JLA: Riddle of the Beast [Hardcover]

Alan Grant (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 104 pages
• Publisher: DC Comics (January 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1563898675
• ISBN-13: 978-1563898679
• Product Dimensions: 10.5 x 6.9 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,684,023 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Anti-Recommended, July 28, 2005

By 

Rodney Meek (Austin, TX) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: JLA: Riddle of the Beast (Paperback)

You might think that it would be awesome to see some of the powerhouses of the DC Comics Universe plunked down in a magical alterna-Earth, their identities and abilities and motivations manifesting in ways both new and unfamiliar. And that probably would be pretty compelling, if it had been done right. Unfortunately, here it is done very, very wrong, and not in a way that is so atrocious and jaw-droppingly bizarre that it's interesting. No, this is just bland, boring, and pointless.

The plot: Tim Drake (the current Robin in the "real" DC world) is sent on a quest by the spider-like Riddler to unite the disparate powers of this tiny world against the return of the evil Beast (who we would know as Etrigan). He has to drum up support from this land's versions of Hawkman, Hawkwoman, Green Arrow, the Atom, Green Lantern, the Flash, Wonder Woman, Batman, and Superman. Other well-known figures make appearances: Nightwing, Aquaman, the Joker, the Penguin, the Martian Manhunter, Doomsday, Bane, Lobo, Lex Luthor, Zatarra and Zatanna, Black Canary, Killer Croc, and even the Phantom Stranger. Unfortunately, about the only enjoyment this volume has to offer is in the game of "Guess who that's supposed to be?"

The plot is trite, the prose is exceptionally clumsy and leaden, the versifying is embarrassing, the dialogue is terrible, and the art is flat-out a dismal failure. Over a dozen different artists contributed to this effort, and I can only conclude that most of them were extremely drunk at the time. In a great many panels it's impossible for you to tell exactly what's going on, and even when you can, you wish you couldn't.

I don't know exactly what DC was thinking when they unleashed this, and it's too late to UN-think it, but I hope they chalk this up as a giant mistake and vow to never again let Alan Grant write anything other than filler episodes of "Kamandi, the Last Boy on Earth".

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Could've been an epic but it's not., February 18, 2004

By 

Hizon "Jerry" (Makati Philippines) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: JLA: Riddle of the Beast (Paperback)

Riddle of the Beast is a pretty interesting Elseworlds story but it could've used an extra issue or two. While the use of DCU characters as classic fantasy archetypes are quite enjoyable and intriguing, the overall story seems to be underdeveloped. Though they used different artists whose work appear in Magic: The Gathering cards for that epic fantasy look, the whole graphic novel reads like an outline, far from the aforementioned epic fantasy feel this work aims to project. The build-up feels rushed and the characters introductions are done in a hurried fashion. It's as if there was a general feeling that the creators wanted to cram as many DCU characters as possible, sacrificing the overall pace of the book. Characters like Flash, Green Lantern and the Atom were just given cursory glances even if there was a lot of build-up to Robin and Zatanna's journey to the three men's City at the Center. Only a few panels and off to another setting. In fact, the main battle scene, after pages and pages of build-up and repetitive captions, amounted to just one page. Heck if only they devoted more space to it just like what they did to the world map which appeared three times or more! After reading this book, you could've wished that the bosses at DC could've followed the lead of the fantasy epics they aimed to ape by doing a trilogy at least.

4.0 out of 5 stars An enjoyable romp in a fantasy land with DC stalwarts!, November 19, 2009

By 

James Moore - See all my reviews
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This review is from: JLA: Riddle of the Beast (Paperback)

With a generous helping of the plot of Lord of The Rings, Alan Grant takes us on a journey of swords and fantasy in Riddle of the Beast.

Painted by several artists, we follow several DC heroes and villains in the fantasy setting. Robin is our hero, who must gather a group to fight a Great Beast intent on taking over Middle Earth... I mean, their homeland. He gathers many such as the stand-by Batman, Wonder Woman, and Superman, as well as others.

The story is pretty good. It's not great, again due to its seemingly heavy borrowing, but it's still fun to read. The art... the art, as mentioned, is by several painters. Some are better than others. The biggest problem isn't the change in style from page to page, but certain artists make the action very difficult to see, so you can only follow it via dialogue, because the art just isn't clear enough.

This probably deserves 3.5 stars, due to the art, but I am feeling generous and I genuinely enjoyed the story.