Last issue ended with Lex Luthor pitching up at Wayne Manor, ready to tell Bruce Wayne he knows his other identity, and would he please back his bid for Justice League membership? That leads into a satisfying scene this issue as Bruce denies all and Alfred provides surprising - to Luthor, anyway - back-up.
Justice League #31, which is more about housekeeping and plot-threading than villain bashing, also gives us more on new Power Ring Jessica Cruz as she resists the offer to 'bring about 'the destruction of every form of life on this planet'. Captain Cold gets an offer from Lexcorp which isn't what it seems. And Shazam learns a little more about his magical powers while confounding Cyborg.
And I really enjoyed it all. It's true that I don't like the new Shazam set-up, with the hero formerly known as Captain Marvel reimagined as a dumb Billy Batson with undefined magical powers, but within his own parameters, writer Geoff Johns provides a fun scene.
I like that Batman doesn't given in to Lex's blackmail - of course the classic hero wouldn't, but this is the New 52 so who could predict it? And the Power Ring plot which bookends the issue just gets more intriguing.
This issue feels less like a traditional Justice League story - big team takes on big villain - than a classic Marvel book, with characterisation to the fore and a big threat or two on the horizon. Thinking on, it reads like one of Johns' own JSA issues. I'd be pretty happy if Johns stuck to this approach for awhile, with the book feeling more like a family story than event after event.
At one point Batman and Luthor discuss the fable of the frog and the scorpion - didn't that come up in some other Luthor story recently? Maybe it was somewhere else. In other news, it seems the CSA ruled the Earth for just a week. Seems awfully short.
Penciller Doug Mahnke provides sterling work throughout, his characters attractive and expressive, his storytelling sound. My favourite page is a splash using Luthor, Batman and Alfred and it's a masterclass in conveying movement in a static image.
I'm not sure sure about Power Ring's mask, though, it's a little Eighties Marvel. Mind, out of costume Jessica looks amazing, there's real character in her face. Already I want Mahnke to draw Ms Cruz in a solo special
I was, though, rather surprised by this painting of Thomas and Martha ... did Bruce hire some artist to extrapolate their ageing?
Inkers Keith Champagne and Christian Alamy keep things looking bold and sleek, while Rod Reis's colours are as attractive as they're appropriate. Dezi Sienty's letters are unshowy, and fine. And the cover by Ivan Reis, Joe Prado and Rod Reis is a winner, if more suited to the eventual collection than this issue.
All in all, a very solid issue, good-looking and readable, a model for what this series could be.
Last year I was really looking forward to Jessica's debut because it looked like we were finally getting an Earth woman Green Lantern.
ReplyDeleteThen it turned out she was going to be Power Ring and would have to grapple with controlling a living weapon of mass destruction, and it got me mad that we couldn't JUST have a female Earth Green Lantern.
But I was hoping that at least Jessica's backstory and characterization would be interesting. And then I read the pages alluding to her backstory, and already I am so disappointed at the cliches Johns is using and I really, really hope we don't find it was worse than originally presented.
I went back to the start because I was about to type that Jessica was a rape victim, which immediately annoys me in a way that;s likely similar to your own feelings, Peter. It's left technically ambiguous, but still, she was attacked and left for dead, with gang rape implied. She's a broken person who will hopefully take her life back. I don't like this beginning but that established, hopefully something positive will come of it.
DeleteI'd rather she were simply another GL from Earth too, though (but with her own, uncrowded by male Earth GLs, sector).
i'm just glad billy's a nice guy again and hope the rest of the now extended marvel family make an appearance
ReplyDeleteThere is that. Now, if Geoff Johns would just give us the Lt marvels ...
Deletei wonder did johns ever reveal what Dr sivana needed to save his family from
ReplyDeleteNot yet, I think. I imagine he'll pick up on that when a series arrives.
Deletedon't forget sivana's new best friend mister mind or is it mr mind
DeleteMan, seriously, is Johns even trying anymore when it comes to creating back-stories? He just can't seem to get off that gritty and horrible cliche of making everybody just have the worst fucking back-stories/motivations for whatever character he "re-imagines". The world's not always doom and gloom man. At least Baz was handled decently enough, but another one of these almost fridged, but probably raped" thing has got to go.
ReplyDeleteGood point on not being to able to easily predict the heroes of this world acting like the heroes we've all come to expect and grew up on. Clearly this isn't that type of universe....as if we didn't know that by now, right Martin?
We do, sadly. Happily, the new issue of Scooby Doo Team-Up has an adventure with Wonder Woman. I'm off to Paradise Island!
Deletesay hi to those kangaroos for me
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