Taking a break from torturing myself with the "Countdown" weekly releases, I decided to dive into something good, namely, "Justice League of America". I thought the cover was interesting showing the Tangent Universe heroes with Tangent Flash leading the way. I found the issue pretty pedestrian in its pacing. McDuffie does a decent job with Red Arrow in this issue and I like that he is giving him more to do than just pose in the background. We finally get to see Black Canary as a mission leader and people actually listening to her. I liked the team mix presented but McDuffie leaves most of the action off panel. Joe Benitez' art looks like he is channeling old school Todd McFarlane with the curling hair, long faces, and jutting jaws. I like his art, but he needs to tone down the big chins. Tangent Flash looks a bit too much like Supergirl for my taste.
I was disappointed in this issue as a whole. I've looked forward to the next few month's solicitations and it looks like this plot line won't be picked up in those issues. This issue was all setup and the payoff looks not to happen for quite some time.
Friday, December 21, 2007
Justice League of America #16
Thursday, October 11, 2007
Justice League of America #13
The new team on "Justice League of America", writer Dwayne McDuffie and artist Joe Benitez, start their run after the "JLA Wedding Special" in a big way. Changes are happening in the JLA with John Stewart stepping in for the absent Hal Jordan and the newly reformed InJustice League making their presence known. While some don't care for Benitez's art, I found he did a great job here. He captures the various players emotions really well and his action sequences were very good. I was really impresssed with his Gorilla Grodd.
I like what McDuffie has done with Vixen given here situation from the Meltzer run. Her convesation with Superman regarding her powers was a nice touch. I appreciate that McDuffie is willing to take on the issues left by Meltzer and not just ignore them. All in all this is a very good start to the new team's run and I'm looking forward to McDuffie's action packed style.
