DC Comics 2018
Written by Joshua Williamson
Illustrated by Stjepan Sejic
Lettered by Deron Bennett
When a cosmic menace threatens worlds beyond our own in the Ghost Sector, it falls to a new Justice League team to answer the call to battle! Cyborg, Starfire, Green Lantern Jessica Cruz and an out-of-his-element Azrael head to deep space inside a commandeered Brainiac Skull Ship. But as these wildcard teammates try to stop Despero from slave-trading Coluan refugees, they discover something that nothing in the universe could have prepared them for: Darkseid...who says he’s there to help?!
As you might have noticed I don’t do a lot of DC reviews of late. We can skip the reasons behind that and I will tell you that Joshua is a writer whom I adore and whose career I have followed for ages, god that makes us sound old but from 2007 with Necessary Evil which I don’t have volume 2 of, put him with Stjepan and this is a series I couldn’t pass up even if I wanted to. These guys have done some out of this world work and as a result I am a fan of both men so here we are. Ironically I couldn’t be happier with this issue either.
So one of the things about this book that I appreciate is that for those of us who haven’t read No, Justice get a nice catch-up on the events so that we can understand what’s happening and enjoy the story moving forward. I like that I also LOVE the fact that the dialogue coming from Cyborg finally admits something about the DC Universe that no one ever wants to address or admit to. What exactly that is you’ll have to read the book and find out for yourself because I am not giving that away.
The way that this book is structured borders on the brilliant side for me. The opening is utterly spectacular as we see what happened when the planets were unleashed and created this Ghost Sector. Now I don’t know what species the Green Lantern is but that her Coluan lover watched her leave to get to the Guardians well it’s emotional and piques the interest and curiosity in the best ways. It makes me want to see more of this Ghost Sector and perhaps explore it further without any kind of ulterior motive other than to chart which planets they are and the races inhabiting them. I haven’t had this kind of desire since the Omega Men when they helped out the New Teen Titans, though L.E.G.I.O.N. did come close.
Stjepan is a master of his craft when it comes to computer illustrated books. He does things that I hadn’t thought were possible and the way he can bring the characters to life, have them emote in ways we can feel and just the overall full use of the page continue to blow me away. The creativity, imagination and skill on display here is truly awe inspiring. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels shows off such a stellar eye for storytelling. The backgrounds we see are glorious and the way that the colours are able to pop yeah it is gorgeous.
With the story at hand Joshua takes us on an unexpected journey that uses some amazing pacing and beyond expectation characterisation. There are moments when Starfire and Cyborg talk and it reminds you of their youthful days in the Titans and that alone is gold. Azreal resurrected for this, by that I mean I can’t remember the last time I saw him, is an extremely interesting choice and with what I see here I applaud it. Jessica for me I am mad about you just don’t overcome what she has or had and fully recover just because your a Green Lantern so unless Joshua addresses that it’ll be the only dark spot on this book.
From a creators standpoint these men have struck gold with this first issue. It is complex, interesting and it draws you in and makes you almost want to beg for more. This has the potential to finally be that series that allows Adam Strange to get his own series again. Finally let’s hope that no one messes with these guys and the vision they have for the book because this is frakkin awesome.