JUSTICE LEAGUE #44

[ WARRING PRICE CRASH ] 

To some, Hal Jordan is the second Green Lantern to ever grace a comic book page. Yet to the likes of people such as Geoff Johns, Jason Fabok, Ivan Reis, and, to a certain extent, DC Comics, well, he's awfully handy with a flash-light, isn't he? If only for the month of September, 2015.

To QUOTE me having some fun with an overweight Caucasian friend of mine: 'Are you Chinese? Coz you sure have a lot of chins!'

THE REVIEW:

Just like the previous three episodes of the Darkseid War, this fourth episode, entitled 'The Death of Darkseid', also plays out on three distinct battlefronts. In one of these battlefronts, set on Apocalypse, we are presented with an evil looking Superman attempting to kill Lex Luthor -- Yawn. Whatever. Blah-blah-blah. Then, on another of these battlefronts, set on Earth, we see the actual war part of the equation taking place -- such as the in-fights between Darkseid and the Anti-Monitor, Kalibak and Grail, plus the Justice League and, well, whoever takes they're fancy, really. And finally, on the third of these battlefronts, and in my opinion, the best one, we see Green Lantern and Bat-Merton team-up to investigate the Anti-Monitor's origins over on the Crime Syndicate's Earth (Or Earth 3 for those of you taking note), as well as the anti-matter universe of Qward.

Well, with all due respect to Jason Fabok's amazing artwork -- and trust me, it was amazing, especially in the way in which he managed to draw pain into each of the characters faces, one panel at a time -- overall I'd say the best part of this issue was how Bat-God and Hal-Git figured out who Anti-butt-head truly is, with the intention of taking him down next month (fingers crossed, let's wait and see).

Now the main reason why I liked this component compared to the rest of the story-line, is because the rest was nothing more than a series of fight-scenes, where as this segment was more like a basic murder-mystery, one where we got to see two super-sleuths (one of them in a comfy chair no less) trying to fathom out the what, the why, and the how of the situation.

Honestly, dear reader. It was a right blast reading what Batman figured out about the Anti-monitor: going to show that sometimes history, even comic book history, does have a certain cylindrical nature where continuity is concerned. Plus, without giving anything away, it was fascinating to see how the Anti-Monitors beginnings, although now revised, does somehow resemble the life of people like Krona or Pariah from Green Lantern / Crisis on Infinite Earths.

That said, however, there were two singular aspects about this adventure that didn't quite float my boat. The first one has to do with an amalgamation of two characters -- who shall remain nameless, for the sake of spoilers -- mainly because at present their amalgamation does appear too fleeting and too contrived, included for nothing more than shock value alone. The second flaw, on the other hand, was how certain scenes appeared deliberately delayed in their execution -- where one character feels the need to tell another character what he feels about them, without their exposition giving the overall plot any form of intrinsic value.

But apart from those two flaws, hey, this issue was a very good issue of the Justice League. Jason's art was on-point and very expansive, whilst Geoff's story-line evolved in certain areas, even though it felt delayed in others.

THE MUSIC:

Again, without giving too much away, at the end of this adventure something terrible happens to Darkseid. Something so bad, so hideous, so... errr... naughty, I think it best that I musically match-up this book to Mozart's 'Requiem Mass'. Hint-Hint!

THE COMPARISON:

Essentially this tale was about finding out a weakness someone might possess, and then exploiting that weakness accordingly. And so, by putting it in those terms, how could I not compare this comic to, surprise-surprise, the Scarecrow.

Oi! Don't laugh! Who else do you know gets off on other peoples weaknesses? Apart from politicians of course!

THE CONCLUSION:

As you might have guessed from reading some of my review -- yes. It was a review -- at the end of this issue something really bad happens to Darkseid. So, instead of me telling you what that something is, how about I insinuate what happens by presenting you with the following eight scenarios. Because does the Anti-Monitor...

1. Shag him.
2. Kill him.
3. Give him a discount code for eBay.
4. Twerk at him.
5. Play with him.
6. Show him his thingy.
7. Ignore him.
8. Cry with him.

Nuff said.