REVIEW: ‘Justice League,’ Issue #39

Justice League #39, is published by DC Comics, written by Scott Snyder, illustrated by Jorge Jimenez (pages 1-11), Daniel Sampere and Juan Albarran (pages 12-21), colored by Alejandro Sanchez (pages 1-11) and Hi-Fi (pages 12-21), and lettered by Tom Napolitano. The grand finale to the Justice/Doom War features the resurrected Martian Manhunter leading the Justice League, and all of humanity, in a final bid to take back the Earth from Perpetua and her legion of Apex Predators. But the end result is not what anyone expects…

This marks the final issue of Snyder’s run, and he manages to bring everything full circle. Nowhere is this made more clear than with the issue’s strong focus on J’onn J’onzz, the Martian Manhunter. Even though this is a team book, J’onn has been the heart and soul of the book and Snyder places the focus on him as he strives to defeat Perpetua once and for all. All the worst aspects of humanity empower Perpetua; J’onn urges mankind to push past their darker impulses and embrace justice. It’s a great way to show the eternal struggle between good and evil and how the choices we make determine who wins.

Snyder also attempts to tie together several of DC’s past storylines, from Event Leviathan to Doomsday Clock to the trek through the multiverse in Young Justice. While I appreciate the effort to reconcile the conflicting story threads that happened in each of those series, it wasn’t really necessary as this story is epic enough to stand on its own. Similarly, the ending left me hanging; I had to double-check to make sure the issue wasn’t missing a page. I can imagine that other readers will be divided on it.

Even if the writing gets a little shaky toward the end, the artwork by Jimenez and Sampere is stellar and, once again, had me wishing that one or both of them had illustrated the arc from start to finish. Jimenez, as expected, brings the larger than life feeling that a book like Justice League deserves to have. Quite literally, in Perpetua’s case, as she towers over the Earth. Sampere takes over the second half and his first page is an eye grabber. In the space of seven panels, we see J’onn reform himself from almost nothing. Sampere gets very creative with this page, starting off with near darkness and showing the writhing green mass that is the Martian Manhunter twisting and reforming into a human form. He also draws a page that brought back fond memories of the Justice League Unlimited series finale.

Justice League #39 ends Scott Snyder’s run the way it began, with our beloved heroes standing strong in the face of evil. Although it isn’t a perfect ending, I still love the work Snyder, Jimenez, Sampere, and other writers and artists brought to this title during their tenure. I hope that the new creative team of Robert Vendetti and Bryan Hitch can keep up that same energy.

Justice League #39 is available wherever comics are sold.