JUSTICE LEAGUE #48

[ SALES IN THE SHADOWS ] 

So finally it came, the end of days, where God fought God for the fate of mankind. Yet thankfully, amidst this heavenly kerfuffle, arose a champion, mankind's champion, tall and proud and ready to face anything thrown at him by Geoff Johns, Jason Fabok, and DC Comics, specifically in the month of February, 2016! Amen.

TO QUOTE a Quote I Used In My Last Justice League Review: 'The Enemy Of My Enemy Is My Friend'.

THE REVIEW:

For a change of pace I thought it would be a good idea to illustrate this books basic narrative by presenting the following screenplay.

Act: Eight - Scene: One

At last, all of our favorite heroes have banded together in Lexcorp Tower (along with some of our not so favorite ones), and collectively, they talk about what they need to do next to save the day. Cut to an opening splash page where Superman fills us in on what's happened previously, only for the scene to then pan out on the second page, so we can then see all of the heroes, one by one, posing, grimacing, holding chunks of rock, and most importantly of them all...

THE JUSTICE LEAGUE: Hi.

THE CRIME SYNDICATE: Whatever, you bunch of dweebs! Let's stop with the pleasantries and just give us that flipping chunk of Kryptonite Luthor gave you! Come on, quickly, as we need it to restore Ultraman's power so we can go and kick the Anti-Monitors ass!

THE JUSTICE LEAGUE: Isn't he called Mobius now?

THE CRIME SYNDICATE: Yes. But that's just cosmetic, like his new costume. So will you give us that damn Kryptonite rock or not?

THE JUSTICE LEAGUE: No. No we won't. Not until you return Cyborg and Power Ring to their previous forms.

THE CRIME SYNDICATE: Get lost! We're trying to save your world and get us some revenge, remember? Anyway, we can't restore Jessica back to normal because Power Ring has mind-shagged her brain.

THE JUSTICE LEAGUE: Oh! Fair enough. So what about Cyborg then? We've known him longer!

THE CRIME SYNDICATE: Yeah. We can do something about Cyborg, but only after we kick evil ass!

THE JUSTICE LEAGUE: My God, you mean buggers sure do have a thing about asses!

And so it came to pass that the Justice League and the Crime Syndicate teamed-up to fight a fiend, a very bad fiend, who has destroyed worlds and is planning to kill another. And does he? No. Not yet. First he has to kill a character and then piss off another by pushing him out of his chair. BAFF! BOOM! POW! Ouch! Ta-dah!! I'm dead. To be continued.  

So yeah, that's basically it, my friend. More or less. Although, to be fair, at the moment it does look like Geoff and the gang are stretching out this Darkseid War story-line for all it's worth. Some things about it are very good: With Jason Fabok's artwork being at the top of the list. Whereas some other things are fairly bad: Godly members of the Justice League seem like an excuse for DC to mass-produce another range of disposable action figures. And, of course, some of it is, well, OK I guess, just OK. The story told a fairly comprehensive story, one that comprised a mixture of action, adventure, and theological ideas that may or may not seem moot in a couple of months time (Rebirth, anyone?). What's more, as much as I enjoyed Jason's lavish artwork and how it complemented each of the characters -- I mean, doesn't he draw a great Batman? -- what I wasn't too keen on was Moe-Busses new duds!

Let's face it. The original Anti-Monitor design was a much more original steampunk design, and now he just looks like a homogeneous glowing bad-guy that's good at killing people. That said, however, look who he killed! Isn't that a turn up for the books? I never thought he'd peg it so soon, especially since a portion of this plot was dedicated to seeing... errr... no... I best not say anymore. As I don't want to spoil anything, do I?

Quickly moving on, and yes, I must mention that this multi-part story-line finally seems to be ready to take its final bow. Who will live and who else will die is anyone's guess! My money is on a member of the Crime Syndicate kicking the bucket anytime soon, plus the revelation that Power Woman's baby is going to be a good guy. Ha! Now wouldn't that be a strange twist? A strange twist that may take the place of a certain, hint-hint, God!

All in all this was a fine issue of the Justice League. Not brilliant -- because the story wasn't. But fine -- because both the artwork and some of the twists were way above average.

THE MUSIC:

Oh damn! I just remembered something. I forgot to mention liking the shadow-demons shooting out of the fiery haze within my review! Wait a minute! I can do that now, can't I? And if not me, then maybe Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis Junior can in the following jazz classic: 'Me and my Shadow'!

THE COMPARISON:

On the whole I'd say this adventure was a grudge match between heroes, villains, and Gods, all for the sake of person-kind. So, when I put it in those terms, how could I not compare it to the brilliant beat-em-up video game, Mortal Kombat!

THE CONCLUSION:

Nearing the end of this issue somebody dies. Yes. That's right. One of these super-powered chumps bites the biscuit at the hand of the Anti-Moe-Night-Her. So -- yep, you guessed it -- lets see if you can figure out who dies and how from the following eight options. Could it be...

1. Batman: Who falls out of his chair.
2. Owlman: Who commits suicide by smelling his own nose.
3. Superman: Who accidentally eats a chunk of Kryptonite before the League hands it to Ultraman.
4. Ultraman: Who gets his head caved in by someone a lot tougher than he is. 
5. Wonder Woman: Who falls asleep at the wheel of her invisible plane, and crashes it, whilst reading this comic.
6. Power Woman: Who gives birth to a child that manages to rip themselves out from her womb and cackles like Jack Nicholson did in The Shining -- Good film.
7. Jack Nicholson: Who just realized that he isn't playing the Joker in the New Superman Vs Batman Movie.
8. The Joker: Errrr? What was the question again?

Nuff said.