Justice League #40 Discussion/Spoilers

[lemonpeace]

It taking place before Snyder's run (timeline wise) kind of takes it out of you though. And still not excited about certain other events taking place in individual series, let alone being referenced here.

It is a turn from the bombasticness of Snyder though.

I would say it runs before the Justice-Doom War but it definitely takes place during Snyder's run. Clark's identity reveal, Alfred's death, and John's ring point to it being some point post-6th Dimension, although there is no doom in the sky so maybe those events (Alfred and Clark) happened earlier than they were revealed, but the ring definitely means post Totality arc.

Would this be a decent jumping on point?

I'd say so, all you need to know are thing you'd see in headlines; John's a human power ring, Alfred's dead, Clark is outed as Superman, everything else seems pretty self-contained

[qwertyuiop1998]

TBH, This first issue Venditti seemingly making the timeline wrong, It supposedly taking place before Scott's JL, But in this issue also mentioned Superman revealed his identity to the world and Alfred's death

[Digifiend]

Snyder's the one who was wrong. I'm guessing he doesn't really know what Venditti is doing.

[Rakzo]

Snyder doesn't really care for what anyone does except for Snyder.

(I just noticed that you can easily change Snyder's name for either Bendis or King here and nothing really changes).

[Mr.B]

The timeline isn't fully set.

It's still loose canon but matches up with other events more closely.

[Noodle]

that doesn't seem like a smart editorial move

Because they'll relaunch entire series for something as simple as a creative team change but somehow ending a flagship title on a cliffhanger they don't intend to resolve for (at a minimum) months doesn't somehow warrant a new #1 for the next issue.

[LeopoldBloom84]

it’s so obvious the person who “decided” this takes place before Snyder’s run was Snyder...in a tweet. There’s a nice little editorial note referencing recent issues of Superman, but no note that this takes place before any previous issues. This is so unfair to Venditti.

[K. Jones]

First reactions before I scan everyone else's thoughts:

I didn't think I was going to love this. Venditti's alright but I haven't been favoring Hawkman much. But I liked his Lantern runs, particularly the second half (HJ&GLC) when he picked up most of Jensen's threads, and played more with Johns' sandbox. So two things that hit me right out of the gate: 1. This totally sequels that stuff just with the JLA. 2. Doug Mahnke's lovely art ALSO bolsters that feeling of it being a continuation of previous storylines, notably recent Green Lantern but also recent Superman (pre-Bendis - the Tomasi/Jurgens) riffs. Of course, Mahnke's art and throwing Xanadu in there as a "friend" of Diana gives me slight tinges of Trinity War, too.

Yeah. Sodam Yat in the Bernard Chang costume, being a Senator like his father was. I mean, direct sequel stuff. Eradicator (can Zod be far behind?). The actual Daxam/Krypton threads. John Stewart front and center. Clark just a guy from Kansas.

I loved everything about it.

Pretty curious about that seeming immediate continuity error with Alfred.

But sign me up/count me in on this run already after one issue.

PS: I noticed timeline headaches as well. If this is set before anything it's likely Justice/Doom War, but Batman's in the post-wedding cancellation classic costume, Barry's powers might be fritzing and J'onn J'onzz and Hawkgirl are nowhere to be seen so if anything I'd guess this takes place in and around the APEX PREDATOR stuff, before any of the Justice/Doom or YOTV stuff starts ramping.

I also don't care because DC continuity has been garbage lately and there's three time-bending Crises happening at any one time. It's bad storytelling for the entire DC Line ... but that doesn't mean the individual runs and arcs are composed of bad stories. It just means the Editors suck.

[Tenzel Kim]

Pretty curious about that seeming immediate continuity error with Alfred.

Venditti has confirmed that it was a flashback. For anyone who's read comics for more than a couple of years the rounded borders should be a definite tell.

[K. Jones]

Can't believe I didn't notice.

It does seem like it might have been an ... elegant or inelegant solution to a panel that already existed. "Oh crap Alfred's dead ... uh, round those corners and tint it?"

[Digifiend]

Should've made it more obvious. Different scenery outside, maybe?

[Mr.B]

Has nothing to do with editors, time is broken. Because Hypertime is broken too.

[HAN9000]

Not very surprising to me that Venditti is still using the only way he know to push his favourite character John, which is making others look like idiots...
What surpised me is he is still messing with GL franchise even he doesn't write Green Lantern anymore. Poor Sodam Yat.

[Adset]

The Green Lantern fan in me really wanted a callback to Yat and Prime going head to head back in the Sinestro Corps War. Even taking into account everything the League has gone through since, that’s not something you’d think anyone would forget.

Venditti is a lot like Tynion or Tomasi for me. There’s a sort of consistency to their work I enjoy, it’s not usually great but it’s almost never bad and I usually enjoy the ride.

[lemonpeace]

Not very surprising to me that Venditti is still using the only way he know to push his favourite character John, which is making others look like idiots...
What surpised me is he is still messing with GL franchise even he doesn't write Green Lantern anymore. Poor Sodam Yat.

So John not playing background for the first time in 30+ odd issues and being portrayed as standing shoulder to shoulder with his fellow leaguers is making them look like idiots, is oppose to Batman in the same issue talking down and over others and ordering them in battle like a pokemon trainer? got it. I guess writers writing their favored character favorably is only good when it's Snyder boosting Hawkgirl and Martian Manhunter's profile, or Geoff Johns recontextualizing the entire universe for the literary equivalent of a blowie for Superman or to absolve Hal Jordan of all his sins and aging.