Without any doubt, some of the greatest stories from the original Justice League of America (vol 1) run from 1960 to 1987 was the yearly reunions between the JLA and their Earth-2 partners, the Justice Society of America. Staring with Justice League of America (vol 1) 21-22, the two teams often worked together to take out a group of villains from both earths and it provided opportunities for writers and artists to come up with some of the most memorable tales of the series, such as Crisis on Earth-3, Len Wein’s excellent three-parter with the Seven Soldiers of Victory, the death of Mr Terrific, and Crisis on Earth-Prime. While the vast majority of the stories ranged from good to outstanding, there were a minority which failed to stand tall. Justice League of America (vol 1) 147-148 is a key example. Written by Martin Pasko, it featured the two regular teams meeting up with the Legion of Super-Heroes, that colourful team from the 30th century. Such an idea was different and seemed enjoyable, but Pasko's lack of a good plot made it boring and overall, one of the most laboured reads. However, there was clear potential here and, following on from Grant Morrison’s failed JLA/JSA relaunch with Crisis Times Five in JLA 28-31 (1999), Brad Meltzer and Geoff Johns decided to give it another go. Will this meeting between the JLA, the JSA, and the Legion be any better?
Justice League of America (vol 2) 8-12, along with Justice Society of America (vol 3) 5-6, were published from June to October 2007. The stories were written by Brad Meltzer and Geoff Johns, with art by Shane Davis, Matt Banning, Fernando Pasarin, Ed Benes, Dale Eaglesham, Ruy Jose, Sandra Hope, Gene Ha, Eric Wright, and the incredibly
large team on Justice League of America (vol 2) 0, released in September 2006.
The Lightning Saga --- Written by Brad Meltzer and Geoff Johns with art by Shane Davis, Matt Banning, Fernando Pasarin, Ed Benes, Dale Eaglesham, Ruy Jose, and Sandra Hope
Brad Meltzer’s launch of yet another Justice League title was successful. The first seven issues, known as The Tornado’s Path, established the type of run that Meltzer wanted. In terms of the plot, it was to borrow heavily from the silver age, but the core excellence of the writing came from Meltzer’s grasp of character. The Red Tornado was presented brilliantly, as was Red Arrow, Black Canary, Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, and many others. After that opener, we get The Lightning Saga and it’s further evidence of Meltzer’s (and also co-writer Geoff Johns) love of the silver age, or more accurately, the tradition of yearly meetings between the JLA and the JSA. Like all of those stories from the sixties, seventies, and eighties, it begins as an ordinary day. While JLA heroes gather in the Hall of Justice to essentially challenge each other to training exercises, Batman investigates Karate Kid, a hero from the 31st century. The futuristic hero wakes up a millennium before his day only to try and take out Batman and Black Lightning, but the Dark Knight tricks him and recaptures him. It’s only now that Batman decides it would be best to involve Superman. Hold on, you’d think since Superman used to hang around with the Legion during his youth that he’d be the one on this case? While the Man of Steel gets involved, there’s not really much else to say for the first issue. Meltzer works brilliantly on character here, using the training session with all the other heroes to develop their relationships. For instance, Hawkgirl and Red Arrow grow closer and Geo-Force is now an official member of the team. Nothing really constructive in terms of story happens, but it makes for some nice supplementary scenes. The real important moment occurs at the end of the opening issue, with Karate Kid telling Superman that seven others of his Legionnaire allies are trapped throughout the time. Uniting all the heroes together will… do something. This leaves the JLA to call in the JSA for assistance as, you guessed it, the heroes split into groups to find each of the seven heroes. As in the previous story, Meltzer reuses an extremely old format, but it has historically worked and, you’d think, would do so again. After a nice reunion, the teams split off.
The transition from Brad Meltzer’s Justice League title and Geoff Johns’s Justice Society issues isn’t totally smooth. Clearly, the two have very different writing styles, even if their love of silver-age plotting is the same. Meltzer’s pen produces far more novelistic dialogue, while Johns’s much more suited to a comic book. That, however, isn’t such a bad thing. Part Two takes Batman, Geo-Force, Sandman, and Starman (also of the Legion who appeared without anyone blinking an eyelid) to Arkham Asylum, where the heroes rescue Dream Girl from Doctor Destiny. It’s a genuinely engaging scene partly because of the action, but more because of the villain’s power to make nightmares become reality as the heroes are attacked by various Batmans from the past from the works of Sheldon Moldoff and Kelley Jones alike. Aside from that, it’s very predictable. Elsewhere, something far more ridiculous and even irritating occurs, Superman heads to the Fortress of Solitude with Stargirl, Red Tornado, and Cyclone, to basically look at a memorial the Man of Steel has created to honour his futuristic friends. Each member of the Legion is presented (bar their pet Proty) standing tall and heroically as if they were real. And that’s when the annoying shocker occurs. Superman notices that one of them, specifically Wildfire, is real. Okay, that doesn’t make sense anyway, but the revelation stands as one of the dumbest and most idiotic moments of the decade. I find it difficult to even dismiss the discovery as humour. Plainly put, it’s crap storytelling and Johns uses little imagination totally uncharacteristically.
With four of the members found, Justice League of America (vol 2) 9 begins by focusing on what happened but to no real avail. Batman’s detective skills fail to come up with anything concrete. With that, we’re thrown right back into things. The Flash (Jay Garrick), Wildcat, Green Lantern (Hal Jordan) and Vixen end up in Gorilla City only really to make conversation before they bump into Timber Wolf, a Legionnaire who now believes his destiny is among the wildlife. However, this surprise and any potential it might have conjured is crushed as Green Lantern gives him his memories back and he wishes to join his teammates. Elsewhere, Power Girl, Red Arrow, Hawkman, and Hawkgirl head to Thanagar for some reason. It’s another opportunity, once again, for character to take preference over plot. However, this doesn’t cut it all of the time. Often, there’s very little explanation for how the heroes know where the Legion members are. Meltzer and Johns may write character well, but the plot and its pacing is extremely underwhelming. It gets even more noticeable when the heroes arrive only to find that Dawnstar, the final missing member, has left for Earth already. With all the seven Legion members reunited, they sense death is near as the heroes aim to sacrifice themselves to bring back a figure from the past. The Legion being revealed as the foes of this story isn’t exactly a surprise since Meltzer wrote Batman to be very suspicious of them, but heroic teams fighting amongst themselves, while far from new, is a different approach unseen for some time.
Geoff Johns scripts Part Four and this time, instead of being action-packed, it’s a dry and confusing read. All the JLA/JSA heroes are confused about the Legion’s disappearance since their reunification. Aside from a nice reference to a previous tale called The Legion of Three Worlds and how time-travel has often resulted in memory lapses for the Legion, the rest of the issue is just tripe. The Legion search for this ‘last Legionnaire’ and head into the swamps, followed the JLA and JSA. They end up meeting Triplicate Girl, another hero from the future whose two duplicates get in the way of her telling her story. It turns out that the Legion are back in the past in order to take on Computo, an artificial intelligence villain whose aim is to erase metahuman life. This is all well and good since it presents us with a villain, but it’s a shame since the villain is pretty dull. It’s a bit like how Meltzer used Grundy in the previous story. However, at least Grundy’s story was easy to understand and grasp. Because of the conflicting story involving the Legion and any lack of effort to make long-time JLA/JSA readers more familiar with the characters, the story comes across as confusing. It gets especially worse when the heroes fight Computo and the Legion arrive, as Superman works out that they are in fact illusions created by Sensor Girl, who has been hiding all along. Meanwhile, the real Legion use Computo as a distraction to complete their mission, whatever that may be.
You’d expect the conclusion to tie everything up, but clearly, the Lightning Saga has other plans. The heroes find the real Legion members as they begin a countdown to some event. Basically, I’m not going to pretend to understand what’s going on because, frankly, it makes no clear sense, and the writers don’t really care. In short, it involves some Lightning Rods which interferes with some Mulitversal thing, somehow bringing back Wally West after years of being trapped in the Speed Force. The Legion members then disappear and nobody, including the JLA and JSA, understands anything that happens. The return of West, to me anyway, becomes truly forgettable because of my infuriation with this story and how bad it is. It makes no effort to explain itself and, according to DC Database, acts the start of the Countdown arch, which culminates in Final Crisis. Nice to know, but since there’s no clarity or (continued)
consistency with this story, you’d need to be psychic to understand it. In short, the Legion knows what happens, but no one else does. It’s worse for us since we don’t understand literally anything about this story. Like Crisis Times Five, this story only degrades the JLA/JSA crossover format. The more I think about it, the JSA are pointless here. They’re basically treated like additional heroes which can be taken in and then removed. Their relevance is scarce. The Legion are clearly meant to be the stars of this story and while this is fine, at least write them a good story. Furthermore, make readers aware of who they are. Part Four explores this to a degree, but it’s as if we know who these characters are already. There’s no room at all for a causal reader. Aside from the plot, the huge underlying problem is that, back in the 1960s, stories contained fewer pages, but conveyed reems more dialogue and plot. There’s nothing wrong with the idea of heroes splitting into groups, especially since it creates some much-needed variety. However, this format worked with a limited number of pages of just one or two issues, not five. It feels like the story is being wasted with these hugely predictable events. In the four decades that passed between Fox’s tales and the one by Meltzer and Johns, the demands of pacing in the industry have changed dramatically. Although it’s retro, this format fails to entertain in the modern world because it feels dated. Aside from the abysmal story and flawed structure, The Lightning Saga is very inconsistent when it comes to the aspects of the Meltzer’s run. Of course, you have to understand that this is a crossover between two titles, but the JLA is clearly the main title here. There’s little consistency with the previous story. The Red Tornado barely turns up here and when he does, it’s as if nothing ever happened. Once again, Meltzer’s story point is character and, excluding the Legion characters, it works well. But overall, please DC, stop doing JLA/JSA crossovers. It’s just become abundantly clear that writers, even great ones like Morrison, Meltzer, and Johns, can’t do them very well. Fox, O’Neil, Wein, and Conway knew how to do them, and part of their appeal was that they were exploring a Multiverse and each occasion felt unique. Here, the JSA are badly mishandled, and the potential of the Legion is completely destroyed by an inaccessible plot which, overall, makes this easily the worst story Meltzer has ever written.
Apologies for appearing lazy, but as for the art, it’s all standard and boring. Seriously, a dull story like this just makes the art even worse and boring to look at. I do prefer Parasarin and Eaglesham, whose art on the JSA issues reminds me of a far simpler and entertaining era. As for the JLA artists, some are better than others. Ed Benes, the regular artist, is about average despite some rather laboured efforts in some areas. None, however, stand out and it leaves a lot to be desired.
Story: 2/10
Art: 6/10
Walls --- Written by Brad Meltzer with art by Gene Ha
The comic book medium, like all other creative genres, has its fair share of awards. Perhaps the most prestigious for comic books is the Eisner, awarded as an Oscar for the medium and named appropriately after comic pioneer Will Eisner. What does this have to do with anything, you may be asking? Well, after the woeful and nonsensical Lightning Saga five-parter, one of Meltzer’s worst scripts, who could have thought that his next story in Justice League of America (vol 2) 11 would win him the acclaimed prize. Really, it’s a story that’s difficult to understand without complete visuals. Essentially, Red Arrow and Vixen are trapped in a collapsing building falls into the river. The flooding begins and the two heroes try desperately to dig through the surface while attempting to comfort one another and confronting the prospect of death. The big twist is that, since the building is underwater and upside down (continued)
(unknown to them), they too are upside down and digging in the wrong direction. With that in mind, they dig the other way and escape with their lives. It’s a very simple story, yet that’s most likely its genius. The previous story focused too much on a convoluted plot which failed to impress and left me tired. Walls uses a very simple premise to tell a story which, in keeping with Meltzer’s tradition, is character-based. Character is the undeniable pattern that emerges during his run and in Walls, the dialogue between Red Arrow and Vixen is great. For instance, Roy thinks only of his daughter and her life without him in the case of his death, while Vixen reveals that she lost her animal powers during The Tornado’s Path and Red Arrow works out that she has basically been leeching off the powers of other heroes. This revelation works very well, but we fail to see the consequences of it here or in any other Meltzer story. Dwayne McDuffie, who succeeds Meltzer, focuses on that element more during his much longer run. Moving on from further procrastination, from a writing standpoint, Walls works excellently. It’s simple and emotional. What more could you want from a one-off?
Along with Meltzer’s writing, the art by Gene Ha is often praised for its moody appearance and unique storytelling. While I certainly agree with the former and believe that the aesthetics of the story reflect the plot well, I think the storytelling leaves quite a bit to be desired. I get that the story is meant to be disorientating, but often it produces a confused story, and it can be difficult to work out what is actually going on. Other than that, the page layouts are effective, and it captures the motions of this strange story, but some clarity would have been nice.
Story: 9.5/10
Art: 7/10
Monitor Duty --- Written by Brad Meltzer with art by Ed Benes, Eric Wright, and Sandra Hope
Technically, Justice League of America (vol 2) 12 is the final issue of Meltzer’s run. And once again, Meltzer knows what’s he doing when it comes to character and understanding the JLA. What we see in the comics is the exciting moments from the league’s adventures, not the dreary or administrative stuff. That’s where Monitor Duty comes in, a story about, well, monitor duty. Red Tornado, who is finally included in the mainstream once again, is forced to work monitor duty to the annoyance of his wife. It begins with him, followed by Hawkgirl, Red Arrow, Black Canary, Black Lightning, Vixen, and Geo-Force. And nothing happens. The monitors show no dangerous events going on around the world. What makes this story very enjoyable is, once again, the chit-chat between characters. Meltzer provides room for effectively all the characters of the league and they all benefit. All of the characters have their moment, and they all focus on their different relationships and problems. For instance, Vixen tries to regain her powers, while Black Canary becomes very protective of Red Arrow as Hawkgirl moves in on him. As this is Meltzer’s final story, it feels as if he is leaving the scene fairly clean for the next writer. Of course, many arches remain unfinished and that’s a shame, but this issue serves to clarify Meltzer’s run and the developments within each of the characters. Meltzer goes even further, setting the scene for the first story of McDuffie’s run as Geo-Force confronts Deathstroke, therefore beginning the events of Injustice League Unlimited (Justice League of America (vol 2) 13-16, along with a Wedding Special). Meltzer ends his run nicely, with the JLA receiving a red alert and, as a team, heading out together for their next mission. Overall, I may be incredibly repetitive in stating this, but it’s another rather plotless story that focuses on character. Meltzer’s greatest strength is shown brilliantly. While he ties his run up in a bow, there are some aspects which are left unfinished. Sure, he leaves them for another writer, but it would have been fascinating to see what he could have done with a wide array of villains such as the Injustice League. Monitor Duty is definitely up there as a great JLA one-off. It may lack the uniqueness which made Walls very good, but once again, its simplicity works greatly to its advantage.
As for the art, it’s back to Ed Benes and his overly muscular, but decent art with inks by Hope. It’s nothing special in the case of this issue as there’s little drama or action for Benes’s real potential to shine. The flashback art by Eric Wright is very good. Oh yeah, there are some flashbacks to previous JLA events, but they’re few and far-between and don’t really contribute much to the story. They do, however, look very good if a dash too simplistic.
Story: 9/10
Art: 7.5/10
Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow --- Written by Brad Meltzer with art by Eric Wright, Dick Giordano, Tony Harris, George Perez, J.H. Williams III, Luke McDonnell, Paul Neary, Gene Ha, Rags Morales, Ethan Van Sciver, Kevin Maguire, Adam Kubert, Dan Jurgens, Kevin Nowlan, Jim Lee, Howard Porter, Dexter Vines, Andy Kubert, Jesse Delperdang, Phil Jimenez, Andy Lanning, Ed Benes, and Sandra Hope
For reasons which will forever remain a mystery, Justice League of America (vol 2) 0 is included here at the end of Meltzer’s run, despite it being one of the first to be
released in 2006. Either way, it’s a very supplementary story, as most zero issues are. Meltzer’s focus is on the main three heroes, Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman. You may remember that Justice League of America (vol 2) 1 began with those heroes choosing members of the team. Here, Meltzer depicts the team’s history from their point of view. Justice League of America (vol 1) 9 from 1962 depicts the league’s first ever meeting and the story (in which the group of seven heroes come into contact with a glowing rock which transforms them into wood) is depicted here once again. This moment creates the league’s true leadership, consisting of the big three. History continues as we see the silver age become the bronze age and the change from the cave to the satellite. Meltzer includes the wedding of Donna Troy, the league moving to Detroit, the death of Jonathan Kent, the formation of Justice League International, the death of Superman, Infinite Crisis, and lastly, the creation of Meltzer’s Justice League. Plainly put, it’s a history lesson. However, it’s not your ordinary or standard adventure through time as Meltzer brilliantly uses Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman as the core characters and we see their own characters and relationships change. For instance, the three heroes come together in times of grief, such as the death of Superman’s father. We see them at their height laughing about Batman punching Guy Gardner in the face (a classic moment from JLI by Keith Giffen and J.M. Dematteis), before they hit a low point with Wonder Woman’s killing of Maxwell Lord which begins Infinite Crisis. Meltzer achieves making the inner league appear much closer than you’d expect. Sure, evidence of that was shown in Justice League of America (vol 2) 1 when the three of them chose the members of the team, but Meltzer paints a far more intimate and friendly picture. Overall, Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow may be yet another comic using history to basically sell an issue, but Meltzer’s angle feels unique and the inclusion of the main three characters makes it hugely memorable and enjoyable.
As for the art, wow. Presenting an array of artists and inkers to depict the history of the JLA wasn’t a huge surprise, but the inclusion of so many makes Justice League of America (vol 2) 0 much more appealing. Of course, some artists were chosen to depict scenes from their respective eras. For instance, George Perez’s pencils conveying the marriage of Wonder Girl is terrific. It’s great to see his great talent used on Justice League and The New Teen Titans will never be forgotten. Once again, Eric Wright’s retro silver age art, despite its simplicity, remains mostly faithful to the visuals of Mike Sekowsky. Dick Giordano, too, brilliantly recreates the mood of Dick Dillin’s art for the 1970s. Some, such as Kevin Maguire and Howard Porter, return to the league to depict their own eras, which works just as well. With so many artists, it gives the issue a celebratory feel and, to some extent, it feels somewhat wasted. A story such as this along with this wide range of talent would have been excellent from an annual or special. Either way, the art may range in quality, but the inclusion of so many artists is definitely a benefit.
Story: 9/10
Art: 8/10
VERDICT
Overall, Justice League of America: The Lightning Saga is, if you examine the core story, a mess. The idea of a reunion of the JLA and JSA is surely welcome, especially with the inclusion of the Legion. However, Meltzer and Johns both fail to deliver a story which makes any sense and sometimes focuses too much on character. There was so much potential here, but failure of a story with two especially dreadful final issues makes it an extremely disappointing story. As for the one-offs, all of them are excellent. Walls, Monitor Duty, and even Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow all lack any complicated plot and Meltzer opts for character, his real strength. In these cases, they work brilliantly. The same goes for The Tornado’s Path, a story with a limited plot but with undeniably great character writing. Yes, a clear pattern has emerged. Overall, Meltzer’s run on Justice League of America (vol 2) won’t be considered a classic in terms of plot. Those awards have already been given to Fox and Conway. Meltzer’s main focus is on character, and he writes virtually everyone well with engaging dialogue and relationships. He writes some of the best dialogue I’ve ever read in a comic. He just understands the characters and knows what to do next. In short, due to its disappointingly short length and a terrible middle, Meltzer’s run may be considered a good and potentially great JLA run, but it had so much potential that was never fully realised…
Stories: 6.5/10
Art: 6.5/10
Next Week: Nightwing: Year One (Nightwing (vol 2) 101-106). Written by Scott Beatty and Chuck Dixon, with art by Scott McDaniel, and Andy Owens.
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