[Read as single issues]
In the wake of Dark Nights: Metal, the Source Wall that surrounds the multiverse lies broken, and new threats from beyond the wall have set their sights on our dimension. When Brainiac arrives on Earth with news of the Omega Titans, four enormous beings that feed on the universal constants of Mystery, Entropy, Wisdom, and Wonder, heroes and villains alike must unite to save Brainiac’s homeworld, before they turn their attention to Earth.
You’ve got to hand it to Scott Snyder – he hears the phrase ‘go big or go home’ and doesn’t even wait for the end before he’s out making the most noise and blowing up the most stuff as possible. After Dark Nights: Metal, you’d think he’d take a breather for five minutes, but instead he launches the entire DC Universe into another massive story featuring almost all of your favourite heroes and villains united against a common threat, and with it shaping the landscape of the DCU and the next batch of upcoming stories along with it.
No Justice is full throttle from the first page, and then we hit the ground running and don’t stop until the last page of issue four. Despite the huge amount of characters involved, Snyder manages to set up the story, explain the background, and drive everything to a satisfying conclusion without stumbling at all; he’s well practised at this kind of thing at this point, but it’s still fun to watch him work. He even manages to set up a subplot involving Amanda Waller and Green Arrow that pays off in his own book without batting an eyelid.
The driving force behind No Justice feels a bit Mcguffin-y, but it opens up a lot of avenues for exploration after the series concludes and the New Justice line launches. The team-ups between characters are unexpected, but Snyder manages to use all of the disparate characters to his advantage, even if it’s just for one or two scenes across the four issues. There are even some breakouts you’d never expect – read issue 3, and tell me that Starro isn’t one of your favourite characters now, I dare you. Again, this also acts as a springboard for new stories; no one that survives this story comes out of it unchanged – they either know something or have become something different which will inform them going forward.
Of course, the artwork isn’t too shabby either. With Francis Manapul on the first, second, and fourth issues, the visuals could not be better. Manapul’s one of my favourite artists, and he turns out some beautiful work here. He’s assisted in the second issue by Marcus To, while To and Riley Rossmo team up for the third issue. Rossmo’s a bit too pointy in style to fit in with Manapul’s smooth lines, but he and To make a decent combination, and help with the more busy panels of the middle issues, leaving Manapul free to let loose where appropriate with some gorgeous splash pages or wide panels.
No Justice is another home run for Scott Snyder and friends. It’s fast paced, full of action, full of heart, and a rollercoaster ride from the first page to the last with superb artwork from one of the industry’s best; if this is the set-up for what’s to come next, New Justice is going to be a golden age for DC.