Review: Justice League Incarnate #3

by Derek McNeil
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Review: JUSTICE LEAGUE INCARNATE #3

Justice League Incarnate #3 - DC Comics News

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

Writers: Joshua Williamson, Dennis Culver

Artists: Ariel Olivetti, Nik Virella, Todd Nauck, Mikel Janin, Andrei Bressan

Colours: Hi-Fi

Letters: Tom Napolitano

Reviewed By: Derek McNeil

Summary

Justice League Incarnate #3: Doctor Multiverse is caught in the clutches of Darkseid! To save her, President Superman, Flashpoint Batman, and the rest of the Justice League Incarnate team up with Earth-41 heroes Spore and Nimrod Squad; meanwhile, a villain from Multiversity returns to stake their claim on the crack in the Multiverse and the power that lies beyond.

Positives

In Justice League Incarnate #3, the team members are trapped on various worlds throughout the Multiverse. This allows for some interesting team-ups. For example, Captain Carrot finds himself facing the Nimrod Squad on Earth-41 an analogue of Image Comics and Wildstorm Comics (which used to be an Image imprint before DC acquired it).

However, my favourite part of this issue is the section with Flashpoint Batman on Earth-26 with The Amazing Zoo Crew. I’ve always had a soft spot for this team because Captain Carrot and His Amazing Zoo Crew was the title that I began collecting comics with. While I love Captain Carrot being in the Justice League Incarnate, it’s great to see the rest of his team.

I also love seeing that they look exactly as Scott Shaw originally designed them. And it’s nice to see that Little Cheese’s death has been retconned away. And that there’s no sign of American Eagle. This Zoo Crew is the classic team.

And President Superman and Doctor Multiverse’s situation is delightfully meta, as they find themselves trapped on Earth-33. This world is much like ours in that superpowers don’t function and superheroes only exist in comic books. But they form a plan to arrange their rescue by getting jobs writing for DC Comics and writing the comics that their teammates are appearing in.

Justice League Incarnate #3 - DC Comics News

Positives Cont.

Luckily, they are able to convince a DC editor named Ulrich Saxman that they really are characters out of the comics. But they realize that Saxman is not their ally when he tries to convince them to write a story where Darkseid wins. Williamson and Culver throws a hint to those readers who know that Darkseid’s birth name was Uxas.

This leads to another confrontation between the team and Darkseid. At first it seems that they defeat Darkseid when Doctor Multiverse absorbs the crack in the Multiverse to deny Darkseid access to it. However, after doing so, she states, “We have to let Darkseid win”. If this startling pronouncement isn’t enough of a cliffhanger, we also see the rest of the team encountering a mysterious dark figure heading an army. This figure tells them, “The Great Darkness is coming! Empty is my hand!”. Is this figure is a representative of the Great Darkness, or the personification of it?

Having different artists for each Earth represented in the story is an inspired idea. All the talented artists do a great job of capturing the feel of the universe they are illustrating. Todd Nauck, especially, does a great job with the Zoo Crew’s Earth-26. If DC decides to revive Captain Carrot and His Amazing Zoo Crew (and they absolutely should), then Nauck should be enlisted to draw it.

Negatives

The only complain I have with this issue was in how little we got to see of Flashpoint Batman’s time on Earth-26. While seeing the Zoo Crew again was great, it was entirely too brief. Hopefully, we will get to see more of them again at some point in the near future.

Justice League Incarnate #3 - DC Comics News

Verdict

Justice League Incarnate #3 is another great issue of Williamson and Culver’s cosmic story. It’s becoming clear that they are setting up a major DC event, likely centred around the Great Darkness. Whatever they have planned, I’m completely hooked.

 


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