Love it or hate it, Brad Meltzer’s Identity Crisis proved to be one of DC’s most controversial stories of the 21st century. It provided a classic murder mystery that was definitely one of the most important Justice League stories ever to be published, but its controversial moments stuck out like a sore thumb. The brutal killing of Sue Dibny, along with her rape in the silver age, was shocking and obviously several steps too far for many, including myself I have to say (despite thinking the miniseries to be a good read). Therefore, there was some worry when Meltzer, more often a novelist by trade, was announced to be the writer of a new Justice League title. However, Meltzer’s appointment caused far more anxiety than the plans he was proposing. Meltzer stood in a crowded field of new JLA writers who wanted to strip the league back to its roots. Dan Jurgens, Grant Morrison, and Mark Waid had all commenced their runs on the heroic team desiring the league return to the glory days after years of counterfeit heroes stealing the Justice League’s name in the era of mid-1990s mediocre writers. Meltzer’s aims were no different; his purpose was to make the JLA
back into the JLA. But how was it going to be any different?
Justice League of America (vol 2) 1-7 was published from October 2006 to May 2007. It was written by Brad Meltzer with art by Ed Benes and Sandra Hope. I’ve read this story in the Justice League of America: The Tornado’s Path hardcover.
Gardner Fox’s original run on Justice League of America (vol 1) from 1960 to 1968 has naturally been one I’ve been drawn to. Back then, sci-fi concepts and new ideas such as yearly reunions of JLA and JSA heroes felt original. While Fox’s style of writing was far more driven towards storytelling rather than progressive character development, unarguably the most impressive tale of Fox’s run came with Justice League of America (vol 1) 64-65, the two-parter which introduced the android known as the Red Tornado. Created by the evil scientist T.O. Morrow, the Red Tornado was intended as a weapon to defeat the Justice League and the Justice Society, but (to cut a long story short) turned against the villainous professor. Despite his robotic features, the Red Tornado was a being of emotion and he was gradually accepted as a JLA member, becoming a staple of the series for nearly two decades. With Meltzer’s run in 2006, it was time for the android to shine again. Justice League of America (vol 2) 1 begins in the Batcave, with Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman debating over which members should join the new Justice League. Elsewhere, Kathy Sutton, the wife of Red Tornado, waits with Doctor Will Magnus (creator of the Metal Men) for her husband’s soul to return to his android body. There isn’t really a huge amount of context here focusing on why Red Tornado has been beaten, but I just take it to be a normal occurrence. He’s an android who seems to get into all sorts of problems. Either way, the main point of depression with Kathy is that her husband is an android and that, with a young daughter, she wants him to be around instead of encountering near-death experiences. The relationship between Red Tornado and Kathy is obviously the most important one in the story. It gives Red Tornado a human element which is seldom seen before. I always thought that in some stories during the 1970s and early 1980s, writers simply thought of Red Tornado as an android uncapable of emotion and serious thought. Meltzer returns that to him in more ways than one. In the spirit world, Red Tornado’s soul watches Kathy as she breaks down over his robotic body. Luckily, some light entertainment arrives. The inclusion of Deadman as a jovial but serious narrator is great as he obviously has his own personal element. He sees Red Tornado in himself, and he wants to give him the chance to return to life in a human body. Meanwhile, in a similar fashion to Brave and the Bold 28, heroes come together to team up. Roy Harper (now Arsenal) and Hal Jordan’s Green Lantern discuss memories from the days of yore, while Black Lightning continues his undercover work in the criminal underworld. The same applies to Vixen, attempting to track down the Question in Hub City. Again, it’s never made totally clear why, but I suspect the events of 52 may have something to do with it. The most important moment for the first part of the story comes with its ending: Red Tornado returns to a human body and is reunited with his wife and child. It’s a truly powerful scene and an emotional one, but with a twist. The advanced robotic husk is left in Magnus’s laboratory, and Deadman is revealed to be a fraud. It’s really Felix Faust in disguise, aiding a new villain, Doctor Impossible, in stealing the old body. From there, the body is taken to his mysterious boss. The Tornado’s Path has something of a slow start. While I like the different elements of the story, especially the meeting between Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman over potential JLA members, it can sometimes feel overwhelming and inexplicable. For instance, little context is provided to why some characters are in the situation they are in. Meltzer could have quickly explained this, but any absence of that makes it too mysterious. However, some mystery works such as who is the strange villain who stole Red Tornado’s body. Yeah sure, it’s not hard to work out, but it’s a nice cliff-hanger. The pace quickens from here on out as Red Tornado’s android head is surgically removed to be replaced with something far more villainous. Elsewhere, Green Lantern, Black Canary, and Arsenal are on the hunt for Red Tornado’s body, while all the other heroes who appeared in the opener are confronted by villains working for the same foe who stole the android. Once again in the same fashion as Gardner Fox JLA stories, the villains manage to steal what they want, and the heroes are helpless. Meanwhile, away from the action, Red Tornado is living his life again. It’s sad because throughout, you have this constant feeling that his humanity is going to be short-lived and, in the end, he will return to that android body. That’s an example of Meltzer’s skill as a writer. He makes characters like Red Tornado much more three-dimensional. Back with the heroes, they discover… not T.O. Morrow. It is in fact Professor Ivo, another mad scientist from the old days who created the android Amazo. And that’s where his plan comes in as he presents Green Lantern, Arsenal, and Black Canary with an army of augmented Red Tornado androids. Justice League of America (vol 2) 3 is a bombastic fight between the heroes and the androids, while more interestingly, Red Tornado
begins another journey. He attempts to seek guidance from Boston Brand, unaware that Felix Faust simply imitated him. However, he is met with the Phantom Stranger, who loosely guides him on his path to find his old robotic body. Red Tornado believes it is his duty to do so and signs of problems in his current body are making him worried, such as involuntary shaking. Anyway, while the heroes find the weak spot in Ivo’s Red Tornado clones, more heroes unite for the cause. Hawkgirl, for instance, appears just seconds after Black Lightning is defeated by Doctor Impossible, whose quest to complete his master’s work is fulfilled. Ivo completes his task by placing Amazo’s head onto Red Tornado’s augmented body, but another mysterious voice is present: the real villain. But before the full scale of that drama begins, there’s another ‘what the hell’ moment. Black Lightning recovers the unconscious body of a hero beaten by Doctor Impossible. That character is known as Trident… from the 31st century. This plays into the next story of Meltzer’s run which involves the JSA and the Legion of Superheroes, but we’ll get to that when it comes. Either way, what’s more important is a Starro starfish attached to the back of his neck. It's clear from just reading this story that, like Kevin Smith, Meltzer is a huge fan of comic book history. Some writers who come from movies or other mediums fail to understand the complete history because of their lack of interest, but Meltzer is one who obviously knows the Justice League and he is very much forming this incarnation of the title around the original from the silver age. Next to Grant Morrison’s relaunch in 1997, Meltzer’s run is the purest and most faithful JLA run of them all. Justice League of America (vol 2) 4 begins gruesomely as Superman removes the starfish from Trident. Meanwhile, Red Tornado continues his journey towards Ivo’s lab, despite calls from Kathy begging against it. Clearly, it’s not something Red Tornado wants to do as he is seen very visibly upset by it because he knows the risk, but that’s where internal battle within Red Tornado works best. He’s going through his own identity crisis as, although he can now taste, smell, and have other human attributes which we take for granted, his old body was his. Therefore, he believes he has responsibility for it. Back in Ivo’s base, the heroes do what they do best: beat the ever-living hell out of the villain. This is done flawlessly, until Doctor Impossible fights back and the heroes only defeat him when they detach the Starro starfish from his neck as well. Batman’s research has found that these starfish are organic, but they’ve been technologically revolutionised by Ivo. But he matters very little now. Red Tornado arrives just as Ivo’s Amazo android appears and mysteriously flies off in a seemingly random direction, only for a mighty grey fist to crash into his face. That power belongs to Solomon Grundy! Yeah, who would have thought that he’d be the real mastermind. When I first read this, I really couldn’t believe it. I know Grundy as the semi-literate zombie who uses only brute force and has little or no sympathy. Here, Meltzer writes him unbelievably differently. I’m not sure in what story DC completely changed Grundy from an oaf into a brute genius with an intellect rivalling Lex Luthor, but that’s the villain we see here. Grundy reveals that his attributes now change after every time he enters Slaughter Swamp which acts as a sort of Lazarus Pit. Now because of his intelligence, Grundy wants to achieve complete immortality and therefore, he begs the heroes to help him recover Amazo. The heroes don’t really have much choice as the android will undoubtedly cause havoc. The Amazo-Red Tornado robot is one of the most interesting aspects of the story. Because Red Tornado has featured in that android for so long, it contains self-delusions and literally sees Kathy and her daughter as true family. It’s an incredibly powerful scene to watch as Red Tornado’s self-consciousness fights against the evil of Amazo. By this point, virtually all the heroes throughout the story unite to take on Amazo. As the heroes enter the portal to Amazo’s location, Red Tornado is forced to stay behind by Grundy. Justice League of America (vol 2) 6, the conclusion to the main story, is essentially home to two battles, one of which is more interesting than the other. It’s basically a given that the Justice League, with their newly formed team of hardened heroes, will defeat the Amazo android. At the same time, a far more tense and violent fight between Solomon Grundy and Red Tornado takes place. It was all part of Grundy’s plan to move Red Tornado’s soul from his immortal robotic shell into a human body so he could be killed, destroying any chance that he could re-enter his old android form. Although Red Tornado tries to fight back using his tornado powers to cripple Grundy, it fails, and the brute is far from happy. With Amazo’s destruction, Red Tornado’s wife is
forced to watch as Grundy tears off her husband’s arm in one of the most bloodcurdling scenes in mainstream comic book history. It works both for dramatic effect and the sheer visual horror of the moment, which is made worse by Grundy eating the arm. However, the fight in Red Tornado is far from dead as he attempts to impale Grundy through the heart, forgetting that the zombie no longer has one. And then, in one final push, Red Tornado creates a tornado gust of 350mph and throws it at Grundy. Although the villain plants himself into the ground, physics fights back, and Grundy is split in half. After his purely evil and violent acts, it’s not an entirely undeserved fate. Meltzer writes Red Tornado so incredibly powerful and emotional and when Grundy destroys that humanity, his death is all the more satisfying. As late as ever, the JLA arrive and Kathy tries to save what’s left of Red Tornado’s humanity, but he concedes that he must enter his android body once again (after removing the Amazo-chip of course). It some ways, it makes for a nice ending because Red Tornado is still alive and he awakens in the care of his wife, but it’s just as heart-breaking to see the humanity torn straight out of him and destroyed. However, by the end, that’s not entirely true. The experience has made Red Tornado more aware of the humanity of his soul. As a result, Meltzer finally puts to bed the belief that Red Tornado is a simple robot and that’s definitely the greatest aspect of the story. But before he we get to the conclusive issue. As for Grundy, he is undoubtedly my least favourite aspect of the story. It’s not so much the fact that he’s now a genius which entirely contrasts with the usual appearance of Grundy, but his plan just seems too generic and flat. So, he wants to be immortal, and he wants Red Tornado’s Amazo body for it. That’s fine, but it provides the story with a very disappointing villain and makes the intelligent side of Grundy remote and pointless. He still has to rely on brute force. The only new addition is that he speaks the English dictionary and overall, doesn’t do anything smart. It’s also worth mentioning the addition of another character in Meltzer’s league. In Markovia, Brion Markov survives an attempt on his life, and he intends to visit Black Lightning for help. Markov, better known as Geo-Force, was one of those who joined Batman and the Outsiders in the 1980s when the Dark Knight broke away from the league. He’s a strange and so far odd addition, but his inclusion makes sense with Justice League of America (vol 2) 7. With the action of the Tornado’s Path over, this issue just ties up some loose ends and formally launches the new Justice League. In keeping with 1960s themes, Meltzer writes that heroes are formally invited to join the team and all of those heroes who appeared in the story join. Think of it exactly like Justice League of America (vol 1) 9, or Legends, or JLA: A Midsummer’s Nightmare, in that the heroes who appear in those stories immediately form a new JLA afterwards. Unlike some of those however, there is a sense of real achievement here among new additions. For instance, Roy Harper’s inclusion is symbolic because it shows the transition from childhood to adulthood. He climbed from the depths as a teenager taking drugs to Red Arrow, the JLA’s most trusted and skilled archer. In essence, it’s not hugely significant in the grand scheme of things because a guy with a bow and arrow can only do so much against Darkseid, but the point stands. Meanwhile, Black Lightning meets with Geo-Force, who has now somehow magically received the powers of his dead sister Terra (the great betrayer from the New Teen Titans). Meltzer leaves a lot of the Geo-Force drama in the dark for now but sets it up for the future. As for Red Tornado, he barely appears in the final issue, but he does decide to join the JLA in their new base: the Hall of Justice. This ugly structure first debuted in Super Friends, that colourful amateur animated show from the 1970s which starred DC’s greatest heroes. Meltzer’s inclusion of it as the JLA’s new base is another indicator of his huge love for DC lore, but I always thought that the JLA Satellite, the Watchtower, and hell, even the Cave from early days, appeared and were more daunting. Giving the JLA a museum as a base just doesn’t make sense since it’s too public and open. They no longer appeared as mysterious or even heroic as they did. Either way, it presents a great setting for the obligatory JLA team photo, which looks amazing mainly because Meltzer wanted to include framed images of previous incarnations of the team. As for everything else, it all ends fine. Hal Jordan hangs out with Oliver Queen like the old days, with the latter proud of his adoptive son’s progression. But there’s just a few things not quite right. Professor Ivo escaped from the heroes and Amazo, but he is certainly not out of the woods. In Happy Harbour, the original stomping ground for the JLA, he runs into the caves for safety; he finds nothing but fear. He is confronted by Starro, less than pleased at what Ivo has been using its underlings for. Whatever Starro does with Ivo, we will never know, for Meltzer leaves us with the cliff-hanger for the next story… Trident is from the 31st century. Yeah, it wasn’t much of a surprise, especially if you’re even aware of the Legion of Super-Heroes but serves as a nice lead. The Tornado’s Path strength comes with Meltzer’s grasp of character. Identity Crisis was excellently written not necessarily due to its decent story, but brilliant character moments featuring the likes of Elongated Man and Tim Drake. Meltzer does the same here with Red Tornado and he transforms him from a character with potential to a giant in the JLA. Honestly, I think the story, while strong, is fairly limited. The first part is too full and needs to slow down, while the following issues appear to feature very little plot. That, however, isn’t truly a negative since Meltzer’s excellent writing of other characters like Red Arrow works brilliantly. In fact, Meltzer captures every character well, with the obvious exception being Grundy, who could have been so much better…
As for Ed Benes’s art, it very much reflects the visual direction DC were travelling through at the time. Expectedly, muscles and everything else were bigger than you’d expect. I think something which aptly summaries it can actually be found in the back of the hardcover release. Meltzer reflects on the first page of the story, featuring the heroic chests of Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman. “Can you make Wonder Woman’s breasts smaller? He (Benes) did. And then I asked him again”. In spite of the exaggerated elements, the storytelling is genuinely powerful as Benes’s art, with thanks to Sandra Hope’s fine inks, convey the emotions of Red Tornado’s journey. Some scenes, such as the fight between the android and Solomon Grundy, work brilliantly. Others appear less remarkable.
VERDICT
Overall, JLA: The Tornado’s Path is a very Brad Meltzer story. The plot isn’t hugely unique as it imitates, mostly successfully, the classic JLA formula created by Gardner Fox in 1960. Meltzer’s undeniable strength comes from his understanding of the main characters and how they work. Red Tornado is undeniably the best character of the story, but Meltzer adds his own touches to all of the characters and not a single one of them is dull or boring. Grundy is my only problem when it comes to character and I think he, or somebody else, could have been a better villain. Despite its pacing problems, The Tornado’s Path makes the first half of Meltzer’s run enjoyable; he takes an old formula and modernises it with character and charm, something which is very visible in Justice League of America (vol 2) 7.
Story: 8.5/10
Art: 7.5/10
Next Week: Justice League of America: The Lightning Saga (Justice League of America (vol 2) 0, 8-12, Justice Society of America (vol 3) 5-6). Written by Brad Meltzer and Geoff Johns with art by Ed Benes, Shane Davis, Fernando Pasarin, Dale Eaglesham, Eric Wright, Gene Ha, Matt Banning, Sandra Hope, and Ruy Jose.
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