REVIEW: Justice League Unlimited #13

Justice League Unlimited #13 is one of my favourite series at present and Mark Waid continues the story taking our heroes on the ultimate adventure… to HELL!

But before we get into the issue itself, let’s take a look at the covers! The main cover is by interior artist Dan Mora, and man, he never disappoints! His artwork is instantly recognisable and he just has an incredible knack for creating group shots! Mr Terrific is at the centre of it all as he leads his team into unimaginable depths.

The variant by Leinil Francis Yu & Sunny Gho is glorious, it has a regal sense to it and that’s down to the colours where we see the suits and artifacts gleam in the sunlight. I love the composition and would absolutely love to see their artwork in a Justice League interior.

Salvador Larroca’s variant cover is simple but effective and features two of the highlight characters from the series. Anyone will agree it’s great to see Batman Beyond and Superman Blue back in the pages of a comic and together, well of course that is a treat! The details on the characters themselves is great, although with the context of the location of the issue, the background does feel out of place.

There are also two great variants available by Marcos Martin and Jeff Spokes.

Justice League Unlimited #13 continues Mr Terrifics’ side mission as he leads his newly formed team straight into hell, quite literally. As they arrive they are tested by three demons who use their mythological magic to put them off entering. Here we see the first tragic and unexpected loss as Mr Terrific reinforces the fact that this team are expendable. Honestly I didn’t expect this to be the first character to go Mark Waid truly knows how to surprise us as readers, and no spoilers here, but also so soon in the issue which really adds to the excitement of the issue.

Meanwhile at the Watchtower, those left are checking in on the events of DC K.O., luckily for them Red Tornado has some insight into what’s going on! I do like how this issue connects the dots between the various series that are hosting tie in stories, it really goes a long way, but it does feel like a repeat of what we already know if you have read those tie-ins. We also see some really obscure characters here included Rainbow Raider, Chroma and Dr Spectro. We see even more attacks on heroes now that a bunch of villains got power ups from the Devil and they keep it coming which really makes this issue and series as a whole unpredictable, we don’t know quote how strong these villains are.

Back in Hell, Mr Terrific and his team are faced with yet another trial, the team start to struggle Terrific challenges their adversary and the odds do not look good for them. This adversary can read minds so the team underestimate their team leader, but of course, he always has a plan and he always plays fair and buys the team time to get past the gate. As the team pass, they lose another and this issue really elevates the stakes of the series as a whole but also the entire DC K.O story line.

The artwork is by Dan Mora, with colours by Tamra Bonvillain, and letters by Ariana Maher and it is excellent from the get go. As far as I’m concerned this creative team are one of the dream teams in comics right now and I honestly find myself so impressed with every page and every little detail they carry out issue after issue. The mystical aspects are particularly impressive and imaginative and I look forward to seeing what else they can do.

(9/10) Justice League Unlimited #13 is one hell of an issue full of imagination and adventure! It’s clear that Mr Terrific and his team have more trials to face along the way during their mission and if their losses and this issue is anything to go by, it’s going to be pure CHAOS!