Justice League #40 Discussion/Spoilers

[Rakzo]

As most people should know, I wasn't really a fan of Scott Snyder's run on Justice League (quite the contrary in fact) and I honestly wasn't expecting much from Robert Venditti's following work on the series since, while his recent books have been decent, they're not particularly great. That being said, this opening issue feels like a breath of fresh air after Snyder's asphyxiating era.

For example, while Snyder concentrated so much on an "epic" feel to the point of being ridiculous and tiring, Venditti decides to make his run more personal. There's a heavier emphasis on character work and relationships and this particularly obvious due to John Stewart's involvement in the plot. This actually makes sense since John played an important role in Venditti's own work on Green Lantern and even his previous status as leader of the Corps is referenced but the biggest contribution is his interactions with the rest of the cast since he allows for really interesting conversations with Superman and creates solid plot progression. I would say that Venditti writes a pretty good John and way better than Snyder's ultimately pointless use of him.

The plot itself is nothing really impressive since it's about the appearance of the Erradicator and even more versions of him but since the focus of the issue is character development, this is not as bothersome as you would expect and the story moves at a nice pace while introducing characters that Venditti is familiar with like Madame Xanadu who was relevant in the first arc of Venditti's Hawkman.

Doug Mahnke hanldes the art and I'm glad to have him back on Justice League since he's great at portraying both expression and action scenes.

Solid beginning, hope things stay this way.

[Korath]

Got to admit that the simpler, down to Earth, threat and story here does wonder. I don't dislike Snyder's run (in fact, I love that it introduced and fleshed out some of the Cosmic Entities of DC) but it tried to be too bombastic and epic at times. Daxamites able to endure lead exposure and the like are also a deadly threat for Earth and a reason enough to have the Justice League facing a tough battle ahead.

I'm just a little confused by the appearance of a certain dead character for one panel or so, but I'll need to re-read the issue to see if it's real or not.

[TheManhunterfromMars]

I just read it, I knew I wasn´t gonna like it, drop JL ´till Venditti leaves.

[vasir12]

I agree that this is some good character work. So often JL just goes to action scene to action scene, writers forget we need moments of levity and interactions.

[DragonPiece]

I see the appeal of both Snyders big or go home type of stories for Justice League and also smaller stories like this where we get more chracter moments. I think the sweet spot was geoff john's JL run with stories like the amazo virus and darkseid war. The stories managed to feel both big in scope, but also have a lot of personal moments between characters and good dialogue.

[Otto Gruenwald]

I loved Venditti on Green Lantern and I'm glad he's on JL now. I finally have a reason to pick back up the book.

I feel bad for him though. It's not his fault Snyder left things unresolved but the abrupt shift in narrative is no doubt going to turn some readers away.

[Digifiend]

Scott Snyder is a liar! Here, he claims issue 40 is set before his run. Impossible! The Hall of Justice, opened in issue 1, already exists. Cyborg is absent - because Odyssey's already started. JL Dark is mentioned. Superman's identity is out, so it has to be after Young Justice has started and therefore after the Wonder Twins series. Has to be after the first arc of Synder's JL AT LEAST.

And it gets worse. Alfred is dead, says Superman, but Batman was talking to him in the previous scene! Contradiction! Were the editors asleep on the job?

[kilderkin]

Scott Snyder is a liar! Here, he claims issue 40 is set before his run. Impossible! The Hall of Justice, opened in issue 1, already exists. Cyborg is absent - because Odyssey's already started. JL Dark is mentioned. Superman's identity is out, so it has to be after Young Justice has started and therefore after the Wonder Twins series. Has to be after the first arc of Synder's JL AT LEAST.

And it gets worse. Alfred is dead, says Superman, but Batman was talking to him in the previous scene! Contradiction! Were the editors asleep on the job?

This sounds like a mess I need to avoid

[ermac]

OK, I'm kind of lost. Where is the conclusion to Snyder's run?

[Vordan]

OK, I'm kind of lost. Where is the conclusion to Snyder's run?

That’s coming in his Death Metal event.

[Darkcrusade25]

Scott Snyder is a liar! Here, he claims issue 40 is set before his run. Impossible! The Hall of Justice, opened in issue 1, already exists. Cyborg is absent - because Odyssey's already started. JL Dark is mentioned. Superman's identity is out, so it has to be after Young Justice has started and therefore after the Wonder Twins series. Has to be after the first arc of Synder's JL AT LEAST.

And it gets worse. Alfred is dead, says Superman, but Batman was talking to him in the previous scene! Contradiction! Were the editors asleep on the job?

The panel with Alfred is in a different shade of color. It’s a flashback on how Batman would’ve done an action if Alfred was alive, but he’s not. Venditti shouldve been more clear on that.

[ermac]

That’s coming in his Death Metal event.

that doesn't seem like a smart editorial move

[lemonpeace]

I really dug this issue, I'm a bit of a Snyder apologist because his work is what led me to dig into comics but this was a definitely a refreshing change of pace. I feel it would have definitely helped Snyder's run had they called someone like Venditti to break up the ever-raising stake of Snyder's run with these kinds of smaller stories. my biggest issue with Snyder's run was definitely his mishandling of John, which I had big expectations for, so I'm happy to see Venditti not only putting him from and center but also that the creative team remembered to keep his human power ring physiology; hopefully we'll see that touched on and flesh out what that new set up means for John.

Clark's identity being revealed and him mentioning that Alfred is dead makes me thing that the "Alfred" Bruce was talking to was an AI. King said that DC was the one who insisted Alfred stays dead, if that's the case, I doubt the editors would make the mistake of having an alive Alfred talking to Bruce then have Superman straight up say "my [cool expletive that I can say but some of yall can't say] Alfred dead" a couple pages later.

EDIT: I just looked again, that Alfred panel is definitely a flashback, i feel the colorist could've done a better job making it more implicit.

[Jackalope89]

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.

[Lightning Rider]

Would this be a decent jumping on point?