Justice League #6

Credits:

Geoff Johns Writer
Jim Lee Penciller
Scott Williams with Sandra Hope, Batt and Mark Irwin Inkers
Alex Sinclair with Tony Avina and Hi-Fi Colorists
Patrick Brosseau Letterer
Darren Shan Assistant Editor
Brian Cunningham Editor

The cover is by Jim Lee, Scott Williams and Alex Sinclair. It's a striking image, and it sort of shows what's been happening in the book — Superman is being tortured and Green Lantern's arm is in a self-made cast. But like the Aquaman cover that bugged me, this scene does not take place in the book. Spoiler alert! Darkseid does NOT win and the Justice League does NOT bow down to him. Also, to be technical, Batman shouldn't be wearing his cape here, which he ditched last issue. Oh, and Cyborg's missing, too, but I've found that I really don't care about him that much. It might be because of his rushed/forced origin story, it might be because he technically is still a teenager and really should be with the Teen Titans. I don't know. But he really should be on the cover of the last issue in this story arc, especially considering how big a role he plays in it.

Luckily, the black-and-white cover didn't come over sideways this time, so we can properly enjoy Jim Lee's pencils. With this one, I found it interesting to see what he did and didn't shade, like under Batman's chin and his boots were completely left to the colorists. It would be neat to see a step-by-step process of who does what and how.

The variant cover is by Ivan Reis, Joe Prado and Rod Reis, and it rocks. This is the first time I'd put the variant ahead of the main cover. I just find the closeup of Darkseid way more exciting and imposing than a ridiculous scene of the Justice League kneeling before him. (We all knew that would never happen in this play-it-safe book.) And who says the Justice League always has to be on the cover of their book? This says more than enough with just the face of probably the most powerful villain in DC.

So the story starts with Darkseid just walking along, killing people left and right. Seeing they have nowhere to run, a man gathers his family together and prepares them for their death. But before Darkseid can kill them, he's distracted by a bunch of green fireworks. In his moment of hesitation, Darkseid is attacked by the five remaining heroes.

Meanwhile, Batman, sneaking around Apokolips, finds Superman and overhears Darkseid's minions talking of how Superman will be a new breed of soldier, one vital for the search of the daughter of Darkseid.

Back to the fight, Wonder Woman is able to deflect an omega beam blast with her magic bracelets, which knocks Darkseid off balance enough for her to thrust her sword into one of his eyes. Flash then picks up Aquaman and sends him flying at super speed to stick his trident in Darkseid's other eye. But Darkseid is still standing after all this, so Cyborg decides to send him back to where he came from by activating all the mother boxes and opening a bunch of boom tubes everywhere, even on Apokolips. During the commotion, Batman frees Superman, who flies through one boom tube and starts to push Darkseid through another. Green Lantern tells Cyborg to close the boom tube on Darkseid, but he doesn't think he can. Batman (with his mask back on) gives Cyborg the encouragement he needs, and with a gigantic explosion, Darkseid and all his parademons are gone and all the mother boxes are fried. A crowd of people surround the heroes and Flash suggests they leave, but the crowd is happy and cheers the world's greatest super-humans.

Later, the heroes are being honored at Washington, D.C. Cyborg feels he shouldn't be up there, but Flash says, "Sure you should. Be proud. Your dad looks like he is." Green Lantern doesn't like the idea of them being considered a team, but they ultimately decide that they'll join forces again if something big like this happens again. Flash comes up with their team name, the Super Seven, but nobody likes it, so he says, "We'll think of something."

We then see that the man who was saved at the beginning was David Graves, who wrote Justice League: Gods Among Men, which features a picture of the League fighting a giant starfish-like alien.

The story ends in London, where two mysterious and sinister-looking men briefly discuss the rise of superheroes. One of them says, "I guess they'll call us super villains." And a caption reads: The Beginning.

There is a quick backup story that's basically just a conversation between Pandora and the Phantom Stranger. Pandora was the mysterious being who helped the Flash fix Flashpoint and cause the New 52. She also appeared in the first issue of each of the New 52 books. She tells the Phantom Stranger that the Justice League will help her be released from her curse, whether they like it or not. And a caption reads: Continued in Justice League.

The Good:

The art. Even though this issue required entire teams of people to do the inks and colors, the pencils were solid and interesting. There were a lot of great fight scenes, and even though the Flash didn't do that much, I do recommend that Flash fans pick this up just to see Jim Lee drawing the Justice League fighting Darkseid. Sadly, I can't add anymore points to the score because of the very little the Flash had to do and the rather disappointing story, in my opinion. Yes, there was strong emotion with the family at the beginning, and some nice humor at the end, but the battle was ultimately won by Green Lantern creating fireworks and Cyborg concentrating real hard. Kinda lackluster.

Final score: 6

Next time: Before I can go to the current time (of 2011), Flash makes one small guest appearance in Action Comics #10.