Justice League #15 (2019) Comic Book Review–Join us as we examine the latest Justice League comic book from DC Comics. We warn of spoilers as we look through this comic book while providing our analysis and commentary.
Tags: Justice League, Superman, Wonder Woman, Batman, Hawkgirl, Martian Manhunter, Green Lantern, Starman, Thanagar
As the world awaits with bated breath the arrival of the next Avengers film, titled Endgame (fearless fans will recognize that title as an utterance of the Master of the Mystic Arts himself, Dr. Strange, in the last Avengers movie), fans, analysts, bloggers, vloggers, and others are churning out theories as to what is next. Below is a video of one such theory, presented here for your edification:
Tom King is a busy writer. He serves as the scribe for the Batman series, as well as this “side project” called Heroes in Crisis. After reading issue #2 in this mini-series, we can say with certainty that King knows what he is doing, and is taking our heroes (and a few villains) into new territory. And speaking of territory, we now go to Spoiler-Land…
As we saw in Heroes in Crisis #1, The Trinity (Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman) set up a rural retreat for heroes who experienced PTSD and other emotional and mental issues. When you think about it, the need for such a Sanctuary has always been there, but, just like soldiers and police, superheroes live in a rather macho world where the need to ask for help can be perceived, if only by the one needing help, as a weakness. As society’s understanding of these sorts of issues continues to mature, more people find that it is ok to ask for help. Superheroes, with all the trauma they see and experience, are no different.
As this second issue opens, we have three plotlines that are developing. In one, Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman are investigating the deaths at Sanctuary, and Batman is performing an autopsy on Starman. Of note in this scene, the others almost jokingly ask if Batman has any Kryptonite in his “Bat-Belt.” Of course, he denies it. He is also asked if he had a “backdoor” into Sanctuary’s robotic systems to spy on the heroes as they worked through their issues. Of course, he denies that as well.
In another plotline, Harley Quinn is seeking shelter from Penguin, telling him that “they” are after her. We later see her playing cards with a penguin (yes, you read that right, an actual penguin, not The Penguin), and, when the Trinity shows up, she basically kicks their butts. While doing so, she denies killing everyone at Sanctuary, (and is she actually touching Wonder Woman’s Lasso of Truth while saying that? She might be…) and puts the blame solidly on Booster Gold. Regarding how she gets the drop on the heroes in her fight scene is a piece that is very important in terms of potential foreshadowing. She uses the Lasso of Truth to ask Batman if he has anything with him that can stop Superman. Being forced to tell the truth, he says that there is Kryptonite in the third pouch of his “Bat-Belt.” If Batman lied about that earlier, did he also lie about not having backdoor access to Sanctuary’s systems? Hmmm…
Heroes in Crisis #2 Batman and Harley Quinn
In the third plotline, we see Booster Gold definitely acting odd, and, when he encounters Flash, he says that he may have killed the heroes at Sanctuary, including Wally as one of the victims. He also mentions Poison Ivy as one of the victims. This seems to be a bit of insider information, but all it proves is that Booster was there when it happened, not necessarily that he did the deed.
Heroes in Crisis #2: Poison Ivy
In some ways, the best parts of this book are the interviews that the heroes (and Ivy) give when they arrive. In this issue, we see Ivy talking about why she is there (and clearly, she was invited, since as a villain, she is an outsider), and we see that she has real emotional trauma over what she has engaged in. If you follow King’s work in the Batman books, he had Ivy in emotional turmoil over her belief that she killed three undercover cops in the War of Jokes and Riddles, so it makes sense that Batman would bring her to Sanctuary. Also, when Harley pops up during Ivy’s talk, we see a sweet side to both of them. More surprising, though, is when we see Supes, Bats, and Diana speaking when they go to Sanctuary for help. Superman is clearly having an identity crisis, which, as he explains his turmoil, makes complete sense. Diana shrugs off her trauma, not seeking help, and Batman unmasks and talks about his issues with his kid sidekicks. This is all very powerful, and these scenes are worth the price of admission alone.
Heroes in Crisis #2: Batman
Tom King, with great artwork by Clay Mann, is creating an emotionally vital story that reflects a lot of what first responders and our soldiers deal with in real life, and projects it onto or fictional heroes. This series is well worth reading.
After a very long wait, the Fantastic Four is back, both in print, and in our hearts. This book, the second in the recently resurrected series, is what FF fans have been waiting for.
This review will have some spoilers, but we will NOT reveal the (cool) ending. For those of you who want to read the book without spoiler, by all means, do so. It is GOOD!
Fantastic Four #2 (2018) Comic Book Cover
Ok, now, to why this comic is very good:
Dan Slott, the writer, has figured out how to tell us what Reed, Sue, Val, Franklin, and the rest of the Future Foundation have been up to since 2015’s Secret Wars mega-event. Basically, they have been multi-verse hopping, with Franklin merging his cosmic powers with Molecule Man’s molecule-shaping powers to literally restore the multiverses destroyed in Secret Wars, and…create whole new universes from scratch, so that they can explore and discover them.
Wow! Franklin is literally a god, from whose forehead springs new life. Wow! So, what could go wrong?
Well, (ok, major spoiler here)…Franklin’s world-creating power goes away. He runs out of gas, so to speak. And, at that point, a new villain, The Griever, pops in to wipe out all of these new universes that Franklin created. And a battle ensues in which our heroes do not do well. This is a powerful villain!
But, as all powerful villains have hubris to spare, Reed tricks her into letting him call for some help. The scenes then shift back to what we saw at the end of FF #1, where Ben, Johnny, and Alicia were on a rooftop, seeing Reed’s multi-dimensional “4” signal light up. Ben and Johnny are then transported to Reed’s location to help in the battle with the Griever. And then we have another surprise that we will not reveal here. (Go read the comic-it is worth it).
Art by Sara Pichelli is good, and the humor that Slott invests in the interactions between Reed, Sue, and the kids is very well-done, and all in character. Case in point (see image below), Val is flirting with an alien, and Reed remarks that the alien reminds him of someone. Sue remarks somewhat sarcastically, thinking that Reed is the smartest guy in the universe, give him a second to get it. Very funny…
Fantastic Four #2 (2018) interior panel
The Fantastic Four are back (wow, are they back-see the last panel of the book), and are ready to kick villain butt!
Welcome to Superheroreviews.com-We recently had severe technical issues that caused us to have to relaunch this website. A lot of content was lost, but we are forging ahead. Please subscribe to our free newsletter (see the sidebar) to see all of our new content as we post it for you.
