Justice League of America #13 Review

 

The journey is its own reward.

Kindt finishes the Forever Evil tie-in as Stargirl finishes what she set out to do – or does she?

This has been a journey of sorts for Stargirl, more than anybody else and it comes full circle here.

But there is a massive reveal near the end that spoils just about everything Kindt put together. There are hints as to what is happening, as it is shown that Kindt has been laying clues across the multiple issues.

But that doesn’t make things any easier for the reader.

SPOILERS FOLLOW……………

As Courtney manages to overpower Despero, she remembers the death of her brother and the final passing of the mantle in her journey to become Stargirl. I’m growing frustrated by Kindt’s allusions to Starman though. Show him already or don’t mention him so much!

Battling Despero, she glimpses into his mind – his rite of passage, the ‘Flame of Py’tar’ and his slow corruption from hero to villain.

 

Escaping Despero, she manages to enter the Firestorm matrix and convince all the prisoners to work together as the team escapes and captures Despero.

Just as Courtney lets out a sigh of relief, she sees Despero’s smile.

I should have guessed. The Shazam incident before and Batman’s presence among the imprisoned heroes were warning signals.

Courtney wakes up and sees J’ohn standing there. They are still in the prison. They never left and everything that’s happened to Stargirl since Justice League of America #7 was to create a prison for her.

We see Despero as he concludes his exercise, saying that the ‘seed’ is within J’onn.

Apparently, A.R.G.U.S. crosses over with this title, as J’onn tells Stargirl that he managed to make contact with Steve outside and the latter has secured Wonder Woman’s lasso but they still need Wonder Woman.

Stargirl says that she knows just where to find her.

Final thoughts – wow, did not see that coming. And I mean that in a bad way. J’onn’s death in the last issue felt like a rite of passage as did everything that the duo went though (especially with fake J’onn).

The prison building feels like a cop-out and seems to make an already floundering title come to a close on a low.

SPOILERS END………….

While the ending does more bad than good, Stargirl has come out as a well rounded character as has J’onn (?).

Kindt’s run ends with the next issue and I’m not sure he’s finished the Forever Evil on anything but a low.  The artwork didn’t help as well.

So, I give it 5.5 out of 10.

+Some good moments for Courtney

- A copout ending

-Erratic artwork

-Too much filler