Justice League Dark #23 – Review

By: Jeff Lemire (story), Mikel Janin (art), Jeromy Cox (colors)

The Story: If people want Pandora’s Box this much now, imagine how they’ll feel when they find out what’s inside.

The Review: Even though I’ve claimed that a big part of my reviewing process is to try to figure out the writer’s intention before making a judgment about his product, this process is sometimes closer to divination than analysis.  It’s actually quite difficult to confidently predict what’s part of the writer’s original conception and what’s a marketing/editorial ploy.  Subsequently, I’ve gotten in the habit of assuming everything is intended by the writer unless indicated otherwise.

Now, don’t hold me to it, but I have a strong suspicion of marketing and editorial powers at work in this storyline.  Admittedly, that conclusion is a bit complicated by the involvement of two writers, which always muddies up the direction of a story.  Still, I can’t shake the feeling that Trinity War started off as much more modest idea than it has since become, that it was perhaps never meant to accommodate three Justice Leagues at once—at least, not in their current state.

I have little evidence for this except from the story itself.  Neither Johns nor Lemire have made good use of the characters at their disposal, moving them around and involving them in all sorts of activity without allowing them to do anything really memorable—that is, aside from Superman’s killing of Dr. Light, which is starting to feel more overblown with every issue.  It just strikes me as convoluted, ineffective, and juvenile, the way the Leagues have gone about trying to prove his innocence and cure his illness.  These are our finest, most competent heroes?

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.

The New 52 #1 – Free Comic Book Day Review

By: Too many to list—check out the review.

The Story: Everyone needs a lawyer—especially when your judges are master mages.

The Review: I like free stuff as much as the next person.  I’m an old hand at waiting for five minutes to get a sample of some Costco microwaveable piece of whatever that you can inhale in three seconds.  So of course, Free Comic Book Day has all kinds of appeal for me.  But—and I don’t think I’m alone in saying this—I’ve always found the gratuitous offerings less than stellar, either being forgettable fluff pieces or thin teases for upcoming events.

DC’s contribution to comic lovers’ favorite holiday isn’t just a prelude to their next company-wide Big Event; it’s an Event that doesn’t even show up until next year.  This kind of move has always struck me as overly confident.  Whoever’s in charge must believe that whatever story they have up their sleeve must be big and important enough to keep you intrigued for twelve or more months, and they must be pretty certain they can build up the tension properly until then.

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.

ClanDestine #1 – Review

By Alan Davis (Writer, Artist), Mark Farmer (Inker), Sotocolor’s J. Brown (Colors) 

Clan Destine is a 5-part retelling or update to a former comic, which I haven’t read, so this review is only based off what I know of this story arc. The story so far is more based on the two youngest of the group, Imp (Rory) and Crimson Crusader (Pandora), while slowly introducing us to the others in the group. Issue #1 starts off with Rory having dreams in class of being a super hero, fighting along side with Spider-Man.We find out his powers are only active when his twin sister Pandora is within his vicinity. Her power seems to consist of flight and invisibility while Imp’s seems to be more inline with a leech, but it’s hard to say for sure. Pandora is the more mature and protective of the twins, yet lacks the discipline of controlling her powers. 

Later in the issue we learn that the kids are only allowed to use their power under supervision from their elders.The clan’s father loses control and turns into a blue “Hulk”-type character when he gets upset. As the dad learns of Rory and Pandora’s use of their power earlier in the day he proceeds to scold them, telling them they can never be too careful. I guess he forgot that they’re kids and kids usually like to get into mischief.As the Destine’s go through their struggle of hiding, fighting, and controlling the urge to use their powers, a mysterious council (whose name is not yet revealed) investigates the members of the Destine group. This council comes to the understanding that the Eldest Destine (Rory and Pandora’s father) is actually immortal. As the investigation continues, other family members are revealed to be certain superheroes. The council’s intentions aren’t really disclosed but they are using the Destine’s past foes against them as most likely a test of sorts.

 From what I’ve read so far this comic seems interesting. Since it is a first issue and I didn’t read the previous series I have to say that it didn’t grab me much. It seemed pretty slow, yet at the same time there is a sense of story building and progression happening here. I’m hoping things get better over the next few issues. I’ll keep my eye on this series, but as it stands I can’t honestly give it too much praise. If you’re interested in this book, I’d say wait for a few more reviews of issues #1 and #2 to come out before jumping on.

 (Grade: C)- Matt Allen