I’ve been of two minds on Justice League Red. The idea of preventing disasters before they happen is one that’s been covered in previous superhero stories, and with the Red Tornado transforming into an all-seeing artificial intelligence, it looked like this would be a comic that hit at the right time. It even has an incredible creative team in Saladin Ahmed and Clayton Henry! Yet it also feels like the series has taken its sweet time to get its titular team together. Justice League Red #3 not only fixes these issues, but also raises the stakes significantly.
The final two members of Tornado’s team finally join, as he reveals to Power Girl that he’s enlisted Deadman for help in navigating life outside having a body; meanwhile, Cyborg and Simon Baz finally rescue Red Canary from the Church of Blood, only to learn that she has a surprising new ability. Red Canary has long been a character with plenty of potential, and now Ahmed and Henry take that potential to a whole new level. As for Deadman, he’s surprisingly not his usual wisecracking self, which lends some serious gravity to the nature of the team’s mission.
Ahmed does show that the team is united in one thing: their distrust of Tornado. It’s not hard to see why, as he’s tricked them into committing crimes and potentially blackmailed Power Girl with the reveal that he’s found her universe’s version of Krypton. Despite all of this, Ahmed also writes the Tornado as a sympathetic figure. He’s forever struggled to bridge the gap between being a machine and being a man, and thinks saving the world might mean saving his soul. Readers might be in doubt about that last part, especially in Justice League Red #3’s final moments.
DC
Henry divides his work on Justice League Red #3 between illustrating Power Girl and Tornado’s argument on his mysterious satellite and Baz and Cyborg’s battle against the Church of Blood. The former is laced with tension, especially when it comes to Power Girl. Everything from her stony stare to her body language screams that she’s very, very angry at Tornado, and it’s clear that’s going to come to a head. For the latter, there’s terrifying imagery involving spider and dragon-like demons, and badass moments like Baz summoning a glowing green sword to cut open said dragon.
Arif Prianto also deserves his flowers for maintaining a consistent color palette in a book named Justice League Red. Red laces the robes in the Church of Blood, and spreads across the skin of the demons they summon. Most of the characters in this team, save for Baz and Cyborg, wear some shade of red. When Red Canary triggers her mysterious new power, it sends shockwaves of red energy that swallows the page.
Justice League Red #3 finally pulls its team together, and features plenty of great character work in addition to crimson-colored imagery. Ahmed and Henry, much like the Red Tornado, have been playing the long game; the outcome isn’t clear yet, but the readers are definitely on the winning side.
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