Justice League #23.1

The Team
Writer Greg Pak Artist Paulo Siqueira and Neth Diaz

Justice League has been delivering a solid amount of fun since the second year of the title. The comic has retained a really fresh feeling since it’s inception early on. Trinity War, a landmark moment for the narrative has now concluded. As a result of that story, the heroes are missing from the main universe and the villains are filling in for some of the stories. Unfortunately regular scripter Geoff Johns did not contribute to this installment of the book. There are also some strange artists in the place of Ivan Reis and others. This month could be considered as a sort of filler for most people, as all the issues focus around one character. It is a good thing that most readers will probably curious about what Darkseid has been up too since he has been absent from continuity for some time now. Hopefully this radically changing title can have a bright future.

As good as this issue looks, the writing is even better. Most of the narrative is told via narration that is quite well written. There is a sense of restraint from writer Greg Pak that seems to carry this entire tale into some stronger territory. The narration could very easily border on being too cheesy or overwritten, yet Pak takes his time acclimating readers to the dialogue. There is also some new additions to the origin of Darkseid that prove to be quite interesting further into the title. There is an appearance towards the end featuring a big DC character that should practically have fans cheering with delight. Pak must have a large amount of respect for the source material, as he adds some spin on the origin with the initial one still factoring in.

Paulo Siqueira and Netho Diaz both deliver some great pencils in this chapter of the saga. The work has an undeniably epic feel, that should excite those that purchased this issue. The color by Hi-Fi also must be mentioned, the bright reds and blues really add to the surroundings of the Apokolips and the gods. Facial expressions are beautifully rendered by the pencillers in this series. With such an epic, painterly style one would picture the artists as not having great storytelling sense, but in actuality everything seem to flow very nicely. Page layouts are toyed with, that have great effects on the art. There is also an uncanny sense of motion, the characters almost feel like they are going to leap off the page in most cases. The art switches toward the second half of the book in a way that still seems to complement the title. The plot has a clear moment that justifies the different art style being used by the creator.

This installment should be looked at as the gold standard of how to write a great villains month title. Everything you could possibly ask for is resting in these short twenty two pages, from drama to high stakes action. This makes the upcoming Action Comics series from the writer start to look more appealing to readers. Enjoy this book if you have any interest in the current state of the publisher, or are looking for a story about Darkseid.