Justice League vol. 2: Graveyard of Gods

Two volumes in and there are certainly things I like about Scott Snyder (and James Tynion IV’s) run on “Justice League” so far.  Chief among them is the fact that each volume is a smaller part of a much larger story that’s being told. We can see that in the opening issue which follows Luthor’s ongoing efforts to unlock the secret powers of the universe and the hints given to him by the Batman Who Laughs.  While I want to see where that goes, it’s also nice when we get to see what downtime with the League is like in the issue which follows. Snyder pulls off a nice balancing act as the team catches their breath while Superman rebuilds the Moon while shrugging off an alien threat. All of this looks great too as some of DC’s best artists — Francis Manapul, Howard Porter, Jorge Jimenez, and Mikel Janin — contribute art to this volume.  I can’t complain too much about a lack of stylistic consistency when the individual issues look this good.

If only all of this was supporting a core story that wasn’t so determined to pursue sheer volume over actual substance.  “Graveyard of Gods” is an Aquaman-centric story as it involves the unleashing of a triumvirate of sea gods, locked away by the Atlantean hero Arion, upon the Earth.  There’s much flooding, magic water which turns people into fish-monsters, and lots of Black Manta as he looks to get the Life Force and rule the oceans himself. All of this is delivered at maximum volume with crazy stuff happening to raise the stakes on each page.  This approach, combined with lots of breathlessly expository dialogue overwhelmed me more than it swept me along. I can appreciate Snyder and Tynion’s ambition in trying to deliver an event storyline with every major arc of this series. I’m still waiting for them to serve up one that actually delivers on style as well as substance.