Justice League #7
Written by: Bryan Hitch
Art by: Jesus Merino
Colored by: Ariano Lucas
Ink by: Andy Owens
As the League battles their own worst fears, the world is left to wonder if this is a team that it can trust. Their strength and unity will be challenged as they are plagued with doubt and fears regarding their effectiveness, purpose, and whether or not the members are even able to trust one another. Instead of a looming alien armada or a mad scientist bent on world domination, the enemy the team faces in Justice League #7 is a quiet infection that threatens to destroy them from the inside out. When the average person is struck with fear or doubt, they can be dangerous to themselves, but when a team as powerful as the Justice League are overcome by those same feelings, it can bring catastrophe to the whole world.
The issue opens on a somber tone, with Bruce Wayne sitting alone in the Batcave, lamenting his many perceived failures as Batman. As he stares at a screen filled with his worst enemies and greatest disappointments, Batman is shaken from his pity party when the Man Of Steel comes crashing into the room with a grudge to settle. If it was not obvious from the previous issue, something has infected the League and forced them to face their most negative emotions. For Batman it is guilt and for Superman it is rage, two things that they have worked so hard to repress over the years in order to be the best heroes the can. It is not only Batman and Superman who are forced to face their darkest emotions. While pulling a sunken ship off the ocean’s floor, Aquaman and Wonder Woman discuss in very plain terms how they do not believe the League is doing enough to safeguard the world. Aquaman has sat idly by while the surface world has dumped its garbage on and parked its war machines above his Kingdom for too long. Wonder Woman begins to question whether or not her tactics as an emissary of peace are doing enough to create real change or just enabling the status quo. Perhaps the saddest and most relatable of the League’s challenges this issue is Cyborg’s as he is forced to face his deepest fear that he has hidden for so long, the fear that despite all the good he has done he will always be just a monstrosity in metal to be gawked at. As they, and the rest of the League deal with their fears and doubts it become clear that an outside agent is affecting them, but who amongst the Leagues roster will have the strength to combat it?
Robert Venditti’s second arc as writer of Justice League is a short one, but it is all the more powerful because of it. He brings forth the idea that despite all the power and bravado, these people are just as susceptible to doubt and fear as the rest of us. It is always a risk when you right a story where Batman and Superman, as well as others, are shown in a negative light and never really get the chance to redeem themselves, but it does point to what kind of stories Venditti wants to tell. Although the names are familiar, this is a very different League than we are used to. They do not trust each other, themselves, or even the world they have sworn to protect. The choices one member makes in this issue will shake the foundations of the team for issues to come and the inner demons they face in this issue will without a doubt leave them all scarred in ways we cannot yet imagine.
Art by: Jesus Merino
Colored by: Ariano Lucas
Ink by: Andy Owens
As the League battles their own worst fears, the world is left to wonder if this is a team that it can trust. Their strength and unity will be challenged as they are plagued with doubt and fears regarding their effectiveness, purpose, and whether or not the members are even able to trust one another. Instead of a looming alien armada or a mad scientist bent on world domination, the enemy the team faces in Justice League #7 is a quiet infection that threatens to destroy them from the inside out. When the average person is struck with fear or doubt, they can be dangerous to themselves, but when a team as powerful as the Justice League are overcome by those same feelings, it can bring catastrophe to the whole world.
The issue opens on a somber tone, with Bruce Wayne sitting alone in the Batcave, lamenting his many perceived failures as Batman. As he stares at a screen filled with his worst enemies and greatest disappointments, Batman is shaken from his pity party when the Man Of Steel comes crashing into the room with a grudge to settle. If it was not obvious from the previous issue, something has infected the League and forced them to face their most negative emotions. For Batman it is guilt and for Superman it is rage, two things that they have worked so hard to repress over the years in order to be the best heroes the can. It is not only Batman and Superman who are forced to face their darkest emotions. While pulling a sunken ship off the ocean’s floor, Aquaman and Wonder Woman discuss in very plain terms how they do not believe the League is doing enough to safeguard the world. Aquaman has sat idly by while the surface world has dumped its garbage on and parked its war machines above his Kingdom for too long. Wonder Woman begins to question whether or not her tactics as an emissary of peace are doing enough to create real change or just enabling the status quo. Perhaps the saddest and most relatable of the League’s challenges this issue is Cyborg’s as he is forced to face his deepest fear that he has hidden for so long, the fear that despite all the good he has done he will always be just a monstrosity in metal to be gawked at. As they, and the rest of the League deal with their fears and doubts it become clear that an outside agent is affecting them, but who amongst the Leagues roster will have the strength to combat it?
Robert Venditti’s second arc as writer of Justice League is a short one, but it is all the more powerful because of it. He brings forth the idea that despite all the power and bravado, these people are just as susceptible to doubt and fear as the rest of us. It is always a risk when you right a story where Batman and Superman, as well as others, are shown in a negative light and never really get the chance to redeem themselves, but it does point to what kind of stories Venditti wants to tell. Although the names are familiar, this is a very different League than we are used to. They do not trust each other, themselves, or even the world they have sworn to protect. The choices one member makes in this issue will shake the foundations of the team for issues to come and the inner demons they face in this issue will without a doubt leave them all scarred in ways we cannot yet imagine.
A Look Inside
