World War III: United We Stand
Part four picks up with virtually every DC hero–sans the big three, but including Power Girl’s jubblies–standing at the Great Wall of China while Black Adam wails on China’s Great Ten. The divergent plot lines–the resurrection of the Suicide Squad, Martian Manhunter’s soul searching and Black Adams’s rampage, collide with heart-punching results.
Green Lantern Alan Scott, Hero Emeritus, leads the charge in the most brutal battle since Superboy Prime punched Panthra’s head off in Infinite Crisis #4.
But short of a final page teaser involving a satellite of Monitors (not VGAs), there’s really not a whole lot to WWIII: United We Stand. Sure, some minor heroes you probably don’t care about die. Sure, J’onn J’onzz’s lifestyle change is half-heartedly explained. Ultimately, though, World War III is exposition, presumably for Countdown, which is now only three weeks away, kind of in the same way that Civil War ended up being mostly exposition for the new status quo in the Marvel universe.
DC convinced me to go to the comic book store every week with Infinite Crisis. Finally finding out what led to the One Year Later changes is not really as exciting as you’d have thought. It’s like figuring out how the magician does his magic trick, then seeing that magician turn into a squid-faced, water-armed amnesiac. But damn it if DC didn’t just compel me to make sure I buy Countdown for the next year. Curse you DC!
That was such a ridiculous boob shot of Power Girl. Her character alone is almost enough to make me quit buying superhero comics. But, at least Michael Turner didn’t do the art.