Yet more reviews (part 6): The Justice filled edition

First of 2 posts today.

I have a new banner! Very kindly produced for me by Charles Yoakum at Ink Destroyed by Brush, who incidentally has done a very nice sketch of the Black Cat which I've been admiring.

Thanks also to ComicsAllTooReal'sChris and terrylegend42 for the offers of help. I'm sure all would have done a great job.

Onto the reviews. This post covers Justice League: Cry for Justice, Starman #43 (featuring the JLA), Young Justice 31, and Extreme Justice
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Justice League: Cry for Justice # 1

The art is gorgeous, but we already knew that from the previews and the cover. The actual plot is very much a set up issue with lots of posturing from the current JLA. Essentially, Hal has a strop because he feels the current JLA doesn’t actually do much Justice. So he resolves to form his own league, one that is more proactive. We’ve been here before with Justice League Elite. The JLE also included Ollie, which is interesting, and they spent a lot of the time undercover. The whole shebang didn’t work then so I’m a bit confused how it is going to work differently now. What does being more proactive mean? I understand that once this mini is finished the team will become the Justice League proper so I hope that they will manage to overcome this hurdle.

When Hal is talking to the JLA he is mostly talking to Supes and Wondy, which is odd considering Dinah is meant to be the leader. Yet she is just in the background muttering to Ollie.

The rest of the issue introduces us to the Atom, Starman and Congorilla. While this is useful it doesn’t really start the story. Detective Comics 854 and Gotham City Sirens were much better opening issues in this respect.

There was a nice additional text piece at the back of the comic about how this mini came about and why Robinson picked the team members. I presume this is to justify the price of the comic. Works for me. There will be a text piece about Kara in future issues too, so huzzah for that. The 2 page origin of Congorilla was nice but could have been done in the main body of the comic.

I’ll keep buying this mini but I sincerely hope the actual story starts next issue.

Starman #43 featuring the JLA
I picked this up in a second hand store because it’s written by James Robinson and I wanted to get more of a feel for him while Cry for Justice is going. The cover is also absolutely wonderful:

I really liked this book. I’ve never read any Starman before but that wasn’t a hindrance. The current Starman has just opened up a store called Knights Past and he is showing it to his Dad. I’m guessing they either haven’t gotten on in the past or that they were estranged. Anyway, the current Starman then asks his dad if he can help locate a rocket for him because he needs to go into outer space. He needs to go into space because his girlfriend, who is the sister of the previous Starman, believes that her brother is still alive in space and she wants this Starman to go find him.

And I’ve realised how ridiculous that will sound to non comic fans.

Anyway, the current Starman’s dad calls up Jay Garrick, who calls up Wally West, who speaks to the JLA and so Starman gets an invite to meet them all and state his case. They say no as they’ve only got one rocket and won’t lend it out on a hunch. At the end of the book a guy called Shade has sourced a rocket for Starman and I suppose next issue he’ll be in outer space.

The lay out in this book is great, it reminded me a bit of Promethea, and by extension the last Detective Comics issue.

This book is recommended and I shall try and read the rest of the run.

Young Justice #31 – When Mimes attack!
The silent issue! Purchased from ebay and an absolute delight. Bart is bored (as usual) and wants to hang out with Kon. Kon however is settling down to watch the Cheerleader Championship with Wendy the Werewolf Slayer. I’d forgotten about these nods to current pop culture, very funny. So Bart heads out the house to find excitement elsewhere.

He comes across a fella tying a damsel to some railroad tracks, saves the damsel then finds out that it’s a shooting of silent film. Next he goes to a book fair and imagines that everyone will want his autograph, only to discover it’s librarians book fair and they all shush him. Then he sees some silhouttes in the park, assumes it’s the trinity, then sees that they are mimes (god knows how he got confused). Whilst sitting on a step very bored some guy comes up to him to chat, Bart tells him about his crappy day then the guy produces a card saying he’s deaf and asks him to buy a card showing the fingerspelt alphabet - kudos to Peter David for bringing Deaf issues into his books, even if he sometimes gets it a bit wrong.
Next Bart finds some monks who invite him to share lunch, chuffed to bits he races over and chats, then finds out they have taken a vow of silence. Lastly, he discovers the Cheerleader Championships and finds that the mimes from earlier are thieves and are making their getaway via the competition venue.

It’s a great issue. There’s thought bubbles all the way through and it even made the boyfriend laugh. Hunt it down if you can.

Extreme Justice – last few issues
It remained rubbish. The most interesting part was at the back of issue 0 which showed what an inker does. Here’s a scan for your edification and learnings:


Pretty interesting huh? I didn’t know what inkers did before I saw that. Now I’m educated.

Currently listening to: The British summer rain and Garbage's Only Happy When it Rains. Tres apt.