Cisco Ramon might be helping out his fellow Justice League of America teammates over in “Trinity War”, but in his solo series, the situation at A.R.G.U.S. is heating up as trust is betrayed, dimensional paths are discovered, and seeds for the future are firmly planted.
POSITIVES
Sterling Gates continues to deliver stellar work this month with Justice League of America’s Vibe #7. Vibe’s long-thought-dead brother, Armando, returns as Rupture, an interdimensional hunter searching for Gypsy, the girl Vibe’s been helping to escape A.R.G.U.S.’s captivity. It’s a lot to process, but part of Vibe’s charm is how much action Gates stuffs into each issue, and Vibe #7 is no different.
It’s a lot of fun to see Agent Gunn and Amanda Waller get their hands dirty trying to clean up a mess they created. The theme of standing up against authority now includes Gunn and Waller who are fighting against Rupture and his quest to retrieve Gypsy. The manner of authority has changed, but Gates’ themes persist.
Vibe is a series that stands on its own despite its intimate connections to it’s parent title, Justice League of America. Gates has his own plans for the character and the series that may even foreshadow events coming in the future after “Trinity War” and Forever Evil. Darkseid’s daughter has been talked about a lot the pat few issues, and I don’t think that’s a coincidence.
NEGATIVES
Rupture is a decent enough villain at this moment. We still don’t know much about what happened when Armando died five years earlier, but his sudden reappearance raises a lot of questions that basically get ignored until (hopefully) next issue. But even when he’s full on attacking Vibe and A.R.G.U.S. to find Gypsy, he doesn’t come across as a man on a mission so much as an unleashed dog. At times, it feels like this is intentional, while at other moments, it feels very odd when Rupture speaks phrases about destiny and responsibility.
While I like the high level of action Gates employs in this issue, it almost feels like overkill, like there wasn’t enough story to flesh out an entire issue, so these extended fight scenes are there simply to pad out Cisco’s denial phase of grief for his lost brother.
VERDICT: 
3/5
Justice League of America’s Vibe #7 isn’t the best issue in the series, but it’s still a lot of fun and gives subtle clues to what’s going to happen in the DC universe possibly years down the road.
