- Written by Bryan Hitch
- Pencils by Neil Edwards
- Inks by Daniel Henriques
- Coloured by Alex Sinclair
- Cover by Fernando Pasarin, Matt Ryan & Alex Sinclair
“OUTBREAK” part one! Someone is hacking into the Justice League’s computers, causing the Batcave’s weapons and security systems to turn against the Dark Knight and the Watchtower satellite to plummet to Earth-with Cyborg trapped on board.
Pickup your copy of ‘Justice League’ #8 at Comixology now!
After the disappointment that was the previous short story arc (reviewed here and here) ‘Outbreak’ has gotten itself off to a great start. This is a story with much more intrigue and with much higher stakes.
With ‘State of Fear’ writer Bryan Hitch tried to full off a story which brought the focus in on the characters but with only two issues to tell the story it came off very flat. ‘Outbreak’ instead opens in space and only seeks to grow in scale from there.
‘Justice League’ works at it’s best when it focusses on its core group of characters and pits them together against a villain of global proportions. Spending too much time focussing on any one member of the group strays off in to territory best suited to that characters solo series. Hitch perfectly balances this issues opening act by focussing on both Cyborg and Batman, the two characters likely to be most affected by the hack. As the virus begins to take over the League systems the story quickly grow to encompass the rest of the team before a splash page climax sure to have readers hanging on for the next issue.
This feels like a classic ‘Justice League’ story in the making, the first of this ‘Rebirth’ era. It’s not that previous arcs have been disappointing, they just haven’t felt like a classic story worthy of these characters. What is also quite interesting is how this story may tie back in to the previous arcs with the death of Diane Palmer. There’s a clear indication that her husband may be to blame for the computer virus but we’ll have to wait for future issues to find out.
For the time being we get a very action packed issue with some seriously high stakes. When Hitch lets himself go and allows himself to blow the scale up he writes some of his best work. The action sequences as the Watchtower falls to Earth and as Batman’s fleet of vehicles turn on him are written as cinematically as they are drawn. This is certainly a new high in storytelling for the series.
I’ve always been a little critical on the artwork for ‘Justice League’. This is mainly because it sticks to the industry standard rather than daring to be too unique in its look. This issue is no different. The difference here is that the artwork actually lives up to the story, the scenes of the Watchtower falling to Earth are nicely rendered and the chaos in the Batcave is equally exciting.
There are some good character models and the spectacle that is this issue is really nicely done. Rather than being content with the look of ‘Justice League’ #8 I would go as far as to say I’m happy with it.
Verdict
‘Justice League’ #8 is some of the best storytelling I’ve read in the series in months. A very intriguing opening gambit to a new story arc with a genuinely jaw dropping cliffhanger of an ending.
