Part 2 of the Justice League Canada starts off immediately where the last issue left off. The story progresses quickly, but writer Jeff Lemire makes plenty of time for some great character moments. The newly introduced Blyth makes another appearance as he begins to unveil his master plan along with some of his special abilities. If you like cosmic threats and old-school concepts this is definitely the series for you.
Positives
This issue has plenty of great fight scenes. The stand out scene is definitely the fight between Hawkman and Lobo. The trash talking is great and feels completely natural for both characters. Regardless of who you believe is the better fighter, I can guarantee you won’t be able to predict the gruesome outcome to this showdown.
The characters spend most of the issue fighting the giant alien threat that emerged from last issue. Even though this fight is a little less entertaining, there are plenty of great character moments to keep your interested. Specifically, the banter between Green Arrow and Animal Man is really entertaining and makes me excited to see them interact more in the issues to come. The greatest character moment has to be seeing Adam Strange in his new costume. While it has many similarities to the old suit he wore, this suit contains a greater amount of detail that really modernizes his look. It’s also nice to see he has the build of an average male too. I find that far too often characters are made incredibly muscular even when the story doesn’t call for it.
Negatives
Not much to complain about this issue. While some facial expressions and Green Arrow’s goggles seem a little awkward at times, artist Mike McKone delivers another solid issue. If you’re a fan of his art style then you’ll definitely enjoy this issue’s visuals. The only other things I can nitpick are that we don’t get a great explanation as to what Hawkman was doing near Thanagar. I’m sure this will be expanded upon in later issues but for now it still remains very vague. Another small pr
oblem is the newly introduced villain Blyth. The villain doesn’t appear to be very intimidating. At this point in time it seems hard to believe that a team consisting of Martian Manhunter, Supergirl, and Hawkman would have much trouble taking this guy down.Â
Verdict
This issue is definitely a step up from the zero issue. Even though the page count is slightly lower, the action and progress appears to be ramped up. Writer Jeff Lemire does a great job of showcasing the individual character’s personalities, while also including a bit of humour. The book also appears to be living up to its promise of taking place in both rural and cosmic environments. Overall I believe this is a great issue and anyone who liked last month’s Justice League United will thoroughly enjoy this one.  Â
(5/5)
