Thursday 29 August 2019

Justice Doom War Is Here And Here Are The Reasons You Should Be Reading!

This is it! The moment we've all been waiting for ever since DC Universe Rebirth #1 promised to restore the heart and soul of the DC Universe we've all been missing: its past, its present, its future, and most importantly, its legacy! And it's all happening in the first chapter of Justice Doom War in this week's Justice League #30.

DC Universe Rebirth has been quite a journey these past three years, complete with its own fair share of ups and downs, and of course, some hits and clear misses. But ever since 2017's Dark Nights Metal event and its 2018 follow-up No Justice, we've been gradually seeing the promise of Rebirth unfolding within the pages of Scott Snyder's Justice League run.

Since issue #1, Scott Snyder and collaborators James Tynion IV and Jorge Jiménez have been exploring in depth what the DC Multiverse means to its characters, their respective core mythologies, and most importantly, what it all means to DC fans. It meaningly re-examines why we connect with all these characters and their narratives the way that we do. Everything that Scott Snyder has been doing since Dark Nights Metal has been building up to this moment: the literal point in time that the DC Universe starts reclaiming its unique identity.

Before Justice Doom War sends the Justice League on their cosmic journey across all of time and space throughout DC's history, Justice League #30 first revisits the key aspects of DC lore that are easily identifiable with the DC Multiverse: the speed force (Flash), the emotional spectrum (Green Lanterns), the sphere of the gods (Wonder Woman), the life force (Aquaman), the collective consciousness (Martian Manhunter), the dimensional superstructure (the Monitors), and the DC Multiverse itself.

The story then argues that these individual elements together make up the best aspects of the DC Multiverse and breathe life into the characters we know and love. These essential energies are what makeup the core of the heroes as we know them.

On the flip side to the positive energies that govern these better aspects of the DC Multiverse, it also examines what makes it a dark place as well: a total of seven mysterious dark energies that counterbalance the seven aforementioned harmonious forces, which includes the existence of the Dark Multiverse. These mysterious energies are known as the Seven Hidden Energies of Creation.

The story metaphorically argues that these polarising energies are at constant conflict with each for dominance, which is why the DC Multiverse tends to tonally swing back and forth between the two the way that it does. To symbolise these two conflicting energies are the Justice League and the Legion of Doom, the latter of which is led by Lex Luthor who wants to turn the entire DC Multiverse towards doom. This admittedly reads like a meta commentary on DC's own tendency go to some really dark places with its characters and stories.

In addition to reacquainting the reader with the core concepts of DC lore, it also re-examines the malleability of the DC Multiverse and the fact that it can be rebooted in someone else's image, which is exactly what Lex Luthor wants to accomplish in the story. It's once again meta commenting on DC's own reboots and why we end up with interpretations of DC characters that stray far from their core ideals and values as heroes.

The malleability of the DC Multiverse and its characters is at the heart and centre of the Justice Doom War narrative. We have a dark character in the form of Lex Luthor who wants to reboot the DC Multiverse back to its darkest roots and reshape the heroes' narratives the way he sees fit.

The heroes of the Justice League—the characters who embody DC's positive energy—want to stop him from doing so, which sets them off on a journey through hypertime to reclaim all aspects of their own history to recruit heroes from every timeline and every world that ever was and ever will be.

Seeing the familiar faces of the Justice Society is only the beginning. As the rest of the event unfolds, Snyder and collaborators promise to revisit many more familiar faces that have been missing from the DC Multiverse for quite sometime, perhaps even decades going as far back as the original Crisis on Infinite Earths reboot itself. As such, Justice Doom War is shaping up to be as much a love letter to the DC Multiverse and its fans, as it is a story about reclaiming everything we know and love about the DC Multiverse and its characters.

Again, this is only the beginning. The first chapter of the major payoff many of us have been waiting for since 2016, and it is materialising on the pages of Justice League. If you need to know which issue to start reading, this is literally it! Justice League #30 is where it all starts, and I am here for everything that comes afterwards, beginning with next week's Justice League #31, which picks up with the Justice Society of America! Be sure to check it out! :)

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