Customer Reviews

Justice League of America Vol. 2: The Lightning Saga

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

 

 

The Lightning Saga continues Brad Meltzer's relaunch of Justice League of America, and crosses over with Geoff Johns' Justice Society of America. This hardcover collects issues from both series' (mainly JLA) as the Justice League (now also sporting Geo-Force as a member) and the Justice Society team up to discover why members of the Legion of Superheroes are trapped here in the present day, and just what their mysterious agenda is. Sadly, Meltzer's parts of the story just aren't all that interesting. The segments written by Johns, arguably the best superhero writer in comics today, are undoubtedly the best parts of The Lightning Saga, where as Meltzer's segments just seem kinda boring. All that being said, The Lightning Saga concludes with the return of a hero that departed back during Infinite Crisis, and the book also finishes up with an excellent issue called "Walls", written by Meltzer and with art by Gene Ha, in which Red Arrow and Vixen are trapped and running out of time. Justice League of America #0 is included as well (and features art from everyone to Dick Giordano, to George Perez, to the Kubert brothers, to Jim Lee among others), and the book as a whole includes great work from Ed Benes, Dale Eaglesham, Shane Davis, and Fernando Pasarin. All in all, despite an uneven feel, The Lightning Saga is a worthy read for JLA fans, and with seeds planted to lead up to Final Crisis, why not give it a try?

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?

I recently picked up volumes 1-10 of the previous JLA series -- the one that started with Grant Morrison's very good "New World Order" -- and I have to say that over the course of 10 volumes I pretty much lost interest in the League. I loved Bruce Timm's Justice League Unlimmited cartoon, but as far as League comics go, they just seemed bland and unimportant overall (with the exception of New World Order, and the also very good Tower of Babel storylines.)

The previous series had lots of big action, but it didn't have much if any continuity. It didn't have character development, it didn't have a sense of history to it, it didn't even really have any character moments (again, with the exception of the two volumes listed above.) It was pretty much all big action with larger than life stories that in the end were all chaos and violence amounting to nothing.

I almost didn't buy the Tornado's Path (Meltzer's first collection) or the Lightning Saga because I'd honestly lost interest in the JLA comics over the course of the prevous 10 volumes. In fact, if I hadn't bought all ten volumes at once, I would have stopped after the first three or four most likely. I'm glad I had a change of heart and decided to give Melter's take a chance (based on his excellent Identity Crisis.)

Meltzer brings real character, emotion, and history to the series. His stories have continuity. He knows where the League has been, and he gives a sense that it's going somewhere. Reading Meltzer's stories, the League's past matters and it's future matters and its characters matter. I honestly don't think any of that was true for most of the previous JLA series. And because Meltzer makes you care about the character and grounds them in a world where the past seems to matter and consequences carry forward, it makes the action far more interesting (plus Meltzer just writes really good action sequences, his best being the JLA vs Deathstroke scene in Identity Crisis.)

I honestly came to care about the JLA again over the course of Meltzer's two volumes. And while I like longer story arcs better, I have to say Walls was an amazing stand alone story (that still, despite being a stand alone story, had some lasting reprecussions in later issues.) Monitor Duty was also very good and really showed the importance Meltzer places on characterization and the continuing story of the League. Too many League stories in the past felt like they happened in a vacuum, with no consequesnces, coming from nowhere and going nowhere. Meltzers stories felt like they evolved from what came before, like they mattered more, and like they would continue to matter as the League's story went forward.

The final issue in the Lightning Saga collection, issue zero, really exemplifies the epic, historical, character driven nature of Meltzer's work on the series, and was truly enjoyable and affecting.

Overall, I recommend both of Melter's Justice League collections -- the Tornado's Path and the Lightning Saga. To me, they are the Justice League done as they should be done, similar to the way Geoff Johns is currently doing the JSA -- like a team of real people with a real past and a real future. There's far more emotion invested in Meltzer's two volumes than in the first ten of the previous series. And boy, it was great to see Meltzer's and John's take on the Legion of Superheroes in volume two. They did a great job of instiling a sense of history and importance to the Legion in just five issues (and they made Karate Kid a much more interesting character than he's ever been.)

After the slow "Tornado's Path" storyline, Meltzer steps it up here with the fast-paced "Lightning Saga." The majority of the best scenes occur in Geoff Johns's "Justice Society" segments, collected here in order (although no mention is made of the Justice Society on the front cover). This is one of the better JLA stories in years.

I started reading the first one of the series: Tornado's Path and was totally hooked onto it. So I had to buy this one. I really liked it, ofcourse I had to go back to my library and borrow the Infinite Crisis, since I was confused about some parts of it, but it made sense later on :) In all this is a must read. I can't wait to get the last one in this series. The Walls story was slight confusing to me since I couldn't quite understand why they had that in it, since I was trying to connect it with the main story, but it was a good read. -- Just my 2c

This is the great follow up to The Tornado's Path. It is written by two very superb writers Brad Meltzer (Identity Crisis), and GEOFF (The Man) JOHNS (Green Lantern/Infinite Crisis/52)! It reveals the conclusion as to why Karate Kid was in the past posing as Trident, and hosts the return of a certain superhero thought to be dead. Also the trade gives a few building block for Final Crisis: Legion of Three Worlds. This is another great addition to the JLA storyline.

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.

Hey there back again for another review. Like my other reviews no SPOILERS...I think a review can be helpful and knowledgeable without giving away the butler did it.

Anyway moving on to the THE LIGHTING SAGA. First off like my title suggests, this collection is nowhere near what we got with The Tornado's Path which was the first Justice League collection...which is amazing and I gave it 5 stars...if you don't have it yet...go throw it in your shopping cart right now! I'll wait for you...go ahead. You got it...ok, good we can continue. Anyway saying this book isn't as good as the first is sort of a backhand compliment, because it's still really an incredible read. It's kind like me saying a Porsche isn't a fast as a Ferrari...when they both are pretty damn fast....Well faster then my mini-van anyway. Well getting back to my review....That's why I'm giving it four stars out of five. This story arc includes issues of both Justice League of America and the Justice Society of America....and the story crosses over between issues...which sometimes doesn't always mesh well. In this case however it does....and it does it extremely well. The writing from Brad Meltzer and Geoff Johns is top notch and will engross the reader immediately from page one. The only problem I had is where Ed Benes art shines...it makes the other artist in the book fall a little flat. The story does make up for that in a huge way. This collection has one of those moments where the writers pull the rug right out from underneath us....because just when we think we see where Johns and Meltzer are talking us...they pull a really hard 90 degree left turn...and leave us speechless. Yeah so do yourself a favor...go ahead and put this in your shopping cart next to volume #1. Oh and when you wife or spouse gives you grief cause you are reading 'Comics' or 'Funny Books'....tell them they are GRAPHIC NOVELS....the same thing works on when they might say something is a 'Doll' or 'Toy'....you can correct them and let them know it's not...it's a COLLECTIBLE or ACTION FIGURE. See how this works? Anyway do yourself a favor pick up The Lighting Saga...it will be a wonderful addition to your collection.

Thanks for reading!

I really try to enjoy Brad's work as a comic writer. For one, I really liked Identy Crisis and the implications it brought. Its not that "The Lightning Saga" is bad, its just that it could be done in fewer pages, with fewer characters. Johns segments are way better but really don't save the book in my view.

Now, if you flip to Red Arrow's and Vixen's underground tale, well, what a treat. Will Eisner would be proud of the way diagrams, borders and even the margins of this comic are used for storytelling purposes.

The reboot of the JLA starting off with Meltzer's run and into McDuffies has just been dry.

The growth of the Red Tornado was cool for the first few issues, but it hasn't gone anywhere and it has flip-flopped so many times in 25 issues that I am just confused and don't care anymore.

Everything was right going in...
Batman, Superman, and Wonderwoman on the same page - check.
Promoting fan favorites - Check.
Bringing in some under-rated characters - check.
Cultural diversity - check.

The elements in the story were all there, the fault was in the execution.