“Regroup”
Writer: Brian Hitch
Artist: Daniel Henriques
Justice League #14 marks the series’ first issue in a post-Justice League vs. Suicide Squad Rebirth world, and it’s time for the team to get back to what truly matters: teamwork. And Batman making Star Wars references. Honestly, this issue contains Batman comparing their plan to destroy the planet-destroying-thing to the Death Star and I didn’t know I needed that in my life until it happened. Also it felt, at some point, that Wonder Woman was taking a stab at the upcoming Justice League movie when she said the following line:
The League needs a Green Lantern just like it needs a Superman.
It’s obvious the movie will feature the return of Superman, but still no word on a Green Lantern… your move, Warner Bros.
Getting back to the planet-destroying-thing I mentioned earlier – it was a very weird plot device. There was no exact reasoning for it to be there except to serve as a faceless enemy the League could fight, and in that sense, it worked perfectly… except when it didn’t. The downfalls didn’t stop there, I’m afraid. Not only did we never get a full description for this planet destroyer, we never saw the fight between it and the League. In the early pages of the issue, we see this planet destroyer carve a hole in the planet that the League fall into and become trapped in, and that is where the entire story takes place. They escape on the final page and are seen flying away triumphantly while the world watches on, and that’s just how it goes I guess.
This issue wasn’t all negatives, however. The actual story of the team regrouping (as the title suggests) while trapped underground was a really strong piece of writing and honestly felt more like The Breakfast Club: Justice League Edition. The banter amongst the team members, the revelation that Batman has files on all of them, and the idea that Batman reads the jokes at the Justice League Christmas party honestly made this issue one of the nicest Rebirth issues I’ve ever read. The guest art contribution from Daniel Henriques was a gorgeous edition to Hitch’s writing and made the whole issue feel grounded but still as surreal as a Justice League title needs to be.
Images courtesy of DC Entertainment
