Justice League #6 – Review

By: Geoff Johns (writer), Jim Lee (penciller), Scott Williams, Sandra Hope, Batt, Mark Irwin (inkers), Alex Sinclair, Tony Avina, Hi-Fi (colorists)

The Story: Darkseid, wouldn’t printing ads on the back of milk cartons work better than all this?

The Review: Justice League Dark demonstrated, by negative inference, how important it is to give each member of the team an active role in a conflict.  But more than divvying up the work for tactical purposes, it’s even more important, for long-term storytelling purposes, to give each character a distinct spiritual role within the team.

Unfortunately, Johns hasn’t succeeded in making his League anything more than a gathering of powerful super-beings—which is surprising, since Johns usually can’t resist making a symbol out of everything he writes.  The problem is the characters come across so flat just in their personality that it’s hard to draw out any deeper substance from them.

Johns simply hasn’t used the team he’s brought together well.  Take Aquaman.  I don’t think he says much more than four lines the entire issue, and aside from putting his trident into Darkseid’s eye (which, really, is only copycatting Wonder Woman’s sword-trick two panels earlier), he serves no crucial purpose at all.  Neither does Flash, for that matter, unless you count coming up with the one of the lamest team names ever in a craven ploy for heartwarming laughter.  And after all that drama between Cyborg and his dad, Johns allows only a single throwaway panel and line to resolve it.

At least Johns takes some pains to finally give the only lady at this sausage fest something important to do.  That said, when you think about her biggest accomplishment in the fight against Darkseid, all anyone really needed from her was her lasso.  As charming as her naïve wisdom is (“The world belongs to no one.  And everyone.”), she only seems to have value in the absence of others.  Without Superman, she fills in as the team’s heavy hitter; without Batman’s leadership, she leads by example of her fearlessness.  Once the boys come home, she’s back to fodder again.

Young Justice Episode 17 – Review

By: Andrew R. Robinson (writer)

The Story: Someone call the doctor, because this Black Canary’s a total quack!

The Review: If I took away one lesson from both my years as a teenager and my years teaching them, it’s that kids of that age tend to resist and resent counseling the most, yet they stand most to profit from it.  By the time you’ve reached adulthood, you’ll have (hopefully) realized that whatever issues you’re going through, you’re far from the first, and ninety-five percent of the time, it’ll work out alright in the end.  Teens don’t have that kind of helpful perspective.

And no one is better equipped to lend that perspective to YJ after last episode’s fiasco than Black Canary.  While a respected Leaguer, she doesn’t have an iconic aura that can turn people skittish around her, and so comes off very inclusive and approachable.  Her advice is practical, sensitive, salty, and wise; she never oversteps her bounds or coddles her charges.  As someone who’s done similar work with teens, I approve nearly all her responses to the team’s worries.

For example, when Aqualad expresses his feeling of inadequacy as leader and tries to resign, Canary does absolutely the right thing by asking him who he feels should replace him.  Also appropriate is her telling Miss Martian to stop feeling sorry and start amping up her training so her overwhelming powers become a non-issue.  Less convincing is her calling out of Wally and Artemis’ feelings for each other, which feels less like analysis and more like matchmaking.

One of the more revelatory sessions lies with Robin, who, contrary to his eagerness to lead in early episodes, talks about how rattled and disturbed he felt in that very role last episode.  As Batman’s protégé, he learned the art of leadership from the very best, and he certainly did right by his mentor when push came to shove.  But he also learned he has no intention of emulating his mentor’s tactical coldness, making this his first step to his future as Nightwing.

Action Comics Annual #13 – Review

by Paul Cornell (writer), Marco Rudy & Ed Benes (art), Val Staples & Jason Wright (colors), and John J. Hill (letters)

The Story: A young Lex Luthor finds himself the unwilling “employee” of Darkseid and, in the back-up, the disciple of Ra’s Al-Ghul.

What’s Good: First things first: this issue is $4.99, but it’s a big, quality package that ultimately earns that price tag.  That being said, this isn’t just a double-sized issue of Paul Cornell’s Action Comics.  It has Lex Luthor, sure, but this is something different, something that allows for Cornell to show his range as a writer.

Cornell does a fantastic and very subtly nuanced job of writing the young Lex Luthor.  It is most definitely Lex, but it’s a Lex that’s more brash, fearless, and arrogant.  He’s like the first LP of your favourite band: more raw with both his flaws and strengths more readily apparent.  Sure he’s brave to the point of lunacy, but he also has a near pathological hatred of being dismissed – his inferiority complex is never clearer.  All told, young Lex makes for a compelling protagonist.

The main feature is all kinds of kooky, having a tone not unlike the old, sci-fi/cosmic adventures of the past.  It’s a kind of pure, wacky sci-fi that makes for a distinctly different read.  Helping this along is Cornell’s Darkseid, which is all kinds of awesome.  Cornell clearly has the time of his life writing the character, who is a classically bombastic “muhuhahaha” villain.  This makes for a fantastic adversary for Lex, one who clearly functions at a different level.

The generally fun artwork of Marco Rudy is a perfect fit for this story, playing up the goofy retro tone while drawing one hell of an Apokolips.  His work is a sort of noir acid trip and it ends up being quite a bit of fun.