Justice League #5: Counter Point

I don’t claim to be an expert on superhero comics. My favorite comics are all in the mystery/crime/horror genres. I feel superhero comics just aren’t that interesting anymore. But Justice League #5 was an excellent issue, despite what my esteemed colleague seems to think. His main problem was with some of the art. While I do agree that some of Jim Lee’s distance shots are a little shoddy, those are few and far between. The rest of his art is absolutely impeccable. I believe that where some people may find faults in Lee’s art it is only because he is held in such high regard than any minute detail that is imperfect is hard to ignore. Lee is able to convey such detail in his emotions: anguish, defeat, confidence, surprise and fear.
           Enough about the art. Let’s say that those few panels mentioned in the previous post by Snapper Carr really were disappointing and not up to scratch. The story made this issue worth any error or ineptitude. Just look at what happens in this issue. Superman gets kidnapped by Darkseid’s minions, Darkseid kicks the crap out of Superman and breaks Lantern’s arm, Lantern shows his leadership (I got chills when Batman tried to hold him back and Lantern yelled “Then I die!”), Batman takes off his mask and reveals he’s Bruce Wayne, he lets himself get kidnapped by Darkseid’s minions in order to save Superman, all leading up to a shocking conclusion. While I may not like spending $3.99 on comics, this one was worth every penny. I’m not one to usually enjoy an issue that’s all fighting because its hard to have really good writing that goes along with a fight scene. So much of the issue is usually just “SMASH!” “KRACK!” BAM!”, but so much happened in between the fights of this issue.
Aquaman and Cyborg are a bit quick to fall in line behind Green Lantern’s leadership (Cyborg doesn’t even know what his powers are yet). But this is Justice League, not Everyman-For-Himself-While-Trying-To-Remain-In-Charge-And-Let-The-Baddy-Roll-Through-Town-And-Take-Over…..err, League. While it seemed a bit rushed, I’m okay with them coming together to take down Darkseid. I’m sure there will be plenty of tension between Aquaman and Green Lantern next time. All in all, really good issue, faults aside.

Rating 8.5/10

Gabriel Partridge