DCU Comic Book Reviews

JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #8

The Lightning Saga, Chapter One:  Lightning Lad

June 2007

Written by Brad Meltzer

Pencils by Shane Davis

Inks by Matt Banning

Covers by Michael Turner and Phil Jimenez

Synopsis

In the Kitchen, Red Arrow, Wildcat, and Geo-Force have joined forces against Hawkgirl, Vixen, and Red Tornado in a game of capture the flag.  In the Hall, a blindfolded Mr. Terrific plays simultaneous games of chess against Black Canary and Green Lantern.  In the batcave, Batman along with Black Lightning investigate the startling appearance of the Karate Kid, one of the Legion of Super Heroes from the future.  In the course of talking to him, they learn that he knows Starman, who is also from the future.  When Starman confronts him, the Karate Kid reveals there are seven more of them.  In 1948, two unknown men track down Dolores Winters (aka Ultra Humanite) and tell her she will die unless they take a trip with her.  In the present, the JSA and the JLA come together to find the other members of the Legion lost in time.

Review by Binkley (e-mail)

I really enjoyed this issue.  I am guessing there will be a large segment of the comic-buying population that will dislike it, so I may be in the minority, but I liked it.  I even managed to enjoy Meltzer’s trademarked use of narration boxes overlapping scenes, a writing technique that mostly bothers me.  But in this issue, it worked.  The scenes clicked with me.  The showed a sense of camaraderie and fun in the contests while at the same time showing how much they wanted to win the game.  And I think that may explain why I liked it so much; everyone acts like they are part not only of their teams but part of the larger community of superheroes.  No fighting, no preening, no arguing; just a sense of togetherness, especially when the plot really kicks into overdrive. 

I think there is one moment (actually something that is missing) that will bother people:  the fight between Batman and Karate Kid.  I am sure many will express outrage than the fight was entirely skipped.  Personally, I think the fight itself would only drag down the rest of the issue.  The only way it would work would be to remove one of the other aspect (capture the flag or chess) of the plot.  But in a medium in which fight scenes occur more often than not, I liked the fact that Meltzer focused the story on the characters and develop them further. 

The final page contains two oddities.  First is the inclusion of Geo-Force as a member of the JLA.  Didn’t Black Lightning make a point of telling Geo-Force he wasn’t a member?  Did something happen off-panel?  The second is the absence of Obsidian in the JSA roll call.  Even though he is considered to be “security” at the JSA headquarters, is he not considered a member of the team? 

I also noticed on the huge splash page that Cyclone, Alan Scott, and Ted Grant from the JSA and Red Tornado are missing.  Starman is missing, as well, but I would assume he would be with the Karate Kid.  And for the teams to get together in less than 20 minutes, Batman seems to be relaxed enough to drink a cup of tea.  Overall, the splash page is nice, but it is weird to see these people talking to each other with everyone facing in the same direction (except for Black Lightning) .  It would’ve been better to break up the picture in smaller parts so the characters didn’t look so contorted in the way they are looking.

And, yes, I did translate the “future” letters on the final page based on the translation alphabet on page 3.  They are also the same the letters on page 18 when Starman talks to the Karate Kid.

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