Writers: Ivan Cohen and Danny Lore
Art: Luciano Vecchio and Enrica Eren Angiolini
Letters: Carlos M. Mangual
Publisher: DC Comics
Price: $3.99
Release Date: October 4th, 2022
There’s a throwdown on Earth-11! Teen Justice battles the Green Lanterns and Sister Blood (AKA Sinestra) in Multiversity: Teen Justice #5, as Kid Quick has a crisis of self-doubt, and we get to see how REALLY twisted and dark the Earth-11 Green Lanterns are.
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The Story
After some great character development and set-up of the Church of Blood plot over the last few issues, Multiversity: Teen Justice #5 is all action, as the Earth-11 Green Lanterns (all evil twisted versions of their Earth-Prime selves) launch an offensive on Teen Justice. It’s great timing too, as Teen Justice is down two members, with Kid Quick and Raven missing, as Kid Quick is caught in the throes of self-doubt.
The most enjoyable scene of the issue comes at the Quick Museum (the equivalent of the Flash Museum on Earth-Prime), where we get to see the history of the Quick family. With Earth-11 being gender-flipped, it’s fun seeing the ancestors of Kid Quick, including Golden Age hero Liberty Bill, who on this Earth is the counterpart of Liberty Belle. Raven and Kid Quick have a great conversation here, as Raven tries to get Quick back in action, and it’s nice to see the two get some time to shine. The evil Green Lanterns are a formidable and terrifying threat, very much like energy vampires, as they power their rings with human life force instead of a power battery, and they’re not averse to using kids’ life energy also.
The Teen Justice characters are all wonderfully fully-formed characters, each with a unique personality and style, and I hope after this mini-series concludes next issue, we’ll get a full series with them. The standouts to me are Supergirl and Klarienne the Witch Girl. Klarienne dominates every scene she’s in, blasting the Green Lanterns with spell after spell, her familiar (a black cat named Teekl) always at her side. She’s always full of surprises, and she pulls a couple more surprises out of her vast well of spells this issue. After the slow pace of the last couple of issues, I appreciated finally seeing the team in action. It’s action-packed and ends with a great cliffhanger.
The Art
Luciano Vecchio’s art on Multiversity: Teen Justice #5 is full of off-kilter panels and great designs. I loved his designs for the Quick family ancestors and the architecture and layout of the Quick Museum. His panel layouts keep the action moving fast and are always visually interesting. Much like Teen Justice itself, the layouts are full of energy and power.
Final Thoughts
Multiversity: Teen Justice #5 is a fun penultimate issue of this mini-series, giving us some rousing action and great character moments and moving the story forward. The members of Teen Justice are all wonderful, and there’s no filler or wasted dialogue throughout the book.