Customer Reviews

JLA (Book 7): Tower of Babel

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

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.

This is among the best of JLA!
Classic tale of batman's contingency plans falling in the hands of Ra's Al Ghul and how he neutralises all the gun guns of JLA (Superman, Wonderwoman, Green Lantern, Flash, Aquaman, Plasticman and Martian Manhunter.
Talia, the daugher of Ra's is potrayed as an efficient slealth soldier who focuses on one JLA-er at a time, taking him/her down based on the batman files. Talia's character is also fleshed out depicting her as the uneasy assasin torn between her father's totalistic measures and her relationship with the dark detective.

This story holds significance with the recent OMAC Project where another of batman's plans backfire.

If you've read any of the other reviews, you already know the premise of the story. The idea is that Ra's al Ghul has stolen Batman's handiwork, and used his secret plans to demolish the JLA expeditiously. However, the problem with the story is that Batman's plans range from ludicrous to heartless, and the League of Assassins fails to make some very basic changes to the plans that would have made them much, much more effective.

SPOILER ALERT
I'm going to give a quick run-down on each character, so if you want the plans to be a surprise, don't read this section.

Martian Manhunter: Hit him with thousands of nanites that are composed of magnesium, so, when exposed to oxygen, he bursts into flames. Nasty, nasty. Apparently Batman is willing to murder J'onn, even though he goes well out of his way to avoid killing people like Two-Face and the Joker.

Aquaman: Dose him with Scarecrow's fear gas to give him a terrible phobia of water, which Aquaman needs to survive. The problem, of course, is that he can still whomp on you while you wait for him to dry out.

Plastic Man: Freeze him with liquid nitrogen, then shatter him with a hammer. The only problem is that the JLA manages to bring him back to life, so he's still around.

Wonder Woman: Send a tiny machine into her inner ear that causes her to hallucinate and believe she's in a never-ending battle, eventually leading to cardiac arrest. Not a bad idea, but again, Batman seems to be all too willing to kill Leaguers.

Flash: Use a "vibro-bullet," fired into Flash's spine, to cause light-speed seizures. Somehow the Flash isn't maimed or killed by this, but this seems almost more like a method of torture than a manner of simply immobilizing him. Also, I'm pretty sure twenty minutes of super-siezures would probably kill him.

Green Lantern: The biggest logical problem is the plan to stop Green Lantern. It is as follows: Sneak into his apartment at night, put the Power Ring on his finger, then implant a post-hypnotic suggestion that causes him to subconsciously use the ring to blind himself. Complicated, weird, and ignores the fact that as long as you're there, why not just STEAL THE FREAKING POWER RING?

Superman: Of all the Leaguers, Superman should have been the easiest to kill. Just hand him a chunk of kryptonite and be done with it. Instead, Batman goes to the trouble of creating a non-lethal form of kryptonite, and the League of Assassins goes to the extra trouble of making a duplicate of it. Why? Why is Ra's al Ghul so concerned about not killing Superman?

It all boils down to this: Most of Batman's secret plans don't make any sense. He's extremely willing to kill most of the Justice League, but goes to tremendous lengths to avoid killing others. Then, when the League of Assassins get their hands on the few non-lethal plans, they don't change them at all. Basically, if their plans had worked, they'd be left with a lot of dead Justice Leaguers and one MAJORLY mad Superman. And Batman, too, because after luring Bats away from his team, they really didn't have a plan to stop him other than "send a bunch of nameless thugs after him." Because that always works. Finally, something that was not addressed in the story: what's to stop the League of Assassins from re-using these plans? Sure, the JLA would be ready for them, but setting the Martian manhunter on fire would kill him just as effectively.

I like Mark Waid, but this whole storyline needs a serious re-write. The characters are written just fine, in fact they're written quite well, but the premise has some tremendous problems that spoiled the story for me.

If I wanted to be chintzy and point out all the logical flaws, etc that plague this series, it would only be three stars. But I believe that given the fact that I've reread this story 20 or 30 times,means the overall story overcomes those inadequacies.
So much spoiler information has been given away already, I won't contribute further. Let's just say that this is one of the most important Batman stories anyone's EVER done. We receive more insight into his mind's inner workings, and get a hint that he's not that far removed from a guy named Frank Castle. Except for the "no killing" thing.
This story is also important because it both sets up and is influenced by Miller's The Dark Knight Returns. The reverberations continued through to JLA Divided We Fall and in other DC books in months to follow. This is an indispensible book.

I've been reading JLA graphic novel for a number of years, and I thought that KINGDOME COME and JLA: EARTH 2 were the best I've read.....UNTIL I read THIS one. Only Batman would think of something this deadly....but it makes perfect sense. Being the only super-hero without any super speed, flying powers, etc., why NOT protect yourself and others if the rest of the JLA went rogue? Personally, I think Batman knows that he doesn't need the JLA, but they most definitely need him. Suffice to say, if you get only one novel, get THIS ONE!

This book is a MUST read for any fan of Batman because it really shows you how deadly Batman can be and how much a genius he truly is! Basically, the book is about Batman making protocols to take down the JLA just in case they go rogue (turn into bad guys) but that's all I'll say. Mark Waid who is my favorite comicbook writer did an excellent job with this storyline and he adds a lot of great surprises to it as well. The art work in this comic could've been better but it good enough. I rate it a 5 because of the storyline though.

The JLA is nearly destroyed. Batman has accumulated data of how to incapacitate or even kill each Justice League member. Ras Al Ghul has stolen this information and is using it. The League is ambushed with cold, calculating efficiency.

Al Ghul has decided that instead of global flood, he will create a language barrier. He has created a device that makes all communication unintelligible. Without language, the human race will kill one another in chaos.

After a close aversion to crisis, the JLA must decide whether or not Batman will remain a member.

I think that Batman is well within his rights; here are people with god-like powers that could conquer the world if they so desire. He is without powers; were he required to fight one of them he would easily be killed. He needs an upper hand.

This storyline points out that the JLA has had, to some degree, a "superpowers only" membership policy. It is a sort of unwritten law, but this storyline uncovers the tension that exists between superheroes and ordinary humans. Though he is very capable, Batman is still an ordinary human. There is a constant uneasiness between Batman and Superman.

I got it mainly because Batman was the central character. I was not disappointed.

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.

Excellent depiction of batman's preparedness. Good story, unlike any graphic novel I have read before.