The epic "Darkseid War" saga comes to a close.
In any other week, Justice League #50 would easily qualify as the most significant DC release. This issue marks the finale of both "The Darkseid War" and Geoff Johns' entire run on the series. But with DC Universe Rebirth #1 also hitting stores today, this issue will have to settle for the second best Geoff Johns comic of the week.
This finale moves away from the choppy, back and forth villain reveals of its predecessor and into the long-awaited final conflict with Grail. Finally, this mysterious daughter of Darkseid receives the attention she deserves. Johns finds new depth with the character as he digs into her tragic past and the question of whether someone tainted with the blood of Darkseid can ever truly be redeemed. That quality gives this issue a somewhat more intimate feel, even as the general scope of the story remains as massive as ever.
Johns and artist Jason Fabok cram this issue with major revelations and big character moments. Hardly a page goes by without some new status quo-altering revelation. But never do these revelations come across as attempts at empty shock value. Johns has a real flair for writing epic scenes that speak to the emotional core of his characters. This issue has plenty to offer in that regard. It also nicely wraps up "The Darkseid War" on a thematic level as Johns muses on the nature of power and the fundamental difference between gods and superheroes.
Fabok helps close the storyline out with a bang. It seemed unlikely, given recent shipping delays, that DC would be able to get this issue out on time without relying on filler art. But it's all Fabok here, and it's all gorgeous work. His powerful figure work and cinematic storytelling combine to create a thrilling vision of gods and heroes clashing. At the same time, his finely tuned facial work allows a great deal of emotion to be conveyed with a minimum of text. Which is good considering how many characters there are in this finale and how much dialogue and narration Johns already has to work with.
Even with the over-sized page count, this issue does feel a bit rushed towards the end. It might have helped if the epilogue sequence and its teases for various upcoming story lines were removed in favor of something that focused more on the emotional farewell. Not that these teases aren't compelling, but they're a bit redundant in light of DC Universe Rebirth.
The Verdict
As disappointing as it is that Geoff Johns is shifting away from writing comics, at least he's going out on an incredible high note. This issue serves as a fitting cap to both the "Darkseid War" storyline and Johns' Justice League run as a whole. It's crammed with great moments and proves yet again that Fabok is one of the true rising stars of the industry.
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