Review: JUSTICE LEAGUE #26
[Editor’s Note: This review may contain spoilers]
Writer: James Tynion IV
Artist: Javier Fernandez
Colours: Hi-Fi
Letters: Tom Napolitano
Reviewed By: Derek McNeil
Summary
Justice League #26: After being off-planet for so long, the Justice League must try to pick up the pieces of their lives—but Lex Luthor has other plans. If he has his way, he’ll show all of humanity that the Justice League will never be there in the world’s time of need!
Positives
In Justice League #26, the League is busy preparing for the impending war with the Legion of doom: calling in reserve members, enlisting allies, gathering intelligence, developing tactics and weapons, and training their forces.
Because of this, this issue is overflowing with guest stars such as the Question, both Blue Beetles, the Terrifics, the Teen Titans, and many more. Fittingly, the various characters are divided up into teams focusing on specific tasks based on their own specialties. For example, we see the Question, Plastic Man, Detective Chimp, and others using their detective skills to try to locate the Hall of Doom.
We also see the core team going to the Hall of Heroes to seek the aid of the heroes of the Multiverse. I love that we see a number of interesting characters here, such as the vampire Batman from the Red Rain Elseworlds story, the Kingdom Come version of the Flash, and even Captain Carrot.
Positives Cont.
As an aside, Captain Carrot has been popping up here and there in the DCU lately. Most recently, there was a Zoo Crew story in the Dog Days of Summer special. Could DC be planning a new Captain Carrot and His Amazing Zoo Crew title? If not, I think they should.
We also get a look at the Flash and Green Lantern interacting as friends. I found the exchange somewhat amusing. Due to his duties as member of the Green Lantern Corps, John is the Leaguer most comfortable and knowledgeable when the team travels to alien worlds, while Barry rarely leaves the Earth in his own adventures. However, John is discomfited by travelling to parallel Earths while Barry knows his way around the 53 Earths in the Multiverse.
We also see that J’onn finds a Luthor, but it’s Lionel Luthor, not Lex. It will be interesting to see what role Lionel will play in the upcoming battle, especially with his connections to both the Martian Manhunter and his son Lex.
Negatives
A comic book’s cover usually gets a fair bit of leeway in how much it reflects the book’s contents, but I found the cover of this issue very misleading. The cover implies that Starman might die or come close to it. Also, it makes it seem as if a major part of the issue will centre around Starman.
However, Will Payton is barely even in the issue. He appears to be under a great deal of strain, which leads to him passing out. But it doesn’t seem that his life is in danger. As soon as Hawkgirl and Mera discover that he is okay, they promptly forget about him and continue their conversation.
Using a sensational cover to catch the interest of potential readers is understandable, but should stick to something that actually occurs on the pages behind the cover. On the other hand, it is possible that the story was changed after it was too late to change the cover, which would be forgivable.
Verdict
There’s not a lot of action in this issue, but the tension is clearly building as the League is drawing on all their resources to ready themselves for the ultimate war of Justice vs. Doom. We are on the edge of DC’s most ambitious event yet. Scott Snyder has been quoted as saying about Justice League, “I wouldn’t call it anything but an event book going forward.” He and James Tynion IV are definitely delivering on that promise.
