Customer Reviews

JLA: The Tenth Circle

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

Let me say up front that Byrne and Claremont were--in their heyday--two of the greatest creators in comics, and at one time I considered them the cream of the crop. Now? Well, as Tenth Circle so clearly demonstrates, now they are shambling dinosaurs apparently unaware of their own obsolescence. From embarrassingly bad dialogue to uninspired art to a story that didn't deserve to be a part of JLA history to begin with, these once undisputed masters of the medium show that inertia has rendered them irrelevant: whether through an inability to evolve or a simple refusal to do so, the creators haven't allowed their "game" to improve with time, instead attempting to mine the same vein they did in the early-to-mid 1980s. The problem is that in the 1980s they were producing state of the art material; in those pre-Watchmen, pre-Dark Knight Returns days, the audience didn't expect as much from the comics they consumed. The audience has come to expect better over the course of the years, and Byrne and Claremont would do well to get over themselves and figure that out. Neither one will ever have a hard time finding work (unlike a lot of pros these days, they at least know how to make a deadline), but unless they wake up and smell the decade, their work won't be worth reading.

It's a shame that JLA went from Joe Kelly's generally good (and at times, excellent) arc to...this. Once upon a time, Chris Claremont was a top-notch storyteller and Byrne a fantastic artist. These days, Byrne's work looks sketchy and dated, while Claremont's writing is clunky, obvious, and blunt. The story revolves less around the Justice League and more around the "new" Doom Patrol, serving as a springboard for Byrne's revamped (or unvamped, if you read those reviews) version of that team. The implications on continuity of treating a well-established team like the Doom Patrol as if they were all-new players is never addressed, nor are any of the Leaguers' prior experience with vampires like the story's antagonist (Superman, for instance, just has a run-in with Dracula not more than a year before this story debuted). This story is uninteresting and poorly characterized (none of the leaguers are very distinct), and very much misses the high standards set by the series' previous writers like Grant Morrison (whose take on the Doom Patrol is still considered definitive and fantastic, rather than a rip-off of the X-Men, as they appear here) and Mark Waid. The Tenth Circle was an attempt to cash in on the nostalgia value of seeing Claremont and Byrne together again on an X-Men-like team. It's a JLA tale in title only, and a tale in the loosest sense of the word. Avoid this and the next book, Chuck Austen's abysmal "Pain of the Gods."

Chris Clairmont and John Byrne reunite to try and capture the magic they had during their legendary Uncanny X-Men run. However, it was not be. This story revolves around the Crucifier, a vampire abducting children from all over the world. The JLA investigate, and soon Superman becomes a pawn of the cult. A mysterious new team emerges though, the Doom Patrol. Together they and the remaining JLA members must muster to stop the world from ending.

Some people blame John Byrne's plotting for this, others for Clairmont's scripting. I like to blame both. The story feels as though it was written 15 years ago, and was just buried away in some crypt until an adventurous DC intern unearthed it on expedition. Serving as nothing more than a springboard for the new Doom Patrol series, this was one disappointing reunion.

Should you buy this book? No, unless you're a hardcore Doom Patrol fan. Though I am, and I'm still passing. Not the worst JLA story I've ever read, but a huge disappointment considering who its done by.

The Justice League of America is handed a strange mystery when teen-agers begin disappearing across the country. However, when JLA members begin to disappear as well, a bad situation becomes much worse. There are bad guys lurking out there, and another group of metahumans who are playing their own game. This is a dangerous situation, and the JLA is going to have to work hard just to stay alive!

This graphic novel is a reprint of JLA #94-99, in book form, and marks yet another relaunch of the Doom Patrol (not to be confused with the Legion of Doom). Now, this book has generated a lot of bad reviews, and indeed, the story is far from perfect. But, I must say that I found the story to be more exciting and tighter scripted than JLA: One Million. The bad guy is just short of all-powerful, which is pretty standard in these stories, and the heroes squeak through by the skin of their teeth.

Overall, my eleven-year-old son and I both enjoyed this graphic novel, even if we didn't find it to be perfect. If you want a good, thrilling JLA story, then get this book. My son and I both highly recommend it.

This story is not only a mess, but it's a blatant disregard for all that has went before it in the DC universe.

Chris Claremont disappoints yet again. It's as if after leaving his first tenure on X-men in 1991 (which is rich in craft and story), he just stopped caring about the details. Like Plot. Continuity. Characterization. A reason for characters to be there in the first place. And vampires? That's the best he could come up with? You needed the JLA for that? Maybe Mr. Claremont should read Grant Morrison's brilliant runs on JLA, Doom Patrol, and his own New X-men. He might learn a trick or two.
I implore you. If you must read Claremont, pick up Essential X-men instead, or Dark Phoenix Saga. Anything he has written since the Jim Lee days has been not just awful, but disrespectful of anyone who worked on these characters after he left. His X-men stuff today is just as bad. He's an author who should just know better and bow out.

Tenth Circle and X-treme X-men are why there should be a zero-stars rating on Amazon. It's that bad.

John Byrne is equally to blame. His art has no effort to it at all. Considering how great and pivotal an artist he is makes it worse. His Wonder Woman and New Gods art were leagues better than this.

Worst of all, the Doom Patrol, who under Grant Morrison's tutelage were ahead of their time, is a joke here.

If this is how DC wants to treat their characters, icons that have been around longer than their editors, I'm not buying another mainstream title again ever. Vertigo can have my money, but I'll never shell out for anything Claremont writes ever again. And the same goes for DC's core titles. They've screwed me for the last time.

I'm trying to save you all.

I'm a great big fan of the current Justice League of America since its Grant Morrison days. But I will have to say JLA hasn't been quite as interesting since Morrison left. Mark Waid was OK and Joe Kelly generally kept the title going for a while, but everything hit the pits after that. And now this travesty - John Byrne and Chris Claremont have both long passed their use-by date, and it shows. The plot is corny and terribly dated - a fugitive vampire (Crucifer) is plotting to open a dimensional doorway that will allow his fellow vampires to cross over into our dimension. He brainwashes a group of young, super-powered outcasts to do his dirty work (i.e. eliminating members of the JLA one by one). He even manages to mentally enslave the mighty Superman and uses him to eliminate Wonder Woman, the sole JLAer who might have secret ancient knowledge of how to deal with vampires (really!). Meanwhile, a shadowy group of super-powered individuals are tracking Crucifer's every move. Are they friends or foes? Apart from serving as a vanity project to launch John Byrne's newly rebooted/revamped/retconned Doom Patrol series, I can't really see the point of the whole exercise. Byrne, as usual, shows his disdain for other writers' work by totally ignoring the past history of the Doom Patrol, choosing instead to "create" anew his own version of the Doom Patrol (albeit using pretty much the same characters). I have never forgiven Byrne for trying to destroy George Perez's work in Wonder Woman, and I doubt Doom Patrol fans will cheer his destruction of the Doom Patrol either. And oh, by the way, the secret to Crucifer's power? He hides his heart in a secret miniature dimension - as long as it stays hidden, he's safe from harm and cannot be killed (really!!). As I said, totally pointless, dated, stupid and a waste of money.

Like many posters regarding this storyline, I was, and still am, a huge fan of Claremont & Byrne's run on X-MEN. I am also a fan of Byrne's run in the 80s on FANTASTIC FOUR & WEST COAST AVENGERS. That being said, this is one of the most disappointing books I've ever read. A VAMPIRE??!! Named CRUCIFER??? These characters have looked Darkseid in the face and won, but they almost get bested by a character that not even Hammer Films would have created?? Is it 1983 all over again? The sad fact of the matter is, while comics have evolved over the last 20 years since the Miller/Moore events, these two creators have remained tethered to an archaic and irrelevant form of storytelling. Now, I'm all for comics being grand adventures without bloody violence & T & A - they don't all have to be WATCHMEN or PREACHER. And it's important to tell stories like that to help bring new readers to the form. But you've got to have a good story and believable dialogue. Claremont's script has all of the subtlety and originality of a beer commercial. And Byrne's pencils are shadows of their former greatness. For top-notch storytelling & art with these characters, try Grant Morrison's run on JLA or, if you're an old-schooler, try the Keith Giffen/Kevin Maguire incarnation from the mid-80s, which is the kind of fun and adventure that this disaster wishes it could be.

Though not as bad as some people have said in reviews it is not a very good read. The story moves at a very sluggish pace and has a horrible villain. Though the showing up of another DC Super team really kept it from completely going downhill. I can not say I recommend this unless you've read the rest of the volumes in the series.

Chris Claremont should have quit writing comics long ago. His time is past. This storyline served no purpose other than to introduce John Byrne's rebooted new, new, new Doom Patrol, which has already been erased from continuity by 'Infinite Crisis'. It was a mistake anyway in that rebooting the Doom Patrol in this fashion erased Beast Boy/Changeling's origin from continuity. Retconning is garbage and everyone ought to knock it off. Don't buy this volume unless you simply must have a complete set of 'JLA'. Oh, also, having the Justice League fight vampires, of all things, is just dumb. Tedious. The only redeeming quality the book possesses is an absolute knee-slapping, gut-busting sight gag in the last two panels of the story; the belly-laugh is not worth the price of the book.

This Justice League of America outing looked a little dated to me. It is done in the 1980s John Byrne style, so if you really are a big fan of that and a collector, you will like it. The story with some potential Doom Patrollers and the Justice League crossing over with a circle of vampires just didn't seem to gel, for me.