• • Comic Book Reviews
• March 2, 2022

Justice League Incarnate #5 Review

Written by: Joshua Williamson, Dennis Culver

Art by: Andrei Bressan, Jesus Merino

Coloring by: Hi-fi

Lettering by: Tom Napolitano

Okay, I’m a huge Darkseid fan, but I have to admit, I did not know he had a wife. I also gotta admit, I don’t like the idea of Darkseid having human and understandable motivations. I want him to be the God of Evil, to be irredeemable. This means any bargain made with him should be a devil’s bargain. Justice League Incarnate #5 feels poised to set Darkseid up for a hero moment, which I don’t want. These developments (that I did not like) aside, Justice League Incarnate #5 feels like the perfect setup for the end… but not a perfect issue in its self.

Dark Crisis looms large over this issue. You can tell as it struggles to set up the stakes of Dark Crisis while giving these characters their final moments. After five issues, several of the team’s members have barely had anything to do. Several could have been removed from this book entirely. I’m looking at you Aquawoman, Mary Marvel, and Dino-Cop. This issue makes it clear that this team has so much more story to tell, but it’s not going to get the chance.

Rather than give Aquawoman, Mary Marvel, and Dino-Cop time to develop a rapport, Orion becomes king of Apocalypse, Barry Allen continues to be a man-child, and the Great Darkness just won’t get here fast enough. I was originally excited for the Great Darkness. The idea of God’s opposite threatening the multiverse should be an epic story about the point of existence. It could explore what is truly terrifying about a supreme deity who holds no love for people. Darkseid is a god, but he is not quite god with a capital “G,” if you know what I mean. The Great Darkness is a true god though; he is the dark side (hehe pun) of DC’s “the Presence.”

I’m far less excited for Dark Crisis after reading Justice League Incarnate #5. That sucks. I was so excited for this book, like you couldn’t believe. To see it do little more than build up an event is kind of depressing. This final issue is the end of a team book that deserves its own ongoing, and the lead up to the Death of the Justice League. It feels like that was all it was destined to be.