A seven issue mini-series... That's kind of weird. Usually it's 4, 6 or even 8 issues. Oh well, I really don't care how many issues there are, as long as this mini meets my high expectations. The main JLA book has become almost unreadable lately, so I'm looking to this mini to give me a fix of the good JLA. With the awesome James Robinson doing the writing here, I'm really expecting big things.
-This issue begins with Hal Jordan complaining to the assembled Justice League that the League is letting down the people of Earth by waiting for villains to strike before taking action. Hal wants to go after the villains before they get the opportunity to hurt anyone else, starting with Libra and his Secret Society from "Final Crisis". Superman is SHOCKED by Hal's aggressive stance, but Hal pulls the Green Lantern card and tells Supes that since the Earth falls under his jurisdiction he's going to stamp out groups of villains such as the Secret Society before they get the chance to do anymore harm. Supes tells Hal that he won't allow Hal to run off half-cocked after the enemies of humanity. Before any fireworks can erupt, Green Arrow jumps to Hal's aid, and the two leave the rest of the League to find "justice".
-Next we head to the old Atom(Ray Palmer)and the new Atom(Ryan Choi)as they beat down Killer Moth and his gang. It seems that Killer Moth was somehow involved with the torture death of a scientist friend of Ray, and Ray wants answers as to who Moth was working for. After some quick torture(Ray shrinks down, climbs up Moth's nose and then begins to grow!), Killer Moth reveals that he was working for Prometheus. Ray then sends Ryan back to Ivy Town, telling him he'll be going after Prometheus personally to make him pay for his actions.
-From there we go to Opal City(!!!!!), where we find Starman #3(the blue one, Mikaal Tomas)who has gone to a funeral parlor to mourn the death of his boyfriend, Tony. Tony was killed simply for being in the wrong place at the wrong time, he was caught in the middle of a fight between STAR Labs and some unnamed villains. After leaving the funeral parlor, Mikaal throws a quick temper tantrum before deciding to avenge the death of his beau.
-We end this issue in the African Congo where Congorilla is mourning his dead tribe. Congrilla also wants revenge on some unnamed parties for those deaths.
Congorilla... Are you kidding me? What the HELL is with DC's obsession with talking monkeys??? I don't get it. I guess I never will. With the exception of the useless Congorilla, I enjoyed all of the other stories that will(eventually)link all of these heroes in their various quests for justice. I'd have to say my favorite story was the Hal/Ollie one. Those guys sure do love each other. It's really quite heartwarming. Or extremely strange. Anyway, I have to say a smile crept across my face when Ollie stood up for his man after Superman's weird, veiled threat. What was up with THAT? As a Green Lantern, Hal has every right to go after crime on Earth, since it falls under his bubble of protection. Jeez Supes, chill out! For me, this comic book was worth its price just to see Hal bitch out the Justice League while they all stood around dumbfounded.
Needless to say, I was thrilled to see James reach into his Starman books to pull out the Mikaal Tomas Starman. You're not going to find a bigger fan of James' Starman work than me, and when I saw the scene in this comic move to Opal City, I was nearly beside myself with excitement. Hell, I even picked up on the mention of Jake "Bobo" Benetti! God was Starman a great series... Anyway, any bit of Starman James can inject into this mini can only enhance things. Of course I'd love to see Jack Knight pop up, but it seems James isn't keen on bringing us any new Starman material. That's too bad.
Before I go any further, I'd be remiss not to mention the fact that Mauro Cascioli's artwork was simply beautiful. There's nothing more to say about it. It was beautiful. This was definitely a set-up issue. We were given some background into a few characters, but little else. While I would have liked some action, I'm still quite pleased with what this issue gave us. Well, with the exception of Congorilla... For a score, I'll give this comic an 8 1/2 out of 10. Beautiful artwork and a very good story makes this an easy comic to recommend.
At last! Someone who also enjoyed this opening issue! The comic book community has been bashing this one pretty bad since its release.
ReplyDeleteOh, and the scene between Hal and Ollie was awesome. Hands down my favorite scene as well.
Wow, really? The comic book community can be a very angry beast at times!
ReplyDeleteI'm not really sure what else James could have done in this issue... I appreciate the fact that he's trying to establish an actual story here as opposed to mindless fisticuffs. The better the set-up for the main story is, the greater the eventual payoff will be.
Once I finish off Batman and Robin #2(which should hopefully be by tomorrow night), I'll finally be able to read your thoughts on those two books along with Cap: Reborn, Robert! I'm quite interested to read what you had to say about all three of those books.
Awesome. Lookin' forward to reading your thoughts to my thoughts, haha.
ReplyDeleteThe use of monkeys is a very devisive issue X-Man, and I for one am glad that you addressed it here. I too am tired of the idea that monkeys automatically make a story better.
ReplyDeleteHal & Ollie back together! Fuck Yeah!
ReplyDeleteThank you Kello! I'm glad someone else agrees with me on the monkey issue. I really don't understand DC's reasoning here. ENOUGH with the monkeys!!!
ReplyDeleteAnd Matthew, I couldn't agree more!