With the origin of the Justice League reestablished, Geoff John's had the opportunity to tell a fresher and hopefully better story in the second arc of his run. In the first arc he introduced the character of David Graves, a writer whose family is saved from Darkseid by the Justice League. His book
Gods Among Us contributes to their fame and makes him into one of the world's most influential authors overnight. He could have been a compelling villain. He is an expert on ancient mythology and has a potentially interesting motive for going after the League. Alas, this was not to be.
In this second arc, entitled
The Villain's Journey, it is revealed that
Graves family contracted a disease from Darkseid's attack and died shortly after
. He blames the Justice League for their deaths and travels to Mount Sumeru in order to be reunited with his family in the Valley of Souls. There he contracts a spiritual parasite called a Preta under the guise of his family and he effectively goes crazy. Unfortunately, we simply never get to know who Graves was before his family died and the final revelation, that's he's been infected by a parasite the whole time, reduces what could have been an interesting villain origin to the "guy gets possessed and goes crazy" trope. On top of this, Grave's agenda is rather convoluted. He wants to show the world that the League is not infallible but he also wants their help in releasing the "souls" from the temple and back into the world.
Similarly, this story squanders an opportunity to really test the League psychologically. The Pretas feed off of misery and trigger traumatic flashbacks in the members of the League. So this should be a story where the League confronts their inner demons and comes out stronger but since the inner conflicts of these characters have barely been explored up to this point it has no real weight. In addition, the characters don't defeat the Pretas by overcoming their fears or learning to work together, they simply realize that their being deceived and then they "shatter" the spirits hold over Graves. In general the book doesn't devote nearly enough time to exploring the casts psychology. Instead we spend most of the book with Steve Trevor and David Graves or simply watching the League fight various, unrelated baddies.
There's a subplot (or maybe it's the main plot?) exploring Wonder Woman's relationship with Steve Trevor. They became a couple after they met each other but Diana ended the relationship, fearing that Steve would be endangered because of it. I realize that this version of Wonder Woman, in addition to being a more warlike than usual, is inexperienced in human dating customs but this kind of attitude robs Steve of his own agency and honestly, I'm really tired of this trope. This does lead to Wonder Woman losing her temper and fighting the rest of the League when Graves kidnaps Steve Trevor and Green Lantern tries to talk her out of killing him. It also results in Wonder Woman and Superman falling for each other and kissing in a panel that made waves in the comic book community. This relationship it not set up in any way that matters and the whole thing feels forced and sensationalistic.
The story also deals with the public perception of the League and the media's coverage of them. Early on, it appears that they may be creating a sense of dependence for many people, instead of empowerment. The government, meanwhile, is suspicious of the League and tries, to no avail, to exert more control over them. Much of the book deals with Steve Trevor trying to keep the press and the feds off of the League's back. Grave's tries to discredit the League by broadcasting Wonder Woman's fight with the her comrades over the news and this ends up causing Green Lantern to leave the group, taking the blame for the fight. This is the one story element that has at least some dramatic weight though it's all a little dark and brooding for my taste.
The second chapter (issue #8) is a team-up with Green Arrow who wants to join the League to attain for past sins which, I assume, are explained in his own book. This chapter is entirely superfluous and only exists to set up the Justice League of America title which launched the following February and was cancelled a year later.
The art is rather inconsistent as different pencillers did different issues. The first (#7) was drawn by Gene Ha, whose sketchy, expressionistic style clashes with Jim Lee's cleaner, more vibrant work in the later issues. Ha's work is, nonetheless, really dynamic, particularly the action scenes. The Green Lantern issue is pencilled by Carlos D'Anda whose facial work I find a little lacking. Jim Lee, who pencilled the majority of the story does his usual excellent job, though there are some continuity errors here and there. I may not be a fan of the Superman/Wonder Woman kiss but dang, Lee makes it look gorgeous. He's accompanied in the last chapter (issue #12) by David Finch and Ivan Reis and the fact that there are three different artists definitely shows.
In the end
Justice League Volume 2: The Villain's Journey fails to improve on the flaws of the first volume. The villain is rather one note and has a confusing, convoluted motivation, the League themselves lack character development and this story doubles down on the darker aspects of the New 52 relaunch. Aside from some admittedly beautiful art I find little about this book to recommend.
Score: 5/10
Next week Aquaman takes the spotlight in
Throne of Atlantis...
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