Comic Review: Justice League (2018-) #25

Justice League (2018-) #25

DC Comics

Writer: Scott Snyder, James Tynion IV

Artist: Jorge Jimenez, Javier Fernandez

It’s the Justice League versus the Justice League! Superman is alone in a pocket universe in the sixth dimension, while the rest of the League fights future versions of themselves. To save the universe, they’ll have to sacrifice innocent lives, and Batman is seemingly siding with the World Forger, aiming to recreate the universe. If that wasn’t enough for you, once the League returns to Earth, they find out what’s been happening in their absence. Hint: Lex Luthor & the Legion of Doom have been up to some shenanigans.  It’s the start of The Year of the Villains.

The first half of this issue is a lot of fun. It’s a lot of the Justice League fighting the future versions of themselves. With Jorge Jimenez on the art, there’s some really cool moments. The title page with all the credits is a nice two page spread with all the JL members fighting. And it’s just “wow” for me. That’s not even the best moment in the issue either. I won’t spoil it but it involves Superman. I’m a bit iffy on some of the story, though. At the end of the day, I do like it, but it feels odd to me that Batman, of all people, is on board with destroying his own universe.

And it’s not a fake-out, apparently, Batman believes it’s one of the only ways they can win. It feels just a bit out of character to me. But, at the same time, Batman gives a small chance for Superman to prove him wrong, and he does. It’s a bit of a deus ex machina moment, but of any character in comics, I’m okay with Superman filling that role.

The Year of the Villain also starts in this issue. Returning to Earth, the Justice League finds they’ve been gone for longer than they thought. Lex Luthor told the public about that time the Justice League broke the source wall and how the universe is dying because of it. He pleads to them to be villains, and reject the League, causing chaos. The story in this half of the issue is by James Tynion IV with art by Javier Fernandez. Tynion’s previous issues focusing on villains have been a real highlight of this Justice League series for me so far. I was thinking this would be something like that but it’s not.

It’s mostly just set up for DC’s Year of the Villain event that’s starting soon. And that’s fine too. 25 is a checkpoint number, and this issue is as good a place as any to put this in. Some of the dialogue feels clunky. Lex Luthor literally says “The only way to save our world is to make this the year of the villain”. I don’t know about you, but calling it “the year of the villain” in a conversation just doesn’t feel natural. Other than that, the set up for what’s to come is okay. It’s various characters standing around saying “We need to do X” “No, we need to do Y”.

Again, clunky, but I think it works for the setup. For what it is doing, the art is good. Nothing too notable happens, but there is a page showing various characters that I assume we’ll be seeing soon enough. If you’ve been following Justice League, you’ll enjoy the ending of the “Sixth Dimension” storyline. The art in it is absolutely fantastic and delivers some very cool moments. The Year of the Villain part of the issue has some parts to it that feel clunky. But for the most part, is an effective set up to DC’s next event.