Review: Justice League #47

Written by Geoff Johns

Art by Jason Fabok and Brad Anderson

Issue 47 marks the beginning of Act 3 of The Darkseid War. Act 1, while light on some character motivations, was a really fun spectacle. Act 2 wasn’t so much. There were too many characters being moved around to set up Act 3 and not enough actual story. The month hiatus for tie-in issues also helped to derail much of this story’s momentum, even though some of those issues were pretty fantastic. So does Act 3 get this story back on track? Does Jason Fabok’s return give this book the kick in the pants in needs to be good again? For the most part this issue is a big improvement over the last couple, but it still has some work to do the reclaim the buzz this book had during its first act.

The Good

First and foremost, it is great to see Jason Fabok’s return to this book. I am a huge fan of Francis Manapul’s art (who isn’t?) but his style really didn’t mesh all too well with the story that Geoff Johns is trying to tell here. Fabok’s work here is much grittier and Anderson’s colors are much darker than the bright and vibrant tones that Manapul put into his issues. The creative team here just gels with the story better and it lifts the book up more because of it. I’m also just a sucker for Fabok’s Mister Miracle. I’ve never really been a big fan of the character but this story has made me enjoy him a lot more.

In this issue, John’s starts to lead us back towards the grand spectacle that made this book fun in the first place. Superman and Wonder Woman have a good, if not a little too brief, fight scene here. What really makes this issue work, though, are some of the small little character interactions. The Green Lantern/ Batman conversation really highlights the differences between the two characters. Power Ring has a really good character moment with Cyborg and Volthoom. Even the Crime Syndicate was well written for the short time they were in this issue. When John’s actually takes time on his his characters he writes them really well. Unfortunately, he doesn’t treat all of his character equally.

The Bad

Geoff Johns is still moving the pieces of his chess board around. He does have a considerably large cast to work with here, but John’s had all of Act 2 to get his characters where they need to be. I’m ready for more of the ridiculous spectacle that made the first act so fun but instead we just get hints of it here. There were also too many important characters that were just glossed over in this issue. Grail, the character that suffers the most from her lack of characterization, only has two pages in this issue. She can barely be seen and spews out just about the most generic villain speech in comics. On top of this, Mobius, aka the freaking Anti-Monitor, was reduced to what is basically a one page cameo. On a side note, his new character design, while better than his old dome head look, still doesn’t look that great to me. Shazam, Flash, and Lex Luthor, the characters with the most interesting status quo changes, were also no where to be found in this issue. If nothing else, give me a cameo of the Flash because his new character design is amazing. John’s spends most of his time instead with the Crime Syndicate which isn’t a bad read, but we already know those characters. John’s has an entire event to flesh them out, but is unwilling to give his new villains any time to become good characters in their own right. It really is a shame because I think Grail has some great potential.

The Verdict

The Darkseid War is back on the upswing. It still isn’t as great as the first act was, but this is a vast improvement from the last two issues. Fabok’s return aligns the art with the tone of the story more and what characters Johns does decide to spend time on are all written very well. I just wish some of the newer characters were given more time than they were.

Story: 3.5 out of 5

Art: 4 out of 5

Overall: 3.75 out of 5