11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Sound & Fury, March 27, 2009
This review is from: Justice League of America, Vol. 2: The Lightning Saga (Paperback)
This review is from:
Justice League of America Vol. 2: The Lightning Saga
For all the hard work that Brad Meltzer, Geoff Johns, and half a dozen pencillers and inkers have put into the title story of this collection, "The Lightning Saga" reads like an evening of Dungeons & Dragons enacted by characters who think they're in a Jacobean revenge tragedy. The reader is urged repeatedly to consider the pain of betrayal as one explanation for the characters' actions, yet by the end there doesn't seem to be anyone responsible for having done the alleged betraying. This is a story without a villain, despite walk-on roles for four of DC's bad guys; what we're left with, not to give too much away, is a story about a handful of 31st century heroes who've been sent back in time on a rather goofy suicide mission. Conveniently amnesiac on arrival, they succeed mostly in making nuisances of themselves.
If "The Lightning Saga" is all sound and fury, things improve drastically in the standalone story, "Walls." Red Arrow and Vixen, both seriously injured, have to rescue themselves from a collapsing building. The panels, on pitch black pages, get narrower and more claustrophobically oppressive as the heroes find themselves running out of time, space, oxygen, and hope. It's a virtuoso piece of visual storytelling by Meltzer and artist Gene Ha, easily the one must-read story in this collection.
The last two stories are more typical of Meltzer's comics writing in that they're both elegant fantasias on decades of Justice League history. "Monitor Duty" views the League as an extended family, a collection of soul mates, confidants, lovers, near-siblings, quasi-in laws, and real and virtual sons and daughters; it's all about the prickly love that makes a family a family. "Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow," drawn by 23 artists, is a behind-the-scenes look at the friendship of DC's Holy Trinity: Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman. Drawing on a dizzying archive of old comics and recent graphic novels, we watch the bond between these three extraordinary, difficult individuals fraying over the years towards a (possible) future in which they'll barely be on speaking terms; for now, they're the indivisible core of the Justice League, friends whose philosophical differences are implicit in their efforts to see the League in the context of a bigger picture. What's that old saw about good intentions?
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
What just happened?? Seriously!?!?, July 29, 2009
This review is from: Justice League of America, Vol. 2: The Lightning Saga (Paperback)
I'm a really big fan of both Geoff Johns and Brad Meltzer but this trade left me scratching my head raw. The Legionnaires have always been a slightly confusing topic to start with then you add in a JLA adventure with the JSA abd you too many characters who have as much of a hard time as the readers figuring out what is going on. Maybe this project was too ambitious. I don't know exactly why but this didn't come together well. On the positive side the solo part involving Roy and Mari was excellent but overall not good at all.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Really great and "FULLSOME" book, June 27, 2009
This review is from: Justice League of America, Vol. 2: The Lightning Saga (Paperback)
I'll make this brief. I really enjoyed this book - based on comments on here, the book well surpassed my expectations. After reading Identity Crisis I was instantly a big Brad Meltzer fan, and this was more good works with a blend of very funny moments with very deep overall writing. The first component of "The Lightning Saga" (hereafter "TLS") was basically a "training" story. After all of the fascinating-but-yet-emotionally-tiring seriousness of DC over the past half-decade this was a nice moment of traditional (JLA & JSA just "hanging out" together) relaxing enjoyment of the two "super teams" and their go-betweens.
The main component of TLS fits in and explains more about Starman & Karate Kid with regards to Final Crisis (Countdown) and the JSA run. I have honestly never read a story about the Legion - they seemed more like cheesy kids to my assumptive perspective. But the main component story arc was: a mystery; an ultimate team-up of the newer JLA & JSA with the blends of older heroes & also the "legacies"; and a resurrection.
The third component was a more seemingly-random story that I wasn't sure why it was included, but was impressed with the deep simplicity of the writing (two heroes caught in a life-threatening situation and trying to find their courage).
The final component is a very nice retrospective on the history of the JLA sort of in a memory scattershot of poignant moments. The single page with Batman and Wonder Woman lamenting the death of Superman from that epic 90's story still evoked a surprising amount of emotion.
I felt that this was an awesome book for the amount of content and WELL WORTH the money. Brad Meltzer has a great writing style & really seems to capture the heart and soul of particularly the JLA. Overall I am truly thrilled about the DCU right now - they have utterly AMAZING writers doing very deep and well-written stuff. As for this particular book, I strongly recommend it - it will entertain you for the two hours or so it takes to read it, and at the VERY LEAST you will not feel like you "wasted your money". I am very happy I purchased it.
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