Customer Reviews

Justice League of America, Vol. 2: The Lightning Saga

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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?

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.

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.

Though I enjoyed the Lightning Saga a good deal, my main problem with it is as follows:

Even I, a huge fan of the JLA, Legion, and to some extent the JSA, could not tell you what the hell this story was about, or much of what happened.

The overall plot seemed to be basically just an excuse to throw all these teams together and write a nice bunch of character-moments. I would've enjoyed it just as much without the overall story-arc, since it really just confused things and didn't make a whole lot of sense.

As Tornado's Path, this one I read it a year ago in digital. Why I purchase it now on trade?. I don't know. I don't regret it though. Both books are a pretty good package. Is a very good run what they got here.

The story is a good one. Legion on Superheroes guys are in present time for certain mission, but they must deceive Superman and the rest of the JLA and JSA to do it so. The writing might get a little messy in some parts but is just a little critic. I liked the Lightning Saga as a whole.

There's other stories as "Monitor duty" and the one with Red Arrow and Vixen, but the last one is a GREAT way to finish it: "JLA: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow". Is just a pretty story and have some future events on the DC Universe involving the Trinity. Besides this you get the cover gallery, which is fantastic too.

I liked the book, and for the Amazon price is just a must have.

Mind you... this have direct contact with Countdown to Final Crisis :)

Ed Benes is great penciller but I cannot say the same of the of the other half of this book he didn't take care of...