Mjhancock's Reviews > Cosmic Odyssey

It's a threat so big that the New Gods have allied with Darkseid and come to enlist the Justice League's help! The anti-life equation has gained sentience, and is aiming to end all of existence. All it needs to do it is to destroy two of four planets, and the universe will fall apart. (They're load-bearing planets, I guess?) A series of team-ups sees different pairings going to each planet to stop the aspect of the anti-life that's trying to put its world-smashing powers in motion. Orion and Superman go to Thanagar; Starfire and Lightray go to Rann; Green Lantern (John Stewart version) and Martian Manhunter go to Xanshi; and Batman and the Forager settle things on Earth, while Jason Blood, the Highfather, and Darkseid prepare a last-ditch plan B. There's betrayals and setbacks aplenty, and, as is traditional, someone pays a devastating cost. It's not a wildly original story--the team-ups and splitting up into groups feel very "this is how crossover stories work," and the plot is a little odd when you think of it--really, the universe hangs together so loosely? And you're going with a team of ten or so when all of existence is at stake? And the Anti-Life itself is a rather abstract enemy. Luckily, Darkseid more than fills that role. But the fun of the story is in Starlin's use of the characters to create some epic moments, and it certainly works in that end. He's great with Superman and Batman, and even Starfire gets a great shining moment. Most of team New Genesis comes off as jerks, but, well, most of New Genesis is jerks. The worst off, however, may be John, who acts a lot different from the current model--although to be fair, I don't really know his 1988 status. Mignola is on art duty, and it's a lot of fun to see him tackle the iconic DC space characters. This story ranks somewhere in the middle of Starlin's overall cosmic stories, but if you're in the right mindset, it's a lot of fun.