Justice League #36

Writer: Christopher Priest

Artist: Pete Woods

Letterer: Willie Schubert

Christopher Priest and Pete Woods continue their polarising run on JUSTICE LEAGUE, and this issue didn't do them any favours for me. I enjoyed the past two issues but the execution of this issue was semi-poor as most of it consists of the League handling this submarine situation which was one of the most baffling things I've read in a long, long time.

There are really two sections to this story; the League story, and the Batman story. The Batman story provides better commentary on the events of the last two issues while the League story is an extension of that, but the League story wasn't executed very well. Aquaman plays a major role in this story and his behaviour was honestly kind of bizarre. He, quite frankly, acts like a complete and utter moron, upholding his role as a world leader while demeaning the roles and laws of other nations in order to get what he wants.

The Batman side of the story, on the other hand, is really interesting and bookends the issue. I would have appreciated more of a focus on this story which feeds into the bafflement. Like my good friends over at weirdsciencedccomics.com say, Priest had a similar rocky start to DEATHSTROKE before everything started coming together and making sense.

Woods' art is fantastic. I've been getting used to his style more and more as the issues have gone by and I'm a big fan of it. It doesn't seem as stylised now since it feels like it's been toned down since their debut issue.

I'm not a fan of this issue. Not much is explained and Aquaman felt really out of character. Priest chose to focus on the wrong things which really detracted from my enjoyment. Woods' art almost makes up for it, but I can't shake off the flaws.