Review: Year of the Villain- Hell Arisen
Quick Summary
Pros: The main narrative, specifically surrounding Lex Luthor and the Batman Who Laughs, is compelling. Some of the narrative development is interesting and builds excitement for the next event. The artwork is positive throughout the volume.
Cons: Stories surrounding supporting characters are lackluster and distract from the narrative’s positives. Some pieces of the story do not make sense and some slightly conflict with earlier comics.
Overall: This collection has a solid story at is core but also has a few problems to go along with it. The bulk of this book depicts an epic battle between powerful villains, backed up by some beautiful artwork. However, lackluster subplots and storytelling inconsistencies prevent the narrative from standing as strong as it would have otherwise. Readers invested in the overall story surrounding this comic should still consider reading it but readers just looking for a good book on its own might want to look elsewhere.
Story
Year of the Villain: Hell Arisen, by James Tynion IV, is designed to be the dark complement to Justice League: Doom War (Review), which works in some ways but fails in just as many ways. The volume lays out a compelling conflict between Lex Luthor and the Batman Who Laughs. This progresses in interesting ways and helps develop both characters as this volume leads into the next one. However, supporting characters and their individual stories clutter the narrative and distract from the more compelling battle. In addition, there are too many logical discrepancies to the storytelling, causing conflicts within this volume and with the volumes it is designed to complement. All of this creates a book that offers a decent Lex Luthor/Batman Who Laughs story but fails in too many other regards to be considered a good book overall.
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The chief positives in Hell Arisen come from the battle of wills taking place between Lex Luthor and the Batman Who Laughs. Lex is able to outperform the Batman Who Laughs on a number of fronts and is nearly able to snatch victory from him at the last possible moment. However, Lex’s own delusions bring about his downfall and, in a great twist, are what cause him to play right into the dark Batman’s plans.
Unfortunately, while Lex and the Batman Who Laughs are great to see, every other character underperforms. At first, it seems like the Infected and Mercy will provide interesting contributions and narrative developments, yet, by the end of the book, their presence feels entirely unnecessary. Even the Joker, who is integral in Lex’s success, simply shows up for a few moments, provides some information, and leaves. With only four issues to tell this volume’s story, it feels like too much time is spent on characters who ultimately have very little importance and not enough time is spent on characters who actually matter.
In a similar way, the contributions from Lex Luthor and the Batman Who Laughs provide interesting developments for the larger narrative surrounding the Justice League series and leading into Dark Nights: Death Metal. I did not expect the Batman Who Laughs to team up with Perpetua so seeing that happen worked as a great twist ending and helped get me excited to see what will happen next. In addition, Lex’s fall from Perpetua’s grace makes an equally compelling set-up for the next volume. However, the downside here is that Lex’s development is too similar to what already happened in Justice League: Doom War and, thus, feels repetitive and slightly conflicting.
In addition, there are conflicting elements within Hell Arisen and some that just don’t make sense. At one point, Lex uses his powers to manipulate the Infected but, later on, he explains his powers cannot effect the Infected because of their ties to the Dark Multiverse. At another point, Joker fends off several bulletproof heroes with a simple machine gun. These are relatively minor problems but further damage a read that already has some complications.
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Art
The visuals in Hell Arisen are positive all the way through. Steve Epting’s work is a major asset to the collection and a big part of why the visuals are positive. Epting’s art is vibrant and detailed in a way that highly suits a major DC Comics event. However, it also has a level of grittiness to it that matches the “dark” theme of this series, something that is even more apparent through the use of light and shadows in the visuals. Meanwhile, contributions from Javi Fernandez, Jim Cheung, Alex Maleev, and Francis Manapul ensure that the rest of the volume looks fantastic as well. In general, the artwork in this book is positive and complements the storytelling well.
Continuity
Year of the Villain: Hell Arisen continues plotlines from a few comics. Lex Luthor’s story from Year of the Villain Special #1 immediately follows the Legion of Doom’s activities in Justice League #22 and takes place right before Justice League #24, both of which are collected in Justice League Vol. 4: The Sixth Dimension (Review). Lex Luthor’s story from the Year of the Villain: Hell Arisen issues immediately follow his actions in Justice League #39, collected in Justice League Vol. 5: Doom War (Review). Meanwhile, the story surrounding the Batman Who Laughs and the Infected is continued from Batman/Superman Vol. 1: Who Are the Secret Six? (Review).
The story here continues in Dark Nights: Death Metal.
This volume also references other comic books, detailed below:
- Bane’s “grand plans” in Gotham are mentioned. The existence of these plans was first revealed in Batman #50, collected in Batman Vol. 7: The Wedding (Review) (Reading Order).
- The “Leviathan Threat” comes to a head in Event Leviathan.
- Lex Luthor’s past and recent activities are mentioned throughout this volume.
- He killed members of the Crime Syndicate in Forever Evil (Review) (Reading Order).
- He became a hero and joined the Justice League (Reading Order) across Justice League Vol. 6: Injustice League (Review).
- He began working to release Perpetua in Justice League Vol. 1: The Totality (Review).
- He released the Batman Who Laughs from his cell in Justice League #8, collected in Justice League Vol. 2: Graveyard of Gods (Review).
- The Batman Who Laughs’ activities in Gotham are briefly mentioned. This activities are shown in The Batman Who Laughs (Review).
- Recent actions of the Batman Who Laughs’ Infected are mentioned. These are shown across their Year of the Villain tie-in issues, all of which are collected in Year of the Villain: The Infected.