The Justice League gets even more help against Brutus in Justice League #60, by writer Brian Michael Bendis, artist David Marquez, colorist Tamra Bonvillain, and letterer Josh Reed. Meanwhile, the Justice League Dark gather again in a backup by writer Ram V, artist Xermanico, colorist Romulo Fajardo Jr., and letterer Rob Leigh. The main story sees Bendis build his new League and its threat, while the backup not only raises the stakes but sees an old fan favorite return.

Black Adam confronts Naomi in Oregon, but before a fight can go down, Superman gets involved and takes them both to the Watchtower. Together, they discuss the threat of Brutus with the League, who are all kind of incredulous about Black Adam being there. In private, Superman lets the rest of the team know he wants Black Adam on the team. However, they get called away by what they think is Brutus attacking but find Queen Hippolyta instead, who relates to them Brutus’s attack on her. Flash is able to build a device that will take them to Brutus’s world, and they go there, but Naomi is separated from the rest of the team. In the backup, the Justice League Dark fills the main team in on the threat of Merlin. As they are speaking at a bookstore, Merlin gets his hands on a powerful book of magic and unleashes what’s inside. At the Watchtower, Batman threatens Etrigan for Zatanna’s sake, and the JLD gets ready to go to battle. At the bookstore, a familiar face gets involved in what Merlin’s unleashed.

Bendis is doing a great job with the Justice League so far. That said, it is only his second issue. Tying the inaugural threat of his run to Naomi is cool, but, of course, for people who dislike Bendis interjecting his OCs into everything, it won’t be something they like. However, it does work with the whole premise of the Infinite Frontier DC Omniverse- Naomi is from another world, and readers know there’s an infinitude of them out there. This is exactly the sort of thing that the Justice League are supposed to deal with. Bringing Hippolyta in is a great touch- the League needs its Wonder Woman analog, and it also shows just how tough Brutus is.

On top of that, Bendis seems to be having a great time writing the team as well. The interplay between members is pretty great, and it feels like he picked characters that his dialogue style would work well with. That’s very good, since one of the biggest problems with Bendis over at Marvel, one that has been missing since he’s been at DC, was his tendency to make characters talk in a way that they wouldn’t have otherwise. Also, Superman’s speech to the team about Black Adam feels a lot like the one that Iron Man gave to Cap about letting Wolverine become an Avengers in tone, but he does it in the most Superman way possible. Over in the backup, Ram V is doing a great job of building up the threat of Merlin and bringing the JLD back together. This story builds up Merlin and gives readers an idea of why he’s doing what he’s doing. The last page reveal is a boon to any fan of the magical side of the DC Universe.

Marquez feels like he was born to draw the Justice League, and this issue is further proof of that. Everything about his art looks great and while there isn’t a lot of action, what there is of it looks great. His character acting is on point as well. Bonvillain continues to be the hardest working and best colorist in comics, picking out the perfect palette for Marquez’s pencils. In the backup, Xermanico’s art is possibly better than Marquez’s, his simple, clean linework really bringing it in every panel. The last page looks amazing.

Justice League #60 is chock full of Justice League goodness, from the main story to the backup. Bendis is doing a bang-up job with his new League, bringing a new team together and seemingly having a lot of fun with it. Marquez is the perfect artist for it- guy feels like he was born for this job. Add Bonvillain’s coloring to the whole, and it’s wonderful. V and Xermanico are building a great story in the backup, one that makes readers sorry they aren’t doing a full-length Justice League Dark book. Justice League #60 is a one-two punch of Justice League greatness.

Grade: A