DCU Comic Book Reviews

JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #22

The Second Coming, Part One:  The Widening Gyre

August 2008

Written by Dwayne McDuffie

Pencils by Ed Benes

Inks by Ed Benes

Cover by Ed Benes

Synopsis

In the Hall of Justice, Red Tornado prepares himself for the operation to transfer his consciousness to a new body.  In Michigan, Vixen talks to Bronze Tiger about the change in her powers.  Bronze Tiger convinces her to tell the JLA.  In the “Kitchen” at JLA headquarters, Red Arrow and Hawkgirl spar with each other with a little more aggressiveness than usual.  Afterwards, Hal Jordan and Superman tell Red Arrow that his fights with Hawkgirl is a sign that he cares deeply for her and that he must tell her how he feels.  Later, Vixen tells the team about the shift in her powers.  Black Canary then dismissed Vixen from the team for lying to them and putting them in danger.  Despite doing it, she still wants to help Vixen regain her powers.  Elsewhere, Red Tornado’s old body somehow repaired itself.  Then it comes alive, revealing Amazo, who decides to abandon Reddy’s old body and take the new one for hismelf.

Review by Binkley (e-mail)

Oh, this is a hard comic to either like or dislike for a variety of reasons.  First, it was wonderful to see McDuffie write this comic without the shackles of putting into the context of some other DC universe event or book.  Yet that is tempered by the fact that there is nothing really new in this story, just a continuation of some old plotlines left over from nearly a year ago.  At this point, one would hope that there would be new stories, new conflicts, but we get the same old, same old.  Yet, I am glad that at least we might get some resolution and finality to some of these plot lines in which case we’ll something new.  Second, there are three, count ‘em, three different stories in this issue.  Frankly, I’ve had enough of Reddy and since I actually thought his role inside the ship’s systems was an intriguing set-up for the character, which I guess will be gone at the end of this story.  As for the Red Arrow and Hawkgirl romance, I don’t really care it.  However, the Vixen plot is the most interesting and Black Canary’s actions were not what I was expecting, but I like it.  It shows how much in charge of the JLA she really is when you ignore the advice of Superman.  So, ultimately, there are a number of things that I liked, but a number that I didn’t.  We’ll just have to see where it goes. 

Is a comic book the right place to not only mention characters having sex, but then making a comment about porn right after it?  While I admit Kathy’s comment was amusing, I just don’t think it was appropriate, especially for a comic that has the approval code right on the cover (below the number and date).  This issue has been approved for kids.  Really?

It was probably not a good idea to give John Henry Irons a narrative box that is similar in color to Batman’s.  It took a moment to realize that there was a change in the speaker.  Because of the gray background, the little symbols in the corner of the box were not evident without looking at it real, real close. 

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