Review: Justice League: Endless Winter #2

Review: Justice League: Endless Winter #2

[Editor’s Note: This review may contain spoilers]

Writers: Andy Lanning and Ron Marz

Artist:  Carmine Di Giandomenico and Howard Porter

Color Artist: Hi-Fi

Letterer: AndWorld Design

Review By: Kendra Hale 

Summary

Justice League: Endless Winter #2  starts us off in Gotham as a massive fight is taking place. At the end of Endless Winter #1 we got to see the unveiling of the Frost King, as well as the events that led to his rise. Stagg is swearing by his scientific ideals while Black Adam is busy trying to show that the Justice League, and their incompetence, is unneeded in his wake. Two teams of superheroes are coming together to right old wrongs, to create a balance in their world, to save it. A man turned monster is lost in his mind and in time. His sole goal…family. 

Positives

While Justice League: Endless Winter #2 provided us with action galore, it gave us so much than that as a whole. We got humility, virtue, the desire to right past misdeeds, forgiveness, and even rage. We got a kaleidoscope of emotion and a deepening of relationships, new and old. My personal favorite is The Flash and how his personal story develops; that and his humor made for an extra enjoyable read. Also equally enjoyable was the timeline crossover between the two teams. Seeing Diana and her Mother, Hippolyta, in some very heartwarming moments was wonderful.

Negatives

My negative is going to be a super picky negative thing to mention. There is a battle in the book that stands above the rest. It is between two super powers and hearkens back to Alex Ross‘s work on Kingdom Come. In that story, the two behemoth’s battling were Shazam (Billy Batson) and Superman, which was a rough battle because the power of the wizard Shazam is based in magic. In Endless Winter, the battle is between Black Adam and Superman, and in the beginning it could be rationed that Adam is holding back because they are on the same side against the Frost King. 

The two just have different ways of solving the problem. Fair enough. But there is a moment in which Black Adam loses all control of his anger, and his patience runs out. If Black Adam were to do this and let go full force against Superman, who is weak against magic, there should have been damage. Yet, there wasn’t. Supes was not only able to seemingly hold his own, it was more a draw or win then feeling like there was a full effort. For that alone it left a bad taste in my mouth. I mean, I get it, Black Adam isn’t the boy scout. But my pointing this out doesn’t mean I am cheering for a bad guy, just a realistic take on this world.   

Verdict

I believe that Justice League: Endless Winter #2 overall sets this finale up quite well. I love the ending and the cliffhanger which sets us up for a character to unleash in a way I personally have been hoping for. The artwork by Howard Porter is lovely and the story is done with love for these characters. I would, however, encourage reading all the parts of the set in order to fully understand the story being told. 

Images Courtesy Of DC Entertainment.