The Time Trapper, nee Doomsday, is attacked in Hypertime by Darkseid’s Legion of Super-Heroes. Mortally wounded, he manages to get back to the Justice League Watchtower, where the heroes on hand try to help him.
Some kind of auto-defence system won’t let the Flash, Steel. Black Lightning, Blue Beetle and Star Sapphire get near without being artificially aged. But if they can’t save the Time Trapper, how will he complete the reality-saving mission he left for alongside Gorilla Grodd and the World Forger… and where are they right now?
Meanwhile, Batman is telling Red Tornado of his recent sidebar with Wonder Woman and Superman following the revelation that new recruit Air Wave was duped into betraying the team.
In the European principality of Markovia, resident royal Geo Force has been joined by other Leaguers as an Apokoliptian fire pit births on Earth.
While back on the Watchtower, Mr Terrific is on the lookout for clues to all the phenomena linked to Darkseid since he appeared on the Watchtower, then apparently died.
Nobody expected baby Parademons, but they’re just one of the twists in the best issue yet of this latest Justice League ongoing. There’s so much going on, and none of it is boring. The Time Trapper business tying into the current Superman story has me excited. New players such as Geo Force and the fiery dog-man Casejos hit the novelty button. The pregnant Parademon adds an interesting wrinkle. And – finally – someone realises that you can’t gain an elite superhero team just by handing out membership cards to every passing metahuman.
A nice bit of business has Superman’s pal Natasha Irons, this issue’s Steel, question why everyone is so keen to save Doomsday’s life, given he did comics-kill the Man of Steel. But attempts continue, and rather ingenious they are too as an unexpected hero plays surgeon.
One thing I don’t like ties into last week’s Justice League Red debut. Once again Red Tornado is written not as a tornado-wielding hero who happens to be an android, but as a super-intelligent robot.
I remember the set-up from early issues was that Reddy was helping run the satellite while temporarily disembodied, but he’s not a ruddy servant! Then again, perhaps the android is being sneaky, keeping Batman distracted with one hand while sorting Justice League Red business with the other.
Otherwise, writer Mark Waid’s script is an enjoyable affair, with all the heroes acting like themselves, and the ongoing Darkseid business toddling along nicely. I’m guessing Waid can’t move things along too quickly because the culmination of the DC All In storyline is scheduled for a few months down the line. Meanwhile, we’re offered entertaining vamping.
And very entertaining art, from Dan Mora, who manages to keep page count and quality high across at least two comics and several covers every month. Highlights here include the Reddy visuals, as he’s presented like a drawing on graph paper, a very cute bob for Wonder Woman, and a fantastic opening splash of the Time Trapper falling through Hypertime. I can’t understate the contribution of colourist Tamra Bonvillain, who gives each scene its own mood, from the flaming hell in Markovia to the greens of the League’s prison cells. The blending of tones takes real talent.
Ariana Maher’s letters are clear and colourful, with Reddy, for example, speaking in a suitably red font.
And the cover by Mora is very much to my taste, with solemn heroes watching Black Lightning use his powers in a novel way. Justice League Unlimited #10 is a fun chapter of a story so big, we don’t actually know how big it is yet. I loved it.
Too Dangerous For a Girl 2 
Whoa! I may have to start reading back issues. Thanks for this review; I didn’t know what I was missing.
LikeLiked by 1 person
You’re very welcome, I hope I’ve not steered you wrong!
LikeLike
It just feels like Waid is coming up with a forced reason to create a little drama. And it makes the Trinity look foolish that they didn’t already hash this out. How would a thorough background check by Red Tornado have revealed Grodd’s influence on Airwave, unless the League reads recruits’ minds to discover intent? Batman’s argument is the wrong one. It should be the team is too big and we can’t keep a close eye on everyone and need to thin the ranks or at least only give some of us Watchtower access. In other words go back to a normal-size League. But then of course Waid would be questioning the premise of his own book and we’d have an awkward subplot with everyone having to hand their membership cards back.;). And I totally agree on the use of Red Tornado. Isn’t it cold/unheroic to program your longtime friend/teammate to unquestioningly take orders from you? Also isn’t Renee Montoya in charge of security? Where does she fit into this? Loving Waid’s Action and Worlds Finest and New History of the DCU. But I just don’t think this title is him at his best. More often than not I find myself questioning his choices or am grappling with plot holes. And that has rarely been my experience reading a Waid book. Which to me means this title is too crowded and too break neck and too tied in to the next big event and Waid doesn’t have the time/space to plot/script as well as he usually does. – Brian
LikeLiked by 1 person
Brilliant points, Brian. I’d not be surprised were the chat between the Big Three the planned beginning of the end for the supersized League; it never felt sustainable. You’re right, we need a normal League, and they could pull in specialists from the Reserve as necessary.
And yeah, the use of Reddy is dizzyingly strange. I enjoy a sane, stolid RT, with a tendency towards the melancholy, not an all-purpose computer bod. He never been as impressive as he was in his Silver Age JLA debut – more of this kind of thing! What the heck do Kathy and Traya think of his current role?
LikeLike
Re-reading my post I think the lack of Renee Montoya is an example of the problems with this book. When it launched we got the 1st issue mission statement – GIANT League, a bunch of lesser known/seen characters (Renee, the Challengers, the Atoms) handling specific needs for the League/its HQ. But in reality it’s just too much for Waid to juggle. So we get lip service that Renee Montoya is head of security so that we can set up her spin-off miniseries. But have we actually seen her at all in the main book over the last few issues as part of the Legion of Doom battle/Airwave-was-a-traitor fallout? And shouldn’t she be part of any discussion among Superman/Batman/Wonder Woman about improving security/background checks? Heck, Batman knows her very well. Why not go to her instead of Red Tornado? Again, normally I’m not thinking about these things when reading Waid’s other work. The plotting/scripting is always reliably tight. I’m not noticing plot holes or second-guessing him. But there is just something about “Justice League Unlimited” that has me doing it, and it keeps me from enjoying this title. I want so badly to like it. – Brian
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you Brian, you’re looking at the bigger picture and making a lot of sense.
LikeLike
I’m with Brian. I feel like this should be my favorite Waid book — but instead, it feels a bit weighted down by continuity. The spin-off books are part of it, the buildup for DC KO is part of it — it always seems to be half dancing on someone else’s strings. What we get is good, on its own, but it feels like it has no momentum.JSA, on the other hand, is far from a perfect book — but at least with that book, I know where any forward progression of the story will happen: in the pages of JSA itself. With JLU, those next story beats could happen in one of four spinoff series, in the Quarterly, in Superman, in DC KO, in a DC KO spinoff…. All bets are off.I’m enjoying this, but I’m thinking of dropping it just so I can read it in sync with all the other books tied in to the All In storyline, that I’m waiting to appear on DCUI.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Good comparison to “JSA,” Rob. I do think “Justice League Unlimited” is a very interesting experiment. And I have definitely found it entertaining. But also frustrating. I seesaw between the two. I’m also at a point in my collecting where I have enjoyed a lot of past line wide events at DC and Marvel, but am not interested in new ones and kind of sworn off participating in them as a consumer. That’s another reason this version of the League is a turnoff for me. But I get how other fans are loving it. And my sense is Waid is as well? I have nothing to go on other than the fact that I read an interview in which he indicated he likes to have a balance of books that take place in the past – “World’s Finest,” “Action,” “Batman and Robin” – and titles which are embroiled in the here and now and the cooperation that requires of the writing teams. Something like that. I don’t begrudge him. I guess I could just keep buying “Justice League Unlimited” and trust Waid will try to hold readers’ hands who aren’t buying anything else. But I’m not sure how satisfying an experience that will be. – Brian
LikeLiked by 1 person
Good grief, Brian, it hadn’t actually struck me that Mark Waid had three books set in the past – I guess we know where his heart is.
LikeLike
I can’t disagree, Rob. When you were in Scotland, did you pick up the word ‘guddle’? The current state of the JLU and allied titles are definitely a bit of a guddle.
LikeLike