Comic Review: Justice League (2018-) #32

Justice League #32

DC Comics

Writers: Scott Snyder & James Tynion IV

Artist: Howard Porter

Justice League #32 features the Justice League versus the Legion of Doom across time and space.  In the past, Barry and John team up with the JSA to stop Sinestro’s bombing raid.  In the future, the Trinity must stop Brainiac from capturing the Star Rod.  And in the present, Hawkgirl races to reach the Anti-Monitor before Lex reaches him and the world succumbs to Doom.  Needless to say, there is a lot happening in this issue.

Easily Snyder’s greatest strength on this book is his ability to tie the DC Universe together.  Every corner of the DC Universe is represented somewhere in this book.  And for what feels like the climactic finale, it’s no different.  Snyder brings in fan favorites like the JSA and also deep-cuts like the Hourman Android.  Many recent writers say that Justice League is the flagship title of the DC Universe, and no one commits to that theory more than Scott Snyder.  Snyder breaks out every toy in the DC chest to play within this story.

And getting to see all of these characters interact is a blast.  Jay and Barry seem to be recalling more about their pasts since The Button.  Sinestro comments on Alan Scott and his green lantern powers.  Brainiac even gets a DC One-Million overhaul.  If you are a fan of continuity, this book won’t disappoint.  For example, I mentioned in my review of the last issue how I feel the Anti-Monitor’s past has been erased.  But in this issue, Snyder reminds us that Perpetua’s favorite son was also responsible for Crisis on Infinite Earths.

But unfortunately, this book still suffers from a few glaring issues.  Snyder constantly needs to remind the audience about what happened in earlier issues.  And there are two reasons for this.  First, there is too much happening in this book.  But I do think there is a way to provide exposition without sounding like a Wikipedia article.  But in this issue, John Stewart blurts out text bubble after text bubble to catch both Alan and the readers up.  And second, Snyder doesn’t do a good job of explaining things.  He constantly has to clarify or retcon how certain things work because he didn’t explain it right the first time.  These exposition dumps really make this issue more sluggish to get through.

Now let’s talk about art.  I assumed that Jimenez would pencil this entire story, but I guess I was wrong.  This issue features pencils by Howard Porter, who’s also no novice to drawing the Justice League.  Porter’s pencils are very strong in this issue.  He does a great job which action, which this issue is full of.  I also have to give a shout out to Hi-Fi, who’s colors really popped in this issue.

Overall, Justice League #32 is full of fun action and adventure.  Although far from perfect, this issue doesn’t fall into the traps that many previous issues have.  Snyder keeps this issue focused on the action, and it seems to be a winning formula.

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