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.
What’s Not So Good: Where the art lost some points was on some of the basic draftsmanship on women. Their bodies appeared disproportionate or in some cases misshapen, especially Donna Troy, although Starfire wasn’t spared. This affects the reading experience.
On writing, although Robinson did a good job, I think he was overly ambitious with the involvement of so many characters. The voices were difficult to keep track of, even with the little symbols used in each textbox. For example, the following characters had textbox monologues: Green Arrow, Donna Troy, Batman, Starman, Congorilla and some villain whose symbol I don’t recognize. Six different monologues is a lot to effectively fit into a 31-page comic. This, combined with the sheer number of characters (12 heroes and half-a-dozen villains) involved in action and dialogue, with little narrative explanation, meant that this book was not an easy entry for new readers, or even those of us who have been following the series.
Conclusion: This is a fine offering by DC. James Robinson is still fiddling with the team, as he should, but it’s fun to watch the characters we love struggle with this transition. I’ll be here for next issue.
Grade: B-
-DS Arsenault
Grade
Conclusion