A top notch re-introduction to the character, and a great sidebar to Justice League vs Suicide Squad. And, as I said, the most readable issue of Justice League since Rebirth began. Read Full Review

While other tie in stories may just be a one-shot that is tangentially linked to the main narrative, this issue not only sets up the villain beautifully but also acts as a true prequel to DC's main event of 2017. Read Full Review

In the end, Justice League #12 is a great tie-in (prequel really) to the Justice League Vs. Suicide Squad series. If anything, it shows that I'd prefer this creative team be handling the book. Read Full Review

I didn't know much about Max Lord prior to reading this issue, so it was nice to learn about a character without taking anything away from the main story to give it to you. Tim Seely did an amazing job with this story and the art itself is worth the cost of the comic. Read Full Review

It's not a bad issue - the story's interesting and the art is very good - but it's not an issue of Justice League, and that's what I laid down my $2.99 to purchase. Read Full Review

I get why this issue came out after the crossover kickoff, but it probably would have made for a better standalone if it occurred earlier. This is one of those tie-ins that's OK for background info and filling in some of the gaps, but the overall enjoyment of the crossover won't be impacted whatsoever with skipping this issue. Read Full Review

There's not a lot of meat inJustice League #12. A few flashbacks and some fun in the present with Waller round out Max Lord a bit, but there's no strong narrative to hook you in, and the character work establishes Lord as a fairly simplistic, power-mad villain. Still, the book looks good, and the quality of the writing and artwork outshines this week's installment ofJustice League vs. Suicide Squad, as well as any issue ofJustice League in the past two months. Pick it up with reasonable expectations, and you'll get some enjoyment out of it. Read Full Review

This issue isn't so much a Justice League issue, in fact the team only appears in one page of the comic, no, this issue is devoted to the backstory of Maxwell Lord who re-emerged in the first issue of JLA Vs. Suicide Squad. Read Full Review

This Justice League vs Suicide Squad tie-in isn't necessary and suffers from that.  Not a whole lot goes on here and the couple big moments kind of fall flat.  If you just have to have everything from this first Rebirth Event, go for it.  Others can stick with the Event book and be just fine. Read Full Review

Overall, I don't like this issue. The art is pretty good and there are some neat moments but the issue is never engaging. Maxwell Lord's backstory just isn't interesting enough to focus on for an entire issue. I don't think this is even required reading for Justice League vs. Suicide Squad. While this is not terrible, it doesn't really work. Read Full Review

More interesting than the event itself, and the best "Justice League" issue of Rebirth.

[ART: 9.3 | STORY: 7.7 | WRITING: 8.8 | TOTAL: 8.6 (~8.5)] My favourite issue of this series by far, and surprisingly, the Justice League are only featured for a page. I'm glad that you can jump into this issue without having read prior issues of this series. Fans of the series may be disappointed, but this was really good. It was well drawn and well written. The plot is fairly minimal, but the writing carries it forward. The issue definitely helps pad out Lord and Waller's characters for the crossover and puts a new perspective on the two and their relationship. Great stuff.

A lot better than the usual Justice League comic, but this issue is not required to enjoy the Justice League vs Suicide Squad event. This deals more with Max Lord and his relationship with Amanda Waller, which can be at times a bit hard to follow. I still enjoyed the comic and enjoyed getting to know a character I never was really that informed about.

SCORE: 7.2