DC Comics reviews 9/23/26 – JLU 23, Absolute Batman 24

JLU 23

JLU 23 has a lot of intriguing subplots playing out that show the power of a strong ensemble series. No one character is dominating this team book and plenty of characters who rarely get a spotlight are getting the opportunity to shine. In a lot of ways, JLU 23 feels like a major story arc of the Justice League Unlimited cartoon series. Instead of Cadmus being the shadowy secret group the team is worried about, it’s the villains and possibly one of their own?

Writer Mark Waid is weaving some intricate developments in JLU 23. Mr. Terrific is now embracing the rush of having the combined powers of the Justice League after an accident on an alien planet transferred the powers to him. Imagine Amazo, but also with the third highest intelligence of anyone on the planet and that’s what it’s like seeing Mr. Terrific take out a mercenary alien force led by Kanjar Ro. Guy Gardner, Metamorpho and Hawkgirl don’t have any reason to be worried about Mr. Terrific abusing this power for the time being, but the temptation to keep the power might prove to be too much especially for a man highly qualified in making the best use of them.

On Earth, a secret cabal of Justice League members led by The Atom is keeping tabs on some of the villains who have been granted amnesty as the Justice League prepares for the rematch with Darkseid. Batman is equally suspicious and brings a team to the Legion of Doom’s headquarters to take down Lex Luthor and company once and for all. The interesting aspect of this confrontation is the villains actually are invested in protecting the planet from Darkseid, but Batman’s bias is threatening to ruin this already shaky alliance.

Dan Mora returns as the artist for the entirety of JLU 23. No shade to the fill-in artists, but Mora is a special talent who brings a certain level of excitement and lively action sequences that is hard to match. JLU 23 has several fights that greatly benefit from Mora’s dynamic layouts.

Colorist Tamra Bonvillain does sensational work giving all of the power effects and costumes full attention. It’d be easy to “cheat” and just have some pages with a few shorthand shades of color, but Bonvillain always makes the effort to properly showcase the various colors on display. It’s another reason why JLU 23 looks so phenomenal. Letterer Ariana Maher juggles the wide array of power effects with diverse fonts and cleanly arranged dialogue.

JLU 23 adds another layer of urgency to this arc with the subplots starting to heat up as the creative team builds to another key stop on the road to the rematch with Darkseid.

Rating: 10 out of 10

Photo Credit: DC Comics

After checking out JLU 23, read the DC KO tie-in on trade paperback at Amazon.

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