The future’s so bright…

Justice League #31
Writer: Bryan Hitch
Artist: Fernando Pasarin
Inks: Andy Owens & Oclair Albert
Colors: Brad Anderson
Letters: Richard Starkings & Comicraft’s Jimmy
Covers: Bryan Hitch & Alex Sinclair; Nick Bradshaw & Alex Sinclair
Editor: Amedeo Turturro; Brian Cunningham
Publisher: DC Comics
$2.99

With the end of the Legacy arc we get one of the few missteps in DC’s Rebirth. While I’m looking forward to Doomsday Clock, this arc exemplifies one of the reasons I’m not a huge fan of company wide crossover events. A nonsensical villain whose identity makes little to no sense in the context of everything we know about the characters involved up until this point and whose motivations are unclear – and easily flipped due to a deus ex machina – a last minute save that was only vaguely hinted at in previous issues and little to no changes to the status quo. The concept of The Darkness is an intriguing one: the hatred, bigotry, intolerance and anger in the world becoming sentient and finding a host and only vulnerable to the one of the purest loves of all: that of a parent towards their child. However, the execution feels slapdash and rushed. Honestly this arc feels like it needed one, if not two more issues to fully explore what it was trying to say because the seeds of greatness are there.

My dislike of the issue isn’t helped by the artwork. Weird body angles and shapes, faces that are exactly the same, regardless of the race or builds of the characters, muddy fight scenes where you can’t even tell what is happening half the time all leads to an overwhelming feeling of…meh.

Overall the Legacy arc wasted a thought provoking concept for a smash-em-up fight and no true character progression.

2 Lantern rings out of 5.