Justice League, Justice Society

JLA: Secret Society of Super-Heroes 1-2

An Elseworlds JLA Civil War by Howard Chaykin, David Tischman, and Mike McKone.  What if the JLA was an underground team instead of out in the open?  And what if half of them were corrupt?  Discuss.  Chaykin and Tischman do their usual fine work with DC Elseworlds.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Nice

Justice League: The Nail 1-3

This would be forgettable if it weren’t for Alan Davis’ beautiful art.  His characters are so wonderfully lithe and graceful.  And it’s impossible to miss his influence on Bryan Hitch.

Uncommonly brutal.

Davis' art

Bryan Hitch's art

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Fine

DC Box 5 summary!

Time spent reading: 22 hours, 48 minutes

Issues read: 211

Issues cut: 57  (Over a quarter of what I read!  Most of it’s Morrison’s JLA and post-Blackest Night Green Lantern.)

Highlights (Good or better): Mark Waid’s Impulse, Darwyn Cooke’s Jonah Hex, JLA: Superpower, JLA: Pain of the Gods arc

Project Summary:

Time spent reading: 28 days, 3 hours, 36 minutes

Issues read: 5724

Issues cut: 773

Justice League of America 11

A wonderful done-in-one by Brad Meltzer and Gene Ha.  A building’s collapsed on Arsenal and Vixen, and they have to escape before they drown.  It’s a situation where all the powers in the world won’t help them, and their terror is palpable.  The very real possibility of death has time to sink into their psyches the way it doesn’t in the middle of a supervillain battle, and they’re constantly fighting off full blown panic.  Very well done.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: Yes

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Good

Justice League 1-12

I still don’t know how DC’s New 52 continuity works.  There was some reboot, everything reset except for the things that didn’t, and Superman finally hooks up with Wonder Woman. 

In any case, it’s a chance for Jim Lee to draw the Justice League, and I’m in for that.  It’s not his best work by any stretch, and Geoff Johns phones it in with some lackluster writing (Darkseid bores the hell out of me (unless Tom King’s writing him), and I already can’t remember the name of the villain in the second arc), but it’s still a treat to look at.

A little awkward in the posing, but I love the vibrancy.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Nice

Justice League 1-3

I always think Scott Snyder is going to be better than he is.  My previous reviews of these issues when they first came out still hold true - Lovely art by Jim Cheung and Jorge Jimenez, writing that’s completely meh.  I left at the right time.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Fine

Justice League International 1-7

The beginning of the classic Bwah-hah-hah JLA run of the 80’s.  This is like first season Office or Parks and Recreation, where the creators (Keith Giffen, JM DeMatteis, and Kevin Maguire) are still figuring out what they want to do, getting their feet wet.  It will eventually be great (just look at their reunion years later), but this isn’t close to good yet.

Still, “one punch.”  

And the endlessly homaged, classic cover to issue 1:

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: No

Rating: Boring (Cutting)

All-Star Comics 1-2

National Comics 1

Smash Comics 1

Sensation Comics 1

Adventure Comics 1

Thrilling Comics 1

All-American Comics 1

Star Spangled Comics 1

James Robinson helms this tribute to the Justice Society of America tales of old - Main story leads to the team splitting up into smaller groups before reuniting in the last issue.  Sadly, it’s not that interesting of a story.  Something about a god of war who creates seven mini-bosses blah blah blah.  I’ve already forgotten what happens.  And yet, I’m still keeping it.  Couldn’t really tell you why.

What I can tell you is that I LOVE this page by Scott Benefiel:

And that we get a death by drugged-up-owl, courtesy of Tom Peyer and Stephen Sadowski:

Words fail me.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: No

Rating: Didn’t suck