Justice League #22 – Review

By: Geoff Johns (story), Ivan Reis (pencils), Joe Prado & Oclair Albert (inks), Rod Reis (colors)

The Story: Fight, fight!  The Justice Leagues are having a fight!  Someone get the popcorn!

The Review: It’s become kind of cliché for reviewers like me to say they’re tired of Big Events, but I can say, with absolute sincerity, that I’m dead tired of them, as exhausted by the endless teases and thinly veiled hints and ominous foreshadowings as by the yearly summer blockbusters themselves.  It just reeks to me of people coming up with stories for a purpose rather than finding purpose for stories, which is how fiction should be.

But if we absolutely must have one, I suppose the one Johns has on his hands will do.  It certainly has all the potential for over-the-top, world-spanning action, what with three Justice Leagues pitted against each other.  That said, Johns has to pour a lot of grease in the logic train to get to where he wants to go with this storyline.

There’s a reason why hero-versus-hero conflicts tend to bore me: they’re almost always poorly sold, requiring characters to act against their better instincts and personality to make the confrontation possible.  In other words, it often feels like the only reason a writer can make the story work is by portraying our heroes as if their brains are partly missing.  In this case, it’s the fact that everyone involved decides that respect for sovereignty means nothing, entering Kahndaq without warning, strategy, or second thoughts—even though the nation’s already up in arms about the Wonder Woman/Superman hostage fiasco months earlier.  It’s okay for Shazam to be that stupid—he is, after all, a kid—but no one in either the Justice League or JLA thought it might be a good idea to phone ahead first?

This could all very well be a side-effect of Johns not having the finest handle on all his characters just yet.  Writing both teams exclusively, he has a plethora of superheroes under his wing, and the vast majority haven’t found their voices or roles just yet.  For some characters, Johns he can’t seem to get them right no matter what he does.  Portraying Wonder Woman as an unrepentant villain-killer, even “[o]nly if it comes to that,” is a gross oversimplification of her values, and the fact that she and Superman can’t even begin to have a meaningful discussion on the matter proves that Johns isn’t interested in tackling the subject seriously anyway.  It’s just something onto which he can latch so as to drive the inevitable wedge between the couple.

Justice League of America #5 – Review

By: Geoff Johns (story), Brett Booth (pencils), Norm Rapmund (inks), Andrew Dalhouse (colors)

The Story: The JLA reveals that breaking up evil robots as an early specialty.

The Review: A long time ago, when Identity Crisis was still a controversial novelty, I remember one of the better jokes in the series involved a bunch of villains sitting around their satellite HQ and discussing the death of Donna Troy.  I believe it was Merlyn who deadpanned, “She’ll be back.”  The line reveals that comic book writers know how meaningless death in the superhero genre is, and yet the cycles of lifelessness and resurrections continue.

I’ve given up hoping that publishers will take a hardline stance on this point.  All I ask is for writers, if they’re going to use death as a narrative gimmick, then to at least use it well.  I’ll be more specific and say that they probably shouldn’t end an issue on a death if they know that we know it won’t take for longer than a single issue.  Here, Catwoman’s “death” doesn’t even last even three pages after her shooting, and we all know, before Martian Manhunter reveals himself, how that managed to come to pass.

Justice League of America #4 – Review

By: Geoff Johns (story), Brett Booth (pencils), Norm Rapmund (inks), Andrew Dalhouse (colors), Andres Guinaldo (feature pencils), Rauldo Fernandez & Walden Wong (feature inks), Wil Quintana (feature colors)

The Story: Not every coin you pick up off the street turns out to be lucky.

The Review: Writing one ongoing comic book series is tough enough, but writing multiple ongoings seems to be asking for trouble.  Besides the sheer difficulty of shifting between various storylines and character arcs at the same time, taking on that much work means less time to craft and polish what you’ve written.  This might explain why in any given month, you’ll never find Johns really firing on every single issue he has out.

Just as he’s beginning to develop some new momentum for Justice League, his work on Justice League of America is starting to dip.  His blunt, unsubtle style of writing has become even more so, occasionally failing to take into account his visual medium altogether.  After all, it feels very awkward and a little dull for Waller and A.R.G.U.S. scientist Arthur Light to spend several panels describing and explaining the significance of a Secret Society coin when one or two close-ups of the coin itself could have given us everything we needed to know.

Zatanna #1 – Review

by Paul Dini (writer), Stephane Roux (pencils), Karl Story (inks), John Kalisz (colors), and Pat Brosseau (letters)

The Story: Brother Night, crime boss of the mystic realm, looks to expand his empire into the human world, forcing Zatanna to lay down the gauntlet.

What’s Good: It’s clear relatively early on that this book feels a hole in DC’s line-up.  The very fact that this is a mystic title makes it feel different and greatly missed.  This is only heightened whenever the action leaves the human realm; when Zatanna confronts Brother Night in his lair or when Night tries to gain an ally in Fuseli, a demon of nightmares, it’s hard not to have flashbacks to great books like Sandman or Swamp Thing.

Given Dini’s much documented love for the character, there’s no surprise that Zatanna is expertly shown as a strong protagonist.  She’s a badass, pure and simple.  An enterprising, confident, and sassy female lead is always an easy sell, and that’s no different here.  Dini also begins an effort to mark Zatanna with an adversity to the idea of destiny as a defining feature.   I hope he sticks with this, as it could lead to intriguing stories in the future.  I actually feel that Zatanna’s openness and bluntness about this aspect of her beliefs serves better than subtlety; surprisingly, it makes the “I forge my own path” schtick feel less clichéd.

What I appreciate most about Dini’s work here, however, is how quickly he leaps into the action.  There’s only a bare minimum of set-up and next to no exposition.  We’re plunged headfirst into the first story-arc and conflict more or less immediately.  This leads to a quick, energetic read that almost fools you into believing that Zatanna has a large and well established back-story, or that Brother Night and his rogue’s gallery have been around forever when, of course, this is their debut.  It makes the book an engaging read and, more importantly, gives it a sort of confidence.

Justice League of America #43 – Review

By: James Robinson (writer), Mark Bagley (artists), Rob Hunter and Norm Rapmund (inker)

The Story: Green Arrow is defending the JLA satellite at the same time that the rest of the JLA (plus hangers-on) are duking it out with a bunch of villains. The JLA aren’t doing well because they’re not working like a team. Dick Grayson (the guy who seems to me the most likely to eventually emerge as the leader) doesn’t have time to try to make them work better together because the villains get away. Then they find the JLA satellite trashed and Green Arrow gone hunting. They have lots to do, but their experienced, heavy-hitters have other things pulling them away. Is this JLA roster going to be dead on arrival?

What’s Good: Robinson is on his game. I trampled his work on Cry for Justice, but liked his work on New Krypton. He’s got a grip on most of his characters here, has clear personal challenges for each and has obvious (if occasionally overly-obvious) external obstacles for the heroes. This is a story about people growing into big shoes, either overtly (Dick Grayson and Donna Troy filling in for Batman and Wonder Woman on the JLA) or more subtlety (Congorilla and Starman getting to the idea that they’re good enough to be on the Justice League). And the dialogue was crisp and fun. Check out Congorilla’s deadpan lines like “I feel like I’m sixty all over again” and “Now all I need to do is make people understand that apes aren’t monkeys.”

On art, Mark Bagley gave us a mixed offering. The action sequences that require a Kirby-esque dynamism were on target and he makes flying characters look effortlessly graceful. He also did a fine job of keeping a 31-page comic with about 20 characters pretty clear. And his work on faces and expressions was excellent in close-up.

Justice League of America #40 – Review

By James Robinson (writer), Mark Bagley (pencils), Rob Hunter, Scott Hanna, & Marlo Alquiza (inks), Pete Pantazis (colors), and John J. Hill (letters)

The Story: Dr. Light, Vixen, and Gypsy battle the Black Lantern versions of the former Dr. Light, Vibe, and Steel.

What’s Good: Mark Bagley continues to satisfy me with his output on Justice League.  All told, his characters have a cartoony, accessible, Saturday morning feel that’s very comfortable with the series, and unlike last month, there aren’t any botched facial expressions.

I also did rather enjoy Vibe and Steel’s continual calling out of Vixen and Gypsy, essentially calling them underpowered C-listers that no one cares about.  It only hurts, because, well, it’s kind of true.  It’s also in many ways an apt criticism of the JLA comic and a great segue into next month’s major roster shuffle.

Justice League of America #38 – Review

by James Robinson (writer), Mark Bagley (pencils), Rob Hunter (inks), Pete Pantazis (colors), and Rob Leigh (letters)

The Story: Someone dies, the remnants of the JLA discuss their future, and Despero attacks.

What’s Good: Even though it’s the death of an absolute z-lister, I really did like the opening scene this month. In providing a massive, faceless new enemy, it delivered that sense of foreboding danger that should be in the opening issue of any writer’s run. It felt meaningful and intense and promised good stuff to come.

Robinson also writes a powerful and likable Zatanna and her presence is probably the high point of the issue.  She’s just a lot of fun, light-hearted but also the undeniable heavy of the team at the moment. Robinson also does a good job on approaching Plas’ current predicament, including referencing his agelessness, limitations, and Plas’ own frustrations when he’s unable to act upon his creativity.

On art, Mark Bagley’s work is superb. This is basically the standard for the “modern DC superhero” look, and what better place for that than the JLA comic? It’s a bright, colorful, and pleasing comic full of youth, energy, and vitality. Bagley was definitely the right man for the job.

What’s Not So Good: Despite all this, this comic is something of a disaster zone. It’s not the fault of Bagley or Robinson, who outside of one atrocious punch-line by Despero, acquit themselves admirably.  Rather, this is a case of “wrong place, wrong time.”

The problem is that Robinson and Bagley are being thrown into a company-wide event before even managing to get through one issue. As a result, Robinson has far too much on his plate: the aftermath of Cry for Justice, McDuffie’s baggage, and leading in to a Blackest Night tie-in.

That said, his hands are also tied. Given that the Blackest Night tie-in will run for two months, his run won’t really start until January. As a result, he can’t fully introduce a new enemy. He can’t start his first arc. He can’t even introduce his JLA roster. He’s forced to give us 22 pages of chaos and water treading.

We get an utterly pointless and horribly familiar conversation about whether the JLA has a future or not. It’s one we’ve heard a million times and it’s without any real emotional impact or distinct flavor. It’s just the same tired material without nuance. It’s also more or less without consequence. Nothing changes and nothing is revealed thanks to the conversation. It’s just there to fill pages. Then we get a random, and I mean random attack by freaking Despero of all people. Huh? Where in the heck did that come from? Despero’s reasons are never explained and even if they were, it’d still be random. You can’t have a guy like Despero launch a surprise attack out of the blue with zero build-up.

Then BAM!  Blackest Night image of a zombie floating in the air!

Conclusion: This is a bad comic that still has hope for its run, given that none of it is Bagley or Robinson’s fault.

Grade: C –

-Alex Evans