Justice League Unlimited #2
Scheduled to arrive in stores: December 25, 2024
Cover date: February 2025
“Justice League Unlimited”
Writer: Mark Waid
Artist: Dan Mora
Cover: Dan Mora
Variant Cover: Simone Di Meo, Mike Dedato Jr., Ariel Colón, and Derrick Chew
1:25 Variant Cover: Dave Wilkins
1:50 Variant Cover: Lucas Meyer
Raised UV Foil Variant Cover: Fico Ossio
Reviewed by: JP Rocha
The story starts with a cold open in Costa Rica, where Blue Beetle is dragged away by the creatures he and Batman discovered in the last issue. The Justice League arrives to find that parademons have been making night raids and snatching children. The team is Superman, Wonder Woman, Martian Manhunter, Black Lighting, Star Sapphire, Mary Marvel, and… Dr. Occult! A beat-up Batman shows up right on time to fill in and aid the team in fighting off the Parademon attack.
Immediately, Batman takes control of the team, directing Wonder Woman and Mary Marvel to the nest that he and Blue Beetle discovered. Batman then appropriates Superman, Black Lightning, and Star Sapphire to remain and continue fighting the parademons. Finally, Batman deploys Martian Manhunter and Dr. Occult to rescue the children taken by the parademons.
Cutting to Singapore, a giant-sized man has just robbed a bank. At the scene are Atom Smasher, the Atom Ryan Choi, and the Atom Ray Palmer. The giant man is a result of the power flux caused by the events of Absolute Power. The Atoms have been working on a “gizmo” designed to return powers, as Atom Smasher uses the device to return his powers while reverting the giant man back to normal size. Ultimately, the device worked, but it proved unstable, leaving the Atoms to rethink how to make it work on a large scale when the time comes.
Transitioning to the Watchtower, Red Tornado, Mr. Terrific, Stargirl, with Airwave lurking in the background, discuss their continued search for Inferno.
Back in Costa Rica, the Wonder Woman and Mary Marvel team find the nest and decide to carry it to space. In an attempt to stop them, a giant parademon captures Mary, but with the help of Black Lightning, she is able to free herself. Back on the ground in Costa Rica, Superman and his team were able to save the town from the attack, while Wonder Woman is returning as she successfully took the nest to space.
The team of Martian Manhunter and Dr. Occult have wandered into some caves, where they find the children who are being held in stasis. They find a sentient parademon guard watching over the children. Dr. Occult opines that the shockwave of Darkseid’s death must have awakened this garrison nest. The parademon sentry has since been collecting children to use as an offering to Granny Goodness to gain Darkseid’s favor. This harvesting of children incites an uncontrollable anger in Martian Manhunter that takes Wonder Woman and her lasso to bring him out of. Once free Martian Manhunter quickly escapes instead of facing his friends, leaving Superman and the rest of the team wondering what got into him. With the town safe, the kids were found, the parademons were captured, and Blue Beetle was recovered. The rest of the team returns to the Watchtower.
Story – 4: Issue #1 of Justice League Unlimited (JLU) focused on introducing readers to the team and the new status quo for the DC Universe. While there is still some future setup, issue two is falling into a nice groove for the JLU book. There is a straightforward “A” plot, which wraps up nicely in this issue, with a “B” and “C” plot pushing the greater story forward.
JLU has had a complete story format for at least these first two issues. If this is a format that the book sticks to, Justice League Unlimited can really be a great flagship title for DC. Nowadays, it seems many books should not have monthly installments and instead be released directly to trade. Nonetheless, this JLU format gives the book an actual monthly value.
Art – 5: Dan Mora again proves why he is one of DC’s best artists. Not only does he have the speed to keep up with monthly titles, but they look dynamic, too. If bad panels exist, you will have to look hard to find even a shortcut panel that Mora sacrificed for the sake of time.
Mora’s panel-to-panel art consistency is unmatched. Mora seems to draw perfectly what needs to be drawn to tell the story and not go overboard, drawing unnecessary background details. He knows when to use a background and when to use shading, silhouette, or minimalist background effects to set the mood and clearly tell the story.Cover Art – 4: Dan Mora’s cover features Superman, Batman, Blue Beetle, Martian Manhunter, and Mary Marvel. It has great Mora art that connects well with the issue’s contents, but the layout seems more like a simple splash page, not a strong cover.
There are variant covers by Simone Di Meo, Mike Dedato Jr., Ariel Colón, and Derrick Chew. If you like cartoony style, then there are the Simone Di Meo or Derrick Chew covers. On the contrary, the Ariel Colón is hyperrealistic, if you prefer that style. The Mike Dedato Jr. variant resembles the traditional DC House style and honestly reflects the inside story. It features the Trinity fighting off a hoard of parademons.
There are two Incentive Covers by Dave Wilins (1:25) and Lucus Meyer (1:50).
The Wilins cover features Harley Quinn, a Red Lantern Sinestro, and Poison Ivy and is the best of the two. The Meyer features the Titans, so if you are a Titans fan, this is the cover for you.
The best cover outside the primary cover is a Raised UV Foil Variant by Fico Ossio. It is bold and vibrant, it is light catching, and spotlights some of DC’s lesser-used characters, including a Challenger of the Unknown.
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