DCU Comic Book Reviews

JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #7

Epilogue:  Roll Call

May 2007

Written by Brad Meltzer

Pencils by Ed Benes

Inks by Sandra Hope & Ed Benes

Covers by Ed Benes with Eric Wright, George Perez, Luke McDonnel, Kevin Maguire, and Howard Porter

Synopsis

At the batcave, Black Lightning offers Batman membership into the new Justice League of America.  Elsewhere, Vixen and Hawkgirl accept membership while Hal and Dinah offer membership to Roy Harper, who is then given a new costume and a new name:  Red Arrow.  Yesterday...Black Lightning learns that Geo-Force has somehow gained Terra’s powers.  Today, Red Tornado accepts membership to the league.  Meanwhile, Black Lightning steps from a door in the batcave to the new league headquarters, located in Washington D.C.  He also learns of the secondary headquarters in a satellite above Earth that contains the training room nicknamed the Kitchen.  In Rhode Island, Star-ro comes from Professor Ivo.  At the headquarters, the new league poses for a group photo.  Elsewhere, Hal and Ollie discuss Roy’s position within the league.

Review by Binkley (e-mail)

For the longest time I had trouble what to write for this paragraph, which is usually reserved fro the “I liked it” or “I didn’t like it” aspect of the review.  So, I plugged away and the bits and pieces in the paragraphs below, saving this for last.  The reason I had trouble with this introduction is because I am not sure this issue really stands out on its own, but I can’t say it really sucked.  Like the first six issues, I am sure this will read better when part of the rest of the story.  On its own, it is still good, but lacks the context of the first part of the story to really make it sing. 

One thing I noticed with this issue is that the interactions from the first arc are still in force.  Hal, Roy, and Dinah are still separate from the Trinity.  Even though Hal is apparently the one sending out the membership requests, it is Black Lightning who visits Batman.  And Vixen is still alone.  For the most part, her arc in the first six issues was separate from the rest of the team.  And now, in this issue, she is separated from the others.  Although she is talking to someone else on the team, she is doing it on the phone and the other person is not even mentioned by name.  At some point, the team needs to interact in different groupings than they are now. 

I think I have come to the conclusion that Meltzer has a great story to tell regarding the maturation and, I guess, promotion of Roy Harper.  I can feel it within the pages of the first seven issues of this series.  Where the problem comes in is that this is supposed to be a team book about the formation of the new league, so Meltzer needs to focus on the rest of the team, in this case the Trinity.  I wonder if Meltzer had refocused these seven issues to create two or three stories, one picking the new team, one on Red Tornado, and one on Roy.  With the mish-mash of all three, the story jerks around from one plot to another and the story tends to get lost. 

It is interesting to note that the Trinity gives up the appearance to the others that they have given up control of the league, but in reality they haven’t.  Yes, they formally accept Hal and Dinah’s request for membership, but they have been building the headquarters for months and, of course, were picking the league before “happenstance” occurred with the battle of Amazo. 

I like the concept of having two headquarters, one which presents the face of the Justice League of America to the public and the other watching from above.  What I don’t like is that both of these buildings are based on pre-existing buildings from television shows (The Hall of Justice from Super Friends and the satellite from Justice League Unlimited) that previously had no connection to the DC comic-book universe.  What exactly is the point of using previous headquarters, anyway?  If I had to guess DC is trying to please older and newer fans by introducing the nostalgia of the 70s show with the Earth-bound Hall, but also keeping current with the Satellite from a current show.  What it proves to me is that there are no progressive ideas in comics, just regressive looks backward.  One could argue that red Arrow is a progression forward and certainly for the character perhaps, but the name is backwards since he goes back to his association with Green Arrow.  

One thing I am curious about:  why is Black Lightning sent to the Batcave to offer Batman membership into the JLA?  I mean, Bruce designed and built damn the hall.  Moreover, Black Lightning hasn’t even been to the new hall, yet.  It just seems backwards to me.

The pages toward the end are out of order.  Hal’s admonishment to Roy for chasing tail (page 25) leads into Hal and Ollie talking about the picture (page 27) and the picture itself (the fold-out under page 27) which leads into Ollie hitting the target and talking to Hal (page 26) and then Ollie and Hal walking into the sunset (page 28). 

Why is it on page 4 Roy has eyes but on page 5 he has just white sockets?  Then, on page 6 he has green eyes for a panel but his eyes were blue on page 4.

It is a colorful team with two reds (Arrow and Tornado), two blacks (Canary and Lightning), and one green (Lantern). 

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