” We’re saving the world so they can do whatever it is they’re doing. That’s not going to be good, is it?”- Batman.
I have to say, that’s one of the most weird sentences I’ve ever read, especially as a line written for Batman to say. The 5th and Final arc of Bryan Hitch and Tony Daniel’s Extinction Machine arc come to a close.
Personally, this was a weird conclusion for me. These past few issues felt the same as the last. Now, I’m not trying to bash this issue, but this should have been a more stronger conclusion than what readers will receive. In some cases, I thought this arc was going to go on longer than it did. It’s nice to know that the Kindred were the official threat, but yet, as supposed villains, they felt very lackluster. When I think about the past few issues that I’ve read of this arc of the JL rebirth title, I realized that Aquaman didn’t even interact with the entire Justice League within these past 5 issues. I understand that Aquaman was tending to his own problems and dealing the magical instruction of the crystals that he had possession of, but I was hoping for a plausible explanation to why those crystals were so critical as to dealing with the threat of the kindred. Why did the crystals choose Aquaman, and what significance did the crystals actually have aside from being used as a device to defeat the kindred? In addition to the drone horde that affected Cyborg and made off shoot copies of him, only to be dismissed as cannon fodder in this issue. Superman basically dealt with the same thing that he was already dealing with in the past two issues.
Honestly, I don’t want to be the one to try and crap on this book, but this arc wasn’t really a strong start for a Justice League title. It felt really lackluster in the conclusion. I was hoping to see a more imposing threat and an actual explanation as to why the Kindred had been attacking the earth specifically other than just being set up as the threat that is introduced and disposed of. I really hope that Bryan Hitch writes a stronger and more well-paced arc in the next issue, because this issue didn’t do him justice. Now Tony Daniel’s art on the other hand was great. It’s great to see him back on the title after his absence from the 4th issue. I hope to see Daniel draw more of the issues as this series goes forward. The only thing that sucks is that Daniel’s art kind is of suffers from the main story no matter how awesome and stylish the art is, the story just doesn’t really live up to the art that’s executed well in this issue.
My main complaint is just that the story wasn’t strong. It felt like not a lot was going on despite the fact that there was (ironically) a world-ending threat that didn’t feel so “World Ending-ly” I guess. I’m glad this arc is completed, I just hope after this rocky start, that we get a more well crafted story by Hitch as this series goes forward. The Justice League is suppose to be a title where it’s stories are supposed to be grand, epic and awe-inspiring, and this issue and arc just lacked in those areas. I like Hitch’s stuff on his Justice League of America title, so I hope he really gets on his A game in the next issue/ arc.
Newsdesk