Justice League #40

I clearly don’t learn my lessons. I’ve been stung so many times by false hopes about the new 52 easing back on its new grim continuity, and here I go again, hoping that this time it is actually going to happen.

This issue of Justice League is the first new issue I’ve bought since issue 3 or 4. (I have been reading Geoff Johns’ series in trade paperback from the library. I’m working through a library of Forever Evil books right now.) Interestingly enough, I don’t think a single member of the Justice League appears in this title.

Instead, our focus is on Metron of the New Gods. And believe it or not, he looks pretty much like he’s supposed to look. Maybe Kevin Maguire has modernized him a tad, but there aren’t any obvious new 52-isms going on in his uniform. That alone had me smiling in the opening pages. The fact that Kevin Maguire is drawing the opening scene just made me even happier.

Through the pencils of different DC artists, we follow Metron as he recaps the origin of Mr. Miracle and Orion (by Kevin Maguire), Crisis on Infinite Earths (by Phil Jiminez), Zero Hour (by Dan Jurgens), Final Crisis (by Jerry Ordway), and Flashpoint (by Scott Kolins). And my friends, these pages are glorious. These classic artists capture the tone and look of their particular eras perfectly, sometimes in less than a page of work! Jurgens’ Zero Hour piece in particular made my day. (And I’ll also say, I wish Kolins had gotten a better assignment than the boring Flashpoint). There were long periods where I preferred DC to Marvel, so seeing these characters again was a real treat. Jason Fabok and Jim Lee provide the art for the closing chapters that tie in to the upcoming Darkseid War storyline.

The book finishes up with Metron facing down the Anti-Monitor. Metron ominously declares that “Reality cannot survive another Crisis.” Well, that gives me hope, cause I’m crossing my fingers for another one! Especially after the Anti-Monitor and Metron explicitly state that the new 52 reality has “yet to solidify.” I’m sure that statement is music to the ears of a lot of readers.

So, with my sublist lightening up for the summer, I think I’ll see this one through. I’m back on Justice League, with the hope that somehow, Geoff Johns is going to give us back some aspect of the DCU that we lost at the end of Flashpoint. The potential alone made this comic a GOOD one.

I’m a super-hero fan, right? I can’t help but be an optimist. 

(Oh, and we all think the Anti-Monitor is a future version of Metron merged with the chair, right?) 

Jersey Gods #1

This was actually kind of fun! I love the New Gods, and this is basically a look at those types of characters in their interaction with normal folks in New Jersey. There is something pretty amusing about this, since there was a lot of that initial contact in the early Kirby Fourth World books, but there was never an approach like this. The issue opens with a focus on a human woman, Zoe, and her struggles in her love life, and moves along to involve cosmic factions of New Gods-types and their complex confrontations putting Earth in the middle. The main heroes seem to be Barock (an Orion type who loves fighting and isn't the most handsome) and Helius. Helius is a pretty fun second banana more concerned with how he looks and what he's wearing than fighting the good fight, so he's not exactly Lightray. Zoe is initially drawn to him, but quickly realizes he's a bozo when he won't sully himself to help out his friend. So Zoe moves over to Barock. I think I read a preview where Zoe and Barock are married, so I know how this will end up, and it does seem like a fun premise. Glen Brunswick seems to be using a lot of classic comic elements that I enjoy.

The Mike Allred cover makes everything coming later look weaker by comparison, but by no means bad. Dan McDaid's art is almost a mix of his Kirby influence and what seems to be a Darwyn Cooke vibe. It's not as good as either of those guys, but I can see what he's going for. I like his character designs and he handles the action well enough too.

Fair (almost Good)