“Aftermath: Part Two”
Creative Staff:
Story: Mark Waid
Art: Clayton Henry
Colors: Tamra Bonvillain
Letterer: Ariana Maher
What They Say:
Unlimited? Definitely. United? Hardly. The strongest voices in the Justice League have begun granting amnesty—and membership—to super-villains, and mutiny is brewing! Plus: Guy Gardner leads a mission that will have startling consequences for the entire galaxy!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Having read Justice League books and watched the cartoons going back to being a kid in the ’70s, I’m always game to check out a new run of the property. This one comes from writer Mark Waid, who obviously has the skills to handle both big team books and big stories, but also to make it personal and engaging with the right hook to it. He’s joined by Clayton Henry for this issue, and having enjoyed their artwork for quite a few years, it’s a welcome addition to the ranks with a definitive style that can work well in a team book like this. Tamra Bonvaillain’s color design is something I always look forward to, and they do some great work here with some of the more unique elements, but also the familiar characters. Ariana Maher makes this a very easy-to-read book with great lettering and some neat design moments.
The fallout from the tournament continues and it plays out in an interesting enough way. Batman’s now made it clear to those within the expansive League that a pilot amnesty program is in play with villains willing to work with them. With what they’ve seen through the tournament, Diana’s line about how they have to think less of human ideas of good and evil and more of what existence versus extinction is all about. That doesn’t work for everyone, but we see through events and a bit from Black Lightning about the protections that they’ve put in place to ensure that the villains work and do what they’re supposed to. A mix of working within teams, supervisors, and the threat of being yanked to the Phantom Zone is going to keep most of them in line, especially the ones who saw something from the tournament. Others, like Joker, aren’t in the program at all, and those that are and falter find their lives being upended.
We get a lot of this through Air Wave and The Boom asking questions for the reader, and it works well. The book spends the rest of its time on smaller stories and offshoots, such as Booster and his team going back in time to try and track Superman, only to find Lord Epoch. Guy has a team taking slivers of powers from people to Oa with Hawkgirl and Mister Terrific along the way, while we get to see how Luthor is going to upend the secretive program to his own advantage. That means some time in Bialya, which is always a mess, that involves T.O. Morrow in a fun way. I like the idea of these mismatched teams, their journeys that are being picked up in other books, and the fallout from the tournament in general that makes it feel real and like actual changes are taking place, at least for the duration.
In Summary:
So many events feel like blips along the way that it’s refreshing to watch various pieces of fallout and changes happening after DC KO. This book has been a pretty busy and active series from the start, admittedly more focus on action than meaningful plot, but it’s keeping a lot of elements in the air and moving them around to spread into other books. The quip about Starro sticking around because of Aquaman is interesting; another story going to get fleshed out in Action Comics provides a natural draw there. And the main book itself keeps things moving with Luithor being key while playing to a few “homeless” heroes without their own books in positions of leadership. I continue to enjoy the simple fun of this book.
Grade: B+
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: DC Comics
Release Date: April 22nd, 2026
MSRP: $3.99
Chris Beveridge
http://www.fandompost.com
Chris has been writing about anime, manga, movies and comics for well on twenty years now. He began AnimeOnDVD.com back in 1998 and has covered nearly every anime release that’s come out in the US ever since.
He likes to write a lot, as you can see.
