JLA: GATEKEEPER #1 (of 3)

By: Tony Whitt
Date: Friday, November 02, 2001

Honestly, how many JLA special issues are out there, anyway? It seems like this group is involved in so many extracurricular activities that they're in danger of failing their main courses. Extending that metaphor a bit, JLA: GATEKEEPER isn't a complete failure, but it's worth keeping someone after school over.

It's a concept that comes straight out of some ponderous DUNGEONS AND DRAGONS campaign. Apparently, in GREEN LANTERN ANNUAL #9, Kyle and his friend, Professor Sala Nisaba, were hijacked by the ancient demon Nergal and taken to the dimension of Kurnugi, the land of lost souls and forsaken gods. Sala is the descendant of a female warrior god named Istar who made war against her brethren, who themselves had come to Earth and proclaimed themselves Godsand who were also an offshoot race of the Guardians of Oa. Confused yet? I know I am.

Anyway, Kyle managed to save one of Sala's friends, but the portal to Kunugi closed before he could get her out. Now he's called in his friends in the JLASuperman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Doctor Fate, and a pre-OUR WORLDS AT WAR Aquamanto help him get her out. The tricky bit is rescuing her before the forces of Nergal manage to get through the portal and take over our own world. In the meantime, Sala's taken to dressing in loincloths, animal tooth necklaces, and brass brassieres and channeling the powers of the goddess whenever any of the many denizens of Kurnugi try to eat her. Oh well, when in Rome, I guess.

There's a lot going on here, but most of it is tedious and derivative, from several different sources. Even the Gnomesyes, Gnomeswho find Sala and make off with her talk exactly like Yoda. Other bits will remind you of the black and white CONAN THE BARBARIAN magazine from the '70s and '80s, while still others bring to mind really bad French science fiction. Neither Truman's artwork nor his scripting does anything to disavow those comparisons. Sala is drawn in the most painstaking Frank Frazetta-like detail imaginable, which may make this just the book for sad fanboys who do awful things to themselves over such images. The villains are straight out of the "evil from the dawn of time" card catalog, complete with lots of scaly servants whom they kill with horrifying regularity.

There are a few nice little touches in the plot, a scattered great line here and there. Superman's ill-advised attempt to fly upon their arrival in Kurnugi and Batman's subsequent ribbing is a nice touch. And since Nergal's married to his own sister, it's a bit of fun to have their mother constantly correcting the daughter by saying "I'm not your mother, I'm your mother-in-law," and then saying the opposite when the daughter calls her "mother-in-law." But there aren't enough of these bursts of fun. If you want to experience something like this book, get together with your gaming buddies instead, and get out some Frank Frazetta artwork to look at during the munchies break. It'll end up being far more enjoyable and far less costly.

JLA:GATEKEEPER

Grade: D

Issue: No. 1 (of 3)

Author(s): Timothy Truman, Gregory Wright

Publisher: DC Comics

Price: $4.95