Justice League #75 Discussion/Spoilers

[Rakzo]

I will say this right away, I'm against this.

The "Death of the Justice League" issue is a particular story that has been teased for months now and is a very transparent stunt to get new readers on board about what's happening next which wouldn't be so bad if this didn't happen almost right away after Death Metal, a (dull) event that already re-shaped the DCU, an event by the way that already "killed" Wonder Woman and made her absent of the entire line for a while so she basically only came back to be gone again. Plus, there's also the obnoxious point of this being the continuation of Brian Bendis' worthless run so you feel like this is some sort of cursed reward after having endured all of that.

Now but what about the story itself? Is actually not that bad.

Joshua Williamson is continuing the plot-points he has been building-up since Infinite Frontier concerning the Great Darkness that is coming that will lead to the Dark Crisis crossover. As such, it feels a strong set-up for a much greater event and Williamson still knows how to bring every character appropriately like referencing the current God level that John Stewart received recently as well as other continuity aspects.

The characterization was also solid since most of the cast seem on-point and receive solid moments over the course of the plot (which is basically just a big fight scene). Best of all, for me at least, was how Green Arrow was portrayed since the writer actually made his appearance fun and worth a damn (It seems like I'm asking for too little but after reading so many of Bendis' and Tom Taylor's takes on Oliver Queen, this was a relief).

However, this brings me back to my original complaint, is all predictable. The title tells you everything that you need to know and even in the case that what happened here is actually what it seems, you know that this whole cast will be back in less than a year. This is also a problem because a lot of great stories are going to get cut short and I don't think that most of the legacy characters that were forced recently are good enough to replace the classic heroes (Particularly Jon Kent but again, that's mostly Taylor's fault).

Rafa Sandoval handles the art and is very good looking with a fluid style that depicts both characters and action scenes powerfully.

Not bad, not great, all as expected. Don't expect a lot from this direction.

[Matt Rat]

What happened to Ollie here was depicted so comically bad I actually laughed when I saw it.

[blunt_eastwood]

Pointless, boring, and predictable.

[Edwin30]

Felt like Williamson didn't care at all about the JL. He wanted them dead as quickly as possible so he can get on with his Dark crisis event.

[Noodle]

It is what it is. No one expects these deaths to be permanent, so as long as the story in between is good then fine. Dark Crisis as a concept is promising, and I like the characters involved in it. Probably the first DC "event" I've been interested in since probably Blackest Night.

I didn't exactly expect a deep story out of this issue, as it always seemed from the start that just doing it in one issue was more way to just move the original heroes off the board to get the story moving. In that regards, it accomplished what it set out to do.

[Johnny]

Felt like Williamson didn't care at all about the JL. He wanted them dead as quickly as possible so he can get on with his Dark crisis event.

In all fairness it's labeled as a "prelude to Dark Crisis" so that's what we were always going to get.

Aside from Sandoval's art, there's nothing that stood out for me here. When did the Great Darkness kill Zatara anyway.

[king of hybrids]

The heck happened to Mary Marvel and Dino Cop? They just vanish after the big spread page

[HsssH]

Aside from Sandoval's art, there's nothing that stood out for me here. When did the Great Darkness kill Zatara anyway.

Zatara died during Moore's Swamp Thing story. They were doing magic circle to see what is going on and he (and someone else I think) died due to energy overload or something like that.

[DragonPiece]

I’m curious how they bring Oliver back, because this would be a lackluster death for him if he’s the only league member to die. Also, why did he not get teleported with the rest of the league at the beginning of the story?

[Morgoth]

I don't get it, why does Pariah even need Dark Army (especially so nerfed), if he could just "teleport" JL members immediately, just like he did it with Barry?
Anyway, I expected something more brutal.

[Avi]

The League is dead or rather on their fantasy Earths now, which means the book did what it was supposed to do but the execution wasn't compelling at all. There was nothing grand about this final stand-off. As a reader, I already know it's not final, but the story at least should make me feel as if it could be.

There wasn't enough character work for me to call the characterizations solid, but the Dinah & Ollie moments were fine, and Clark trying to talk to Pariah was good, and Diana talking about her time with the Spectre too. I just wish they hadn't made Diana forget she has a lasso of truth, one that she could have used on Pariah instead of some boring sword.

[Vordan]

I don't get it, why does Pariah even need Dark Army (especially so nerfed), if he could just "teleport" JL members immediately, just like he did it with Barry?
Anyway, I expected something more brutal.

Yeah I was expecting to see Leaguers get torn apart but honestly the Dark Army didn’t really present much of a threat (aside from Doomsday killing Ollie). Williamson should’ve had the Dark Army subdue the League and then Pariah teleports them away to their own Earths. That would’ve been a better way to sell the threat. But the League is off the board and now the main event can begin.

[Factor]

I’m curious how they bring Oliver back, because this would be a lackluster death for him if he’s the only league member to die. Also, why did he not get teleported with the rest of the league at the beginning of the story?

It’s explained when President Superman said they couldn’t call everyone.
So instead for some reason they weren’t going to call the current leader of the JL (Ollie) and called members like John Stewart who haven’t been in the team a while. Which also created a lot of continuity problems, because John’s appearance here doesn’t fit at all with what’s happening in his own book.

In the end, it was just another ham fisted attempt to write out particular characters, with very little thought put into the actual execution, but some nice art.

Ollie’s fate will probably be followed up in the next crossover involving the Al Ghul’s and he’ll get his own Lazarus pit resurrection.

[Johnny]

The Paradooms in Apokolips War were far more effective than the "Dark army".

[Morgoth]

The problem is, this issue is just not the thing that was promised. Given all these comparisons to the Death of Superman and the foes the League faced here, it should have been a long, massive, brutal, emotional and tragic battle that was predetermined, with heroes dying one by one. Yes, everyone knows they're coming back, but Williamson could have tried to at least make it more interesting, so that readers could at least feel a little bit of this tragedy to set up Dark Crisis. And instead, only Oliver died, it is not clear that with Dina, Adam survived, Dark Army is a joke, and the rest were teleported to other worlds. And that's it. It's just boring.