Wednesday, January 30, 2019

Justice League Odyssey #5 Review



Writer: Joshua Williamson
Artists: Carmine di Giandomenico, Ivan Plascencia, Deron Bennett
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: January 30, 2019


The Ghost Sector. A group of planets that, during the events of New Justice, were released from bottled imprisonment on Brainiac's home planet of Coluan. Cyborg, Starfire, and Azrael have been lured into the Ghost Sector by Darkseid, where they find out that many of these planets have worshipped them as gods for thousands of years. Joined by the Ghost Sector's Green Lantern sentry Jessica Cruz, the team is searching for a way out of the sector while also getting down to the mysteries of their deity status and what Darkseid wants from them.


And now it's time for some answers. This is the issue where we find out why these planets were captured by the Coluans. Darkseid's plan is revealed. The angels from the beginning of the series are identified. And, a little-added bonus, we find out who this Rapture guy really is.

We start off with a little setup for Azrael, showing him back in Gotham, wanting to be part of something bigger, and then being called to the stars (which turned out to be Darkseid). Then we're brought back to the Ghost Sector where our group is being attacked by those red robots. Rapture, a follower of Azrael, wants to get the hell out of there but Azrael insists on staying to help his teammates.



Meanwhile, Cyborg is learning that the Programmer is creating a Motherbox to turn all of the people in the Ghost Sector into cyborgs to try and save them, believing that this was Cyborg's message as their god. Cyborg is a sad cyborg. :(

The Odyssey team out of nowhere busts in and a Mecha builds itself around the Programmer. While they fight, Cyborg grabs a hold of the Motherbox and sees what Darkseid is really up to. The planets of the Ghost Sector can be used to create a new, larger Apokolips. The Coluans collected them to hide them from Darkseid so he wouldn't be able to return to power... and then the Justice League totally messed that all up by releasing them. Way to go, guys.

Then Azrael and his own follower Rapture get into it. We find out that The Order of Azrael, led by Rapture, were the "angels" that killed Starfire's followers at the beginning of the series. (At one point Starfire tells Azrael "Listen to yourself! Saying my followers." and then she totally does it herself when she finds out about Rapture, saying "You killed my followers!") After angering his god, Rapture flees and goes back to the Order of Azrael and states that they must kill the old gods, AKA the Odyssey team. And it turns out that Rapture is not Cisco Ramone's brother like he was in the past but the Coluan in the very first issue who lost his Green Lantern love.



There's also some stuff on Tamaran with Darkseid and Blackfire but the result of it all is something I think shouldn't be spoiled.

I've had a really positive outlook on this series because I love the team and I love the idea. But even though A LOT of things were connected in this issue and I'm glad for that, the issue is kind of a mess. I can be patient with a story, I don't need to know everything right away, but I'm losing my patience with how the story is being told. These secrets should be presented better.

Bits and Pieces

This whole series should be so much better. So I'm also glad that Abnett is jumping on as the writer of this series starting with the next issue. Hopefully, he'll shed some light on why they're worshipped as gods, smooth out the storytelling, and make this thing as good as it started.

5.8/10

2 comments:

  1. I just read the printed copy of this issue and it came off better than the review copy did and I’m just a little more cooler with it. Certain parts became more intense and the art is just awesome on DC’s new stock, but I still have the same complaints that I do in this review.

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    1. i think you were still generous! I hate this book!!!

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