JUSTICE LEAGUE #45

[ YOU'LL DIE FOR THIS COMIC ] 

Look into my eyes. Look deep, deep, into my eyes, and tell me what you see. Do you see a God, a pariah, a pawn, or something else entirely? Something else created in October, 2015, by Geoff Johns, Francis Manapul, with a little help from DC Comics.

To QUOTE Friedrich Nietzsche: 'God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him. How shall we comfort ourselves, the murderers of all murderers? What was holiest and mightiest of all that the world has yet owned has bled to death under our knives: who will wipe this blood off us?'

THE REVIEW:

At the end of last month's finale we all got to see Darkseid dying at the hand of the Anti-monitor. This month, however, most of these so-called deities quickly packed their bags, almost immediately, leaving us with a fairly battle-free comic-book in its wake. But fear not, dear reader, because what Geoff and Frances do next, is introduce us, scene by scene, to a new Godly version of the Justice League.

Now first up to the plate is the Flash: the God of Speed, who's given this name presumably because Darkseid bonded him with the Black Racer, the New God version of the God of Death, only for the Anti-Monitor to then rapidly use him to kill Darkseid. Personally, I'm not a big fan of this transformation myself. On the page it just comes across as being too contrived and too 'put in place'. Almost as if the creators picked someone out of thin air just to give this title to.

Funnily enough, you can also say the same thing about the next Justice League God. Superman: the God of Strength, who gets turned into a bad-ass glowing version of himself when he replenishes his strength from an Apokoliptian fire-pit. But as we all know, everything on Apocalypse is bad, right? So when Super-bad-glow does this, he turns mean, and takes it upon himself to give Lex Luthor a jolly good slapping (Hell yeah!), and then he's on his way to God knows where (pun intended).

After Supes we're presented with my favorite Justice League God, Batman: God of Knowledge, who just nonchalantly informs Hal Jordan that he should travel back to the planet Oa (Please note: This story takes place sometime after the end of Convergence and the start of the usual run), mainly because Darkseid's parademons will be attracted to this location after his death.

And then, at this stage in the story, Geoff and co start to slow down on their Godly introductions, stopping at Shazam: God of Gods (Ouch!), and introduce us to other players in the story-line: Those players being Andora and her Forgotten people, who quickly snap up Lex, because he tells them he's Superman, the prophesied one. Plus there are two other scenes where Kalibak: God of Chin Hair, picks a fight with the Ungodly league, as well as a acknowledgment that the Anti-Monitor is evolving into something else after his victory.

Now what that something will be is anybody's guess. Maybe a roast-potato. Yet what I can tell you, folks, is that this isn't a bad issue, considering it's basically a introductory type tale, setting up the next chapter in this long and expansive story-line. Another shout out should also go to Francis Manapul and Brian Buccellato for providing us with some really fine looking stark and muted visuals. I especially enjoyed the grainy quality of their work, finding that it set the tone of this story just perfectly, giving it a more magisterial feel.

So overall, yeah, good job. Act Two is now in place. So let's see where we go from here.

THE MUSIC:

For this months musical match-up I'm going to take something that Superman said at face value. So without any further ado, here is 'Ding-Dong, The Witch Is Dead', because, generally, that's what he is. Or as we like to call him, Darkseid.

THE COMPARISON:

On a stylistic level this comic book reminded me of one of those pretentious perfume adverts you can see on TV. I'm sure you know the type I'm talking about. It's one where a supermodel looks off of camera and says something like, 'Have life. Go for life. Be life', before a caption denoting said fragrance is etched upon the screen -- a'la Batman: God of nice chairs.

  

THE CONCLUSION:

At the very end of this issue Lex Luthor unsurprisingly turns into a Justice League God. So, because I hear voices in my head, I'd like you to guess what type of God he turns into. Could it be the God of...

1. Cheese: Or any form of dairy based product.
2. Not Having Any Facial Hair: Replacing Yul Brynner and Telly Savalas in the process.
3. Mispronunciation: Fluck Yeah!
4. Looking Like A Git: No comment.
5. Apokolips: Or any form of lip you care for.
6. Monkey Porn: This I'd like to see.
7. Villains That Get More and More Annoying Over Time: Could happen.
8. Mispronouncing The Annoying Word Apokolips Whilst Eating Cheese and Watching Bald Monkey Porn: That, or any other Christmas carol we have yet to hear.

Nuff said.