Justice League: The Darkseid War Part 1

While investigating the deaths of several women sharing the same name, the Justice league uncover a nefarious plot set in motion by their old nemesis Darkseid.  It soon becomes evident that a dark secret from the Amazons’ past has returned to ignite a deadly war with the tyrannical ruler of Apokolips. With the potential death of a God looming, the greatest battle the Justice League may ever face lies ahead of them.

Justice League Volume 7: The Darkseid War Part 1 collects Justice League #40-44 and material from DC Comics Divergence #1, written by Geoff Johns and illustrated by Jason Fabok.

The Darkseid War reads purposefully as a culmination of the conflicts and events of Geoff Johns’ best-selling Justice League from DC Comics’ New 52 initiative. Taking place after the events of Convergence, this multi-part story arc reveals that Darkseid had a daughter named Grail with an Amazon and she has grown up with the singular mission of destroying her father. To accomplish this Grail and her mother have allied themselves with the seemingly unstoppable Anti-Monitor. Darkseid returns to the pages of Justice League, bringing a nice symmetry to the series after playing a crucial role in their origins during the opening arc of the title. The introduction of Grail is well-done and she serves as a rather neat addition to the League’s rogues gallery. I also appreciate the effort made to intertwine her origins with Wonder Woman’s, as it helps to add a sense of importance to both characters and links the two together in a meaningful way. This proves consistent with the overall direction Geoff Johns has taken with Justice League. It’s been a carefully piloted with stories that are written with purpose and give greater prominence to Wonder Woman than ever before.

The first part of Darkseid War is action-heavy and features quite a bit of exposition, but is still remarkably light on character development. For the most part, the Justice League don’t actually feel like the stars of the book. With such a heavy focus placed on Metron and Mister Miracle, many of the League members become marginalized within the story. For instance, Cyborg and Shazam don’t offer much to the overall narrative and are thus easily forgotten. Regardless, there are many great character moments. Notably, we get to see the Flash working a crime scene, Batman taking control of the Mobius chair, and Jessica continuing to test her limits with the Power Ring. Johns also pens some fantastic interactions between Superman and Lex Luthor, as well as between Green Lantern and Batman (which is a dynamic I missed after Hal was removed from Justice League for a time).

Overall, this is a promising start to what could be an epic storyline. Johns’ dialogue is on point, as it almost always is, and I appreciate the focus he’s continued to place on Wonder Woman. Additionally, Jason Fabok’s glossy art elevates the quality of the book tremendously. His work is polished, his characters distinctive (especially Wondy!), and his ability to render compelling action sequences is impressive. Put simply, The Darkseid War is quite possibly one of the strongest story arcs from Johns’ Justice League run.

RATING: B+