I am absolutely a fan of Bryan Hitch’s art.  I remember first encountering it way back when he worked with Mark Waid on another Justice League title.  I recall it impressing me much the same as when I saw my first X-Men cover by Jim Lee.  Since that moment, Hitch has never let me down when it comes to art.

That being said, I’ve never experienced Bryan Hitch the writer.

I’m not a big fan of that Bryan Hitch.

Justice League: Rebirth had a sound, even necessary, plot.  A giant alien menace arrives, the Justice League, stunned by the death of the New 52 Superman, seems ineffective against the behemoth, so therefore the pre-New 52 Superman suits up to help out.  As you can imagine, a cautious partnership consequently develops, one that will apparently be mired in distrust from both sides.

The art is very pleasing to the eyes with dynamic, fluid movement and thrilling sequences.  The dialogue, unfortunately, did not go so smoothly.  Characters were redundant, verbose, and even awkward.  They often felt as though they were speaking to me rather than to each other.  The writing proved a bit distracting and because of the lackluster writing, the alien plot ventured into fairly cliche territory.

Hitch is an artist worthy of rendering these icons and, despite the writing, I will certainly pick up the collected editions of his work on Justice League and Justice League of America.

Justice League: Rebirth is visually a joy, but the writing did not quite live up to my expectations considering this is the first interaction between the League and an unknown Superman.