DCU Comic Book Reviews

JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #17

Sanctuary, Part One

March 2008

Written by Alan Burnett

Pencils by Ed Benes

Inks by Sandra Hope, Mariah Benes, Ed Benes

Cover by Ed Benes

Synopsis

Jefferson Pierce (aka Black Lightning) stops Crowbar, Black Mass, and Nightfall, from commandeering a private jet.  Afterwards, he learns that the three villains were running away from something.  Meanwhile, Red Arrow visits Bromwell Stikk (aka Mr. Twister) but learns that he has been taken away.  Elsewhere, the Key and others are discussing the recent disappearance of various villains when the Suicide Squad attacks, but is only able to catch two of them.  Later, the Justice League confronts Amanda Waller about the abductions.  She informs them that what she is doing is perfectly legal.  Suddenly, the Hall of Justice is stormed by The Key and others.  However, it is not an attack, but a request for sanctuary.

Meanwhile Back In The Kitchen...

Written by Dwyane McDuffie

Art by Jon Boy Myers and Serge LaPointe

Synopsis

In the Kitchen training room, Vixen trains with the bow and arrow, borrowing Red Arrows abilities to accurately hit the targets.  Since he is not a metahuman, Red Arrow is intrigued by Vixen’s ability to draw on different power sources.  So, they call Green Lantern and all of them are surprised when Vixen is able to draw power from the lantern power ring. 

Review by Binkley (e-mail)

Normally, I do two different reviews when they are two different stories in an issue, but this time I want to discuss both at the same time, so a slight change to the format.  Basically, I am not really sure what to make of this issue.  The dual-story format continues here, with regular writer Dwyane McDuffie relegated to not only the back-up role by being last in the book and drawn by a fill-in artist, but he wrote a story that has no connection to the rest of the DC universe.  However, McDuffie’s story does continue story threads that began when the series was re-booted.  In a sense, then, McDuffie’s story is the one I would consider part of the book as a whole.  Yet, in terms of the DC universe, it is Burnett’s story that connects the Justice League to Salvation Run and its plot line that is running through other DC books.  Personally, I think this is a marketing blunder.  Out of all of the DC titles, the Justice League is the one book casual DC readers still read; by tying the main story into current continuity, DC will probably lose a lot of readers.  The one book that should remain outside of continuity should be this one.

Having said that, the lead-in story is perfectly acceptable (although I cringe when villains in story discuss where they fall on the villain-list in the same manner fans often discuss such things) and the ending is intriguing to see what happens next.  It certainly looks as if the story is leading to a knockdown fight between the JLA and the Suicide Squad.  The problem, I fear, is that Burnett will not be able to definitively allow the JLA to win the battle (or resolve the situation of Hell Planet) because of the ties the story has to Salvation Run as well as Countdown to Final Crisis and perhaps even to Final Crisis.  As such, it feels like we’ll get the build-up to the battle and then a whimper of an ending or (worse) we’ll be told to check out the ending elsewhere.

The back-up story is much better and I like the way McDuffie is exploring Vixen’s powers and the interaction between her and Red Arrow is well done.

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