Review: Justice League #4

First off, Jim Lee’s Darkseid (the villain de jour) is awesome! When he appears, things pick up in Justice League #4. Unfortunately, it is at the end of the issue.

Don’t get me wrong. This interpretation by Geoff Johns and Lee of the JLA is the best in awhile, and certainly has taken the comics world by storm. I am hoping it can keep up this pace of excellence (especially in art and character voice). That would really be a welcomed revolution!

No, I have very few criticisms of Justice League as it spins its tale of a new and engrossing universe. And I am expecting the bombastic (and cosmic) as the heroes face the galaxy-leveling threat of Darkseid. (I am still petitioning for familiar cosmic baddies like he and Brainiac for Stormwatch.)

What has not been engrossing after four issues is the intro of the characters. I cannot recall, but didn’t Gardner Fox get them together in a single issue? Matt Fraction just did in Defenders — with pages to spare! I understand we are trying to explain to newbies who these guys are and to established readers what the differences in these characters are, but four issues and the gang is still not all here?

C’mon. I thought we said the DCnU wasn’t about decompressed stories and writing for the trades. Holy Bendis, Batman!

That aside, I am liking where Johns is going and I am loving where Lee and Scott Williams are taking us. Truly, the art has been first-rate in this mag since its first issue and I hope it continues that way (even knowing about Lee’s little sabbatical) past the year mark.

Aquaman shows his stuff this time around, and we actually get a smile out of Batman. (First Sinestro, now the Dark Knight! Miracles come in pairs, I guess.) And Supes continues to be an unknown quantity in this instance.

This is a fine mix we have. I hope all of these guys survive to be on the team “five years later.” The Green Lantern aspect alone will be interesting.

See you in “5”!