Tony Black reviews Justice League #1…
“THE EXTINCTION MACHINE” Chapter One
The oceans rise. The earth quakes. And an ancient power rises to reclaim not just the world, but the universe itself—and not even the combined might of the Justice League can stop it. An all-new era begins with this epic by comic book legend Bryan Hitch (JLA, The Ultimates) and master storyteller Tony S. Daniel (BATMAN: R.I.P., DEATHSTROKE).
SEE ALSO: Check out a preview of Justice League #1
Following their Rebirth issue where writer Bryan Hitch flung them into the Lovecraftian fray, Justice League now begins apace in part one of ‘The Extinction Machines’ and immediately, from the first to the last page, they’re out there as a team saving the world from apocalyptic devastation – earthquakes are raging across the world, everywhere from Gotham to Hong Kong to Atlantis, and our heroes have to battle different elements getting in the way to try and stem the tide. Wonder Woman deals with pesky Russian terrorists, Cyborg has to stop an out of control New York subway train, the Green Lanterns must contend with tidal waves while The Flash has to dash around saving children in crumbling buildings. A greater threat soon begins to emerge, one once again touching on the same creepy, Gothic elements in the Rebirth issue, and one wonders if Hitch may be connecting dots already.
Even with a massive amount of plot in half a dozen locations going on, Hitch thankfully manages to ensure character interplay remains paramount between the players in the League; be it Simon Baz having to temper Jessica Cruz’s natural pessimism at their abilities, balanced by a cool headed Cyborg; or Wonder Woman as usual proving her badass as she talks sense into ignorant, violent men. Despite being separated for the entire issue, most of them get interactions and enjoyable connections in their dialogue, though if anyone is short changed its possibly Aquaman.
Admittedly we don’t see much of Superman either, but there’s a narrative reason for that connecting back to his reticence at being too involved with the JLA as of yet, but Aquaman doesn’t get quite the same detail as the rest of them sketched out. Batman definitely gets the creepiest and most unerring battle to face in Gotham however, and Hitch brings the issue to a large scale cliffhanger which reaffirms the League’s strength once more, but places them in a hugely perilous and right now quite mysterious situation they’re going to have to fight hard to save the world from.
Right from the off, this Justice League run on the whole feels strong and confident, with Tony S. Daniel & Sandu Florea’s artwork equally alongside Hitch’s writing lending different strokes to each location, while also adding a certain slight dark hue to the colour, an ominous sense of colouring which matches the storyline playing out during the issue. Wasting no time in throwing these major heroes into action, Justice League already has lots of exciting places it looks set to go.
Rating: 8/10
Tony Black
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Originally published July 21, 2016. Updated December 16, 2019.
