Justice League Unlimited #12 // Review
Boom tubes. Magic. Trips to the microverse. They’re using everything that they can to get people out of the path of the danger. Babs says that they’ve managed to evacuate about 62 percent of the planet so far. Somewhere in the midst of it all, there’s a bank robbery in progress. Batgirl and Atom are going to have to investigate as things begin to unravel in Justice League Unlimited #12. Writer Mark Waid and artist Dan Mora explore collateral danger in an issue featuring color by Tamra Bonvillain. Waid takes a sharply angled look at the contemporary multiverse drama in the opening issue of a promising new story.
Batgirl and Atom find The Polka-Dot Man with a rather large bag full of cash. He tells them to back-off. He doesn’t want to hurt them. He can’t. He’s a marginal character. So why is it that they need the purple healing ray on the watchtower a couple of pages later? And why is it that a few JLA phantoms from other times are forced into a suicide mission to save lives? Owlwoman. Power Girl. A certain blue Superman from the late 1990s. They’re there, but they’re not really there. And they’re all going to die.
Waid manages to piece together a remarkably fun. little story idea from the margins of the multiverse. There are some incredibly deep moments of reflection on the part of characters who are about to die. There is a remarkable amount of background that's needed in order to truly appreciate the complexity of what's going on in this issue. For anyone with a pretty solid working knowledge of the DC universe it's tremendous fun. It would seem hopelessly convoluted to anyone with a less comprehensive knowledge. There's a lot going on here. There's a hell of a lot of subtlety. A way to clearly has a very clever articulation of superhuman drama that appears to be developing something which could be a lot of fun.
Mora developed a great deal of intensity in and around the edges of the drama. Everything seems so strikingly vivid. Multiple different locations. The subtle nuances in persona and personality between various different people who are all wearing drastically different costume. Deepest psychological intricacies that play across the faces are very familiar looking characters. Above all else, the action breaks out in impressive angles when it has a chance to do so. Bonvillain’s colors at the striking depth to truly immersive look at the DC universe.
It's pretty rare when something that's written this good looks at this good in a way that feels as well modulated as this. All too often in DC or Marvel try a major mega crossover event and it just feels like there's a whole lot of people standing around and posing. The creative team for this particular series has done a really good job of taking a deep dive, look at a certain characters which illuminate the overall action going on in the larger, mega crossover event. Quite an accomplishment in its own right. It's just a very, very enjoyable opening for the new story.
