on long-term as the new JLU artist. Following Dan Mora isn’t easy, but with his sense of panel construction, character expression and action choreography, Henry is one of a very short list who can do so without any step down in the art quality.

Tamra Bonvillain’s color work features bold colors that beautifully complement Henry’s artwork while Ariana Maher’s lettering further accentuates the stellar visual work.

JLU 18 ends with a strong tease of Luthor already messing up the Justice League’s plans for this slow rollout of this Villains Amnesty program proving the worst teammate on a superhero team is a supervillain. The creative team is firing away with this arc, and it looks like it has plenty of room to grow.

Rating: 10 out of 10

After reading JLU 18, check out DC KO: Justice League Unlimited on trade paperback on Amazon.

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