The tempo of this issue is off a little, with Robinson rushing some sequences that probably should've gotten a bit more attention. For example, I only vaguely remembered Green Lantern meeting with Dr. Fate and Flash (since it happened two issues ago, if you count the Annual), so it felt weird to see them more or less presented as a full-fledged team here. I'm also not sure that Alan is really so arrogant that he thinks that the three of them can take down the Dherain army and Steppenwolf, even though he really does seem to legitimately think that they have a decent shot of that. But, it's pretty likely that Robinson's upcoming unexpected departure moved up the time frame a bit, so I'm willing to cut him some slack. After all, I think Alan et al. probably should've entered Dherain more stealthily (and having Sandman point out that fact doesn't suddenly make it an OK plot device), but I do believe that they would've entered Dherain all the same. As such, I still bought the main event of this issue, namely Robinson maneuvering the various characters to the point where we suddenly find ourselves surprised with the core of a Justice Society at the end of the issue, when Dr. Fate, Flash, and Green Lantern find themselves on the same side as Atom, Red Arrow, and Sandman. Well played, James. Well played.
In other news, I was surprised to hear that Alan's goal is the end of the world government. He seems to think that its demise will allow the Society a freer hand and, although that's probably true, it seems a pretty drastic step just to make sure that you can do whatever you want to do. Moreover, I'll admit to tiring a bit of Khan always being right. Even Captain America isn't always right. As a result, Khan is starting to feel one dimensional, serving the purpose of a Cassandra foreshadowing for the reader what's going to come. (Along those lines, continuing the previous discussion of Robinson rushing us into war, why did the world government decide to rush into war, given that it's unlikely that Steppenwolf is just bluffing? If we don't get a good answer to that question, then it'll be all the more apparent that Robinson is just trying to hit his marks as quickly as he can before his time on this series finishes.)
But, regardless, Robinson seems to be setting up a pretty important arc. Even though he's rushing a bit, the characters remain true to who they've been and the events that we see here build on previous events. So, all in all, I'm still pretty happy with this issue and intrigued to see how Robinson wraps up his stint on the series.
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