Justice League Vs. Suicide Squad tie-in! Eclipso has taken control of the Justice League, and has his eyes on the world as a whole. As its influence expands, Master Chief and Wonder Woman paramour Steve Trevor tries to cross the chaos to protect his sister and her two children.
Justice League # 13 (DC Comics)
With the Justice League’s dalliance with the Suicide Squad wrapping up in that book, here in the main title, we’re dealing with some of the ramifications of that conflict. Indeed in the crossover book the League has been hijacked by Eclipso and have been tasked by Maxwell Lord with taking control of the U.S. While that happens, dark magic blocks out the sun allowing Eclipso to gain control of most of the population, creating a 28 Days Later-like orgy of fire and blood. What follows is, funnily enough, a 28 Weeks Later-like journey across a city full of bloodthirsty maniacs wherein Steve Trevor searches for his missing family.
Though I’ve had my own problems with the main series this book ties into, I had high hopes for this issue given how successful the previous tie-in had gone. Unfortunately this issue falls into many of the same pitfalls that the JL vs. SS series has before it. Most troubling is the inconsistency of the artwork. While the unaffected Steve Trevor maintains a familiar look throughout (though side note: When did he start being drawn to look like Oliver Queen?), it feels as if penciller Scot Eaton didn’t put forth much effort into the art of most other characters. His Eclipso-infected humans are particularly egregious.
There are some moments of confusion stemming from the art as well. In one sequence we assume that we’re seeing the infected menace a group of homeless people, but it’s unclear who is which. Toward the end we see what appears to be Trevor’s niece and nephew dancing over the dead and bloodied body of their mother, only for her to be back up and screaming on the final page.
Overall, the writing is not bad. At the tail end of the book we see Eclipso himself explain why he has allowed Trevor to maintain his sanity in the best character development of the book. Unfortunately it’s for an antagonist that will likely be swiftly defeated in the next episode of JL vs SS, and something that is blatantly said (and this not as artfully shown) in the most recent issue of that series.
This issue could potentially have made things work for a troubled crossover, but it instead leaves a lot to be desired. There’s little getting around the fact that – despite the carnage wrought throughout – this feels like a throwaway issue that won’t have much impact on anything long term.
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