Originally published on Patreon
After a couple of issues of building the team and setting up the threat of the alien invaders this mecha version of the Justice League come together for the first time to fight as a team as the first wave of the Apokalipse forces heads towards Earth.
Maybe it's because we're getting another weirdly drastic re-imagining of the Justice League coming together to fight against Darkseid happening in another book right now (Jurassic League), but I was worried that we were going to get something very similar here, and would end up with a story that lacks anything beyond it's main gimmick to let it stand out. And whilst there is a bit of that here, the third issue manages to inject enough new and interesting stuff to keep it from getting too boring.
One of the first big things it does is have the Earth forces launching their own attack on Kalibak and his army on their own, without the League; and losing because Lex Luthor leaves them to die in order to advance his own plans. This added layer of drama is great because it makes it seem like Earth actually has soldiers and plans outside of waiting for the super heroes to come and save the day; pus it makes the world feel a bit deeper and more lived in as smaller, side characters have their own plans and plots and things that they're up to.
This issue also introduces a wrinkle into the way the Justice League works, by making Kal-El a bit of an arrogant dick. He believes he's the best person to lead, and despite agreeing to split the leadership duties with Batman, barks out his own orders, does hi won thing, and ignores the input of his new team. It's a different approach to the character, one that we rarely see from Superman; and it makes things a bit more interesting than the league coming together for the first time and working as the perfect team.
The artwork on this issue, provided by Baldemar Rivas and Mike Spencer, looks really good, and there's a ton going on on every page. The giant mech suits look dynamic and cool whenever they're in a fight, the space battle sequences look great, and the characters are interesting. There are a few panels with background characters thrown in for flavour, and it's great to see them included, and they're all instantly recognisable despite having slightly different takes on them.
DC Mech is a book that's doing things different, but doesn't seem to be just relying on those differences in order for it to be seen as worth reading. The creative team are trying to make a project that's good, and a lot of that passion is beginning to break through to the surface.
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