DCU Comic Book Reviews

JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #23

The Second Coming, Part Two:  Things Fall Apart

September 2008

Written by Dwayne McDuffie

Pencils by Ed Benes

Inks by Ed Benes

Cover by Ed Benes

Synopsis

In the Hall of Justice, Zatanna attempts to learn why Vixen’s powers have changed.  She learns that Animal Man may be connected in some way, along with a spider-like creature that refuses to reveal more about itself.  Elsewhere, Steel and Batman send out an intruder alert, letting the league know that Amazo is loose once more.  The league finds Amazo and attacks, but Amazo is too tough and is able to defeat them all.  Amazo assess the situation and decides to destroy Vixen, because she was the one to destroy the previous iteration of Amazo.  Vixen attempts to sap Amazo’s power, but it doesn’t work.  Amazo then prepares to kill Vixen. 

Review by Binkley (e-mail)

Oh, this is a hard comic to either like or dislike for a variety of reasons.  No, wait, didn’t I do this in my review of the last issue?  Yes, in fact I did.  And it holds true for this issue as well.  It is essentially the fight issue featuring nearly 18 pages of the Justice League battling a villain.  The story and the art is a mixed bag. Some of it is very good (I really liked the way McDuffie handled Wally’s battle with Amazo and I liked the way the team coordinated their efforts) but other times it is clumsy, as if there were missing panels or the writer and artist weren’t on the same page.  I mean, at the end Amazon comes pouring through the floor where the league is standing and apparently that was enough to knock them all unconscious?  Zatanna complains Superman is not paying attention to her, but there is nothing in the art to support what she is saying.  And the lightness of the moment just seems completely off in that moment of time. 

Ultimately, however, what it comes down to is the simple fact that we have, yet again, another issue in which the Justice League gets beat up.  Didn’t we just see this is McDuffie’s first story with the Injustice League or whatever he called it?  To see it here, again, is disappointing.  Just once I would like to see the league win its battles, especially when it is 12 against 1, even if that one has all of the powers (speaking of which, how did Amazo get powers of the other league members; I thought it was just the original seven?) 

Let’s see.  The JLA fights Amazo and gets its ass handed to them on a silver platter.  However, one member of the league is not there to help:  Batman.  So, the non-powered Super Hero will walk into the middle of the battle and save the day. I think Batman has become the de facto character writers turn to pull the JLA out of the fire.  A lot of this comes from the fact that Batman lacks powers, so writers will have tough time putting him into the fight, so it is a lot easier to hold him back and let him out smart the villain. 

Finally, on page 18, can anyone tell me why Roy and Hal are standing around on their tiptoes?  Are they trying to sneak up on Amazo?

Have you ever noticed that Amazo is Amazon with the “n”?  For whatever reasons, my fingers cannot type Amazo with adding that extra “n”.  I don’t know why this is was so important to mention here, but, hey, it’s my site.

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