Customer Reviews

JLA: Pain of the Gods (JLA (DC Comics))

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

What's even more dangerous to Superman than kryptonite? Or more deadly than fire to the Martian Manhunter? How about lousy artwork and weak writing.

I think the attempt here was to humanize DC Comic's greatest heroes. But this has been do so much better so many times before. And it was done without having our heroes act so out-of-character. Don't believe me? Check out the scene where Diana gets back to headquarters after nearly being killed. Did GL or Flash or even Manhunter act like any kind of friend? Especially after all they had been through as a team?

And the artwork? Don't get me started. Go back to JLA issue one and look at what beauty is.

In the Five For Fighting song, Superman explains that it is not easy being him, and this book lets you know that, in spades. Having such great powers, the Justice League of America can do such great things, but even they are not omnipotent, and when they fail they carry the pain of that failure in an equally large way. This is a series of stories on failure, on what that failure means to the JLA.

This graphic novel is a reprint of JLA #101-106, in book form, and marks quite a departure. The characters in this graphic novel are still larger than life, but this book focuses on them failing, and the pain that that can cause them. It's quite an interesting take on superheroes.

Overall, I found this to be a great book, and I loved its unique take. If you are interested in expanding your view of superheroes, the get this book, it's great!

This volume collects issues #120-125 of the JLA series, and is also the final volume in the run of Justice League comics started by Grant Morrison in JLA (Book 1): New World Order. The league has dissolved following the events of Identity Crisis (DC Comics) and JLA: Crisis of Conscience (Identity Crisis) (Countdown to Infinite Crisis). As Green Arrow struggles to pull together a new alliance of heroes, one of the league's earliest foes returns more dangerous than ever.

This is a perfectly enjoyable story, but in hindsight it's not one that needs to be told. Everything that needed to be said about the League's breakup was already covered in "Crisis of Conscience," so this arc really doesn't do much except re-tread the hurt feelings and bickering from past issues. I suspect the only reason JLA was even extended to these last 6 issues was so DC would have something to fill in the publishing schedule until the Justice League was relaunched with Justice League of America, Vol. 1: The Tornado's Path. Writer Bob Harras does the best he can with the material, and the narrative flows pretty well. This is pretty impressive considering the middle sections of the story seem to exist purely to tie into the events of Infinite Crisis. The OMACs from The OMAC Project (Countdown to Infinite Crisis) appear, and Donna Troy drops by to randomly yank a few characters off into space to face the threat from The Rann-Thanagar War (Countdown to Infinite Crisis). Even the real bad guy of this story is tied to the fallout from Day of Vengeance (Countdown to Infinite Crisis). As you may realize by now, this was one of DC's more "involved" tie-in crossover epics, and a lot of the story is pretty much an aside to the real action that is happening elsewhere.

Which is too bad, because the 90s JLA was a great comic that had a mostly solid run, and it deserved better than to fizzle out like this at the end. One or two issues of memorial would've seemed appropriate, six is overkill. Worth a look if you're into the Infinite Crisis saga or if you've bought all the other JLA volumes and just want to round out the set. Otherwise this is pretty skippable for the casual reader.

JLA Syndicate rules collects JLA # 107 - 114 and the JLA Secret Files 2004 into this 200 page trade paperback. This book is one reason why not EVERY story arc needs to be collected into a trade paperback. I suppose it's great for the people who aren't reading each issue faithfully and it IS cheaper, but I've always looked at trades as collecting the better storylines.

Syndicate Rules tackles the old familiar DC storyline of counter worlds and parallel characters. This time it deals with the Anti-matter world and the Crime Syndicate of Amerika and their counterparts of Super Woman (Wonder Woman), Ultraman (Superman) Power Ring (Green Lantern), Johnny Quick (The Flash) and Owlman (Batman). The CSA has taken over the free peoples of their world and rules with a sadistic fist but the group is bored. They are looking for new challenges to their might but soon learn a startling revelation that their very existence continues to be destroyed and recreated in a never-ending loop, a situation they trace to the JLA. They hatch a plot to come to our world and take over the League's identity and then send the JLA back to their ant-matter world, trapping them there forever. Meanwhile, the warlike planet Qward, themselves victims of the CSA, unleash their most powerful, planet destroying weapon, and head to destroy the CSA and anything that gets in their way.

The whole idea of these parallel worlds has always been a staple of DC lore but unfortunately this story collapses under its own weight of convoluted plotlines and sub-plotlines and a host of characters. Kurt Busiek, one of my favorite comic writers, just tries to squeeze a bit (well actually a lot) too much into the story. The plot would have stood well on it's own with just the CSA angle without the sub-plot of the attacking Qward which only serves to bog down the action. Add to that is the fact that so much space is devoted to the CSA and the Qward that the JLA barely shows up for more than a cameo in their own title. Toss in a bunch of reserve JLAers like Major Disaster, Captain Marvel, Red Tornado, and you have one confusing, overblown story. Little is developed from the Qward point of view and they become just some generic alien race. The CSA start out as wickedly and murderously evil but by the end of the story they've become caricatures.

It seems evident that rather that trying to dazzle readers with brilliance Busiek has instead tried to baffle us with BS.

hey i'm all for showing the heroes as human, showing them being beat, but we have seen this a million times, we have seen superman not in time to save people, we have seen superman deal with drunk driving and losing a friend of his because of his inaction, we have seen him during one issue answer christmas letters and see his limits, his pain.

So why do we need to see #101 - #106 with stories where they fall and feel pain? it's been done and much much better, Austen it should be noted was fired from every publisher he wrote for, sales dropped like a hammer and his final issues on superman had to be written with a fake name, that is the guy who is behind this book.

He creates problems in some cases by making the heroes just forget they have powers, or like j'onn who is very human, has lived among humans for so long, he has him act alien all of a sudden, i ask..is there no story that can be shown where you don't have to ignore their history to make them human? well we knwo the answer, for example J'onn in the terror incognita story felt pain, was all too human and lonely, but it was done in such a great manner, and made sense, and you didn't have to ignore the characters history to enjoy it.

if you want a good JLA book try the first 5, gold standard, try "formerly known as the justice league" or many others, but not this one.

Envision yourself as a superhero. Imagine dedicating your life to protecting innocents from crime, natural disasters, accidents, and the occasional super villain. Picture all the people you save each day and all the crises you avert. Now, think of what would happen if, regardless of all your superpowers and your constant vigilance, one day you suddenly failed, and the consequence of your failure meant the demise of those you swore to protect.
This paperback edition of the collected issues of JLA #101 to #106 tells us exactly what happens when six of our best-loved superheroes - Superman, Flash, Green Lantern, Martian Manhunter, Wonder Woman and Batman - find themselves in precisely that situation, and are confronted by death, either as a result of their inability to prevent the loss of innocent lives, or through the questioning of their own mortality.
But this tale might not appeal to everyone, especially devoted fans of the comics' continuity: it takes us on a psychological exploration of the humanity that lies beneath each character's apparent omnipotence and shows us their fears, needs, desires, strengths, and weaknesses - even their hard to acknowledge limitations - reasonably departing from the ongoing storyline and characterizations on the JLA's and their own monthly issues, and appearing closer to their portrayals in the JL and JLU animated series.
Nonetheless, this is a wonderfully told story, where woven into every hero's tale is also a profound look at the value of friendship, highlighting the importance of the relationships forged through the JLA between these seemingly invulnerable and amazing individuals, and how those relationships provide them comfort and support when the burden of their missions becomes heavier with added insecurities and personal losses.
All the action and emotion of the story is perfectly captured by the superb illustrations that, while simple and as easy to interpret as a film's storyboard, are rendered with much attention to detail. Especially delightful is the choice of colors applied throughout the book. Not only does it correspond with the color scheme of the superhero on whom the story is focusing, but it also reflects his or her mood as the story's emotional weight shifts from one situation to the other.
This is a unique and satisfying title worth enjoying, and a deserving addition to any serious DC Comics fan's collection.
--Reviewed by M. E. Volmar

This is not what you might think it is. I thought this story was a sequel to Grant Morrison's great JLA Earth 2 graphic novel, but it's not. This is not the Crime Syndicate of Amerika vs. the Justice League of America. Oh, they fight, but it's much more complicated than that. It's actually a CSA story featuring the JLA. And it harkens back to the wonderful JSA/JLA crossovers of the 60's and 70's. I agree with the reviewer who said the only thing missing was the JSA, that would have been awesome.

The stories biggest weakness it's all the past stories it builds on. I was not familiar with the Construct or with Krona. It didn't hurt my enjoyment of the story and the characters caught me up on everything I needed to know, but I was missing the little notes from the editor telling me where the stories happened. (I looked it up, all the references to Krona are to the JLA/Avengers crossover also written by Mr. Busiek. The Construct is from the 70's and 80's first appearing in Justice League of America #146 and later in Red Tornado #1-4 the latter I think Busiek also wrote).

To be honest, the story started to lose me before it really got started, part of that was because the Justice League was not around, and I was starting to think, "Kurt, what are you doing?" but like I said before, it's more of a CSA story (I know it's a JLA book, but the old JLA/JSA crossovers always happened in the JLA book, but they were not always the focus of the story.) And by the middle of the story I was enjoying the CSA so much that I had kinda forgot about the JLA. I keep comparing this to the classic JLA/JSA crossovers and it's because I think this was what Busiek was going for, especially when the JLA calls in for help and splits up into three teams. The big difference is if this had been one of the old crossovers, the whole story would have been condensed to three issues tops.

In short, I would not put this at the top of a list of Kurt's best stories, it's not Marvels or Astro City, but I don't think it's trying to be. If it is trying to pay homage to a time when comics were much simpler (or more complicated?) and fantastic in their scope and less character driven, then it succeeds greatly.

So you wanna know the plot? Okay, deep breath... In the anti-matter universe the Crime Syndicate of Amerika is bored so they attack the world of Qward. As the CSA is slaughtering the warriors of Oward, the universe is suddenly recreated, but with a few differences. The CSA go in search of what force recreated their Universe. While that is going on, the warriors of Qward awaken the most powerful weapon in the universe and go on the warpath... and the JLA, well, they're mixed up in there too.

I've recently been reading the JLA trade paper backs and this is the first one I've enjoyed in quite a while. (I haven't read all of them, but I didn't care for Joe Kelly's Obsidian Age which I felt was similarly convoluted, but with no pay off and quite a few loop wholes or the recent Claremont and Bryne story the Tenth Circle which was just kind of ugh, or the Chuck Austin story Pain of the Gods which was a nice idea, but seemed almost redundant, plus I read the whole thing in the same amount of time it takes to read a single issue of JLA).

So I recommend this if you are in to heavily plot driven old style JLA. This isn't a character driven piece, but it is a heck of a lot of fun.

This is post Identity Crisis/pre-Infinite Crisis. The members of the JLA are all in a tiff due to events leading up to this story because decisions were made to treat villans in ways that not everyone agrees one as well as question the appropriateness of Batman using Brother Eye. That's as interesting as it gets and all that happens before this trade. The collection is 90% bickering and Green Arrow screaming and whining about everything. The last 10% is a cool fight and saved it from being terrible. If you pickup the book just read the last chapter/issue and save yourself the high school drama staring your favorite DC characters.

In my opinion, JLA Pain of the Gods features some of Ron Garney's best artwork and for that reason alone it is worth picking up. Garney emplys a loose, minimalist style here full of wonderful gesture, energy and clarity. Other than the very cool art, the stories are nothing remarkable. They are readable but I would never go out of my way to read them if it were not for the artwork.

This Infinite Crisis crossover finds founding member Batman having dissolved the JLA but Green Arrow determined to keep it together as one of the seven deadly sins, Envy, and telepathic supervillain the Key begin causing problems. The JLA aren't seen as gods here; they're mortals arguing with each other over the power they wield. Green Arrow, Raven, Black Canary, and Batman take center stage here.