Justice League by Christopher Priest Review [#34-43]

Justice League #34 - "Three Rooms" {Art by Pete Woods}

• Crisis Times Three? Priest knows how to start things off with a bang, and I absolutely adored this. The roster in this run is really interesting, and I'm excited to see how Priest explores each of their characters. I read this back when it was coming out monthly and I remember liking it, but I'm super excited to jump in now that I've become accustomed to Priest's writing style, which is ten times more engaging then the stuff modern cape comics put out. This reminds me a lot of the Joe Kelly run (which I'm actually reading concurrently), and these kind of grounded JLA stories if done well are just as much fun as the cosmic stories we all love. Pete Woods' art suits the script in a big bad way, and this partnership is getting me hyped the more I think about it.
• Subtitles : "Praying Man" , "Day Three" , "Thirty Percent" , "Day Four"

Justice League #35 - "Swarm" {Art by Pete Woods}

• I am loving every page of this. The inclusion of Wally was so much fun, and the intro to Glenn Gammeron was cool. Priest seems to be using freak of the week (more like month) vignettes while linking them with the overall plot thread of the first issue's league-failure. It's only #2 so this prediction isn't that substantial, but regardless, this kind of storytelling continues to be engaging. Pete Woods knocked it out of the park with this one; the depiction of the Swarm was terrifying, but this is coming from a guy who hates bugs with a passion. The personalities of the team are well-fleshed out, I think we're just missing Priest's voice for Supes and Arthur. The hinting of Cyborg to League leadership warrants consideration, and I hope we see Glenn later in this volume. The final pages with the absurd accusations towards the League verily pissed me off. I hope Priest can do something interesting with this trope.
• Subtitles : "Evidence" , "Glenn & John" , "The Plan" , "Pinkeye"

Justice League #36 - "The People vs. The Justice League" {Art by Pete Woods}

• A pretty wild opening to set up the overarching villain of this run. The standout of this issue was Aquaman, although I was most interested in the discussions regarding the jurisdiction of the JL as a super-hero peacekeeping force. They're not the JLA in this era, but they do have a charter with the UN, and each side brings an interesting/worthwhile point to the debate. Batman losing support in the team is interesting, and he himself having doubts sets up for some great character development. The scenarios Priest puts these heroes in always end up surprising me and keeping me hooked; he just finds a way to make the solutions and interactions so much fun.
• Subtitles : "Which Hunt" , "Leaders" , "The Speech" , "Die Kunst der Diplomatie" , "Carbon"

Justice League #37 - "The Fan" {Art by Phillipe Briones}

• And that's when things got knocked into twelfth gear! The Fan is a fascinating exploration of a JLA worst-case scenario. Scratch that, this whole book is a JLA worst case scenario! Not a page is wasted, not a line of dialogue is insignificant, everything in this chapter was incredible. I love Priest writing these characters, and I'm so excited to continue. Phillipe Briones takes over the art from Pete Woods, and it's still fantastic. Maybe the colors could be improved, but his depictions of action and framing is picture-perfect.
• Subtitles : "Identity Crisis" , "Master Mind" , "Shadow Boxing" , "Snapshot" , "Watching the Watchers"

Justice League #38 - "Entropy" {Art by Marco Santucci}

• Thunk! Spotlight issue, The Flash! Regardless of the science jargon that I maybe caught 25% of, this was so much fun! The so called poetry in (and between) the lines is turned up to 11, an I love how distinct Priest allows each issue to be. The vignettes have been perfect up to this point, and I'm interested to see if he ends up fleshing out each Leaguer to the fullest. I suspect the Batman we saw in this was actually The Fan since there is no way in hell that he kissed Jessica. And the appointing of Cyborg as the chairman, fanboy move to the max!
• Subtitles : "Home Alone" , "The Enemy of Good" , "Five Stages" , "In Limine" , "Thunk" , "Come to Jesus" , "Complications"

Justice League #39 - "The Race" {Art by Ian Churchill}

• They're tearing us apart! Modern Media vs the JLA! A PR Nightmare! Who the hell would load trains with cargo that would cause a major chemical spill/outbreak if involved in an accident? I'm not sure how the logistics work for the oversight in the final sequence: were they just going to let the toxic fallout affect the rest of the neighborhoods? How the hell did Cyborg not vet this Lawyer? (Great twist btw). The Aquaman sequence was great, and the shark metaphor warrants some thought: is he trying to get the JLA to kill him, become more authoritarian? Is it one of those where "the villain tries to better the heroes"? Or when he says he shouldn't have killed that shark, does the Fan want him to let the League crumble so it can evolve into something more efficient, void of all the moral noise that prevents it from being the true vision Fan desires? Then again, it doesn't really matter compared to the fact that SIMON BAZ DOESN'T KNOW WHAT THE LUNCH MEANS!
• Subtitles : "Shark Tank" , "Mr. Chairman" , "Westies" , "Batmen" , "The Ball" , "Mr. Ed"

Justice League #40 - "Selection" {Art by Pete Woods}

• Saving the Multiverse? Give me a break. Giving the Legion of Doom a slap? Puh-Leaze. Preventing the Watchtower Satellite from burning up upon re-entry into Earth's atmosphere? OH CRAP. This was so much fun! I've never seen anything like this, apart from the storytelling style presented in Kelly's run (which I've already mentioned). The mental gymnastics regarding the weight and worth of sacrifices, the pseudo-science barely keeping our heroes alive, and the banter, oh god the banter is so good! So this lawyer is one of the pawns of the Fan? Or is it the Fan himself? I guess Batman really did kiss Jessica! Lobo jettisoning himself out of the satellite was hilarious, and I loved that Batman just sat back and watched everyone scramble. It's so obvious, the League(s) are teams, of course they are going to trip up over new chains of command! The only criticism I have for this is the fact that Pete Woods didn't do his own colors, and it really shows.
• Subtitles : "¡Salir!" , "Thunk Redux" , "Ninety-Five Cents" , "Selective Service"

Justice League #41 - "Saigon" {Art by Phillipe Briones}

• The JLA PR nightmare continues! Heroes vs jurisdiction, heroes vs non-interventionism, heroes vs ethics! Priest is taking the League into the pits, an abyss much deeper and more nerve-wracking than any crisis they have ever faced. IT'S ALL SO MESSY! Bringing back Ja Zaki was such a delight, and I think it's great that the League is getting whupped mainly due tot he fact that they've been bombarded non-stop by someone who's been planning to take them down since he was a kid. Prometheus step aside, The Fan is here to stay! The twist about his identity as an engineer on the Watchtower was fantastic; only serving to enhance (or diminish depending on your perspective) the threat of the Fan. I guess Regina was down for his plan and just as capable, but there's no way he planned for the crash landing in Buredunia or the collusion with Bland and the natives. That Diana shock moment caught me off guard bad.
• Subtitles : "Lunch Break" , "The Apple Tree" , "Mad Maxine" , "Spunky" , "Three Rings" , "The Problem"

Justice League #42 - "A Strange Place of Dying" {Art by Pete Woods}

• DEATHSTROKE GO JACK SOME MESS UP BOYYYY. At the end of the day, Priest has excellently proved to us that some issues are too big for the League to handle. They are not global police, they are heroes acting to save the innocent from evil. You cannot use a hammer to fix a malfunctioning computer. There is no black and white in a culture war, only different perspectives and practices and traditions that are impenetrable to outsiders. However, when you need to kill a shark, morals and ethics are useless compared to a harpoon. Let's see the one eyed assassin close this contract.
• Subtitles : "Men in Tights" , "Lies My Mother Told Me" , "Palace Intrigue" , "Titans" , "On the Wall" , "Better Never Than Late" , "Invade Thy Neighbor" , 

Justice League #43 - "Justice Lost"

• I am at a loss for words! Priest has said in 10 issues more than any JLA writer has since Morrison, Kelly, or even Meltzer. The League learned a hard lesson, cleaned up the mess, and got a good slap all in an afternoon. Deus Ex Deathstroke worked really well, and the Thanatos segment brought it all full circle from the first issue. The epilogue left me sad since right after this Snyder and Tynion arrived and injected liquid cocaine into the book, and once it came off the high and dropped to the low of Bendis' snorefest. And then Williamson killed them in the dumbest way, so we as fans are left waiting for the Dark Crisis bs to pass over. After finishing this, I found myself eager to embrace an evolving League; Orlando and Priest were doing such innovative things with both books, but Snyder just rehashed Morrison and Bendis stuck his OC and Black Adam of all people on the team. I have no problem with a classic league, but it's one of those situations where I find myself wanting my cake and eating it too.
• Subtitles : "Leftist" , "Frenemies" , "Empathy" , "The Menu" , "Catspaw" , "Saturday"