Justice League Annual #1 Review

by Hussein Wasiti on January 30, 2019

Written by Scott Snyder and James Tynion IV
Art by Daniel Sampere
Inking by Juan Albarran
Colouring by Adriano Lucas
Lettering by Tom Napolitano
 
This issue was a lot to take in. Not in a bad way, mind you; this was a very, very fun issue. It's the kind of fun I was expecting when Scott Snyder began his run last summer. This issue was huge, fun, and pretty tense. I am genuinely curious to see where the story goes from here, given the massive whopper of an ending that this issue delivers. You know that common phrase we get, "the DCU will never be the same again"? Well, in this case, that statement is absolutely correct. The DCU just might not be the same ever again.
 
Daniel Sampere, Juan Albarran, and Adriano Lucas are in charge here. They did some wonderful work in a two-part arc over in JUSTICE LEAGUE DARK, written by James Tynion IV, also present in this issue. The three of these artists are doing some marvelous things here. I don't meant to demean or lessen the impact of Sampere's expression work and character acting, but his style is very reminiscent of Jorge Jimenez's style, and this is something I'm surprised to see work very well in this kind of cosmic setting. I just like seeing these characters drawn in this way. Their take on Hawkgirl is amazing, as is their Miss Martian. There are a brevity of double-page spreads in this issue and the overall craft and direction of this issue under Sampere was very well-done. I was never bored, and it felt a lot shorter than it actually was, since this is an over-sized annual. I hope this team gets regular work on this series as they're a delightful combination.
 
As I mentioned before, this story is huge. It goes without saying that this is clearly necessary reading; this isn't some anthology issue DC put out to fill out a week. If you're reading this book, you have to read this issue. I truly think you should go into this as cold as possible, but I'll say that this is the culmination of the entire run since NO JUSTICE last May. The Source Wall and the various problems it has been experiencing are involved as well. We definitely don't get all the answers we're looking for, and I hope we get some soon, and I'm a little frustrated about that.
 
This was just a fun issue that is necessary reading for this entire run. The art is beyond amazing and I can't wait to see what comes next.
 

Our Score:

8/10

A Look Inside