Justice League 16: Throne of Atlantis Part Three

Creative:

Art: Ivan Reis and Joe Prado

Written: Geoff Johns

Price: $2.99

Double Feature [part 2]

New 52 started once upon a time.  There was this event called Court of Owls, and it was bone-chilling, mindboggling, and it killed me every month to see what Scott Snyder was cooking up for Greg Capullo to render with his aggressively dark art style.  Throne of Atlantis isn’t as awesome or gripping as Court of Owls but it is the second event to capture my attention – Oh I lied.  Death in the Family.  But that’s borderline bias (borderline).  Anytime something goes down in Gotham you’re going to be instantly hooked.  Either because you’re an onlooker mesmerized by the sheer atrocity of the violence you’ve been asked to witness, or because you’re about to be brutally murdered by a clown who’s wearing his own face as a mask.

Business time.  Aquaman put his hands on Batman.  On such a fragile foundation as the newly formed Justice League, that was by far the stupidest thing one could ever do.  Batman’s natural reaction is defensive gadgetry that pisses Aquaman off enough to punch Superman into the next page.  Failed peacekeeper?  Check.

Aquaman and Wonder Woman get into it.  I wouldn’t want to fight with a lasso wound around my neck, but Aquaman seems to take it pretty swimmingly.  Wonder Woman admonishes Aquaman for fighting against the League and adamantly makes her position clear: “If it was the amazons coming ashore to destroy the city I’d be fighting against them.”  Then tells him she would fight against the Atlanteans until her dying breath.  Have you seen that lady fight before?  I believe her.  Wonder Woman's morals at odds with Aquaman's: Check? Then this happens:

“WHATEVER!” Bellowed the belligerent Batman fan after her fourth beer.  “It’s not like you broke his back or anything!" 

Ivan Reis shows us [me] why he’s amazing at what he does with this two page splash depicting the Atlantean army rising from the sea to crush the vile air-breathers for hating the sea-dwellers so.  And damn is it sexy.

"My trident is bigger than yours, little brother."

 There was an astounding amount of beautiful artwork, splash pages in this issue, all in attempts to bring the arc to its full tension (notice a trending theme here?).  It all worked wonderfully well, from the flashback pieces, to Cyborg’s spiderweb of contacts he refers to as reinforcements.  While I don’t entirely feel that anyone is in real trouble, even I think backup would be a good idea at this juncture.

"This milk isn't working anymore!"

“Sins, little man,” says the slovenly sin accompanying Dr. Sivana.  “There are many of us.”  Mull over the implications of that rhetoric next time you’re eating a donut.  The Shazam backup feature has been the only awesome backup I’ve taken pleasure in enjoying since the reboot, especially since I have no choice when I take my money pre-packaged product and my dollars to the counter.  And while everyone is calling to give Billy his own title, I disagree currently due to the timing.  I do hope they move things along just a little faster, though.  Obviously they intend on making him a Leaguer in the very near future, and his role in the Trinity War will be larger than any other part-timer, so a solo title could easily spring from any of those planes.  The recognizance of his limitations despite his newfound abilities is evident on Billy’s face when Black Adam shows up to clean his magical clock, and it has certainly put our relationship with Billy in perspective with how he is about to perceive himself come February 20^th when Justice League 17 releases.