Double-crosses and deadly slights of hand abound as the Plutonian takes on all the heroes and villains that have allied against him in a brawl that shakes even the world down to its very core.
The Good
Even though I didn't always grasp the motivations intertwining here, I still enjoyed the wealth of "small but big" surprises in this issue. The mini-teleport that assassinates one of the Plutonian's foes in his stead was quite a twist, and the evil turn the kid takes, even after assuring his trustworthiness, was a quite effective scene. One of my favorite Waid superhero stories was the 80-page giant conclusion he wrote to the
Silver Age fifth week event at DC a few year's back, and a big part of that was the sheer creativity of the
Justice League's cover identities' powers. I got some fond memories of that when seeing that "worst story" unleashed during the big fight.
The Bad
The art looked rushed in a lot of spots, with noticeably less detail rendered on some figures and scenery. This was particularly apparent during a lot of the splash pages and larger panels of the
Plutonian brawling with the other superheroes. The sense of "big action" they were supposed to give felt disappointingly diluted. Also, this isn't the fault of the book so much as my own, probably, but this issue's a lot deeper in the thick of the larger plot line and I had more trouble keeping track of all the superheroes, demons, plain clothes players and evil kids here than I did last issue.
The Verdict - 3/5
This definitely isn't a jumping-on point for new readers, but it's still a very dramatic confrontation between these larger-than-life characters and there is some real weight to the decisions and actions they take. However, I can't help but say that the impact of a lot of that drama and spectacle was diluted by art that often looked like it was done in a hurry, which was doubly disappointing as I liked the art in the previous issue.
