Justice League: Endless Winter #1 [of 2]
Scheduled to arrive in stores: December 1, 2020
Cover date: February 2021
“Endless Winter” – Part One
Writer: Andy Lanning and Ron Marz
Penciller: Howard Porter and Marco Santucci
Inker: Howard Porter and Marco Santucci
Cover: Mikel Janin
Variant Cover: Daniel Warren Johnson
Reviewed by: James Lantz
As the Justice League takes on some second rate villains on Mathali Island, Sebastian Stagg is trying to extract Kryptonian crystal technology from the remains of Superman’s Fortress which had been destroyed by Rogol Zaar. He and his team only succeed in being attacked by creatures made of animated ice created my the gargantuan Frost King. Superman discovers, after the League’s battle with their new foe, that the Frost King has absorbed Kryptonian energy along with the ice. This leads the Man of Steel to wonder what else he may have inadvertently unleashed upon the world.
In Egypt of the 10th Century, Hippolyta, Viking Prince and Swamp Thing banded together to free the being they need to help stop the world from being consumed by the power of King Frost. Teth-Adam, known as Black Adam in the present, has been set free. These heroes of the past clearly succeeded in defeating King Frost. However, as the entire 2020 DC Earth is blanketed in snow and ice, Black Adam wonders how Killer Frost could be free again. (He’ll most likely find out in The Flash #767, but we’ll see what happens next in Superman: Endless Winter #1. Then, be sure not to miss Justice League #58 and Justice League: Endless Winter #2).
Story – 5: With its pair of writers and pair of artists, this could have ended up being a case of too many cooks spoiling the broth. However, that is not the case. The first chapter of this chilling (pun intended. Please throw rotten tomatoes to your left. They’ll hit me better that way) crossover is evenly paced and balanced well between character moments, particularly the Flash, and super fast superhero action.
It would be nice to see where this fits in the continuity of previous issues of the main “Justice League” title and the Death Metal books, but perhaps we’ll learn that as the rest of this event progresses. That is perhaps my only qualm. It doesn’t take anything away from what is a great comic. It’s just something I felt they needed to point out.Art – 5: I’ve always been a big fan of Howard Porter’s art, but Marco Santucci’s art in the flashback sequence is utterly incredible. I sincerely hope we see more of his art in future DC Comics publications.Cover Art – 5: I get the feeling this image has to connect with the next issue’s cover. I hope so, but if not, that’s fine too. The art suits the atmosphere of the book more than the variant.
Variant Cover Art – 1: The art on this one is terrible. As much as I wanted to like it, I didn’t. Daniel Warren Johnson’s style perhaps works better on indie titles.
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I thought it was a hella awesome first issue to the “Endless Winter” event. I’d honestly prefer to ignore the current “Dark Knights: Death Metal” maxi-series from ever happening (because I think it’s beyond a joke now Batman overload, and been like this since “Dark Knight: Metal”, “New Age of DC Heroes” initiative as well as “Year of the Villain” and now… this, and it’s all so played out) and much rather endure this other (Y’know, where the spotlight isn’t consistently on Batman).
I can’t wait to see where this all goes.