Mania Grade: D
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- Title: Justice League of America #30
- Story by: Dwayne McDuffie
- Art by: Jose Luis, JP Mayer
- Colors by: Pete Pantazis
- Letters by: Rob Leigh
- Cover by: Shane Davis
- Publisher: DC Comics
- Cover Price: $2.99
- Release Date: Feb 18th, 2009
- Series:
JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #30
"Maybe I’m stupid, but what the hell just happened?" By
Chad Derdowski
February 24, 2009
Review: JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #30
© Mania
After the weird hiccup of the last issue of JLA, the Milestone crossover/introduction thing gets back on track this month. The book opens with Hawkman warning both the League and the Shadow Cabinet, who have been locked in combat for an issue or two, about the renewed threat of the Shadow Thief. It seems that the Thief has upgraded by tapping into an incredible power source: he now has the ability to not only manipulate his own shadow form, but also to manipulate any shadow. Naturally, this leads to a big throwdown between the good guys and their own shadows. It’s an old trick, but it’s still pretty cool.
Meanwhile, Superman and Icon (who is basically the Milestone Superman) sit on a rock in space and talk about how great Superman is. Well, Icon does most of the talking. The two eventually realize something’s up and join the battle. Back on earth, Batman, Firestorm and Zatanna interrogate the rest of the Milestone characters and the other (non-raping) Dr. Light shows up. Eventually everything gets solved. The end. Seriously, that’s what it felt like. Maybe it’s because of the Origins and Omens backup story, but this book felt very rushed.
Okay, there’s gonna be a few spoilers from here on out so if you haven’t read the issue, stop reading this.
I’ve been reading this story since it began and I kind of don’t know what’s going on. The Milestone characters’ strings are being pulled by someone else and there seems to be greater powers at work. What they’re up to has not yet been revealed, but it’s something big and it likely ties into Blackest Night, ‘cause … you know, Shadow Thief. Shadows, Blackest Night, etc… I don’t know. All I know is that some superheroes have been fighting for a few issues and now they’re not. There was a reason for the fight and Superman and Icon seem to know more than anybody else does. They also seem to know more than the reader. Maybe I just need to know more about these Milestone characters? Maybe it’s because the last issue didn’t have anything to do with the ongoing story? I don’t know.
Now here’s where I give my obligatory “I hate to criticize artists, but…” speech.
Cover art for JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #30 by Shane Davis
© DC Comics
One man’s junk is another man’s treasure. This is why I hate to criticize artists. You might not like Steve Ditko, but I do. Taste is subjective. José Luis is no Steve Ditko by any means. He’s not completely terrible either, but I question the guy’s choices in this issue. For example, he does this huge two-page spread depicting a battle scene on the JLA satellite. That’s cool. But when the shadow image of the moon is threatening to smash into the earth, its eventual destruction only gets one tiny little panel. What? This thing was the size of THE MOON and it was about to smash into the earth, ending life as we know it… and it gets one teeny tiny little panel? I don’t get it. On a more positive note though, Luis draws some really nice people. Overall, I don’t think the guy needs to put away the pencil, but as I said, I was confused by the manner in which he chose to tell the story. Or maybe he was just following orders? I don’t know how specific McDuffie is.
Speaking of McDuffie… Maybe I’m stupid, but what the hell just happened? I don’t know what the point of this story arc was other than introducing the Milestone characters and giving Dr. Light her powers back. I don’t know what the Milestone characters were doing or why they were fighting the Justice League. Not really sure what their motivation was or what the actual threat was supposed to be. Shadow Thief was just sort of there. It was all pretty piss-poor.
The only part that really impressed me was the characterization, and even some of that was bad. The tension between Red Arrow and Hawkgirl (or is it Hawkwoman now?) was handled well and Batman was suitably badass while Superman was honorable and respectable. But it was almost too much. When Superman had to smash into the moon and he decided to “just eyeball it” rather than calculate his trajectory: that was pretty neat. Batman saying “When there’s only one chance, he’s the man for the job” was a bit much. It’s the kind of line that would’ve worked well if the there had been any sense of tension, but the issue felt so rushed, I never even considered for one moment that the good guys wouldn’t win. Moon… earth… collision… Superman… one panel. Lame.
Bah! I haven’t really been enjoying this book and I don’t think I’ll buy another issue past this point. When is James Robinson’s Justice League title starting?
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Eh... I wouldn't give this issue a D, rather a B- to C. It seemed pretty strait forward to me that the "powersource" Shadow Thief tapped into was some piece of technology that the Milestone characters used to teleport. That said I don't know much about the Milestone characters, and honestly what may have been more helpful at the end of this issue instead of the Origins & Omens story would have been a dossier about the Milestone characters just to explain who they were to the people who weren't collecting Milestone books when they originally came out.
As far as the Batman line being over the top, I didn't think so. That rang true to me. Batman respects and knows what Supes is capable of and was just making a logical statement about the situation.