Customer Reviews

JLA: Trial by Fire

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

 

 

This book collects the 6 part issue of JLA: Trial by Fire. It is Joe Kelly's final run on the JLA for the near future. In that respect Joe Kelly manages to leave on a very high note.

The story begins with criminals all-over the world going regretful of their actions. KKK members douse themselves on fire, Joker and Two-Face demand the death sentence for their actions and even President Luthor is left in a coma by a telepath, an ancient breed of Martian known as the Burning Maritan. At the same time we get a look at how the Martian Manhunter, Jo'nn Jonz has overcome his fear with fire and has taken a temporary leave of the JLA to spend time with his teacher/lover, ex-villain Scorch. JLA decides to cut Jo'nn's vacation in order to have his assist with the telepath case. That's all I'm gonna say about the story because anything else would be a spoiler. Let's just say that a good hero goes bad....really really bad and the savior of the JLA and the World is the most-unexpected of heroes.

This story shows Joe Kelly in his top form. The story is very cleverly written. In addition it contains small commentaries that really makes you feel the urgency of the heroes and the enjoyment of the antagonist, i.e. "Somewhere Superman has just said his first real curse word in years, that has to count for something" and "Batman teleported out before I could gut him, slippery devil". The art team of Mahnke and Nguyen is also in stellar form, every splash pages, every panel exudes energy.

I have to say that I truly enjoyed this book and it is among my favorite JLA stories, along with Grant Morrison's first JLA story, New World Order, Mark Waid's Tower of Babble and Joe Kelly's the Obsidian Age. Personally, I don't see anything wrong with this book. I am personally saddened to see Joe Kelly go from JLA since, I really enjoyed his stories. But the good news is that he leaves us with one of his best works.

With the whole world going mad, the Justice League of America must move fast to find out what is going on. A rogue telepath is tinkering with the Earth, taking away people's freedom of thought, but who is it? This ordeal will drive the JLA into a battle with one of their own members, a battle they cannot win. But, Batman has an ace up his sleeve; there is one person who can do it...if he can just remember how.

Overall, I found this to be a very good graphic novel. The illustration work is very good (except for they way The Atom was drawn), and the story is absolutely gripping. I'm not sure I would have thought of the bad guy as quite as invincible as he is painted herein, but setting that aside, you do get to see very good graphic novel, fighting for their very existence. So, if you like a good, solid superhero story, then this is the book for you. My eleven-year-old son and I both enjoyed this book, and highly recommend it to you.

have I enjoyed a story this much about a superhero team fighting to take down a single globe threatening villain. I enjoyed it very much and I will seek out more stories by Joe Kelly. All the characters are tangibly pushed to the edge.

"JLA: Trial By Fire", reprinting #s 84-89 of the JLA ongoing, is a true epic, rich in action, high stakes, emotion, concept, delivery and grandeur, all brought together so perfectly that a single flaw near the end - that would have sapped the impact of many tales - seems no more than a slight glitch. It's a story that both Justice League mainstays like Superman and Batman, and characters who haven't logged nearly as much time to date on the team's roster (such as Faith and Manitou Raven), get to shine in.

In the beginning, something strange is happening across the planet. The most ruthless of dictators, the most dangerous of super-villains, the most remorseless of killers....are changing. Suddenly overcome with guilt and intent on never again returning to their former ways. All this sounds good at first, but as things progress it's getting deeper as various characters are not only 'seeing the light' but are falling into catatonic states, being paralyzed, or being tormented in increasingly physical and vicious ways. The League senses that this is all a lead-up to something even bigger and darker. One of the successes of "Trial By Fire" is that, right from the get-go, it Feels like there's really major, really out-of-the-ordinary threat emerging, something that even the League may not be able to handle. Sometimes when a new storyline instantly introduces a brand new, 'different-than-anything-they've-faced-before' threat to a group like the Justice League, there's a bit of a lack of authenticity to it. You're watching as the new threat nearly makes mincemeat out of everythin in its path, but you don't really believe that this new menace could come out of the blue and just hammer away a team as powerful as Superman, Wonder Woman, Batman, Firestorm, et al. "Trial By Fire" is the exact opposite of that. It feels plausible, frightening, and deadly.

Indeed, the initial wave of incidents is just the tip of the iceberg, and things go from bad to worse for the team. It's not wall-to-wall action from Page 1 onwards though. One of the things I love best about the writing of Joe Kelly is that when he's doing a series, all members of both the main and supporting cast have their own interesting things going on, and weaving very cohesively through the 'big' plots. With as big a cast as "JLA" has, not every character can play a lead role in every story arc. Here, characters like Superman, Martian Manhunter, and Batman are among those taking center stage in the action, but some of the best points in the book focus on characters like Manitou Raven, Wonder Woman, and Major Disaster, who don't overall get as much page time here as they have in other JLA arcs but are essential nonetheless. The ongoing developments between Batman and Wonder Woman - which played an ongoing part in Kelly's run on the series - are done to perfection, and though I'd like to make observations on this aspect, I think it's best that I don't lest I give something away. There's an interesting dynamic between Faith and the Batman as well; although Faith is, at this point, a very new character in the DCU (although she obviously has more backstory than has been revealed) she's one of the least hesitant of the group to produce counter-arguements against the Dark Knight's position, and the often stubborn Bat is more open to her viewpoints than he is with most newcomers. There's good humor tucked away that one might miss if they're not careful, and there's an interesting angle about two characters who seem (and this isn't entirely clear but it sticks out as a possibility) to be developing a mutual attraction that neither one is in the least aware of.

As for the one flaw I mentioned earlier - it happens in the last issue, and while I'm not going to say what it is, it kind of reminded me of the finale to the 1978 Superman movie (uh, I guess I can't say what that is either, just in case anyone hasn't seen it). It's one of those moments where a seemingly imposible catastrophe is averted at the last moment and you just kind of feel like saying 'Oh come on! Even_________ isn't THAT powerful!' A lot of stories would have been crippled by it; this one isn't. (I'll admit I kind of adjusted the timeframe in my own head to make it at least a little bit more believable) It was the kind of moment where just because there's no conceivable way out, that doesn't stop anybody. It was quite out of sync with the rest of the story, and it's testament to how awesome "Trial By Fire" is as a whole that it recovered within mere pages, helped along by emotional impacts so powerful it makes one more than willing to forgive a lone inconsistency. Most of the time I'd bump a book down at least one star for that gaffe, but "JLA: Trial By Fire" was just so good that I can't. Judged as a whole, it's outstanding and gets an extremely high recommendation. 9.7/10

My real grade is 4 and a half stars.

Lovely action-pack book from my (near to be) favorite team of Joe Kelly and Doug Manhke.

I said it before and I say it again... Kelly always puts the JLA between a rock and a hard place. What a way to make every book looks like a big crisis.

For years many people had said "Why The Martian Manhunter, being as powerful as he is can't best Superman?". I think this book finds the answer. Man, love Kelly/Manhke's run!!.

Btw, Plastic Man rules!.

Something funny is that, before the Obsidian Age, I haven't even knew of Major Disaster existance. Now I think he's one of the best. Hope it all goes well, but I doubt it.

Anyway, this book is good!.

One huge problem I have always had with the DC Universe is that their heroes are created too powerful. The likes of Superman, Flash, Martian Manhunter, etc. are shown here to do some unbelievably feats yet they are also succumb to things that wouldn't seem to make sense given their power displays earlier. It's the unevenness that bothers me and its quite evident here. This story, focusing on Martina Manhunter isn't bad but at times it was hazy as what exactly was going on. That could be Joe Kelly's fault or the artist, Doug Mahnke, might not have been clear enough. Mahnke does provide some spectacular visuals. There are certain scenes here that I will always remember. They are that good. However, there is are a lot of pages that seem to lack that same effort. Overall, this is a an interesting book that is a little convoluted but worth your time.

Probably one of my favorite story arcs in any JLA run. In the story the Martian Manhunter tries to deal with his psychlogical fear of fire. The art is pretty good and the story is told beautifully. No really bad point in it either.

Kelly pulls it off as usual. I was riveted from the start. The setup was actually in the last graphic novel but I just read that one a couple weeks ago. I don't really know that much about Green Lantern or J'ohn's origins so this gave some cool glimpses into what they're all about. Loved the conflicted heroes (especially Superman) who didn't want to kill their long time friend and ally and of course it was cool to see Plastic Man back, he's always loads of fun.