Adam Graham's Blog: Christians and Superheroes - Posts Tagged "justice-league-unlimited"

Batman '66 #34:

This issue brings back a lesser-remember Batman villain from the TV series, Marsha Queen of Diamonds and she has a totally outlandish and audacious scheme that strikes at the heart of the Dynamic duo. This was just a fun story that really was in keeping with the spirit of the TV show.

Rating: 4.0 out of 5.0

Indestructible Hulk #16:

This book served as a prelude to the inhumanity saga and finds Bruce Banner frustrated as things haven't quite gone according to plan with him giving SHIELD use of the hulk in exchange to being able to build and create scientifically. Banner's shown having to intimidate people to get more funding. (You going to argue with a guy who turns into the Hulk?) However, even his efforts to be a groundbreaking scientist are frustrated as on three straight days, the groundbreaking scientific project he's trying to create is actually solved by fellow Marvel science guys Tony Stark, Reed Richards, and Hank Pym.

Banner needs to hulk out but he needs to be restrained until it's time and for that, he needs the help of his lab assistant Randall Jessup to keep calm until the Hulk is actually needed. Jessup in some ways is reminiscent of Rick Jones. The book explains how he became equipped for dealing with out of control angry people in some nice flashbacks. Jessup's a good character though I'm dubious at why Waid so openly tips his hands as to what will happen to him.

Overall, this was a nice issue that sets up the next story arch.

Rating: 4.0 out of 5.0

Silver Surfer #2:

At the end of the last issue, the Surfer is challenged to protect an alien world and told that even if he doesn't the most important person to him, Dawn Greenwood, will be killed. He has no idea who Dawn Greenwood is but because he's Norin Radd, he will do what he can to protect the innocent and confront the Never Queen.

The Never Queen is just a great character and concept. Dawn Greenwood also is just incredibly likable and plucky. The plot takes a couple nice turns as the Surfer learns that he hasn't been told the whole truth.

Overall, I'm really enjoying this arch and the new Silver Surfer. It's the type of fun that makes people fans of science fiction in the first place.

Rating: 4.25 out of 5.0

Iron Man Volume 1 #53:

Mostly this was a decent issue, continuing Iron Man's battle with the flame powered cultist from Issue 52. There's nothing great or bad about the issue other than it spends a lot of time telling us backstory about a character who would never be seen again. Still Jim Starlin writes a competently done Iron Man story here.

Rating: 2.75 out of 5.0

Masks #8

This final issue of the pulp miniseries wraps up with the heroes battling the villain for the first part and then having an ethical debate about their differences, particularly in regards to their willingness to kill ranging from: none at all (Green Lama) to only if forced (Green Hornet) to as he sees fit (The Shadow). This was kind of interesting but the last issue wasn't that place. The story did end on a positive note.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.0

My overall thoughts on the series: It did a good job with what it had to do. With few true "superpowers" among the group of pulp heroes, they needed an enemy big enough to draw them together, but not absurdly over the top, and they succeeded. Most of the cast did get screen time and the art really does carry the story with the solid art direction of Alex Ross. While we don't get too deep with most characters, we get deep enough with everyone.

Overall series rating: 4.0 out of 5.0.

Justice League Unlimited #9:

This story features the Justice League travelling back to Camelot, which is a pretty fun concept, and there's some nice art of this battle with Morgana Le Fey.

The story is dragged down by massive amounts of padding to get this thing to 20 pages. We're given the origin story of shining night, which is great, except his role in the story is minimal. The focus of the story is Vixen (Green Lantern's rebound girlfriend after Shiera in the TV series) who spends the entire issue refusing to listen to Merlin and dragging out the story.

Rating: 1.75 out of 5.0

Justice League Unlimited Volume 3: Champions of Justice by Adam Beechen

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


This book collects Issues 11-15 of Justice League Unlimited Comics. Below is an issue by issue review:

"Postcard from the Edge": This is a Stargirl story as she, Superman, and Wonder Woman go to Atlantis and meet up with Aquaman but trouble comes. This follows the typical path of a Stargirl story both in the comics as the cartoon as it begins with her being disrespectful and snotty to Aquaman only to discover he's got some strongpoints and for him to discover the same about her. Here, I think the plot is actually fairly well done. Grade: B+

"Old School": This story with the Golden Age Flash (Jay Garrick) being challenged by a child and called a phony and not the real Flash. But Jay is called away to help the incumbent (Wally West) in a battle against Mirror Master. I actually enjoyed this one quite a bit as a great Jay Garrick story and a great introduction to the character for younger readers as a tie-in to the Wally West Character with ending to boot Grade: A

"Nuts and Bolts": The Red Tornado's wiring has gone crazy and Steel is the best one to stop it as he's an expert on Red Tornado's mechanics even though he's less close to the Android than anyone in the Justice League. Overall, this felt not so well-developed as the reason for Steel's emotional distance was never explained. Grade: C+

"Everybody Limbo": Both the DC Animated TV programs as well as the comic books tried to put supernatural heroes like Doctor Fate in the same story as non-powered vigilantes and when you had a heavy magic plot, the non-magical characters felt out of place. Here, they don't do that as they gather all the supernatural members of the Justice League including an angel and demon to fix a problem and leave the normal people behind. That's where my praise for my book ends because the problem is that this doesn't feel like a Justice League story, plus the story seemed to have a bizarre message about demons and angels working together. Grade: D

"Urban Legend": A story of the Urban superhero Vibe, who I'd never heard of before. This story tells little about him and what it does tell doesn't really help. It's a weak stereotypical tale which might worked on television if expanded. Overall, not a very engaging story. Grade: D+

Overall, the first half of the book is better and as a whole it's mediocre at best.



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Justice League Unlimited Volume 4: The Ties That Bind by Adam Beechen

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


This book collects Justice League Unlimited Issues 16-22 based on the Cartoon Network TV series.

Issue 16 is the "Holiday Issue" featuring Supergirl trying to cheer up Atom Smasher while Girder tries to break out of prison. The plot has been done better elsewhere, but it's not too bad. Grade: C+

Issue 17 is "Let Freedom Ring" which has The Freedom Fighters, a team of old Quality Comics superheroes being duped into breaking into the Justice League Watch tower. It's really an excuse for having heroes fight and a lame use of the characters. Grade: C-

Issue 18 is "Fare 48,": Superman is picked up by an intergalactic time travelling taxi driver who is a big Justice League fan. Really concept that's very well executed. Grade: A-

Issue 19 is, "The Justice Rangers Ride Again," and finds Wonder Woman, Elongated Man, and the Vigilante going back in time to meet up with DC's stable of Western heroes and also one of the Vigilante's ancestors. It's a good story that's somewhat distracting by the art on Wonder Woman. It's not suggestive but she is drawn doing inexplicably cutesy things like playing with her hair at weird times that's a bit odd. Grade: B

Issue 20: "Just Us Girls" A clunker of an issue that goes out of its way to portray female Justice League members fighting villains in a way that's boring, contrived, and pedantic. Grade: D

Issue 21: "Stormy Weather": This is actually a pretty good story featuring two heroic couples (Green Lantern (John Stewart) and Vixen and Green Arrow and Black Canary) as well as the very fun villainous match of Killer Frost and Heat Wave. The Vixen-Green Lantern relationship is center stage in terms of seriousness but the whole story of a fire and ice villain getting together is fascinating too. Grade: B+

Issue 22: "Outside Looking In" is a great story to wrap up the book featuring a former loner known as Gypsy who views the League as her family but ends up in a hot water when she appears to call them on a false alarm. This is a very nice script and it does a good job of making this very obscure character, someone you care about. Grade: B+

Overall, some good stories, a few clunkers, and a few average ones makes for a three star rating for the collection.



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Justice League Unlimited: Heroes by Adam Beechen

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


This last collection of Justice League Unlimited comics collects Issues #23-29 of the comic book based on the cartoon network series.

"Heroes" focuses on the Justice League breaking up a bank robbery by the Royal Flush Gang. That the Royal Flush Gang would bother with something as mundane as a daylight bank robbery seems really out of character. It is also bizarre that Superman, Batman, Red Tornado, and Black Canary team up for this. However, the contrivance is for a purpose: to make the point about the importance of real life heroes like police and firefighters. Unfortunately, they accomplish little without the Justice League saving their bacon which negates the point. Still, their heart was in the right place. Grade: C-

"Along Among the Stars": By the way, the Martian Manhunter was in the last story. His presence didn't make any sense other than to deliver the message but he's back in full force in this story as he is the only member of the Justice League on the Watchtower not to be taken over by the Starro creature. As he stumbles around trying to survive, he remembers his long lost Martian family. Overall, this sort of story with the Martian Manhunter has been done before. There are some good moments, but the story didn't live up to the pathos of previous Martian Manhunter stories. Grade: C+

"The Devil May Care": The Blue Devil is upset with kids being scared of him because he looks like a Devil. He looks like a Devil because he's a Demon. He goes to Doctor Fate to ask for help and Fate tells him there's nothing he can do, no power whatsoever. He apologizes for being insensitive earlier and will try to help him even though there's still nothing he can do, but by this time Blue Devil has learned the importance of having a positive self-image even if you are demonic spawn. I don't like "demonic heroes" and this story was particularly dumb. Only highlight are some weird dreamscapes with the return of Doctor Destiny. Grade: D-

"The Ghosts of Atlantis"-Doctor Fate appears in this one as he, Superman, and Booster Gold go to Atlantis and fight evil underwater giant statues powered by Felix Faust. It's not as cool as it sounds. Also at the end, Fate has been invited to join the League despite him being a semi-regular. That's just lazy continuity. Grade: D-

"Climb the Mountain"-A story featuring Black Lightening, one of the more obscure DC Characters. The Parasite wants to face Superman and is destroying Metropolis to do it. With many heroes including Wonder Woman laid aside, it's up to Black Lightning to win it. Overall, there's some good action and a nice message even though they didn't sell me on the idea that superheroes discuss what they'd be if they couldn't be superheroes. Grade: B+

"Season's Beatings, Justice League": The title doesn't fit the story but they need something Christmasy (or a Holidaysy as the case may be.) The Flash has ticked off Batman by taking his mind off the battle to look for a last minute Christmas item allowing a henchman to escape. Batman tasks Flash with finding the henchman. Instead, Flash runs into the Phantom Stranger who shows him why Batman's such as a grouch at Christmas by showing two past Christmases, including one where Clark Kent took him home. The gist is that Batman believes that if he allows him to be happy, he'll forget his anger and therefore forget his parents. Why the Phantom Stranger does this makes no sense, as it appears to be just a plot device, but an interesting one. Grade: B-

"Untamed"-The story features Animal Man who is tasked with dealing with B'Wana Beast, a Justice Leaguer who is not a team player. The story has a bit of an in-joke about Animal Man and B'Wana Beast also being paired and assumed to be similar as animal guys even though their powers are completely different and I think the story serves both to riff on how these two lesser known heroes are confused by fans. The story is decent with some nice comedy and you feel for Animal Man caught in the middle between B'Wana Beast and Superman. It's one of the better stories here, not great but enjoyable. Grade: B+

Overall, this book is mostly a collect of okay stories with a couple really weak ones. There are way too many plot issues, but the book on a hole is passable.




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