Justice League #34

Writer: Christopher Priest

Artist: Pete Woods

Letterer: Willie Schubert

Christopher Priest and Pete Woods have finally taken over the JUSTICE LEAGUE title. I've personally been anticipating this for a long time. I'm a fan of Priest's work on DEATHSTROKE and that enough has me excited for his run on this title. What is immediately recognisable is that you can really tell this is a Priest-scripted issue. His storytelling sensibilities and slow progression of plot make themselves known to anyone who's read his previous work. That being said, if you're not paying attention, then you won't really enjoy this story.

The underlying theme of this story seems to deconstruct the very idea of these huge threats that the League has to face. In the end, small human errors are the factors that contribute to whether a mission is successful or not. For those not aware, this story, while focusing on the League in general, pays closer attention to Batman's fallibilities as the most human member of this organisation. He enters the Watchtower and begins to bark orders while he's apparently lacking three days' worth of sleep, which would cripple any person. Setting aside some mostly ironic general consensus that Batman is a god and despite being more human can do more damage than the entire League can, this story exposes the humanity of Batman in a way I haven't seen before. It's very refreshing to me to see the spotlight shine so brightly on Batman in this instance, since writers seem to be very concerned with questioning as to whether heroes like Superman or Cyborg are human, while never touching on the fact that Batman, while very much completely human, seems to be the most distant from the rest of humanity. It's gripping and entirely fresh storytelling, and I applaud Priest for this.

Woods' artwork impressed me. I haven't read anything of Woods' before, and his art had shades of Howard Porter that I recognised here and there, mostly in the linework and detailing. Woods achieves a fine line between detail and non-detail and I found it interesting to look at. His characters are very expressive as well which I found a big plus, in addition to the level of energy found in his panels. This is the most exciting artwork this series has had since Tony Daniel's brief stint on the title with Bryan Hitch when this series first launched.

Priest and Woods are telling a completely new and fresh story in such a unique way. I recommend anyone to jump onto this issue in order to experience something they really haven't before if Priest is a new name to them; the story is compelling and the art is stellar.