Justice League #37

Writer: Christopher Priest

Artist: Philippe Briones

Colourist: Gabe Eltaeb

Letterer: Willie Schubert

Christopher Priest continues his run, with Philippe Briones providing back-up art for Pete Woods. I will preface this review by saying this isn't by first shindig with Priest; I've been reading his DEATHSTROKE since the beginning and have read through it twice; I know a complicated story when I see one, and DEATHSTROKE is certainly a complicated story. His run on JUSTICE LEAGUE, however, is incredibly unfocused and frankly confusing at times, with explanations for certain events coming across as extremely clunky.

The character we meet at the end of the last issue, now dubbed the Fan, shows up again and we learn more of his backstory… I think. His narration confused me greatly, and I'm not sure what the point of the character is at this point. The League comes up with one of the most weird and awful plans to try and stop this guy, which mostly refers to the clunky storytelling I mentioned earlier.

Briones' art is pretty nice. I haven't see his work around since perhaps around #20 of the recent AQUAMAN run, so it was a pleasure looking at his art again. Some of his faces look a bit off as they always have and some of his body proportions don't always look right, but it's mostly consistent. Letterer Willie Schubert seems to have made a lettering mistake, spelling "embrace" as "aembrace" instead.

This was a confusingly written and off issue. While my appreciation for this run has diminished with the release of each issue, I still see a nugget of an overall story here that Priest is telling, and he needs to return to that initial hook in order to win me over.