Justice League, Vol. 3: Hawkworld

Justice League (2018)

by Scott Snyder, James Tynion IV, Jim Cheung (Illustrator)

It's a mystery in space: Why would the Guardians of the Universe hide top-secret intel deep in the bowels of a secret vault on Thanagar Prime? The answers will change the DC Universe forever!

The events of the Dark Nights: Metal and Justice League: No Justice have transformed the DC Universe in ways both wonderful and terrifying...the fallout continues in Justice League Vol. 3 as critically acclaimed author Scott Snyder continues his epic run with the World's Greatest Super Heroes.

Martian Manhunter, John Stewart and Hawkgirl avoided "Drowned Earth" with a detour to Thanagar-Prime: J'onn looks to tap into the ancient Martian mental database, Green Lantern struggles while practicing his new UV powers, and Kendra searches for answers about her connection to the Totality.

Collects Justice League #13-18 and Justice League Annual #1

Genres: Comics, Dc Comics, Graphic Novels, Superheroes, Batman, Comic Book, Graphic Novels Comics

160 pages, Paperback

First published June 25, 2019

About the author

Scott Snyder is the Eisner and Harvey Award winning writer on DC Comics Batman, Swamp Thing, and his original series for Vertigo, American Vampire. He is also the author of the short story collection, Voodoo Heart, published by the Dial Press in 2006. The paperback version was published in the summer of 2007.

Reviews

[Chad · Rating 4 out of 5]

This volume is where things finally clicked for me and started to make sense in this whole convoluted story Snyder has written since Dark Metal. The annual in particular kind of summed things up with what has happened so far. I like what Snyder is doing with Starman (Will Payton), a hero DC killed off in the early 90s for being lame. Snyder also writes a really good Lex Luthor and makes him far more interesting by the end of this. I especially enjoyed the issue with Luthor and Martian Manhunter. I'm glad the story is clearing up some. I was beginning to think I was too stupid to understand Snyder's "big" ideas.

[James DeSantis · Rating 2 out of 5]

Man oh man....I want to love this but...

Listen. Justice League isn't that easy to do. I've read about 6 runs now and they range from pretty good to downright terrible. Snyder's run isn't the worst or anything but it's a shame that a guy who can create some of my favorite comics (Black Mirror, New52 Batman, American Vampire) is writing this. I just don't get the change in style.

This is basically another volume in which most of the league is split up and having their own stories told. This takes a look at the less popular members. My personal favorite, hawkgirl and hawkman. I'm joking. I fucking hate these two. Not just in this run but for the most part. These two are NEVER interesting, least from what I read, and they get 2-3 issues dedicated to them. We also get a issue with Lex and Martian Manhunter, lex and joker, and lex and braniac.

A surprise is the Lex and Joker issue was pretty fun. I liked the twist and turns on that one. And...

That's it. The rest is exposition heavy as possible, which I'll be honest, made me very sleepy half way through the volume. I also couldn't stand anything with Hawkgirl here. The stuff with Martian and Lex had moments but the ending came off flat. The annual sucked.

Overall...not sure what's happening with this series. I wish Snyder went smaller, personal, and gave us more fun, instead of this "giant" scope which feels too similar to Hickman's Avengers but missing the epic moments. A 2 out of 5.

[Chris Lemmerman · Rating 3 out of 5]

While Drowned Earth takes the Justice League back home, Martian Manhunter and Hawkgirl head to Thanagar to try and solve some of the lingering problems of the Totality - but the answers they find turn everything upside down.

We open with a Legion of Doom one-shot that manages to shuffle The Joker out of the Legion, but he doesn't leave without making his mark. He was always a weird fit, but James Tynion IV gives him a fitting farewell, although the art from Guillem March can be a little over the top and creepy.

Hawkworld's a weird little arc - the three issues move things forward and give us a lot of answers, but in a bit of a convoluted way. While Robert Venditti has been working hard to uncomplicate the Hawk mythos over in the Hawkman solo book, this manages to recomplicate it again somehow by throwing in the Savage Hawkman and some truly baffling Hawkgirl stuff that just makes my head hurt. The art from Stephen Segovia can't be faulted though, I'm glad to see him at DC. The more interesting half of this story is the Starman stuff, which adds a new piece of the puzzle, and gives us some more Jim Cheung artwork at the same time.

We also get some Cheung art in issue 17, which focuses directly on Lex Luthor and Martian Manhunter, giving us a new wrinkle to their origins together. This is easily the strongest issue of the bunch, and really shines the spotlight on two characters who will no doubt be driving the story going forward.

Then we close out with issue 18, another Legion Of Doom issue, this time doing some flashbacky stuff surrounding Lionel Luthor, Vandal Savage, and the Legionnaires Club with art by Pasqual Ferry.

Also included here is Justice League Annual #1, which finally puts everything Scott Snyder's been doing into perspective by explaining who the true villain of the piece is, and giving a little more context to Lex Luthor's plans, as well as propelling the overall story forward by literally giving us a ticking clock to worry about. The art here from Daniel Sampere is lovely - Sampere's one of those super reliable artists that really deserves an ongoing book to call his own.

Justice League Volume 3 feels necessary - it's full of stuff that has to happen to move everything forward, but it's definitely a little transitory without standing on it's own merit. As part of Snyder and Tynion's grander JL story it's great, but on it's own, it's a little less than the sum of it's parts.

[Matt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Collects Justice League #13-18 and Justice League Annual #1

There were some aspects of the 3-issue "Hawkworld" story that dragged in this collection, but overall, readers received a lot of information about Lex Luthor's ultimate plan, and the history of the DC Omniverse.

Final Rating = 4.5 stars

[Dr Rashmit Mishra · Rating 3 out of 5]

I just ... I just can't come to terms with the fact that Scott Snyder is writing these books , because really it's one disappointing book after another . And sure it's still much better Justice league book than the New 52 or the Rebirth JL books but that doesn't mean these are the kind of good books you expect from someone like Scott Snyder .

The Good Part - Well the book started off really good with the Joker vs Legion of doom story , I have complained about the lame handling of Joker by Snyder in the justice league book's previous 2 volumes , so this was pretty satisfying and much more realist to Joker's behavior . We also learned more about what this whole mess is about . The Jarro bits are still good to read (even if they are mostly one dialogue bubble per volume)[can I start an online petition asking for more Jarro?]. I'm still very happy that Snyder is giving every JL character enough merits for each of the volume . So far all the stories in this JL universe has had all member's contributions and this wasn't all that different with the focus mainly on Martian Manhunter and Hawkgirl.

The Bad part - The Hawkgirl bits were boring , The exposition heavy writing is still way too long and dull and honestly there's way too much plot convenience going on in here. And while I liked how Joker left the story , I'm wondering why exactly was he bought into the story in the first place when his whole contribution in the 3 volumes can be limited to 25 odd pages . The Green Lantern bit was awful and honestly I'm still fuzzy about what this story is all about or where it's headed .

Conclusion - I understand what Snyder is trying to do , he's having fun with the characters while trying to make JL like the animated shows everyone loved watching , except the story is too convoluted and the writing is too much filled with exposition . It's all so dull and tiring to read .

[Anthony · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a slog to get through, and not always an enjoyable one. There's some cool stuff buried in here, but for large parts I was just bored. I do not regret dropping this in singles.

[Subham · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was so good!

It tellls the tale of how Lex recruited Joker into LOD and their war and then the history of Hawkgirl and Martian Manhunter as they go to Thanagar prime and the terrible and hard accepting secrets of the planets and its ruler Shayera, Hawkgirl's past self and its so well done. And finally as they attempt to seal the breach in source wall and the disaster that follows and the big villain's rebirth and the consequences that follow and whatever past J'onn and Lex have and whatever is Brainiac doing with LOD?

Its a big volume and has so much exposition and it can feel overwhelming for sure but its the part that makes the direction of the run so much better and catapults into some of the best JL stories ever and I love it and the work done on Martian Manhunter is awesome and the art is a treat to the eyes, some of the best there is. Plus the way they add so much to the DC mythology its excellent and ugh its so good and I have fond memories associated with this volume and wow its so worth it! A must recommend!

[Lashaan Balasingam · Rating 3 out of 5]

You can find my review on my blog by clicking here.

After a hectic and messy tie-in story centered around Aquaman, the ongoing Justice League series helmed by Scott Snyder and James Tynion IV continues its exploration into the cosmic universes to uncover the truth behind their reality. At the heart of this latest story arc is a mystery that invites some heroes to dig deeper into the secrets of their world, whether it will appease or break them. From godly entities to ill-intentioned supervillains, the story doesn’t shy away from destroying the status quo and jumping over the frontiers of the multiverse to explain the mythology behind these heroes and their worlds. However, this approach will inevitably enlargen the scope of the DC universe and bring readers to have more questions than answers to what is foreshadowed for our heroes.

What is Justice League: Hawkworld about? Collecting Justice League #13-18 and Justice League Annual #1, the story kicks off with a psychedelic episode featuring the Legion of Doom where the Joker goes up against Lex Luthor to prove how insane Superman’s greatest rival is to work with the Batman Who Laughs. Showing not only resolve and composure in his lunacy, the Joker still unveils his fear by warning Luthor of his plans. The story then jumps on over to the Justice League, split into two different squads, looking for answers regarding the Source Wall. Mostly centered around Martian Manhunter, John Stewart and Hawkgirl—after all, they did avoid the “Drowned Earth” story arc—who are headed to Thanagar Prime looking for answers, this volume continues to feed the mystery surrounding the multiverse’s origin with the introduction of an entity far bigger than anyone they’ve faced before: Perpetua.

Ever since the epic events of Dark Nights: Metal and Justice League: No Justice, Scott Snyder has been shaking up the DC Universe with no mercy. His vision for the future of this world is still inexplicable and of epic proportion and there still remains a certain difficulty for any reader to follow him around without carrying around a gazillion questions needing answers. In this latest story arc, there are plenty of new story elements that are unveiled for fans to ruminate about but nothing is ever set in stone as characters rediscover themselves just as much as readers rediscover their heroes. The story arc set in Thanagar Prime is a perfect example of this exposition-heavy story-telling as it conveyed the volume’s overall purpose to set the table for things to come. Unfortunately, the reader is forced to do the heavy-lifting as Scott Snyder and James Tynion IV tell rather than show in order to set the new foundation to their epic scale story.

The creative decision to utilize the talents of multiple artists within the same story arc continues in this volume but it doesn’t contribute to the confusion or disgust of the reader. In fact, for most of the volume, the artists on this team utilize a similar visual style that captures the writers’ vision and the cosmic scope of the story. Where the volume suffers a bit more isn’t even in the character design or the panel configuration, since these are perfectly rendered to translate the gravity of situations and the intensity of the action. It’s in the facial expressions that the struggle begins as some artists pencil some of the oddest emotions on our dear heroes. Artist Guillem March, for example, draws his characters with stunned and terrified faces that instill fear and horror to the story. Further along, there is also a dissonance from one page to another where the colouring promotes a smoother tone before immediately jumping to grittier and rugged skin textures. This is why having multiple artists can sometimes work against the story but at least in this case, the artwork is more exquisite than not.

Justice League: Hawkworld is another cosmic journey towards uncovering dark secrets of the multiverse with stunning artwork to polish a convoluted story.

Yours truly,

Lashaan | Blogger and Book Reviewer
Official blog: https://bookidote.com/

[Dakota Morgan · Rating 2 out of 5]

2021 Re-read: Hawkworld is vastly improved when read immediately after the prior volumes. So many of its Big Deal Things tie into Totality and No Justice. When you have a fuller understanding of what Scott Snyder's trying to do with the Source Wall and Perpetua, not to mention tying Luthor and Martian's backstories together, Hawkworld seems like an intense, well-crafted bit of upping the ante. I'd call it a four-star read now, though I'll leave the old rating and review since, honestly, most of my below comments still apply. I'm just more of a convert this time around.

Old Review: Justice League is 98% one character explaining some incomprehensible concept to another character and 2% Batman quips. These three volumes have easily been the densest comics I've ever read. At least the second volume had a straightforward action-adventure plot to follow. In Hawkworld, we track some B-level heroes chasing down a MacGuffin on Thanagar while Lex Luthor does some shady stuff with all the villains. This volume could be used in English class to teach the concept of "show, don't tell."

The art isn't even good enough to enjoy the confusing ride. Jim Cheung does great work - the other random artists are middling. I was pleased to see the Source Wall finally explode, but it didn't really do anything to change my level of bafflement. I think I'm done with this series.

[Kat · Rating 4 out of 5]

Basic Plot: The Justice League attempt to save the Source Wall and Luthor seeks to destroy it and wake Perpetua.

The art here is epic and fantastic. The characters and their motivations drive everything, which beings a lot of pathos to the story, even for the villains. The plot itself continues to build and twist, and is nowhere near its conclusion yet. I love the fact that the writers and artists are being given space to actually build a meaningful story and not just churning out short, unconnected moments. I am very invested in this new series in a way the previous one never caught me.

[Blindzider · Rating 3 out of 5]

Snyder has done a decent job of building up the suspense before finally revealing what's been lurking behind the Source Wall. He made sure it felt immense, even larger than the multiverse, but the problem is he does it through so much verbal exposition, either through captions or dialogue. The density of his words is very similar to Claremont writing X-Men back in the 80's. In the last few decades, comics have become very short on words (Marvel completely removing captions for awhile) so anytime you have a book like Snyder's, it almost seems a chore to go through it, despite the words helping to flesh out what is going on. Not sure how to feel about it.

Two main plots: the continued machinations of the Legion of Doom, and the Justice League trying to figure out and stop something from coming through the Source Wall. Snyder layers on more history to the DC universe, increasing the complexity between races and groups, so credit for that. He adds a connection between a hero and villain that was very intriguing. Also, the trinity are not the focus of this volume and that's a nice change of pace. However, this book still "feels" like slogging through mud a little bit. Not exactly sure what it is.

The art isn't bad, some of it is ruined by the newsprint-like paper of the trade paperback. Cheung's art doesn't look quite as clean as it did at Marvel, but still a joy to look at. Segovia's work is acceptable, but a little jarring in style when Cheung has to fill in for a few pages.

Thankfully, the Justice League annual was included (and in the correct reading order) because it pretty much lays out the explanation for what's been going on.

Overall, intriguing, but not stellar.

[Sans · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wonder, does Bruce ever feel bad about breaking the Source Wall? If he’d sat down and shut up when everyone told him to, none of this, from Metal forward, would have happened.

[Tom Ewing · Rating 3 out of 5]

God help me, I quite enjoyed this, whether despite or because of the feeling you get that there’s at least two issues missing between every one that actually got published. Lots of it is Lex Luthor and other villains being catty to one another, something DC event books always enjoy. There’s also a Thanagar story which suffers from an “everything you know is wrong” reveal where (as is sometimes the case) the wrong stuff is more interesting than the truth. And a Martian Manhunter spotlight which makes a very odd retcon decision but never mind, it’s DC so there’ll be another continuity along in a minute.

[Met · Rating 4 out of 5]

Snyder prosegue la sua nuova architettura del DC universe e nonostante si stia tutto complicando in modo quasi ingestibile, il treno va' spedito e intrattiene con gioia. Non posso che apprezzare questo lavoro di world building, e, in particolare per questo volume, il risalto dato a personaggi ultimamente finiti un po' nell'ombra, come Martian Manhunter e Hawkgirl.

[Murphy C · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read the single issues a week or two ago, and I was disappointed. The artwork is fairly consistently good, and it was nice seeing Shayera and Katar Hol, but the writing is just so sloppy and pedestrian. These are the upper echelons of the American comics industry and as such writers working professionally for DC ought to be able to use punctuation correctly and understand English syntax. Yikes.

[Danielle · Rating 2 out of 5]

I like the heart of this, but think there's way too many characters involved for me to keep up. There's so much going on that issues will pass before something is addressed again, which makes the story seem way disconnected. I really wish this was minimized a little bit since there's like five things going on at any time - and if it was just one done well, I would be happy.

[RG · Rating 1 out of 5]

Wtf was this

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

Confusing and convoluted at time--I'm sorry, Scott Snyder!! I really do love your work!--but the whole thing with the Source Wall and the totality has stretched my suspension of disbelief way farther than I like. (Don't ask me why a Dark Multiverse is totally okay, but a Source Wall is too far....)

I think it might be because "Dark Nights: Metal" was just so darn cool and even thought-provoking that the weirder elements didn't seem to matter. It also had plenty of time to grow and develop--considering it took a total of four graphic novels to get the ENTIRE story. In comparison, everything here seems rather rushed, with each fantastical thing being followed by something even MORE fantastical--giant trees of existence and existential Galactus-like beings that consume the worlds where they appear (huh?), a totality that is also a woman... who is also a dark goddess of life before... light (huh?), and Lex Luthor somehow knowing all of it because of a magical/scientific doorknob from his father (huh?). (And, full disclosure, I might have some of that wrong. It's VERY confusing.) It feels like DC is throwing just about any crazy idea at us and seeing what will stick, and what we're getting is just... a mess.

That said, Scott Snyder does maintain some solid character moments--particularly between Martian Manhunter and Lex Luthor. The fact that they knew each other as children adds a rather interesting element to the comics. It's new, and I'm sure some fans won't like it, but I kind of enjoyed the introspection it allowed for both characters. Honestly, I feel like DC just needs to slow down a little.... Take some time to breathe in the characters and their worlds. Try not to do so much new, and just relish in the fun elements you've brought back (Martian Manhunter, the Hall of Justice, etc.). And slowly, slowly, give us a Legion of Doom and a universe-ending battle. (I mean, we just had one in Metal. I know the Source Wall is broken and there are going to be repercussions... but wouldn't such repercussions from the edge of the universe take a little bit of time to show up in our world?) I don't have time to really care about the giant trees or the totality or the Source Wall getting fixed or... anything... because I don't have time to really see how all of those elements are affecting the Justice League and the world at large. That's handled SOME in Titans, but even then they go straight for these crazy, ridiculous powers rather than letting us build up to it.

Comics are supposed to be modern mythology--throwing miraculous or wacky what-ifs our way that help us to understand the world and ourselves better. If a novel is a mirror to humanity, then comics are funhouse mirrors, using extremes to help us better understand the craziness of life. But even when life feels insane (2020, amiright?), it doesn't happen all at once. We didn't have the pandemic, murder hornets, riots, the election, etc., all in one month. The pandemic spread over many months. Murder hornets never really happened (thankfully). Riots were mostly in the summer. The election was at its most controversial in October/November.

Similarly, it would be nice if these different elements didn't happen one right after the other. I feel like I'm getting whiplash reading. What if we had them knowing the Source Wall was breaking and doing research to try and fix it? Maybe exploring the Microverse? Visiting with the Guardians of the Universe, Thanager, etc.? Maybe different scientists--Flash, Lex Luthor, etc.--trying to find a solution? And yes, I know I said Lex Luthor--what if, rather than him being inspired by doom and then *BAM* instant villain.... what if he was more calculating? (You know... like Lex Luthor usually is. Plus this would be after he was on Apokolips, where he got a renewed taste for power, so it would totally make sense.) What if he played at being a hero, trying to "help" save the universe, when really he's using the Justice League as a way to conduct his own research. And all the while, maybe we have fights with different members of the Legion of Doom... each secretly working for Lex (or maybe he recruits them afterward) and maybe each fight could be its own mini story arc and involve some of that Source Wall radiation. Maybe have some nice team-ups with the Titans or even Teen Titans. And then, after several issues and several fights, when the radiation starts to become too intense, that's when Brainiac shows up and we have that whole tree-thing. These team-ups would make even more sense following the prior team-ups. And maybe have a B-story where the villains of the Legions of Doom (who Lex Luthor has recruited) are working on something for their plan--maybe this is where they are researching the totality. Or maybe they're trying to find the Batman Who Laughs. (I think I missed how he ended up with Lex????) But we only get a hint of it... here and there. We don't know what's going on, until the very end of the "No Justice" (trees) story arc, when we get a glimpse at what they've been doing--and maybe that's when Lex walks in to talk to the Batman Who Laughs. (It could either be a surprise that he's had his own agenda, or we could have some dramatic irony--where the reader knows but the Justice League doesn't.) If we do the prior, then we could have a few issues where the totality is continued to be researched and Lex continues to manipulate the Justice League, and when the totality hits, that's when he shows his cards, and then, *BAM!* dramatic fights with the fully formed Legion of Doom. And from there, we go into Drowned Earth (which I actually liked and was decently paced) and full speed ahead. (I know that technically came before, but I think it makes a bit more sense to put it after... anyways... just my two-cents, which will get me... well, nothing nowadays, lol.)

Sorry... totally got off on a tangent there. It's just that... I'm a big DC fan, and I adore a lot of what's going on with the Justice League in terms of characterization and interactions. I see the potential, but it feels like nothing is being given the proper chance to be explored. Even the stranger elements that, I have to admit, would still stretch my suspension of disbelief, would be a lot cooler if we took the time to slow down and see how they were affecting the characters. I think that's why "Dark Nights Metal" worked so well. I knew that Batman was feeling ashamed and fearful--beaten down by his own worst nightmares. Superman believed in the goodness of the Batman he knew more than he did the powers of those Dark Multiverse horrors. The same is true of other characters--Nightwing and Robin, Wonder Woman, Hawkgirl, etc.

With how things are right now... I know Lex wants power. I know the Justice League is worried. But... beyond that? Not nearly as much, which is super disappointing because there's so much potential.

Still, I do like the small moments we have--seeing the public wandering through the Hall of Justice, listening to the Flash's welcome; Martian Manhunter attempting to appeal to Luthor's humanity; etc.

Good moments, to be sure. Lots of potential. But everything is going by too quickly to inspire any true investment. I still have hope for the future (the "Year of the Villain" intrigues me). Perhaps we're rushing now to get to some better, more in-depth stuff later? Of course, I would argue it's better not to rush at all and make every story count, but.... anyways, here's hoping.

[Adam Fisher · Rating 3 out of 5]

This Volume was all over the place... and instead of being called Justice League Volume 3, it should almost be called Lex Luthor Vol 1. Lex is ALL OVER this book!
Basic summaries:
- First issue is a crazy battle between Lex and the Joker, where Joker has given all of the Legion of Doom his special gas to make them smiley and compliant. Showing that Lex will never be able to get on up on him (partially due to the deal Lex made with The Batman Who Laughs), Joker takes a few with him and leaves the Legion of Doom causing them to seek out Brainiac.
- Then we get a few issues on Hawkworld. John Stewart, Martian Manhunter, and Hawkgirl head off to Thanagar Prime while the rest of the Justice League are dealing with the whole "Drowned Earth" story. J'onn is looking for the other last remaining Martian in the galaxy, and she was last seen on that planet. Unfortunately, the current Empress Shayera (who is the same person that Hawkgirl should be... don't ask) is hiding the Martian Keep so that the current weakness of the planet won't be discovered by outside forces. They are able to stop her, but not before the other Martian passes away.
- The Annual issue appears here and continues a story from.... somewhere... having the Justice League take the Omega Titans to the Source Wall to repair it. (Tons of questions here... did I miss something major?) It totally backfires and the Source Wall explodes.... which is the first step to releasing Perpetua. (I swear... the build up to this villain better be worth it.)
- A very odd look into the history of Martian Manhunter involving repressed memories and a very young Lex Luthor.
- Lex convincing Brainiac to work with the Legion of Doom to help awaken Perpetua instead of taking over everything for himself.

Overall, this Volume was fine, but very long and felt kind of scattered. Hopefully the next Volume will be better. Recommend with slight hesitation, but sure that the story is going to be important.

[Shannon Appelcline · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good return to form after the awful Drowned Earth crossover that had dragged everything to a screeching halt.

The eponymous "Hawkworld" story is actually the least of the volume. Oh, it's good to see DC hammer out the multiple-Hawkgirl problem, and the whole Thangar Prime story has interesting elements too, but everything is (again) too decompressed and ultimately too long.

More interesting are all the surrounding stories, going toward the big plot elements of Snyder's run in bite-sized bits. We get great backstory on the Legion, including a bit of a retcon for both J'onn and Luther, which makes them all the more intriguing. And, we get a whole annual focused on the biggest plot of the new forces and the Dark Universe. This is overall great cosmic mythology, and what's really making Snyder's run work (as it does the contemporary Flash run, which has made a lot of use of these same ideas).

[Eli Seibert · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars. I'd be lying if I said I was 100% following this, but I'd also be lying if I said that I wasn't having a pretty good time reading it.

[Sarospice · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Justice League are not the stars of their own book. They keep making mistakes as Perpetual grows near. This title is all about Lex Luthor and the legion of doom. Love it!

[Matthew Manchester · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's not horrible but it's not as fresh as it wants to be. The first chapter with the Joker was the standout for me.

[Tacitus · Rating 1 out of 5]

“I am not enjoying this, Kendra. I want you to know that.”
-Shayera Hol, Justice League #15

This collection starts with a very dialogue-heavy issue written by James Tynion IV. In it, Joker gasses the whole Legion of Doom (including some new recruits). After talking it out with Luthor, Joker counters the gas with more gas and then leaves. Joker could have killed everyone and gotten some kind of victory over Luthor, which he said he wanted, but he chose not to for some reason, which makes the whole issue feel pointless.

This issue also calls into question joker’s motivation in all of the preceding issues, which already seemed weak and unexplained, even though he is featured on some covers. I have questioned this from the beginning of this run. What does he bring to the team? Luthor says something about Joker’s intelligence, but Scott Snyder never showed us that. The fact that Joker doesn’t like Batman Who Laughs is strange, as Batman Who Laughs acts like Joker most of the time. The truth is, Luthor didn’t need Joker at all, and neither did the story itself at any point, except as an excuse to use Joker as a sales gimmick.

Combined with Black Manta’s selfish and spontaneous departure in the prior collection, the whole foundation for this Legion seems poorly thought out and maintained by Lex Luthor — and the creators themselves. The Legion doesn’t seem like the fearsome counter to the Justice League that it was at the beginning, which detracts from its potential as an evil threat in coming issues. Also, there is no build-up for these characters’ motivations, tensions, and sudden turncoat decisions, which denies these moments any intrigue or drama.

As for the Justice League, Batman goes rogue again and puts Jarro on Starman’s face. Batman, by the way, is completely healed. This just highlights that Snyder injured Batman to keep him confined to the Hall and runs comms in prior issues. Batman didn’t need to be disabled, as he runs around in one of Luthor’s mothballed suits during Drowned Earth; why didn’t they just do that from the beginning? Here, he’s healed with no mention of prior events, like it never happened — because it never needed to happen at all, quite clearly. Batman can be injured or not simply because Snyder needs him for this or that storytelling purpose.

In any event, Batman shouldn’t have experimented with Jarro without telling anyone, as maybe that makes Starman into a bomb. To this, Superman says, “We need to evacuate the planet. He’s going to explode!” The absurdity of this non-sequiter goes unmentioned.

Of course, it doesn’t prove necessary, because while the Hall is destroyed in the blast, no one is injured. Thankfully, they cleared the visitor center in time; the fact that the Hall has a visitor center to begin with is indeed a liability, one which the heroes or creators never contemplated beforehand, apparently. The whole Hall sequence is a lot of bluster that attempts to make it seem important, when it really just makes DC’s triumvirate really look ineffectual while the Hall blows up. That Wonder Woman, Batman, and Superman are tagging along while Starman does stuff is an accurate synopsis of their entire page time in this collection.

Meanwhile, the Hawkworld scenario has much of the same problems as the Drowned Earth story, separating the Justice League members and focusing here on the Thanagarians. The story bogs down in exposition through dialogue and narration, as the heroes attempt to penetrate what is described as an intergalactic bank. One of the depositors divulges what amounts to the whole secret plan in 5 dialogue bubbles in the middle of a fist fight, for no good reason, really. The Thanagar empress (Shaynera) is collecting all of these space MacGuffins to destroy Earth before Earth destroys them. This isn’t given the follow-through it’s needed, as you might think that the Guardians of the Universe would be interested in this secret, cosmic WMD program. In any event, the heroes learn of a super MacGuffin, the Absorbascon.

The Legion doesn’t appear in these Hawkworld issues, even though the cover for issue #16 shows Luthor and Martian Manhunter together. Tynion and Snyder started sharing the writing duties as the run goes on, and it shows in the output. The fact that Shayera was holding the Martian Keep hostage all this time, and lied about it initially, is sort of casually forgiven and swept under the rug for unclear reasons; she doesn’t play a critical role in subsequent events.

The long, long dialogue throws out some tepid ideas that weren’t well established before now. For example, the mystical doorknob symbol may represent both sides, Justice and Doom, which happens to correspond with the design of the teams’ respective buildings and names. Why is this significant? No idea. It was established that Shaynera may be another version of Kendra from another timeline that may threaten to overwrite this one; this is thrown out without much follow-through as well.

A lot of these cosmic details are fuzzy and difficult to adhere into any kind of meaningful mental architecture. They don’t drive the plot or give the heroes a clear problem to solve. Finding the Martian Keep didn’t feel like the significant event it should have been, and that she wills herself to die seem to undercut any meaning that she may have had, because we just met her in the same issue. And why was naming the Absorbascon so important, when its powers aren’t clear and we don’t know who controls it in the end?

Starman’s inclusion tends to overshadow the other members. The Annual diverts things further, as the New Gods show up with a world-eating Omega Titan named Wonder, not to mention a contingent of the Green Lantern Corps, and we lose sight of the core League members. Brainiac shows up, and the other Legion members are along for the ride. Like Homer Simpson fading into a hedge, the Omega Titans plug gaps in the Source Wall to try to keep Perpetua at bay.

Even so, the whole universe is ripped open (with a lot of explosions, which is kind of funny) and while the Source Wall couldn’t keep her imprisoned, the Legion does manage to somehow capture Perpetua as the League runs away. That’s worth emphasizing: the entire plot up to now involved the Justice League et al acting keeping Perpetua in her cosmic prison, but the Legion of Doom has no problem keeping Perpetua in their own prison.

Meanwhile, it’s mentioned that there were four energies revealed so far, but I only counted three, which underscores that the series should probably have focused on the energies. And I still don’t know where Cyborg is. If he died or disappeared, I would think I would remember that, or the Justice League would, either in dialogue exchange or maybe by building a remembrance plaque to him in the Hall of Justice chapel — which is shown at one point. Aquaman, similarly, is absent from these issues.

The collection concludes with more personally focused issues, which take readers out of the momentum of the Source Wall breaking. Maybe this is needed from time to time in any normal series, but there were a lot of things that could have been explained better in the prior issues.

Instead, we find out that Martian Manhunter and Luthor knew each other as boys, but had their minds erased. This is what Martian Manhunter says, at any rate. Given that this exchange occurs during a psyops trick on Luthor, I am left to wonder if Martian Manhunter was telling the truth — and more to the point, why Luthor believed him (an alien, mind you). A final issue involves a long explication on the search for the 7 energies by Vandal Savage, who died so long ago in this series that I had to wonder why the creators took us backwards in these flashbacks. In both of these stories, the collection does not progress, and gives a sense that the creators were stalling for time while they figured out how to move forward.

For my part, I have run out of patience with this tedious, drab jumble. Accordingly, I am done with this run and won’t be continuing with the other volumes.

[Jeremy Bautista · Rating 4 out of 5]

Be still my DC heart, but maybe this might be my favorite Justice League story since the time the team crossed paths with their possible near-future children. It's better than the last few volumes, but not a must read. It's really a 3.5 star rating in my opinion.

This story had 3 legitimately interesting story arcs: Lex fleshing out his plans with his Legion of Doom; Hawkgirl, Martian Manhunter, and John Stewart and their quest for answers on Thanagar Prime; and the rest of the Justice League learning what they can from Starman from the 1980's. In what was a well-executed set of stories and storytelling, these three threads came together in a pretty epic way by the end of this volume with legitimately heightened stakes and character growth going forward. Maybe this is opinion is driven partially by recency-bias, but there is a lot that went well in this volume after what I thought was not-as-good volumes 1 and 2.

First, the scope of characters was limited per arc. They didn't try to give too many characters screen time which allowed for better dialog and character-driven plot development. Then you had some really good moments learning about some characters, their backgrounds and history, and things that are changing with them such as Lex Luthor, Martian Manhunter, and Hawkgirl. While ensemble stories aren't designed necessarily to have deep character studies, it really helps get me invested in the story (even ones of Justice League-scaled events) when we learn something new about a character along the way. And finally, the way they finally started to pay off some hanging plot threads that have been brought up over the previous 2 volumes. Getting these story and plot reveals is a reward of sorts for putting up with the Drowned Earth and Totality storylines.

I would not consider this to be a good jumping on point for someone trying to start into the Justice League title. But if you suffered through this title through No Justice and this current reboot of Justice League from 2018, this book is your reward for being a completist and loyal reader of Justice League.

[Scott Lee · Rating 3 out of 5]

A 3.5 that rounds down for me. I love Snyder's ambition in these first few volumes--the scope is huge, which is appropriate for Justice League in general and this lineup in particular. However, the book seems almost designed to be a follow up to Dark Knight's Metal at this point, without quite finding an identity of its own.

Now I liked Metal, loved pieces of it in fact, but this series feels slaved to that maxiseries in a way that has limited it as well as blessing it. I loved the first volume, and the second, which crossed over with Aquaman for the Graveyard of the Gods/Drowned Earth storyline was solid storytelling. This one, which if anything attempts to be even more epic with even fewer Justicleaguers and none of the traditional A-Listers except for Jon Jonzz, doesn't quite measure up even to volume two.

Luthor's been a weird character ever since DC launched the New 52, neither the villain he used to be, nor ever quite a good man. He seemed at first with this series' launch to be returning to classic Lex villainhood, but instead seems to have had the comic-book equivalent of a religious experience that has left him convinced that he should be evil because Doom is destined to win...I just...I don't know.

The best thing in this volume by FAR is the Joker/Luthor issue, first in the volume in which Joker demonstrates just how dangerous, how brilliant, he can and should be. It was phenomenal--but then we already knew Snyder could absolutely nail the Joker--he wrote two of the best stories I've ever read with the character in his New 52 run on Batman. Lex though...I'm not sure what to make of him. I'm hoping we get to see the whole league get out and handle some stuff together again, soon...

[Daniel Butcher · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are some cool concepts here, but it's a fairly big volume with a lot of "stuff" going on as Synder sets up a bigger story.

[John Yelverton · Rating 4 out of 5]

This Justice League story is starting to become more and more epic, but it's also rewriting a lot of DC canon, so I'm reserving judgment until it's all over, but right now, it's pretty good.

[Emmett Spain · Rating 3 out of 5]

Start rant:

I don’t know. I just … didn’t DC used to be fun? It just seems like every DC comic I pick up these days is reliant upon my understanding of a dozen other exposition-heavy books to make a lick of sense out of it all. Worse still, the writers have to exposit left and right to make a book hold together even at all … I swear, it’s like a convoluted Christopher Nolan flick only more wordy. I’m so sick of DC. At least this volume made more sense than the others, and the Luthor and Joker issue was cool. But man … DC is stranding it’s cool artists in stories that are in love with their own complexity.

End rant.

[Arturo · Rating 4 out of 5]

JL#13: Legion of Doom part 3
#14-16: Hawkgirl and Martian Manhunter in Hawkworld.
Even though this story was pretty generic overall, I was totally immersed in the journey of our heroes, as they uncover secrets to the bigger story. I might be a little biased as I love stories set in space especially in the DC universe, but there were tons moments and revelations that had me loving this volume.
Annual#1: crisis at the source wall
Notes: Brainiac. Perpetua.
#17: Lex and J’onn origin story.
#18: Legion of Doom part 4.

This volume might of had tons of set up but the journey was worth it, the last issue was a little overkill.