Justice League #20

Writer: Bryan Hitch

Artist: Bryan Hitch

Colourists: Alex Sinclair, Jeromy Cox, and Pete Pantazis

Publisher: DC Comics

The problem with this series is the anxiety you experience when some level of quality seeps through the surface. While this wasn't necessarily a good issue, there were some interesting story elements that Bryan Hitch used to make the story a lot more different than it could have been.

Instead of a run-of-the-mill Groundhog Day story, the Flash plays a major part in it, which is a genuinely neat idea. A person so aware of time and the Speed Force in this kind of adventure is smart, and Hitch clearly had some fun. He also did the art. Hitch can do scope and scale very well, which is proven by the absolutely gorgeous final page, but has a bit of a hard time when it comes to faces and character interactions. A scene between Barry and Jessica in the opening pages feels off since Jessica's face looks a bit distorted. I think the man should stick to writing the script, despite how much we want him off the book.

This was an exceptionally quick read too. The story is still vague enough for me to look forward to what happens, especially with the scientist character we meet, but doesn't feel solid throughout. A lot of the dialogue was just awkwardly-written, and some was just plain bad, which is what we expect from this series. DC shouldn't be afraid to change the creative team of this book. Hell, get a new writer on Blue Beetle, and put Keith Giffen and J.M. DeMatteis on this book. The fans would appreciate it and based on the last issue of Blue Beetle, it would be quite fun and a surprising change.

With both the art and writing off-kilter, Hitch proves once again he bases these stories on these giant-scale ideas that don't move nicely and don't feel satisfying once they're over. While there was a certain degree of fun, the typical Hitch nonsense still finds it way to irk me.