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Justice League Annual #1: The Best Laid Plans

Robert Struble
8.4/10

Justice League Annual #1

Author(s): Scott Snyder, James Tynion IV

Artist(s): Daniel Sampere (pencils), Juan Albarran (inks)

Colorist(s): Adriano Lucas

Letterer: Tom Napolitano

Publisher: DC Comics

Genre: Action, Sci-Fi, Superhero

Published Date: 01/30/2019

By Robert Struble

 on 

Recap

It’s time to fix the Source Wall!  The Justice League, along with Starman, speed towards the source wall.  The entire Green Lantern corps, Titans, New Gods, and warriors from Thanagar Prime are all there having brought the three remaining Omega Titans.  It is there they will use the Titans to seal the Source Wall as they were originally intended.  Hawkgirl plays an integral part in this as her connection to the Nth Metal is essential.

However, Luthor has teamed up with Brainiac and his Legion of Doom has arrived, accompanied by Brainiac’s armada which quickly outnumbers the defenders.  Brainiac’s plan works.  The attack allows the wall to finish crumbling, allowing Perpetua to finish reassembling, leaving the heroes to disperse and the Justice League to return to Earth to prepare for the end of the Universe.

Review

Without a doubt, this is an epic story.

I get it, some people are going to be tired of this by now.  This has been going on for the last 20 or so issues (not including the non-JL tie-in issues).

And for a time, I was one of them.

But despite all that, this issue has me clamoring for more.

There’s very little of the familiar Justice League in this book.  They serve as background characters, as do the Green Lantern corps, the Guardians, the New Gods, and Shayera Hol.  The issue revolves around Starman, J’onn J’onzz, Hawkgirl, and Brainiac.  As with the last few issues, I’m thoroughly enjoying the spotlight Snyder and Tynion are giving some of these smaller characters.  We even get some nice character development among those few.

The art is very nice, giving the scale that is necessary for an intergalactic saga at the edge of the universe.  The individual characters aren’t terribly detailed at a any amount of distance, but Sampere gives us some amazing close ups, especially with eyes and facial expressions, and makes wonderful use of the panels.  And the colors by Lucas are breathtaking.  There’s no other way to describe this.  Lucas’ colors are truly amazing, especially with the lighting effects he uses.

If you’re tired of the epic storytelling, this may not be for you.  But Snyder and Tynion manage very human moments within it all.  So yes, it’s epic and yet another retelling of the origin of the DC Universe, retconning it all with the idea of Perpetua being the mother of the Monitor, Anti-Monitor, and World Forger, but despite all that it doesn’t feel like it cheapens anything.  And the interpersonal moments are what are really memorable.  So despite the possible epic-fatigue you may be feeling, this book is still an excellent read.

Final Thoughts

This issue acts like an interlude of massive play, serving to bridge the two acts, closing out the events from the previous arc and setting us up for the next.  It’s a beautiful issue and while some people may be tired of the Source Wall, this is, at heart, about finding your place in the universe and what happens when plans go awry.

Justice League Annual #1: The Best Laid Plans
  • Writing - 8/10
    8/10
  • Storyline - 8/10
    8/10
  • Art - 9/10
    9/10
  • Color - 10/10
    10/10
  • Cover Art - 7/10
    7/10
8.4/10
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