Written by: Jeff Lemire
Art by: Mike McKone
Publisher: DC
Justice League United #4 marks the end of Jeff Lemire and Mike McKone’s first arc on the book which, despite the numbering, actually lasted five issues. After the events of the third issue, which, for all intents and purposes, wrapped up the story, this issue acts as an epilogue of sorts. It deals heavily with the fallout of Hawkman’s death, as well as the official establishment of yet another superhero team in the DC universe. There’s a lot that happens in this issue, at least plot wise. Yet, it remains the characters that are the tether of this issue, the driving force behind the quality of this book.
I mean, first and foremost, this is now the only way that I can get Lemire writing Animal Man and Green Arrow. After defining runs on both characters, I’m glad that he isn’t completely leaving the two behind. Though he may not be writing them in a solo setting any longer, we get to see them in a team setting and their interactions are consistently great. Lemire, of course, nails the voices of both characters, as he did for a combined total of about four years on their solo books. Their banter is some of the best dialogue in this book. Now, if only they could find a way to get Frankenstein involved in Justice League United…
Anyways, as I’ve said, the characters are the driving force behind this issue, and the series as a whole. Team books are great because we get to see a company’s top talent play around with dynamics between characters who wouldn’t otherwise be meeting up. And Justice League United is particularly great because it combines characters who would never even be in the same room otherwise. It’s just so much fun seeing Supergirl, Stargirl, Martian Manhunter, Green Arrow, Animal Man, and Adam Strange interact with one another, and Lemire is the man to do it. He writes all of these characters perfectly, and as a result, the ways in which they bounce off of one another are nearly perfect. This is exactly what JLA should have been.
Plot wise, however, this isn’t the strongest issue of JLU. It’s a lot of epilogue, and this story hasn’t exactly been the most engaging. I wouldn’t call it boring, and there’s some depth to it, but the reason that I keep coming back to this series is the characters, not the plot. To be fair, it’s the strongest first arc any team book has had since the start of The New 52. This issue, in addition to wrapping up the Rann material, also sort of wraps up Miiyahbin’s origin story, which has been the weakest aspect of the book from the start. There just isn’t much to care about in terms of both her character, and whatever it is that she’s wrapped up in. Maybe once she actually begins to play a larger role in the book her character will become more interesting. But for now, she exists so that there can be a Cree superhero, which is fine.
This issue does, however, end on a high note. Martian Manhunter’s monologue, in which he explains to the team what his vision is, is the high point of the issue. He makes so many great points about what it means to be a hero, and how other teams haven’t illustrated that. It’s about time that the DCU had a team devoted simply to being heroes again, as that’s been notably absent, and there are no better characters to take that role than the ones in this book. It’s hard not to enjoy this scene.
Does Miiyabhin’s story play a role in the overall plot? It seemed like it didn’t.