Tony Black reviews Justice League #4…
“THE EXTINCTION MACHINE” part 4! In the center of the Earth, Superman faces three doomsday machines set to tear the world apart, while Earth’s two Green Lanterns discover just what a purged planet is truly like. The Kindred are awake and hold the truth about the beginnings of humanity.
SEE ALSO: Check out a preview of Justice League #4 here
‘The Extinction Machines’ has proven to be a suitably apocalyptic opening arc for Justice League amidst Rebirth, and it shows no sign of slowing down as Bryan Hitch adds complication after complication in the path of our plucky group of heroes. We’re very much at the heart of the story now, with the League members separated in all kinds of different places as they battle the forces of, and come to understand, who the Kindred are and why they have invaded Earth essentially, and each of our heroes seem to have a crucial part of the puzzle. Jesus Merino’s pencils, and inks with Andy Owens, serve to compliment the Lovecraftian story by adding suitably grandiose, operatic elements in the design of the god-like Kindred, under which our heroes look extremely small.
The Green Lanterns, Simon Baz & Jessica Cruz, are the forces on ‘the ground’ along with The Flash (more on him later), and by the ground I mean deep space, as they come to understand the potential origin of the Kindred, while continuing to work together much more efficiently as a team unit; the Kindred themselves get some very spooky moments of talking in their own giant, almost possessed way which marks them out as a truly alien menace; Aquaman gets short shrift as Atlantis crumbles as he makes a key connection, but again it’s brief, while The Flash and Wonder Woman seem to be growing closer to understanding the enemy. It’s Cyborg’s strange transformation, in which Batman lies in the thick of, and Superman’s desperate own mission which hook you in the most, and Hitch especially with Superman gives him plenty of moments of worry that a task at the Earth’s core may be beyond even him – once again, it’s the love of his family which keeps him going.
We reach a conclusion in this issue of Justice League which really throws a new spanner in the works, for one of our heroes in particular, leading to a startling extra complication you wonder how they’re going to survive, but we now need to see Hitch starting to tie them all back together and race toward a conclusion this tale needs. That’s likely to begin happening soon, but this is a fine middle issue throwing complication atop complication, drawn very well.
Rating: 7/10
Tony Black
. url=”.” . width=”100%” height=”150″ iframe=”true” /]
https://youtu.be/b7Ozs5mj5ao?list=PL18yMRIfoszEaHYNDTy5C-cH9Oa2gN5ng
Originally published September 25, 2016. Updated November 14, 2019.
