Customer Reviews

JLA: Rules of Engagement (Vol. 13)

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

 

 

This is the thirteenth volume of JLA reprints, containing issues 77-82 of the series. The first story is a one-off by Rick Veitch, while the main content is two short arcs by Joe Kelly, "Rules of Engagement" and "The White Rage."

Veitch's story is entertaining and inventive, as the League encounters a memory-draining device. Kudos to Veitch for putting superheroes in a situation where intelligence and creativity save the day rather than an all-out battle.

The merits of "Rules of Engagement" lie in the League's ethical debates over intervening in an interstellar conflict in which neither side appears especially noble. I'm probably not the only one who thinks the militant "Paciforce" is an indictment of Bush-43's foreign policy, but the parallels with Earth politics are not childishly handled here: the race the Paciforce is out to conquer is governed by a classic JLA villain, so the League is reluctant to take sides. The real star is artist Doug Mahnke, though: his heroes are noble and statuesque, his very Mediterranean-looking Wonder Woman above all. The scenes where the League just stands around talking are every bit as visually exciting as the story's space battles.

"The White Rage"--making up half the book, unfortunately--is where I get totally lost. Kelly's new character "Faith" has a past so mysterious that the more gets revealed about her, the more convoluted and confusing her story seems. Faith's ex-employer, a CIA type named Manson, keeps company with neo-Nazis, a woman in S&M gear, and a floating, disembodied mouth. Who they are and why they do what they do Kelly never makes clear. It comes off as weird, but not the sort of brilliant madness associated with former JLA scribe Grant Morrison. It's just jumbled nonsense posing as originality and profundity.

My verdict: skip this trade paperback unless you're a completist. It is by far the weakest collection of JLA stories since the new series began in 1997, but Doug Mahnke fans should pick up the single issues 78 & 79 to admire the art.

The issues this collects of JLA are not their best. The art is great, as is the coloring. However, story-wise, this is not the JLA at their best. It is a transitional period setting up things to come, not meant to be an epic storyline. Buy it if you need to complete a collection, but not as a good read.

This graphic novel is really three stories in one. The first is Stardust Memories, and pits the heroes of the Justice League against an inter-galactic probe that has dedicated itself to studying the universe and destroying it. This is a good, solid super-hero short story that was quite fun to read. (4 stars)

The second story is Rules of Engagement, in which the Justice League travels light-years to a distant world, where they hope to stop a war of aggression. The story is somewhat interesting, but the fact that the characters are supers does not affect the story too much. This is more or less a science-fiction story. (3 stars)

The third story is The White Rage, and pits a group of white-racist metahumans against the Justice League. The story is far too preachy and, what is worse, the illustration work is inferior to the excellent work done on the other two stories in the book. (1 star)

Overall, I found this book to be a real disappointment. The stories do not seem to have any connection to each other, which gives the book a disjointed feel. And worse, none of the stories really succeeded in grabbing my attention, so I never engaged with them. I did not like this book and do not recommend it.

My biggest concern with this book is that is not a complete Joe Kelly/Doug Manhke work. There's a short story from other writer, and you can see right away is not Kelly.

On the "Rules of..." story arc you can see Kelly's mojo going on again. He have the ability to put the most powerful superheros in tough spots. That's what I love the most from Joe Kelly. The fact thet a lot of the book is penciled by another person (that's not Manhke) it makes it a not so good ride for me.

Don't get me wrong, the art is not bad, but is not Manhkeristic, if you know what I mean.

This one is not bad, but is not good either. At least not fantastic. If you can get this, try to get it at a very low price.

Joe Kelly has always been a hit or miss type of writer for me and here was a pretty big miss. While the lineup is as close to ridiculous as the JLA Detroit ever got, the plot is also all over the board. There are three different stories in this trade and two of the three make little to no sense. The art by Doug Mahnke is good and Darryl Banks has delivers. However, Duncan Rouleau, as usual is not a good fit for a superhero book. Its pretty bad when Superman is indistinguishable from Major Disaster. Overall this was a weak effort and could easily be forgotten.

Joe Kelly rocks. I really never thought I would enjoy a comic with Wonder Woman or Superman in it but he consistently delivers. The art is great (although I like Nyugen less than the other guy). The writing has current topics like torturing enemy combatants to save lives etc... I started somewhere in the middle with JLA so I'm also excited about seeing how much I like the Grant Morrison stories.

There are political problems aplenty and political decisions to be made for the Justice League, and both on and off the planet.

They have to decide if they should get involved in a conflict a long way away from earth.

Back on the planet, they have to decide if they will surrender to the authorities on a charge of murder.

Grant Morrison's run on JLA was long over and this collection really puts a nail in the series. It contains a mash up of some guest writers and artists, along with a few more recognizable names like Kelly. Unfortunately the guest writers seem to be having fun at the reader's expense as characters like John Stewart are treated as if they were a sit-com stereotype from 80s American TV. The artwork is infuriatingly bad, and it becomes increasingly distracting as the stories unfold with John Steward "jive talking" and engaging in forgettable quips and thought bubble expositions.

All the negative stereotypes of "Cape books" are in full effect here as each hero is presented as a hulking steroid infused parody of the character by various artists who seem to have nothing but disdain for the JLA. The writing boils down to sloppy ham fisted zingers delivered inappropriately and out of character, for the sole purpose of driving along a pointless plot. John Stewart and The Atom discussing ABBA songs or classic rock just does not work, and neither does the Green Lantern's quips about pop culture from the era in which the books were originally published. It comes off as a not so disguised sermon from the writers, condescending to the audience in what ultimately doomed the once promising JLA reboot back to a pathetic and stale mix of musclebound stereotypes punching things.

Things seemed to go so wrong so fast for the JLA reboot. We knew it was coming once they jumped the shark with Aquaman's mullet and hook fist, but what is presented in Vol 13 and Vol 14 should not have made it to print period. It's simply not up to the standards laid out in volumes 1-6ish.

Kelly is one of the worst JLA writers ever, he has a native american character who is a walking stereotype hwo can't do anything but show up and beat the bad guys or cry over his people building casinos, never mind the casinos provide funding for the tribe that is badly needed, no this writer does not know how to play fair in his stories.

we have stories bashign the president and the war that are so badly done they suck any fun out of the story and come off like some horrible propaganda, i am not argung the views but how he did it, they stick out like a sore thumb instead of being subtle and are badly one sided.

the rest of the stories are average at best, nothing to see here that is important, you would be better off buying some Morrison JLA or Waid, but skip this, i have every JLA of this run up to 100 and the best i can say about this writer is the next 3 make him look almost good..almost.