Justice League Unlimited #6 review

If you didn’t catch last week’s review of World’s Finest #38, Jackson and I will be teaming up to cover the crossover “We Are Yesterday,” which involves Justice League and World’s Finest. For your convenience, my text will be in purple while Jackson’s text will be in blue.

So, this issue of Justice League acts as the setup for everything that will happen in this event. It gave us a look into Grodd’s thoughts and how he operates in a way I’m not sure we have seen in a while.
Well, this is the second issue in a row now that focuses on Grodd as the primary antagonist, and this time around, I felt we got a much better look at who he is. It’s through his narration that we see all of the events unfold, as well as explanations as to what’s been going on in past issues of Justice League. It’s a lot of big exposition dumps, but there’s enough flavor in the writing that his personality shines through, and it doesn’t get too dry.
Yes, its almost as if this should’ve been the prologue instead of the last issue of World’s Finest.
For all intents and purposes, it pretty much is.
Additionally, Grodd feels more fleshed out here than he has ever been in the past. While his motivations are…lacking, he is very thorough in his planning. I do wonder about the fact that Mark Waid is choosing to wrap up every major sub-plot running in the title so far. Like the mystery about  Martian Manhunter’s powers, which are revealed to have gone to Grodd.

If only J’onn used his powers half as efficiently as Grodd

Well, we’ve got to wrap up all that other stuff to make room for We Are Yesterday, which, based on solicits, will likely lead into whatever crossover event with the Absolute Universe is coming. With all of those events, there’s no time for anything else. It’s so often a trend with Justice League books. I haven’t felt much about any of the DC characters swapping powers, to be honest. It’s mostly just a sense of “sure, why not?” It’s a new power MacGuffin that allows the plot to happen, and with Grodd’s existing powers seems like any other boost. What I’m curious about is how much those powers supposedly played into his indoctrinating of Air Wave. Grodd mentions how he can’t just brainwash him because that would be too obvious, but man, does Air Wave come off as incredibly dim if he’s manipulated that easily.
I initially felt that way about Air Wave basically getting gaslighted. But from his perspective, he’s new to the world, and doesn’t know much about it. It made him a soft target for Grodd. Should he have fallen for it? No. But I see it working for the story. In the end, he’s just a scared kid with few people to turn to. And we did say in the previous issue that Grodd is charismatic enough to have followers.
Yeah, I think in the text of the story, Grodd’s supposed to be this incredibly powerful personality, now with a boost from whatever vague psychic powers he’s acquired. It still just felt very strange to see how little it took to persuade him that the Justice League is evil.

He did single the kid out and put him through a few mental hoops. But speaking of the League, I have been fairly vocal about my hatred of the ‘Unlimited’ roster. And this issue doesn’t do anything to make me care about them. A bunch of random heroes follow Air Wave’s signal and get captured (?) Why do I care when there are 100 more of them waiting to be deployed? Just overwhelm any threat with sheer numbers. Does it matter that this ‘Legion of Doom’ is from the past? Also, we don’t get any reactions from the Leaguers with regards to Air Wave’s betrayal. They get maybe 2 or 3 pages total in this issue
Grodd comments in the beginning that their “Unlimited” numbers are what necessitate his plan to infiltrate the League and distract them. Supposedly, that’s why they can’t just all storm the Legion headquarters: they’re busy with all the Inferno stuff. It’s funny that this series made such a big deal about their huge numbers and then almost right away found a reason to only have a few of them. Any more is way too unwieldy to write a story about. I think that’s a big reason why so much of the emotional weight of the story is put on Air Wave. He’s the “everyman” that readers are meant to relate to as opposed to dozens and dozens of other heroes sitting in the Watchtower. That’s why I felt it hurt the story when his wide-eyed naivety tipped into foolishness.
True, but even the Inferno stuff didn’t amount to much. All the Leaguers are still active. Might as well re-title this book to DC Universe Unlimited. Still, Grodd has never looked this good c/o Travis Moore.
Yeah, it almost goes without saying, but Travis Moore’s art is gorgeous. I love the way Grodd is depicted, and the rest of the characters look as meticulously detailed as usual. I also wanted to give a special shout-out to the background scenery; that shot of Gorilla City in the opening page was spectacular.

I especially love the stare he gives Grodd. Chillingly animalistic.

Recommended If

• You wanted to see Grodd take center stage (especially if you were a fan of the show)
• Travis Moore does a fantastic job on the interiors
• You like reading about a supervillain plot that you don’t have to stretch your sense of disbelief to accept.

Overall

This beautifully drawn delayed start to the We Are Yesterday crossover plot almost makes up for lost time by explaining everything that has and will happen. Gorilla Grodd’s expository narration can be a bit much, but it is written well enough to stay interesting. Air Wave is centered as the story’s emotional core, which keeps things somewhat grounded with so many Justice League members floating around, even if he can come off as a bit dense. 

Score: 7.5/10 

I love the focus given to Grodd this issue (it’s almost as if having a central character/characters to focus on helps a series). We see how he acts immediately after getting J’onn’s powers, and his brainwashing of Air Wave did work well enough plotwise, even though the kid was perhaps a bit too naive. Travis Moore does a great job filling in Dan Mora’s shoes (to the point that both of us were convinced it was still Mora drawing the series). Dare I say it…I’m mildly excited to see how this pans out. 

Score: 8/10

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Disclaimer: DC Comics provided Batman News with a copy of this comic for the purposes of this review