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
Filed under: DC Comics, Reviews Tagged: | Alex Evans, Blackest Night, Comic Book Reviews, comic reviews, Cry for Justice, DC, Despero, Dr. Light, James Robinson, JLA, Justice League, Justice League #38, Justice League of America, Justice League of America #38, Justice League of America #38 review, Mark Bagley, Plastic Man, Red Cyclone, Vixen, Weekly Comic Book Review, Zatanna
Also, I wanted to include this in my review, but didn’t due to word limit. But I’ll post here for your amusement, as well as any others who read the review.
Here’s the opening line of the solicitation for this issue:
“A new era begins for the World’s Greatest Heroes….”
Now here’s the opening line of the solicitation for January’s issue:
“Be here for the start of a new Justice League era!”
I think that alone sums up why this issue was doomed to fail.
Thanks for the comment.
It’s funny you mentioned that issue about Zatanna’s powers. I hadn’t read Quesada’s comments about Strange, but was just having this exact conversation with a friend last night. One would think that Zatanna isn’t the heaviest hitter in the DC universe by a longshot, yet the ridiculous nature of her powers and the foggy limits of it suggest that she would be. She’s basically an unstoppable deus ex machina.
That said, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t like the cheesecake outfit. I have no idea why and I realize that my opinion on this is in no way rational, let alone justifiable.
As far as Bagley….well, I’ve heard many echo your exact opinion on his work, so you are certainly not alone. I’ve never been bothered by those issues, but I do see where you’re coming from. And there was one headshot of Vixen that was pretty damned awful.
Hey Alex!
As always, fantastic review. I agree 100% with everything you said. Random is right. And the art really shone around some of the light and power effects, although I found some of the faces and bodies a little stylized and overly youthful. On Zatanna, I wonder how long she can be effective. Joe Quesada mentioned that the big problem with Doctor Strange is that you never knew what his powers were, so the story endings were always the same – some new spell. The Zatanna vs Despero fight reminded me of that structural problem. Also, I have a hard time taking her seriously as long as she’s dressed like the assistant to a party magician…..
DS