At the Hall of Justice, Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman face an unexpected situation. But what is the situation? Who is the threat? The Answer: Starman!
The Starman has finally awakened and with his powers activated is ready to implode! Meanwhile, Hawkgirl, Green Lantern and Martian Manhunter are on the run from the rest of Hawkworld. As Hawkgirl and her team pursue the hidden truths about the Totality on Thanagar, will it tarnish Kendra’s relationship Shyara and the rest of Hawkworld? Can the Trinity manage to subdue Starman before he takes out all life on earth?!
I love the twist from the last issue and I enjoyed the sort of twist that Snyder and Tynion deliver near the beginning of this issue. When you have heavy hitters like Martian Manhunter who has all of these physical and psychic abilities, It would make sense for him to pull a psychic move that would play off the senses of any opponent that he encounters. That is something that at times is rarely utilized due to writers always using his shapeshifting abilities over his psychic ones and the way that the writers on this book took advantage of that was clever enough to catch my attention. It’s important that when writing stories that one always takes in consideration of what any character can do based off of their set of abilities because it shows that they are paying attention to some degree and know what they are doing for the most part.
In regards to the story itself, it does a good job at exploring and playing a bit of devil’s advocate with the characters. One notable example is when Green Lantern and his team talk about going through one of the vaults and it causes John Stewart (GL) to consider and talk about the universal legalities and consequences that could occur due to his involvement investigating without permission. That causes a bit of a debate between Hawkgirl, Manhunter and Green Lantern which helps cement the kind of reality that occurs within the contents of this story, and it shows that the writers are not only paying attention to what they are doing, but utilize those character elements to propel the story forward making a fun read.
In a weird way, it’s strange to think that Snyder feels like Snyder anytime he is writing a solo Batman story, but when he is on his own on a Justice League story, it feels different in tone that sometimes can be a hit or miss in regards to dialogue. But whenever Snyder and Tynion are together on a book, they manage to balance each other out that it’s hard to find a flaw in dialogue and story structure, which makes the book enjoyable. Now that doesn’t mean that when Snyder is writing Justice League by himself that the writing is bad! No, not the case! His writing is very good that it catches your attention and leaves you wanting more (As seen in The Batman WHo Laughs mini-series). It’s just that when one compares how he writes tonally, it can feel off at times and that could possibly be due to the number of characters that are involved in a team book compared to a solo book.
Now that doesn’t take away from how the structure of the plot and story develops. There is a line in the issue where Kendra (Hawkgirl) admits that she is getting annoyed with secrets constantly piling on secrets in regards to the Totality, which I imagine fans might feel the same way and If so, then it shows that Snyder and Tynion are aware and plan to do something about that which is great. resurfaced not just in this book, but also in Morrison’s Green Lantern issue 3 which makes me wonder what DC has in store for them and readers down the road.
In regards to the art, Cheung does the intro and outro pages of the issue while Segovia does the rest of the interiors within the book. While I enjoy Cheung’s artwork, I felt that Segovia’s art made the book fun, and given his rep on books like Injustice he holds his weight carrying the story with his panel work focusing on the main elements within graphic narrative storytelling. He does a great job rendering the characters and showing various expressions within the book that make each of the characters stand out within the panels. But his work wouldn’t have been as strong had it not been for the inks and colors of Mark Morales, Wil Quintana and Tomeu Morey who all help to make this issue shine with the right kind of tone for this installment.
I like that Snyder and Tynion found a way to play around with the different incarnations of Hawkman and Hawkgirl by showing them separating from the predecessor and becoming their own I.e. Savage Hawkman, Shyara VS Carter Hall Hawkman, and Kendra etc. It makes me wonder how much that will be explored given that Robert Venditti is exploring Hawkman’s origins in his Hawkman series (which you guys should definitely check out). As for the twist at the end of the book, it seems that readers will be in for a thrill ride when they discover how the Multiverse is unfolding due to the secrets that are held on Thanagar Prim. I’m enjoying that Snyder and Tynion are really making effort to expand on the mythologies of each character within this book. I like that the writers can make you feel that everything that you’ve read (whether it be this main series or Snyder’s prior DC work like Batman and Metal) actually matter which is great to experience for anyone that is a longtime and neophyte reader of comics. I enjoyed this issue and with the situations that unfold in this issue Its enough to make the next issue all the more worth it to check out. I definitely recommend this issue and suggest to add this issue to your pull list for new comic book day!
Newsdesk