REVIEW: Justice League Incarnate No.5

Willamson and Culver create a senses-shattering conclusion to yet another winning crossover event within the DC Universe – the company that really doesn’t know how to miss with colliding characters since Crisis On Multiple Earths.

Borrowing it’s title from another solid crossover in the bibliography of DC, “World’s End” brings about many changes to the status of the DCU’s Fourth World that Jack Kirby made famous, while also exploring pieces of the past as to what turned Uxas into the Darkseid that Is today, but perhaps not forever, especially after the events of this issue. The exploration into the Fourth World in this concluding chapter makes this a tribute to Jack Kirby while getting personal in the family and personal values of some of his fan-favorite characters. I have seen Darkseid fought back so many times, but never have I seen the character so scared or defeated until I picked up Justice League Incarnate #5.

Though the focus is primarily on the Fourth World toy box, not to be overlooked is the Barry Allen conundrum where one of the great Wolfman x Perez creations, Pariah, makes a cameo appearance in a world where the dependable selfless nature of heroes is literally ran away from in the chase for the baser human nature of comfort. The grande finale to a continuation to some of the biggest DC stories to ever hit the stands is a somber one, as every issue previously in this limited series was. Williamson and Culver have been able to create such a dreary shroud of darkness in such a colorful world curated by Andrei Bressnan’s versatile panels.

From battles of gods with voices that boom in your head, to Captain Carrot’s quips, and the definitive Flash running in the opposite direction of danger while legacies are passed down and the weight of existence is tested against some of the most powerful wills in DC’s orrery of worlds, Justice League Incarnate : World’s End is a bleak story promising that things will only get darker, tying directly into the upcoming “Death of The Justice League” and “Dark Crisis”. Even with President Superman being the voice of the hope behind his shield, JLI #5 is the tipping point where the DC Multiverse takes a major L, but every comic book head knows that it only gets darkest before dawn. And at “World’s End”, Williamson, Bressnan, and the rest of the team gleefully cut the lights off and leave all the spectators on Earth 33 on up wondering if the switch will ever flip on again.

Score : 5/5

Writer Joshua Williamson, Dennis Culver
Artist, Variant Cover Artist Andrei Bressan, Jesus Merino
Colors Hi-Fi
Letters Tom Napolitano