Comic Review: Justice League (2018-) #15

Justice League (2018-) #15

DC Comics

Writers: Scott Snyder & James Tynion IV

Artists: Jim Cheung & Stephen Segovia

This issue, with the exception of the first and last pages which see the Trinity contain and speak to Starman, follows Martian Manhunter, Hawkgirl and John Stewart as they mount a rescue mission to retrieve the kidnapped Martian Keep, an ancient Martian woman who has the sum total of Mars’ history and culture contained within her head. The story here is decent but does feel a bit pedestrian at times, but the big reveal about Thanagar and the inexplicably resurrected Katar Hol, The Savage Hawkman is an interesting moment. The Starman segments that bookend this story really only serve to carry on the build-up to whatever the next big cosmic event Snyder has planned is, and don’t actually bare relevance to the main plot this issue. There’s nothing wrong with this book’s story, but it isn’t the most thrilling issue Snyder and Tynion ever wrote, or even of this run.

As a general rule, while the plots of this run’s issues haven’t necessarily been the strongest, Snyder is generally pretty good at giving us entertaining character moments, but in this issue, there’s a bit of a lack of those, too. The characters are competently written but with the exception of J’onn, there aren’t any major moments that focus on any of them. J’onn is easily the character with the best and most interesting writing in this issue, but overall this issue feels a bit slow compared to the rest of the run and a bit more of a set-up for things to come. That being said this current Justice League run is still much, much better than the previous two runs overall.

The art here is split across the two segments, with Jim Cheung drawing the Trinity and Starman pages, and Segovia drawing the main bulk of the issue. Cheung’s art is well drawn though the character’s faces look slightly off, but the panel of Starman losing control of his energies is an excellent panel. Likewise, Segovia’s art, for the most part, is fine, but it’s somewhat cartoony and flat with a lack of detail on character’s faces, however, there is one great page featuring a giant golden hawk statue in a glimmering sun that I particularly liked. The art isn’t terrible but it’s fairly unremarkable, and much the same can be said about the colours for this book too.