Justice League Vol. 7: Darkseid War Part 1

This review has been updated in order to correct some errors, should be all good now: Collecting Justice League 40-44 and DC Comics Convergence #1. Darkseid War Part 1 is the first half of a two part story arch. This tale revolves around the two most powerful DC characters coming together for a battle of astronomical proportions. Keep in mind that the story doesn't "end" here, it'll most likely conclude in Darkseid War Part 2; which comes out some time in September of 2016. If you want more, you can read Darkseid War: Power of the Gods in between Darkseid War 1 and 2. And remember these are all Justice League titles so technically the in between book is called "Justice League: The Darkseid War: Power of the Gods". PS, awesome and consistent art work too!

Why oh why did I wait until now to read this great series? Oh sure I picked up and loved Vol. 1 of the Justice League (New 52), but I figured I could take my sweet time reading the collections. Until DC decided to do another relaunch effort with the "Rebirth" storyline. I figured this time I would start off with issue 1. Well that led me to wondering what the heck happened at the end of the JLA run. Not much I see....except for the best JLA storyline I have I ever read. This is epic. I already have the companion collection where the JLA are "Gods" and will get to that collection shorty. I have Vol. 8 on order. Now I am backtracking to see how Superman died (yes, yet again). I will read a few online comics, but have the "End of Superman" collection on-order. I have read Justice League issues #50 and #51, so I know the ending, but the whole Darkseid vs Anti-Monitor story is just fantastic.

wow. This was yet another mega blockbuster, over the top story from our resident DC golden boy, Geoff Johns. Geoff and Co., oh boy, you guys did it again. great writing. great art. and some great, "Oh they went there" moments. and it ain't even over. Darkseid vs the Anti-Monitor. check. Batman on the Möbius chair. check. Lex and Supes trapped on Apokolips together. check. I love the moment when Bats is on the Möbius chair and he finds out the Joker's true identity, but we as the audience are not privy to that information. love it. can't wait to see this to the end as the trades come out.

This first half of the Darkseid War has got a lot going for it, ultimately with more significant pros than cons. The Pros: (1) This is a huge event kind of like Forever Evil on a cosmic scale. The bad versus badder, and the good guys caught in between. Darkseid and the Anti-Monitor are about as big as it gets in terms of villains, and the repercussions of them clashing is definitely interesting to watch play out. (2) This is unexpectedly a stealth Mister Miracle story. Scott Free is definitely one of the more compelling New Gods characters, so it was a pleasant surprise to see how much time, attention, and backstory was given to him here. (3) Similar to the above, this is in a lot of ways also a Wonder Woman story, though you wouldn't expect it going in. This is partly because her Amazonian background plays directly into one of the major villains in this story. But it's also because a major theme in this and the next volume is the struggle to retain humanity/compassion in the face of godhood. And while she's known gods and can withstand the influence of that power, she's very much a contrast to other members of the Justice League who are sometimes god-like or god-adjacent, but not quite in that realm. It's nice to put the focus a bit more on her, as she doesn't always get these kinds of arcs. The Cons: (1) This kind of has similar weaknesses to another JL arc, Trinity War, which was a bit of a miss for me. Like that arc, there is a lot of lead up and teasing of an ominous event/bad thing to come. There's a lot of twisting and turning to try to make it ambiguous as to who/what is the biggest threat, is it Darkseid? His daughter Grail? The Anti-Monitor? The Crime Syndicate? Metron? Sometimes complexity and complicated motivations between different parties can be good, but here, it's overly-complicated in a way that overstuffs the story. (2) Even though watching the final clash between Darkseid and Anti-Monitor should be the main event of the event (and the lead up, events surrounding it, and repercussions are interesting). The actual clash is somewhat anti-climactic. In some ways, I think it's hard to really show titans of this nature fighting in a satisfying way, so no matter how they go about it, it would have been difficult to convey. Ultimately, this first part of the Darkseid War is pretty solid, with great, escalating action.

Collects DC Sneak Peek: Justice League issue #1 and Justice League issues #40-44 Geoff Johns continues to impress with his writing on this series. The artwork also continues to be good. In this story, dark forces are at work to bring Darkseid and the Anti-Monitor at odds. As these two super-beings go to war, the Justice League is caught in the middle. I liked the attention given to the history of DC Comics in this book, and it was also fun to read more about the New Gods.

A great start to an epic storyline this one starts off really strong and honestly it could pass for a big crisis, or flashpoint level type of story, it could've been called darkseid crisis. It's great we see two of DC's big bads go up against each other and the justice league are caught in the middle of it and we see them fight, go to different planets, and become Gods and the last page leaves you with a big cliffhanger. If you're a justice league fan you shouldn't miss this one!

As a BIG Darkseid fan, I definitely was intrigued by this storyline but I couldn't get it when it came ou t in the comics. I was highly impressed with this and looking forward to read part 2.

This is a big-time story. Really, the new 52 coming to a climax. Forever Evil is making more sense now, the artwork is really good, I can't wait for the next one! If only DC movies were as good as their comic books!

I felt this was a fantastic read. I came to this after watching Apokolips War but there was almost no similarity. This story feels far more developed, intricate and mythic in scale. Loved the epic scales of characters and intensity which was graced by amazing art.

llegó en excelentes condiciones, y en dos días ya lo tenia conmigo ñ.

Uma excelente história da Liga com muita trama, ação e situações inesperadas. A Liga da Justiça com Lex Luthor e Capitão Frio se envolvem em uma batalha de deuses. O modo como Geoff Johns relacionou as criações de Jack Kirby com vários outros conceitos do universo DC ficou muito bom e os desenhos estão fantásticos. Recomendo.

Great read worth adding to the collection

Very good Justice League story vs Darkseid.