Justice League #63
The Justice League faces off against Zumbado in Justice League #63, by writer Brian Michael Bendis, artist David Marquez, colorist Ivan Plascencia, and letterer Josh Reed. In the backup, by writer Ram V, artist Xermanico, colorist Romulo Fajardo Jr., and letterer Rob Leigh, the Justice League Dark looks for a way to get ahead of Merlin. Both stories have a lot to love, and this era of Justice League is shaping up to be amazing.
The main story is pretty simple- Naomi wakes up in the Hall of Justice and talks to Black Canary, and they go over what happened to get her there- the big battle against Zumbado, which the League wins and escape from. After she feels better, the League talks to her about staying around. On her world, Zumbado offers to team up with McMurph and Brutus to take over the Earth. Superman offers Black Adam membership on the team as Batman and Green Arrow talk about just who is funding the League, and then the team welcomes Naomi to the Justice League. In the backup, Constantine and company undo Merlin’s damage to the Library and head over to the Tower of Fate to enact the next part of their plan. Man-Bat and Doctor Fate team up to use science and magic to see the future. One of the visions is happening now, as a woman, Elnara Roshtu, the Thirteenth Oathsworn, talks to a man trapped in a ruin cathedral in Gotham, breaking in to interrupt a ritual as Batman looks on.
Bendis used to do an annoying thing at Marvel where he’d end an issue on an action cliffhanger and pick up the next issue after the fight, with characters commenting on the battle that readers never got to see. It was super annoying, and this issue seems like it’s going to go that way, but it feels like Bendis uses this issue to subvert that trope. After a couple of pages of Naomi talking to Black Canary, the book flashes back to the battle against Zumbado, giving readers a great fight scene that shows just why Naomi belongs on the Justice League, even if she does disobey orders a bit. In fact, it’s that disobedience that makes her worthy of being on the League, as she does it because she wants to save the people of her world. Bendis has been selling Naomi a lot since he created her, and she’s a wonderful character, so it’s great to see her earn her way onto the League.
After the battle scene ends, Bendis does his talking heads thing, but it isn’t as annoying as it’s been on other team books he’s done. In fact, it feels nice to get this little bit of a break because he’s clearly having fun writing everybody in this book, Black Canary and Green Arrow especially. Every issue that goes by, Bendis proves that he’s a natural at writing the Justice League, and this one is no different. It’ll be interesting to see where he takes the team from here and how he works the relationships between members, especially Black Adam and Hippolyta, who he hints had a prior relationship. Over in the backup, Ram V is doing an amazing job with the Justice League Dark. It makes one lament the fact that he has so few pages, but he makes all of them matter as the team tries to figure out how to deal with Merlin, and he adds something new to the mix with Elnara Roshtu. Hopefully, this backup will convince DC to give him another full-length JLD book.
Marquez’s art is great, but there’s definitely something missing since Bonvillain left on colors. Plascencia is good, but Bonvillain’s colors gave the art polish that Plascencia’s doesn’t. However, that doesn’t mean the art is poor by any stretch of the imagination. The action scene looks great, the page layout is remarkable, and the talking head scenes work so well because of how expressive Marquez’s pencils can be. In the backup, Xermanico continues to impress as well. The page where the JLD enters the book’s script is great, the scenes of Man-Bat and Fate working together look fantastic, and the end with Roshtu about to clean house is lovely.
Justice League #63 is just chock full of Justice League goodness. Bendis has been a different writer since he hit DC, and the way he’s structured this book is a huge example of that. He breaks his own tropes while also indulging them, and it works very well. Marquez is better with Bonvillain, but he and Plascencia still deliver a great-looking book. The backup remains worth the full price of the issue alone, with V and Xermanico knocking it out of the park. This new era of Justice League is shaping up to be amazing.