Customer Reviews

JLA (Book 3): Rock of Ages

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

And by "spacey" I don't only mean happening in outer space. This is also one of Grant Morrison's strangest tales. It starts as a pretty straighforward adventure of the JLA against Lex Luthor and his Injustice Gang. What the superheros of the JLA, including Superman and Wonder Woman, don't know is that the choices they make in defeating the Lex Luthor might endanger the whole planet and leave it open for an invasion by Darkseid.

Then things get weird.

This story arc is hailed as Morrison's best in his long run on JLA and I recommend it fully.

"Rock of Ages" is the best superhero comic book story ever written. Part 5 was so good, I needed a cigarette.

Grant Morrison's talent on the JLA is that he handles all of the characters better than anyone else. His Superman is very Superman. His Batman is extremely clever and competant. The Martian Manhunter is patient and wise, Wonder Woman is strong, and Green Lantern is a bit clueless but very capable. This is pure fun the way superhero comics are meant to be.

This story is Morrison, arguably at the top of his form, writing a runaway train of a story with so much complexity that it takes several re-readings to understand everything. While the writing gets the book its five stars, there are a couple of sequences near the end of the book that are illustrated by artists who are not so much inferior to Howard Porter as they are jarringly different. Porter is a big, splashy superhero artist, and some of the art in the final chapter is a lot less showy. Usually, I'm all for that, but if I'm watching Charlie's Angels, let's please not have it intercut with clips from My Left Foot. That said, Porter's visions of the future JLA are really cool looking, and the final showdown with Darksied is worth the price of the book all by itself. One more caveat: this book does indeed feature the horribly designed, conceived, written, advertised, and promoted Super-electricity-man, representing perhaps the single most shameful "let's make a buck" moment in the history of DC Comics, so while the smart, funny writing and blockbuster art make the story fun, you can't turn a page without going, "Oh yeah, that costume." Be warned, but read it anyway.

These were originally published as JLA #10-#15.

The story throws a few large curves in the beginning. The unexpected part of the Justice League is that all of the characters have their own story lines, so major events like Wonder Woman dying and Superman turning into pure energy contained in a blue and white suit happen outside of the JLA stories. But having Aztec join the JLA in his own story, not in a JLA story is asking a bit much of the reader (at least he has the grace to leave the JLA in a JLA story!). This should have been handled in the flow, kind of like the old Green Arrow's son taking over his place when the JLA fought the Key.

The other major twist is that the plot starts out as a battle with the newly formed Lex Luthor brainchild The Injustice Gang. This would have been quite ho-hum IMHO. I am quite happy that it took a mind-bending turn into back and forth time travel and multiple-dimensions, in a story worthy of our heroes. The ending of the story is a little forced, but the storyline gives the members many situations to show who they are beneath their powers, which is what makes the League a great book.

Our favorite panels: my son's is page 129, an excellent sketch of J'onn, Superman and Batman with Plasticman in the background. Mine is page 50, Bruce Wayne and Robin in the batcave, with Bruce, mask off, half way being Bruce and halfway being Batman.

Somewhere in here there are about a dozen great ideas. Trouble is, Grant Morrison uses all of them. At once! A new, dangerous threat to the JLA is mixed with an alternate future story that didn't deserve to be linked to any other tale. Morrison loves these heroes, but he needs to slow down, just once.

So after a shakey start, Morrison hits us with his big magnum opus. I suppose he could have just started off with this instead of Vol. 1 which looks even worse in comparrison, but then what would be the fun in starting the series guns blazing, right? Well, actually that would have been a great idea, but oh well.

So here we're given a 6 part story arc that introduces the newly reformed Injustice League. The story gets a little convoluted from that point on, since Morrison likes to throw everything at us from hard light replicas of the JLA, to time travel, to trying to bring everything back to the start and have it make sense. It's a lot to take in all at once and I spent a good majority of the time trying to figure out what was going on.

He slpits up the team quite a bit here which is nice, giving each member something to do, but the story is stretched to the point of ridiculousness, sometimes you just have to ignore what you can't possibly fathom and read on, hoping that all will be explained in the following pages. There's no lack of ideas here, I'll give him that. Now if he could just piece it all together in a logical order.

A worthy attempt and an action packed story, but still not the best JL ever, and I'm hoping the series will improve as it continues.

The only real flaw with this JLA collection is that it seems to go on for too long. However, it continues the trend of top-notch storytelling that has become the book's trademark. The chapter that sets up the arrival of Darkseid had my pulse going.

This book is truely the best ever, as I said in my last review. I recently re-read this book, and I was blown away by it's amazing story line, brilliant characters, and superb illustration. I don't think that words can do this excellent book credit. If you only buy one thing ever, buy toilette paper, if you buy two things buy JLA ROCK OF AGES!

This is a Grant Morrison JLA collection. A bunch of Supervillain get together to do some bad things to the Justice League of America.

In the process, Lex Luthor and The Joker have a disagreement on methodology.

There is an alternate type of reality where Darkseid rules and only of handful of people still resist, including the Atom and Green Arrow.

What can I say. I have never written a review..., let alone for a comic book. I was an avid Superhero fan as a kid, but gave it up for the joys of girls, sports, and alcohol as an adult. Luckily a few years ago I walked into a comic book store and found Grant Morrison's work. I mostly collected Vertigo, but when I found out that Grant was writing JLA, I thought I would give it a shot. AM I GLAD THAT I DID. His entire run was tremendous! I don't know how the book is now, that he has stopped writing it (I have always found Mark Waid rather boring...yes JLA got me back into Superheroes for a while, but I have dropped out since) The plotting, dialogue and action is terrific. Some points of the story may remind "old-school" comic book readers of the X-Men's "Days of Future Past", but it exceeds that story on every level. (Of course I am biased being deep in my heart a DC kid forever!) In this storyline and all others Mr. Morrison manages to find depth in these characters, and keep the story complex. May I just say that I wish Grant Morrison wrote my favorite childhood character, Batman, on a monthly basis for eternity! He writes the intrepid Batman-the mere mortal amongst giants- better than anyone!