Justice League Of America #6

The Team
Writers Geoff Johns, Jeff Lemire Artist Doug Mahnke

The second chapter of the Trinity War is now upon us, and after re-reading the first issue last night I am very excited. Many gave the first installment of the title flack for being so vague, I for one do not have any problems with this because the comic really sold me on the spectacle of the whole event. The most exciting part of this series by far was the inclusion of some beloved DC characters who have not gotten enough attention since The New 52 reboot. The future seems bright for a major crossover in the big two, for the first time in a long time. This title in the Justice League umbrella will not suffer from a big crossover in particular because this issue has been built around most of them. The inception of the Justice League Of America has always been to take down the Justice League proper. This issue also takes lots of care to feature story that seems like a normal issue, right down to the character bio on the third page.

Geoff Johns continues to make great use of Hawkman as a comedic character. His ridiculously burly personality also leads to some fun dynamics with the other characters. Moments like this also balance out the major event that this series is, with some quieter touches. Johns does a great job tying Wonder Woman’s solo title into the main story without interrupting either her main book or the story at hand. It is also amusing to see a truly awesome character swoop in the end of the issue and proceed to save the day. Towards the middle of this title the pace slows down and starts dealing with the character drama in between the pages of this issue. Watching some of the positions for the bigger heroes should peak the interest of any true fan. The inclusion of the Justice League dark is a real wild card because of all the directions this title can move going forward. One serious downside to the title is all of the Forever Evil references. It is going to be slightly frustrating for readers to see a big crossover so soon after this one.

Doug Mahnke is a little scratchy on the title, but it may simply be because of the number of characters on screen. On the pages where the penciller is more focused he is a force not to be reckoned with. Coming off of the main Green Lantern book also has to be a major change for the artist. Expect great things that are just a tad out of reach for now, I have no doubt that Mahnke is just learning his craft here. It seems the deeper he gets into the comic book the better the artwork becomes here. The way he draws Wonder Woman is also visually stunning. There is a double page spread with Superman and Batman that is totally visually engrossing.

This is a solid second issue of the big event series. With all of these strange characters now at play, it is almost impossible to see where this title could be going.