Justice League Unlimited #7 review

Jackson and I continue our joint review of the “We Are Yesterday” crossover event between our titles, with this issue being Part 5. As usual, my comments will be in purple, while Jackson’s comments will be in blue.

One of the first things that I did after reading this issue was check whether or not this was an annual because it felt longer than an average issue.

Well, if all of the plot for this crossover event is going to happen in the Justice League issues, they’ve got to make room for it somehow.

Might as well focus on the plot because the League issues have not cared much for the characters. What did you make of the Legion of Doom defeating the League so casually?

Yeah, that definitely took me aback a bit. I understand that Grodd’s plan relied on “the element of surprise” and laser guns that instantly send you to the past, but even with all that, there were some people in that room that I feel would have been able to put up a fight. I counted the Flash and two Kryptonians (one of whom looked like Superman, but he shouldn’t be there, so I’m not sure who that was).

I guess at the end of the day, it’s comics, and whoever needs to win a fight to move the plot forward will do so.

I believe they are facing a collective brain fart given their lack of reaction time

Yeah, this issue lays bare why the Unlimited part of the League doesn’t work, no matter how you look at it. From a plot perspective, these heroes will have to lose to move the story forward, and as a result, come off as extremely ineffective. And if I were to take a metatextual look at it, this clearly shows that there are too many cooks in the kitchen.

Reminds me of an old JLI issue, where a bunch of Khunds attack the League on a day they were having a membership drive and successfully get away because the prospective members kept tripping all over each other to get them. Except that issue was self-aware and addressed the problem with too many heroes. This issue was not. 

Even the self-aware funny comic knew that having too many heroes in one place is a problem.

For a moment there, it seemed like Elongated Man was being set up to be the hero and focus, but then he fails, and nothing comes of it. It was a weird fake-out. Instead, we get a sequence where each hero gets a panel or two of them doing their own thing separately. This is almost becoming a staple of Waid stories. Back when Mora was still drawing for World’s Finest, I often commented that it felt like a way to just let him flex his skills. 

Don’t worry, Ralph. I’m sure you’ll be allowed to tie up Lex or Grodd once everything is over

Except now that scene seems to exist for…padding? To show that Ralph is pathetic? To show how good the Legion is? I mean, they just defeated the League by shooting them with lasers, so I think we got that. But then again, Ralph had gotten his hands on his own laser, and that seems to trump all other superhero capabilities this issue. Who knows what he could have done? 

This series is slowly morphing into a less focused version of World’s Finest. And even then, in a Justice League tagged as Unlimited, we are still getting random cameos like Ultraa, the Multi-Alien. At some point, we need a bit more than cool drawings.

Last issue, you and I disagreed about how much it hurt the larger crossover’s pacing to have such a disconnected time travel adventure. Not to relitigate that, but I think a big reason why I was okay with it was because the actual main plot is not so engaging that I was upset to take a break. This issue is a good example of why.

It’s far more concerned with Grodd’s plan and advancing the plot, but I was mostly bored. Like you mentioned, this doesn’t give much focus to the actual characters, and in their place, we get a lot of discussion about time travel mechanics. Everything from the initial crisis (should I not use that word around DC?) to the resolution is simply a result of a new rule of how the time logic works. It almost makes the solution feel like a Deus ex Machina.

Smartest man on the Watchtower decides to announce his presence! Kryptonian and Martian forget that they are super fast! Tune in next time for more heroes who forgot their powers!

I do wonder if Grodd and the past Legion are meant to be our main characters. They are certainly more entertaining.

I love that Lex is the first one to betray the rest of the Legion when he gets a glimpse of power, only for Grodd to have predicted that and use him as a distraction. These guys have had far more distinct personalities and charm than our heroes, who have been running around like headless chickens. I do like reading about a Joker that makes me chuckle whenever he opens his mouth

Though I do tilt my head at him, knowing who Sideways is (and I don’t think he would have cared enough to learn his name).

It’s definitely a villain-focused story. Were this side of the plot given more room to breathe, I would have really enjoyed the time seeing the Legion banter and bicker. Though at a certain point, I’m just getting into my usual complaints with crossover events, that there’s so much going on that a lot of it just gets glossed over.

Well, there is one hero who gets some focus. Airwave attempts to redeem himself by trying to bring the League back. I get the idea, but the whole thing feels too rushed. It contributes to my feeling that a lot is happening in this issue. Maybe they could’ve used the previous World’s Finest issue to fix the pacing, but I digress.

That’s true, but like I said a few issues ago, I don’t think Airwave was ever developed enough for me to get invested in him. That seems to be a problem, as he’s apparently the emotional center of the entire event.

This event should have come after 20 or so issues, not 5. 

I’m sure we’ll get another event after issue 20.

If this series lasts that long.

Well, it’s still one of DC’s best sellers. I imagine it’ll stick around as long as Waid wants to write it.

Getting back on topic, what did you think of the art? I still like Moore’s work, but it feels like a bit of a step down from the last issue he drew. Grodd himself looks really cool, and the single panels showing off each hero doing their own thing are well done, but some of the group shots are a bit sloppier.

The art has been one of the better parts of this series. I agree that the initial laser beam shootout was a bit bland, however, I liked the heroes being flung to different locations. Gave a bit of visual variety.

Come to think of it, even the scenes where the Legion were just standing around as Grodd exposited looked similarly bland, so maybe Moore couldn’t make the Watchtower very interesting as a whole?

There’s only so much you can do when the bad guy is just explaining his plan.

That I agree with.

Recommended If

• You’ve enjoyed seeing Gorilla Grodd’s plan come to fruition.
• You like your heroes being rendered ineffective.
• You’re a fan of Tamra Bonvillain’s colors

Once again, Justice League Unlimited makes up for lost time by cramming as much of the event’s plot into 22 pages as possible. There’s a lot here if you’re into time travel mechanics and cool shots of heroes scattered throughout time, but less so if you’re hoping for interesting character moments.

Score: 6.5/10

While the banter between the Legion remains the highlight of this issue, the rest of it is either too tame or too contrived. The League is taken out far too easily for the sake of the plot, with the Elongated Man getting a focus only to be quickly tossed aside. If you are a Gorilla Grodd fan, you’ll enjoy this. Otherwise, the art is the only thing keeping my score above average.

Score: 6.5/10