- Written by Bryan Hitch
- Pencils by Tony Salvador Daniel
- Inks by Sandu Florea
- Colored by Tomeu Morey
- Cover by Tony Salvador Daniel, Sandu Florea, Tomeu Morey
“The Extinction Machine” part three! The hive-mind entities known as the Awakened take their vendetta against the Justice League to the next level by changing ordinary people into grotesque monsters bent on hunting down super-humans all over the world. Meanwhile, Superman journeys to the center of the earth to stop the catastrophic quakes that are taking lives all over the world.
Pickup your copy of ‘Justice League: Rebirth’ #3 at Comixology now!
There are a lot of eyes on ‘Justice League: Rebirth’ right now. Not only because it’s the flagship DC Comics series also because of the impending film due in cinemas next year. Casual fans of heroes like Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman are curious how the team up works ahead of seeing them on the big screen.
Fans intrigued by films like ‘Man of Steel’ and ‘Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice’ but unfamiliar with comics are using ‘Justice League: Rebirth’ as a way to familiarise themselves with characters like Cyborg and Aquaman.
This series has to be genuine, workable ensemble and right now it’s a little dysfunctional. Coming off the back of New 52 the Justice League finds themselves without a Superman. Familiar you say? Sounds like the films I say. We’re in a transitional period as not one but two Green Lanterns are also joining the team.
For a new reader coming in to ‘Justice League: Rebirth’ things are a little confusing.
‘The Extinction Machine’ storyline has been interesting. It’s acted as a soft reboot to the series but hasn’t spent much time with its characters. This series has been all about the action. Huge set pieces have filled the pages of all three issues putting the Justice League team at breaking point from the start.
Reading between the lines writer Bryan Hitch is working really hard to make sure that this team needs a Superman. That storyline comes to fruition in this issue but let’s take a step back for a moment.
Many fans disliked the New 52 era Superman. From his uniform to his relationship with Wonder Woman fans took issue with many aspects of his character. DC Comics gave him a new supernova power, fans didn’t like that either so DC killed him off.
If there was any takeaway from the ‘Convergence’ storyline it was that DC Comics wanted to right some of the wrongs done with characters during New 52 and bring back their much loved previous incarnations. The problem that brings is we now have much loved characters surrounded by people who don’t know them.
So here we find ourselves with the classic Superman. Now headlining the ‘Superman’ series he is going through his own plight as he decides how to integrate with this post-New 52 world. Only he can’t be entirely the classic Superman because he doesn’t have the classic Batman and team to surround him.
Nevertheless the team need him and it’s up to Batman to bring him in.
Hitch is doing a fine job of carrying the action, what he needs to inject now is much more heart to his stories. It is nice to see a little interaction between Batman and Superman in this issue. It’s also great to see the remaining team members functioning together. However there’s no real interplay. There are some brief moments with the Kent family together which are hopefully a sign of things to come in this series.
Visually ‘Justice League: Rebirth’ does exactly what it needs to. It conveys a huge amount of action in a small number of pages. Moments like Wonder Woman striking one of the Awakened with a lightning bolt are hugely cinematic. Fight scenes feature his cityscape backdrops and characters are almost god like when they swing in to action.
It’s difficult to convey the scale of a story like this through distinctive and abstract artwork but my words are by no means a criticism. ‘Justice League: Rebirth’ is yet to flex its artistic muscles in low key character moments but it certainly succeeds in carry out its action scenes.
Verdict
‘Justice League: Rebirt’ #3 is a solid action story which balances a large number of A-list DC Comics characters. What it lacks in heart it makes up for in spectacle.
3 stars
