Justice League: Last Ride #1
- WRITER
- Chip Zdarsky
- Artist
- Miguel Mendonca
- Letterer
- AndWorld Design
- Cover Artist
- Diego Rodriguez, Miguel Mendonca, Enrica Angiolini, Darick Robertson
- Publisher
- DC Comics
- Price
- 3.99
- Release Date
- 2021-05-11
- Colorist
- Enrica Angiolini
The Justice League has been the most stable, prestigious team in the DC Universe for a long time. but this superhero ensemble finds itself tearing apart at the seams from within in the new miniseries Justice League: Last Ride. Written by Chip Zdarsky and illustrated by Miguel Mendoca, the title was originally slated as a digital-first series before being resolicited as a conventional, eight-issue miniseries. And judging by the story's opening issue, Zdarsky and Mendoca are crafting one of the rawest, vulnerable takes on the DCU's mightiest heroes in years by putting the team in an emotional, new light that is shaping up to be tested as the story escalates from here.
After the Justice League endures a horrifying tragedy, the trust and working relationship between Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman appears to be irreparably strained from the immediate fallout, effectively fracturing the Justice League at its core. However, after the perpetrator of the most heinous murders in the universe finally is taken into custody and prepares to stand trial, the League's central trinity must set aside their differences and come back together if they want to make sure the proceedings go through without a hitch.
Zdarsky is balancing the biggest icons in the DCU with this story and offering a more acerbic look at each of them, with Superman and Batman getting the most prominent appearances of the ensemble in this opening issue. Zdarsky has a strong handle on much of his cast and sets high stakes and intriguing directions for the story to go moving forward, though his scripting works best in the quieter moments, including a contemplative prologue between Clark Kent and Lois Lane. When conversations heat up, some of the dialogue veers towards the melodramatic while Zdarsky continues to conceal his full hand as the story is only just getting started.
Mendoca, working with colorist Enrica Angiolini, creates a subtly darker iteration of the main DCU that readers are accustomed to with the Infinite Frontier era. Even in the brighter settings, much of the artwork is shrouded in shadows and pervading sense of dread and distrust between the heroes as they cautiously regroup and regard one another. There isn't an enormous amount of action in this issue, but it's few set pieces are more than competently delivered. Instead, Mendoca is establishing mood and one that is fraught with pronounced internal strife and frustrations constantly simmering under the surface; this is a League divided and, even the face of a threat that demands their full cooperation, the heroes are still reluctant to work alongside each other towards the greater good.
Justice League: Last Ride reveals a team at the verge of being completely torn asunder by internal pressures, even as they are poised to take on a mission of universal importance. Zdarsky and Mendoca make a natural collaborative pairing and Zdarsky knows the voices of his iconic cast well as he immediately puts them at odds with one another. Mendoca's artwork, with Angiolini's choice in color palette -- really elevates that contentious mood while teasing even bigger, more bombastic things to come as the miniseries really begins to gain steam. Last Ride isn't a story that's necessarily going to turn the DCU on its head, but it still provides a look at its core trinity of heroes as a character study and the need to stand together as one.