Comic Review: Justice League #24

Justice League #24

DC Comics

Writer: Scott Snyder

Artist: Jorge Jimenez

After 23 issues of fighting the Legion of Doom, the League and the Legion are finally on the same side.  It’s the League and the Legion versus… Batman?!  Needless to say, things get a little weird in the sixth dimension.  And that’s not just because this is a different universe.  I don’t blame Jimmy Olsen for being a warlord in this book, but it’s not just people from the sixth dimension making weird decisions.  Why are the Legion good now?  Why is Batman trying to brainwash the Justice League?  Let’s try and find out!

The rugged and reformed Legion of Doom is a really cool idea.  I like the idea of the League and Legion teaming up to stop a bigger threat.  But I like the idea of it.  The implementation leaves some things to be desired.  Sinestro, Cheetah, and Grodd have all been severely pushed to the wayside to make room for Lex and Brainac’s new bromance.  Even though every five issues of this series is dedicated to the Legion of Doom, they are still incredibly underdeveloped in this series.  Which makes the fact that they betray Lex Luthor all the more disappointing.  Can’t we get just one villain team-up where everyone is on the same page?

Even though I didn’t like the circumstances of this alliance, it did lead to some great character moments.  Or at least, more character than we’ve got from the rest of this series.  The heroes and villains actually treat each other as equals.  John, Sinestro, Wonder Woman and Cheetah even refer to each other by their first names.  But even though I like the hints of continuity here, it feels more like regurgitation than development.  Snyder reminds us that Sinestro used to be an archaeologist.  Great!  But spitting out trivia facts isn’t the same as building character. Grodd is reduced to a joke in this series because he’s a telepathic gorilla.  Even Darkseid is the but of the joke in this issue.

But the Legion’s lack of character development is excusable compared to Batman’s out-of-character development.  Either Batman is going to betray the World Forger, or he’s just going to betray all he hopes and stands for.  Option one means there were really no stakes to this story because Batman wasn’t really challenged in any way.  But option two is even worse, it means Batman is willing to kill a multiverse instead of fight Perpetua.  I don’t see a satisfying ending to this story, but I really hope Snyder manages to pull it off.

It might sound like I’m roasting this issue, but there is still plenty to like in it.  I like how each issue of this series deals with an increasingly complex dimension.  And following the rules established by Grant Morrison, the fifth dimension is imagination.  I’m also a sucker for Jorge Jimenez on art.  From a war-torn Jimmy Olsen to a solid-gold Batsuit, Jimenez continues to knock it out of the park.

While overall an enjoyable issue, Justice League #24 fails to answer many of the larger problems surrounding this run.  While full of continuity and over the top fun, this issue doesn’t much forward the story.  We see Batman and the World Forger continue to chat while the League is still on the run.  As much fun as I have read this series, I’m constantly reminded of how better this book can be.  Imagine this story with a fully fleshed-out Legion of Doom or better character moments between the League.  But as victims of the fifth dimension, all we can do is imagine.