Justice League of America #26 Review

Writer: Steve Orlando

Artist: Miguel Mendonca

Inkers: Dexter Vines and Wayne Faucher

Colourist: Chris Sotomayor

Letterer: Clayton Cowles

Surprisingly, this is the end to the arc. I assume this would carry on until the series finale, #29, but I was wrong. I won't lie; I'm incredibly satisfied by this revelation, because I couldn't really tolerate this story any longer. The story of Angor and Lord Havok has been around since this series first began back in February of 2016. It was never entirely compelling to begin with, which is made doubly infuriating since Steve Orlando has brought it back with this arc.

This issue is centred around one story element; Batman wants to bring Angor back from the dead, but he doesn't want Havok involved since he failed to save Angor twice in the past. I just don't understand Batman's motivation in saving this place. Worlds fail and crumble all the time. The Dark Multiverse, the recent Scott Snyder/Greg Capullo creation, is predicated on the fact that worlds in this plane die all the time. Why isn't Batman risking his life, willing to die, for these worlds? There's a lack of clear and consistent motivation in this scenario. I get that this harkens back to the initial premise of this team, that it's a team for the common man. It just isn't working.

Black Canary ends up doing nothing in this story aside from a couple or less Canary Cries. It's clear her involvement stems from the over-sized nature of the previous issue; Orlando needed to fill up some pages and needed someone to have an argument with Batman over whether or not they would come along with him on his mission. That's the only reason she went with him, and it's made more clear in this issue where nothing she does makes a difference.

I nearly forgot to talk about the art. Miguel Mendonca provides generally good work and there are times when his faces looked a bit off, but it was otherwise very strong. I chalk up this inconsistency to the dual inkers. Chris Sotomayor's colouring is pretty great and definitely lends a cosmic air to the story Mendonca is depicting.

And of course, Orlando continues his arc-ending tradition. He always keeps a page handy that sets up the next villain or storyline, and we get it here.

This was offensively threadbare and incredibly inconsistent. I'm looking forward to a new age of Justice League books and if this book has to end to let that happen, go ahead. The series' final arc will be a brisk three issues, so anyone still obsessively holding on for the sake of collecting can rest easy.