Justice League 29
Geoff Johns, Doug Mahnke
Forever Evil Crossover
Spoiler alert! You have been warned!
The super-delayed issue that I never knew I wanted continues on right where we left off last issue. And, much like last issue, this one was pretty great. Titled “Forever Heroes,” we get part two of the Metal Men’s introduction to the New 52. And it’s awesome. Writer and DC Comics Chief Creative Officer and event mastermind Geoff Johns leads the charge, reinventing and revolutionizing formerly lame characters. This time around, he uses the expert pencils of artist Dough Mahnke to help him pave the way.
The Metal Men help Cyborg and Doc Magnus take down Grid, the Crime Syndicate’s own Earth-3 doppelganger of our hero. Even when he gets some help from the new Fearsome Five-ish (made up of Hector Hammond, Dr. Psycho, and the original five members) at the behest of the Secret Society, all hell should be breaking loose while the events of Forever Evil (also late) happen in the background. So while the Metal Men take down this portion of the Society, Victor Stone defeats the villainous robot known as Grid and shuts him down from within. But before they can celebrate, some more Society members show up, including but not limited to an extra-scary-looking Parasite. But this “robot” version of the Justice League grows by two more with the arrival of Steve Trevor and Killer Frost. Time to go save the rest of the League.
So let’s first talk about how great that Ivan Reis cover is. It’s awesome… So much so that I was (and still kind of am) hoping that the Metal Men start looking like the Justice League in the near future. Even if it’s just for one fight, it’ll be fun. Now let’s talk about how Johns has consistently made heroes who are D-listers or even lapsed B-through-C-listers into A-listers. The Justice Society? Check. Green Lantern? Check. Aquaman? Check. Metal Men? Check. So who’s next, Mr. Johns? No matter who that may be, count this fan in for sure.
My Rating: 5/5
I really liked this issue, and Mahnke’s art was pretty good apart from a couple weird spots. I think that was the reason for the delay on this because Reis was behind so they got Mahnke to fill in. Great team interaction and great characterization for Cyborg, who prior to FE had none.