Time fractured after Gorilla Grod and the Legion of Destiny took Omega Energy in Justice League Unlimited’s “We Are Yesterday.” The Justice League managed to get the counterparts who had evacuated most of their time back to their legitimate locations in time, but the other heroes were not so lucky. These unfortunate heroes include Huntress (Helena Wayne), Batman Beyond, Plastic Man, Gold Beetle, Air Wave, The Amazing Man, Marilyn Moonlight and Jonahex.
Time fractures made these time-varying heroes vulnerable to legions of Omega Demons who continue to hunt time travelers from the vanishing point. The latter group is essentially guardians of time, keeping each timeline at hypertime. It is based on this premise that Justice League: Dark Tomorrow Special #1 begins its storyline.
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Set between Justice League Unlimited #9 and Superman #28, Dark Tomorrow is a one-dawn story that deals only with one conflict. Move to Huntress, Batman Beyond, Plastic Man and even the points that disappear and stop attacking time travelers across Prime Earth’s timeline. The heroes have succeeded in their job of preventing a greater time crisis from getting worse, but this is far from the end of their journey.
Dark Tomorrow ends with a cliffhanger that clearly sets the new story taking place in Justice League Unlimited and Superman. More importantly, Dark Tomorrow will clearly have DC’s upcoming events DC: King Omega or DC Ko, but Dark Tomorrow will do a lot of heavy stuff to set up DC’s next major event. This is the best one-shot of Mark Waid, Marc Guggenheim and Cian Tormey. Waid continues to showcase his greatest strength as a writer by giving every character a vital role in the story, but also brings each one to glow.
One of the “new characters” introduced very early in the story is legendary, refusing to reveal his identity to avoid creating a temporary paradox that can further compromise the broken timeline. The only clue he gives to his identity is that he is a time traveler. But, in addition to this clue alone, the introduction of Waverider Timeship (a concept featured in the CW Television Series Legends of Tomorrow) makes it easy for a more veteran DC leader to put the two together and realize he is a future version of Rip Hunter.
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Not only did Rip Pilot The Waveider pilot Waveider in the Regents of Tomorrow TV series, he is also a stickman about not breaking the timeline even further, but it coincides with recent events depicted in the Flashpoint Beyond And Justice Society of America written by Geoff Johns. The fact that Legends of Tomorrow co-creator Marc Guggenheim is believed to be the author of this one-shot gives credibility to the possibility that the mysterious legend is in fact a RIP. Of course, Waid and Gggenheim still use the element of surprise and can reveal that the legend is another character together. But for now, he is a linear guy and a time master, so there is no reason to think he won’t rip.
The other high point of tomorrow is to see how the ragtag teams of TimeDisplace heroes work together. In most cases, each hero tends to work within his own elements. Jonahex fires a gun at the Omega Demon, and Batman works with the gold beetle to dismantle the space tuning fork at the vanishing point. For fans who are disappointed by the way Helena Wayne was portrayed in the American Justice Society, they will be happy to see a return to form. Not only does Helena Wayne get a new huntress suit that will bring back to her pre-crisis original, but her characterization is better aligned with her Bronze Age portrayal.
The only drawback of Dark Tomorrow is that fans will have to read Justice League Unlimited and Superman to continue following the storyline involving this ragtag team. Time events and crises on the Infinite Earth to better understand the importance of vanishing points and the tuning forks of the universe.
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But beyond that, a dark tomorrow is easy to tell a simple story that’s almost new and casual reader-friendly. It’s definitely a fun comic to pick up in the store for fun reads. Aside from solid scripts from both Waid and Guggenheim, you can’t go wrong with Cian Tormey in Artwork. Given the surprising work Tormey has already done in the already rave reviews of Alan Scott: Green Lantern Miniseries with Tim Sheridan, the recent question: It’s not surprising why he was chosen for this mission along the watchtower with Alex Segura.
Tormey brings his A-Game to the table again, with well-laying out the eye-guiding pages and action sequences. Furthermore, Tormey is excellent at giving each character individuality not only their facial expressions and body language, but also their fighting style. Jonah Hex, for example, is a very straightforward archer. The Huntress is meticulous in assessing the situation and responds appropriately. Gold Beetle and Plastic Man are just as fun to see on the page. Tormey makes the most of the funny concept of plastic guys. Fajardo Jr. also helps to pop artwork using bright colors for most sequences, while 1940s pages are muted pastel colors to convey a sense of nostalgia.
Overall, Justice League: Dark Tomorrow Special #1 is a solid one-shot that fires on every cylinder, but you need to be familiar with recent DC events to understand its greater importance. Dark Tomorrow should read as part of the DC KO setup, which will be released in October 2025.
“Justice League: Dark Tomorrow” Special #1 Sets up DC KO
Justice League: Dark Tomorrow Special #1
Justice League: Dark Tomorrow Special Bridges “We Are Thyness” and a fun, self-contained storyline about time travel, Omega Demons, callbacks to zero hour and the endless earth crisis, bridge the gap with upcoming DC KO events.
Mark Wade and Mark Guggenheim tell a fun, self-contained story about time travel.
The artwork and colours of Cian Tormey and Romulo Fajardo Jr. are extremely attractive.
Dark Tomorrow is easy to follow despite being tied down to recent DC events.
Due to the larger context of Dark Tomorrow, readers need to read “We Are Yesterday.”
Readers should read Justice League Unlimited and Superman to continue following this storyline and lead to DC KO
