DCU Comic Book Reviews

JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #5

Tornado's Path, Chapter Five:  Born Again

February 2007

Written by Brad Meltzer

Pencils by Ed Benes

Inks by Sandra Hope & Ed Benes

Covers by Michael Turner and Art Adams

Synopsis

In the Rocky Mountains, Solomon Grundy reveals he is the one who stole Red Tornado’s android shell in hopes of turning it into Amazo and the war it himself to become immortal.  However, the Amazo shell has flown away before the procedure could be completed.  In Markovia, Geo-Force receives medical treatment after being attacked.  In the skies above Iowa, Vixen desperately tries to bring her human side back to herself.  In the Rocky Mountains, Batman, Superman and the others arrive to help.  Grundy reveals that Amazo has the memories of Red Tornado and Grundy feels it is going to find Reddy’s home:  the home of Kathy Smith and her daughter.  Sensing an intruder, Kathy blasts Amazo, who then decides to hurt her.  With the use of Ivo’s transporter, the heroes make their way to the Smith house.  But at the last minute, Grundy stops Reddy, telling him he doesn’t have a prayer of winning. 

Review by Binkley (e-mail)

This would have been a fantastic issue if it weren’t for little bits and pieces tossed in that hamper the overall effect of the story and the plot.  In general, the basic plot of Solmon Grundy and the soon-to-be-formed Justice League deciding to join together to stop the new Amazo makes sense and I like how everything so far is coming together.  Meltzer has created a labyrinth story and the pieces of the puzzle have come together nicely, especially if one assumes the next issue will tie up all loose ends (which would make it right for the trade paperback, naturally).  Some may rail against Meltzer’s plotting techniques, but as I have said before I think the problem is DC’s marketing machine which insisted on putting the characters together as the Justice League before Meltzer had done so in the books the marketing team is trying to sell. 

The problems with this issue, however, are the bits and pieces, the small things that remove you from the story and make you scratch your head and ask:  “What the hell is that all about?”  The first are the identical drawings of Kathy Smith and Dinah Lance.  Really, look at them.  They are the same.  Part of that is intentional so that Reddy can mistake Dinah for his wife, but it is disturbing that Benes could not make them look different.  The second is Vixen’s appearance.  Separate from the main plot, her story is not half-bad, but right now she has nothing to do with the main plot.  Eventually she’ll reconnect with the main cast (presumably by finding Amazo due to her totem), but right now she is a character alone and switching back to her breaks the momentum of the main story.  The same could be said fro Geo-Force but that break is even more pronounced since we still don’t know how he is connected to the main story.  At least Vixen’s appearance makes a little sense.  Who knows what the hell is going on with Geo-Force. 

The fourth and fifth problems actually occur on facing pages.  The first is the Green Lantern and Batman exchange over the telescope.  The second is Roy Harper’s infatuation with Hawkgirl.  In both cases these are small characters bits that seem out of place.  In the case of Hal and Bruce, this seems like a little bit that should’ve been resolved some time ago.  Maybe the exchange works right after Rebirth, but, now?  It seems forced, as if Meltzer wants to both remind us of their differences but then ignore it.  As for Roy, well this childless panting seems better suited for the Outsiders than the JLA.  (And I gotta think Roy has met Kendra before at some point in their careers).  I am not against a little romance or some hot hoochie action, but Roy’s reaction seems over the top and not very real.  Come on, this guy has had sex with both Huntress and that Grace; I doubt Hawkgirl would have an effect on him like that. 

In the previous review, I wondered why Vixen needed the totem when it was so obvious that she can channel any animal without it.  This issue answered the question.  She doesn’t need the totem to become an animal, she needs the totem to keep the human side of her within easy reach.  Without it, she can easily lose herself in whatever she has become.  Without, she can revert back to her human self.  I like this explanation, although I am not sure how clear it is.  I got it, but not after reading it twice. 

I really liked the idea of using art from previous JLA issues to represent Amazo’s memory salvage.  Very cool. 

Meltzer also did a great job of recapping Grundy’s past and for logically not only explaining how and why Grundy is urbane and intelligent here but also explaining the varying characterization different writers have given us over the years.  I still can’t quite get used to Grundy as presented her, but at least I can handle how it came to pass. 

Finally, the brief scene with Kathy blasting the hell of Amazo was brilliant handled.  I realize that Meltzer likes to reference himself (see:  Grundy’s mention of his battle with Roy) but in this case it works.  It makes perfect sense that after Superman’s death and the attack on Sue that Kathy would have some kind of protection in her house.  And it also leads easily to Amazo deciding to hurt her which in turn lead to the climatic showdown. 

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