REVIEW: ‘Justice League Incarnate,’ Issue #5

Justice League Incarnate #5 is written by Joshua Williamson and Dennis Culver, illustrated by Andrei Bressan (pages 1-18, 24-28) and Jesus Merino (pages 19-23, 29-30), colored by Hi-FI, and lettered by Tom Napolitano.  It’s published by DC Comics. “Worlds End” pits Darkseid against the Empty Hand, the emissary of the Great Darkness threatening creation. Justice League Incarnate also battles their teammates who have fallen under the Great Darkness’ control, while also struggling to disarm the Oblivion Machine and free Barry Allen from his prison.

This series marks the end of the second act of Williamson’s overarching story for the DC Universe, with Infinite Frontier serving as the first act and the upcoming “Death of the Justice League” and Dark Crisis miniseries serving as its third act. Keeping that in mind, Williamson and Culver pull a move that’s been employed in other famous “second acts” such as Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back and The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. They raise the stakes for the heroes. When the Incarnate team finds Allen, they learn that his new world was created by a character who has ties to the original Crisis on Infinite Earths storyline. And it turns out this character is pulling the strings behind everything the Incarnate team has faced – from Allen and Darkseid’s role in the conflict to forging an army of darkness. Most comics often throw out overblown promises of “changing the universe forever” or being “a can’t miss event” and only a few of these titles live up to their promises. Justice League Incarnate happens to be one of those titles.

Bressan, who has been an artist on the series since its inception, delivers nonstop action from the opening to the closing. An opening two-page spread features Darkseid and the Empty Hand slugging it out, with both entities towering over Justice League Incarnate. Another two-page spread has Doctor Multiverse and The Flash combining their powers to free their teammates from the Great Darkness’ influence, with the page awash in glowing violet light thanks to Hi-Fi’s color art. In fact, color plays a large part in the issue, from the glowing red expanse of the Bleed to the Great Darkness itself, which, true to form, wraps the entire page in pitch blackness.

Merino illustrates the sequences that feature Barry Allen, and in a neat twist, they feel pulled from the Silver Age with Ben-Day dots filling the entire page and bright, eye-grabbing colors. Even Napolitano’s word balloons shift, resembling the letters one might see in an old issue of The Flash. One thing I’ve enjoyed about this series is how it uses its shift in art to depict different worlds that Justice League Incarnate has traveled to. It really makes the reader feel like they’re hopping from world to world with the heroes.

Justice League Incarnate #5 brings the multiversal heroes’ story to a close and sets the stage for the upcoming Dark Crisis storyline. This is the most invested I’ve been in an ongoing DC storyline in years. and I look forward to what Williamson brings to the table in his upcoming stories.

Justice League Incarnate #5 is available wherever comics are sold.