If you’ve been reading my reviews for this series, you may have noticed a trend of the review scores slowly declining as all the problems I predicted the series would face started emerging one after the other. Does this issue manage to halt this negative progression in time for the crossover with World’s Finest?
In this week’s issue, those dastardly villains Inferno plan to attack the G20 summit, and the League has sent a squad of heroes to protect the summit. Unfortunately, a plot needs to happen, and so the diplomats and the heroes dispatched to protect them get sent into an alternate dimension.
So, I’ve been keeping track of all the heroes that are dispatched in the A-plot of each issue as a sort of “primary hero dispatch.” This is because they are the ones who are likely to receive the most focus. This week, we get Wonder Woman, Star Sapphire, the Flash, Supergirl, Hal Jordan, Impulse, and Thunderlord. I was hoping that Mark Waid would give Thunderlord — a member of the Global Guardians who died several reboots ago — a lot more focus in this issue like he gave Doctor Occult in #2. Instead, the hero who gets the most focus is Bart Allen, a character who has been out of focus in recent times but is certainly far better known. That being said, Waid writes Bart well. While this might seem obvious, as he was the one who helped create the character, it’s not always guaranteed that a returning creator would do justice to something that they previously wrote (take any of Chris Claremont’s later X-Men titles). But considering Bart has been poorly written since the New52 (or even before if you ask some people), this is probably going to appeal to most Impulse fans.
However, outside of the Impulse stuff, there isn’t much meat on this comic’s bones. The rest of the heroes — except maybe Supergirl — are interchangeable and don’t add much to the plot. We get a follow-up to J’onn’s loss of powers, but it’s done in such a way that just exists to move the plot along and lacks any of the emotional moments that the previous issues tried to address. In fact, it makes those moments feel pointless in hindsight.
Speaking of pointless stuff, not only do we undermine everything that happens with Impulse, i.e., the best parts of the issue, but we also (maybe?) resolve the traitor sub-plot. It might feel like a shock on the first read, but it felt more annoying on a re-read. And, of course, there’s the reveal of who Inferno is… which you probably already knew if you checked out the solicits of the upcoming crossover.
As for the Dan Mora panel I chose to highlight this month, it’s got to be an Impulse panel. Mora is great with his action setpieces, but the man does comedy pretty well, in my opinion.
Recommended If
- You like Impulse
- You were dying to know who Inferno was (and weren’t reading the solicits)
- You were checking this issue out before the crossover
Overall
This issue is an improvement over its predecessor if only slightly, thanks to the focus on Impulse. Mark Waid pens one of his own creations with the style that only he, as the creator, could have truly done. Unfortunately, the rest of the story doesn’t work as well, as the mystery isn’t gripping enough, and the sub-plots have a tendency to resolve themselves rather quickly. Maybe things will improve with the upcoming crossover.
Score: 7/10
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