JLA (Book 7): Tower of Babel [Paperback]

Mark Waid (Author)

Book Description

Release date: August 1, 2001

Written by Mark Waid; Art by Howard Porter, Drew Geraci and others Batman's greatest rival, Ra's al Ghul continues his quest to save Earth from humanity by thinning the ranks of the human populace. But after being thwarted over and over again, Ra's seeks to distract Batman by stealing the bodies of his dead parents while he enacts his nefarious plot. And to insure that Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, the Flash and the rest of the JLA do not interfere with his plans, he individually defeats each of the heroes using strategies developed by Batman himself! And when the League learn of his betrayal, they look to expel the Dark Knight from their ranks.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Mark Waid has written flagship titles for both DC (The Flash) and Marvel (X-Men) and his work on Kingdom Come (with artist Alex Ross) has earned him huge acclaim and multiple awards, including an Eisner. He is currently working for Florida-based comics company Crossgen as head writer. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: DC Comics (August 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 156389727X
• ISBN-13: 978-1563897276
• Product Dimensions: 6.5 x 0.4 x 10.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (33 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #269,226 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

63 of 69 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Business Is Business, or Is It? September 18, 2003

By Savant11

Format:Paperback

When people ask me, why I like Batman. I tell them because he's a business man. He thinks and acts like a business man. He is ruthless, single minded and cunning. And nowhere is this more apparent than in this title.

Normally when we think of Batman we think of a vigilante who haunts the night trying to bring down the bad guys. I believe that he is much more complex than this. Batman is a man who, having suffered tragedy at a very young age, Has vowed never to be life's victim again. And thus, he does everything in his power to strategize and manipulate in order to make sure that he comes out on top. Like any successful man of power he plans all the way to end. Considering every possibility...everything that could and can go wrong in a given scenario. Batman is the sort of hero Machiavelli would admire because he is willing to do ugly things (short of murder) to accomplish his objectives.

Law #2 in the 48 Laws of Power (by Robert Greene), says "never put too much trust in friends". And this is essentially what is behind Batman's actions in this book. Batman is well aware of what lies behind men's hearts. He knows how fickle they can be. They can be loyal to you one minute and betray you the next. This is what has driven Batman to accumulate information on each JLA member. He has studied each member their character, their powers and has devised a stratagem to bring each one down. Should one of them turn to evil in the future.

Unfortunately Ra's Al Ghul (translated as The Deamons Head) Batman's foe. Has discovered the information that Batman has been keeping in his lair. And has used it to disable each member of the JLA so that he can carry out his plan to "purify" the earth.

When the members of the JLA find out that the heart of their misfortune originated with Batman. They vote to expel him. Not only because of what Ra's has done. But also because they all feel that he has betrayed their friendship. By keeping information on each one of them, Batman has essentially shown that he did not think very highly of his teammates in the JLA...when they trusted and admired him. When Batman is cast out I think it registers on him how badly he has been mistaken about friendship. And sometimes there is far more to getting a job done than the "business is business" philosophy.

I am not a JLA fan but this really is a very good story. And I liked it because it provided a very good study to Batman. For all of Batman's strategising. He never considered what would happen if the information got into the wrong hands. He never stopped to consider how hurt his friends would be. When Batman is expelled he doesn't simply walk away and shrug his shoulders. He actually looks hurt that his teamates have cast him aside for what he has done. It shows a different aspect to Batman than him simply being an arrogant loner. It shows that he actually cares about what other people think of him. And the loss of friendship.

Mark Waid has done a good job on this story.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Exactly why Batman rules!!! January 31, 2006

By XKAL

Format:Paperback

Batman is the weakest of all the members of the Justice League, because he is simply a human being with no powers. Yet, he is the best and most dangerous superhero out of all of them. That is awesome!!!

Tower of Babel show exactly why Batman is not a man to be looked over, but feared. He compulsively fight crime to the nth degree no matter the cost or who he alienates. Probably the most amazing attribute about Batman is his amazing brain. Forever strategizing how to maintain the upper hand over his enemies... and his friends.

Batman keeps a cool distance over his friends because deep down he believes that one day there is a strong chance he will have to take them out. Does it make him a bad, untrustworthy person? That is the issue the members of the Justice League have to come to terms with.

Batman's ingenious ways to defeat all of the JLA have fallen into the hands of one of his worst enemies, Ras Al Ghul. Every JLA member is incapacitated, and Batman is to blame.

A great read with dire consequences in the end. The question ultimately is... is Batman wrong for doing it? It is for you to decide. Enjoy.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Decent read, but overrated writing. December 10, 2008

By XDestron

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

When I came into this book, especially after reading the Amazon.com reviews, I was expecting something epic. When I heard that this book dealt with Batman's ultimate plans against the rest of the JLA in the case of a superhero gone rogue, I was anticipating some brilliant ways to take down the most powerful beings in the universe that only Batman could devise.

I have to admit, when I read this book, I was let down a little. Let's just say that I was let down enough to write my first Amazon.com review so I could at least provide a counter to what most of the reviews say.

Now let me say WHY I was underwhelmed by this trade, without spoiling things beyond what is listed the back of the book. First, let me explain the premise of the book. The bottom line is, in his typical always-prepared style, Batman has collected a dossier on each Justice League member with detailed information on how to defeat that member. This idea is similar to the "Xavier Protocols" on the X-men which spawned a similar story. Basically this information falls into the wrong hands (Namely Ra's al Ghul) and is used against the league.

The first thing that bothered me was the simple fact that this information was leaked AT ALL. We are talking about the Batman here. The single most intelligent, prepared, and secretive person on the planet. You don't just walk up and ask him for these files. The fact that anyone even knew these files existed was never explained. Batman is just too damned careful to let anyone take these files. I understand it had to happen to advance the story, but it never sat right with me.

Now some of the methods used against the JLA were pretty cool, and I was satisfied with them. However, some of them were downright ridiculous (I won't give much away). For example, what reason on earth would someone who is trying to kill Superman have to use ANYTHING other than green kryptonite against him? There is none. It is never really stated why someone would choose to simply incapacitate Supes instead of trying to kill him. It doesn't add up for me. Similarly, the methods used against Green Lantern and the Flash are a little "out there", and I feel like Mark Waid could have thought of better ways to take them out.

In the end, the league loses trust in Batman, and votes whether or not to kick him out of the league. I feel like this was an unnecessary plot point, seeing as how historically Batman is known for this type of stuff. Hell, the man carries green Kryptonite with him wherever he goes. It doesn't make sense that they were surprised at all by this development. I chalk it up to poor writing in the end.

One more reason that I gave this book a 3/5 stars was the art. It was very cartoonish looking for the serious nature the writing tried to convey. The art pretty much bothered me throughout the book.

Overall, it is a solid entry into JLA history, but it will always bug me the way Batman was infiltrated so easily and that his methods were very non-batman-like. I hope that makes sense.