JLA: Exterminators

Justice League of America #6

by Christopher Golden, Richard Rohan (Performer), M.B. Van Dorn (Performer)

Superman. Batman. Wonder Woman. The Flash. Green Lantern. They are the World's Greatest Super Heroes, fighting endlessly against corruption and injustice. Each of them is a formidable opponent of evil, but banded together their powers are unmatched. Ever ready, they stand united as the -

JUSTICE LEAGUE of AMERICA

When a mass outbreak of super-powered individuals threatens the world, the JLA determines that latent metahuman abilities are being triggered by an alien contagion, one that's spreading throughout Earth as it transforms its hosts into monstrous engines of destruction. Racing to contain the infection, the world's greatest super heroes link the parasitic plague to an alien invasion from the team's earliest days and make a horrifying discovery: the JLA itself is responsible for the imminent disaster they now face.

(P) and © 2008 DC Comics.

Genres: Comics, Dc Comics, Superheroes, Science Fiction, Fiction, Audiobook, Fantasy

5 pages, Audio CD

First published June 29, 2004

About the author

CHRISTOPHER GOLDEN has been called “the king of the horror-thriller.” The New York Times bestselling, multi-award-winning storyteller has made his mark in many mediums, as a writer of novels, screenplays, animation, audio dramas, and comics, and as an editor of landmark horror anthologies. His work has been published in dozens of languages around the world. Winner of the Bram Stoker Award, the Shirley Jackson Award, and the Audie Award, he has been nominated for others, including the British Fantasy Award. His best-known novels include Road of Bones, The House of Last Resort, All Hallows, and his latest, Carry Me to My Grave. He lives in Massachusetts, where he watches too many movies and eats too much chocolate.

Reviews

[Dale · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Review of the Audiobook

5 CDs
5 Hours
28 Actors

Graphic audio published the audio version of a DC Comics graphic novel featuring the Justice League of America. Graphic Audio boasts that it is "A Movie In Your Mind" and while that may be a bit of an exaggeration, it is every bit as good as those old radio plays that, if you're lucky, a local radio station may play from time to time. Graphic Audio has 28 actors (if my count was correct as they named them all), music, lots of special effects and they use them all to create a thoroughly engrossing story.

There is nothing particularly new in JLA: Exterminators . A wave of new "meta-humans" are popping up all over the globe with one thing in common (besides super powers): they were all in the UK about 10 years previously and were exposed to something that gave them these new powers.

The Flash and The Green Lantern become friends with a new meta-human with telekinesis and the audience is given a perspective on both sides of this issue - the old superheroes and the new ones, some good and some bad. I was reminded of that old TV show, The Greatest American Hero , as their new friend, Ian, struggles with the desire to be a regular guy and the desire to use his new powers for good.

Later, things start to go even more haywire and giant monsters begin stomping around in just about every metropolitan area in the world, including Metropolis, Hong Kong, Long Beach, Edinburgh, Paris and especially London. Somehow, Gotham City is not pestered by this homage to Godzilla movies. These monsters are tough and the JLA has to call out anyone and everyone to stop them (except the military, which is featured big-time in a similar problem 10 years ago but is strangely absent while Superman gets thrown through entire buildings)...

Read more at: http://dwdsreviews.blogspot.com/2010/...

[Erin · Rating 5 out of 5]

So this was good.
I feel like I didn't lose track of the action quite as much as the others in the series, even with the flashbacks.

All in all it was good. I enjoyed how it made them think long and hard about the morals of the actions they take and the consequences (without being preachy).

I'm not sure if there will be more in this series, but I'll definitely listen to them if there are.

[evelyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love reading stories like this. I like the dynamic between the Justice League.

[Bree Hatfield · Rating 1 out of 5]

Here’s how I would have written this novel:

Instead of an alien parasite turning people into metahumans, there’s simply a plethora of undocumented metahuman appearances that the League has to sort out. Some are good, some are bad. Ian is a central character, and his friendship with Wally and Kyle are the main driving force. Ian goes about things differently, he advocates for his fellow metahumans, but he isn’t afraid to take down those who are using their powers for evil deeds. Wally and Ian argue some, but settle their differences — at the end, Ian joins the Justice League to represent what the future of metahuman heroes might look like.

Jon takes a lead role in documenting and leading teams to deal with and meet the new metahumans. He goes through an arc where he learns the resilience, adaptability, and kindness of humans, and comes to appreciate them more. Superman and Wonder Woman go through their own little side quest, building their friendship.

That would be a much better, character-focused book that prioritizes thematic purpose within the League. But alas… we got an extremely generic alien invasion story. It’s not new, it’s not interesting, and it’s not even that fun.

I really liked how the League deliberated on what to do at the end, and whether they went about things right. I think the book would have been much better with some actual character conflict like that instead of focusing on all the mindless action.

I did really like Ian’s little story. I liked that he learned that life is worth living regardless of power, and that to be extraordinary you just have to be good. I wish he was in it more, but thus was the nature of this novel.

[literaryaura · Rating 4 out of 5]

After the mediocre 3 books I've listened to so far in this series, I didn't have high hopes for the remaining three. I was pleasantly surprised by this book. I truly loved it.

This series might be better of as comics, as they're extremely action packed. That means we don't get much focus on the character. With this book, because of the many characters, all the action seemed perfect.

I don't know how many JLA members there are - either present, past, or reserve. Most, if not all, were featured in this book. Some maybe just in passing. Somehow the one liners and the short highlights on these characters seems spot on. Admittedly, I might have enjoyed this more because I don't read the comics, and don't know a whole lot about all the minor characters.

It was a bit hard to keep track of the characters just by their voices at times, as there were so many this time. However they did try to mention the character names in the dialogues a bit more often.

All in all, this was a really fun listen. Really great on GraphicAudio.

[Karen Ford · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ten years after a metallic rain drenched the British Isles, a select group of humans begins to gain superpowers and the Justice League must uncover the source before the humans transform into something even more dangerous.

All the familiar faces are here from the DC Comics, with a few slight changes in a nod to comics continuity instead of the new superhero television shows. Wally West is The Flash here instead of Barry Allen from the tv series being the main difference. The finish, however, has just about every character you can recall from the DC universe involved in the epic battle to save major cities around the globe.

The action is also well suited to a comic, coming fast and furious along with witty dialogue you can just picture in a balloon above the characters' heads. If one is looking for a light read that brings you back to the days of comics from the drug store, this is a perfect novel for you.

[Angela Rose · Rating 2 out of 5]

I thought I would like this better than I did. Obviously, as it took me over a year to finish, the action dragged quite a bit for me. A lot of the time, characters didn't have a distinctive 'voice'--like the comic book art from the early '80's and before when there was one male face and one female face, just with different hair colors and styles. I would like to read something else by this author to see if he does better with characters of his own creation. Not everybody can write fanfiction.

[Suraj · Rating 5 out of 5]

An awesome story.. This should have been made into the Justice League movie a long time ago.. The action is intense, yet the story is so sublimely interwoven, incorporating so many different superheros. Simply marvelous

[Keith B · Rating 3 out of 5]

A pretty straight forward story with not a lot of character development but still fun to read.

[Monica Willyard Moen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love how this book ends! What a neat plot!

[Nicolas Knight · Rating 1 out of 5]

Like most of those novelizations it really digs deep for stories left on the cutting room floor to make into a novel.
And like most of those there were good reasons those stories were left there.

[Steven Shinder · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some fine character interactions, but I didn't like this as much as I thought I would.

[Cynik · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was decent. Enjoyable superhero romp, poses some deeper questions about superhero actions than a lot of these books.

[Tim Armstrong · Rating 2 out of 5]

A pretty mundane ending to a fairly mundane series of books. It was a quick read which was nice, but the story wasn't really that exciting or interesting.

[Burton Olivier · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not bad, I did like everyone's characterizations. But the whole logic behind the monsters felt muddy and hard to follow and I just didn't care about them.

[Savi · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.25 stars.

[Doug · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not great, but I wanted to give it a try.

Monitor Womb is a dumb name; I cringed every time I had to read that phrase.

[Mike Christiansen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love comics but have always found the translation to prose a difficult one for authors to execute successfully. Christopher Golden accomplishes that rare feat with Exterminators. In the interest of full disclosure, I have been a life-long Justice League of America fan, but if anything that makes me more critical of projects involving that classic band of super heroes.

Golden does a great job at anchoring the group in a reasonably realistic world while facing an unrealistic threat, and he manages to make most of the major characters feel human. This is especially true of the Flash (in this case, Wally West) and Green Lantern (Kyle Raynor). The two young men are caught in a struggle to preserve the sanctity of human life while trying to eradicate an unearthly entity that perverts what it means to be human. This dilemma is personalized through the character of a young Englishman who they befriend early on in the book and who becomes an integral figure in the final resolution of the global conflict. Golden does an equally good job of capturing the humanity embodied in an inhuman presence, that of J'onn J'onzz, the Martian Manhunter. His characterization of Batman was a little off primarily because in his effort to present the character as a master strategist -- the greatest tactician the League has, in fact -- I think Golden ends up making the Dark Knight a little too cold and sterile. And although I really liked his take on both Superman and Wonder Woman, I felt like he struggled to identify the major elements that define Aquaman. (This last characterization is one that has eluded many a comic book writer as well but was exceptionally accomplished recently by Geoff Johns.)

All in all, I would recommend the book to anyone who truly loves comics, especially the Justice League. But, I'd also recommend it to those who love science fiction and adventure, whether you're familiar with the comics genre or not.

[***Dave Hill · Rating 3 out of 5]

(Original review Aug 2006)

Overall 3/5
Story 3/5
Re-Readability 4/5
Characters 3/5

Golden has earned his chops as both a writer (first) and a comics writer (second), and it shows here. Writing for an ensemble like the JLA is a challenge — a lot of characters that have to be dealt with, plus a lot of high-powered types like Green Lantern and Superman and Wonder Woman. It’s tough to write those guys with a straight face (or keeping a straight face on the readers), it’s tough to balance the powers and roles of folks like both Superman and Batman, and it’s tough to write a decent conflict for them to handle, while interweaving both backstory and most of the other super-groups of the DC Universe.

Golden manages this, pretty handily. We have a dangerous threat of both global levels yet with emotional impact, too. There's conflict within the group, and different personalities managing to be clear and obvious. And powers like those of GL and the Martian Manhunter and Superman are presented with (comic book) authenticity, believability, and balance.

There are a couple of missteps. Golden keeps referring to Wonder Woman as a “goddess” — possibly a public perception within the DCU, but hardly canonically true. And it’s vaguely odd that the cover is a fine Alex Ross painting of the “classic” JLA, while this contemporaneous (to 2002) tale includes the “new” Flash (Wally West) and (differently-attired) Green Lantern (Kyle Raynor). (It’s also a bit strange to run across references to the previous-incarnation Teen Titans and Young Justice, too, but that’s just a matter of the ever-changing world of comics.)

This would have made a good limited series comic book.

[Vanessa Wolf · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a pretty balanced JLA book, for the most part, there's a lot of cameos, from the Titans (not the Teen Titans version), to Booster Gold (you know things are desperate when Booster shows up). Its also Aqua-Man post-hand loss, though they don't mention this until later on it does help picture this going into the story (and orient the timeline/current reality).
There's two types of aliens in the story, the aforementioned Exterminators and the Burrowers. The Exterminators exists to perform its nominal task and through a complicated series of events reveal their targets. There's the bickering that usually takes place between 'Supes and Bats, time spent with Wally and Kyle (current Flash and surviving Green Lantern). The accents weren't terrible, and it was rather fun to see Wonder Woman bemoaning she doesn't have time to visit various museums as she beats monsters. Still, time with the Atom and other bit convoluted complications did drag the story a bit. Though Golden gives Batman some very awesome moments.
The music was rather 'meh,' not bad, more accented, but a good job on the flutes overall, rather pretty. The problem I found with Graphic Audio, which bears repeating is the track breaks, plenty of story breaks to do it, still decided to randomly time the track. And yes, at times it was a bit tough to tell who was talking, there's a lot of voices, but nothing to confusing to work out. And the story was engaging, some of the slower parts of the story were still pretty entertaining, and I found the characters true to their comic-selves.

[Robin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wasn't sure how this would translate to audio format but I shouldn't have been worried. It was absolutely amazing. The voices were right on and some, like whoever did Batman, were flawless. GA's tagline is "like a movie in your mind" and this really did flow more like a movie than a dramatization of a story, even though there was narration and not all dialogue.

The story was good, although you really have to pay attention in the beginning to understand what is going on. With an ensemble cast of characters, someone is bound to get shorted in the development area. If there was anyone here who got shorted, it might have been Wonder Woman. There was a little bit of characterization there, but certainly not as much as the boys. I enjoyed her parts, though. Aquaman came off as kind of a jerk. Batman too, although my love affair with him goes way back. I was always more Marvel than DC, so I'm less familiar with characters that didn't make their way past the pages of comics into other media. Green Lantern, Martian Manhunter, Steel, etc. I liked getting to know more about them but I couldn't tell you if they were done well or not because my experience with them is so limited to begin with.

Sometimes, as much as I have come to like audiobooks, listening to one person read to me is just not that interesting. This is a nice change of pace, and I really didn't see a downside to it at all. If you like action, this is probably something you're going to enjoy.

[John-Michael Gariepy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Are you people on Goodreads all mad? While I, too, love to see more audio plays of superheroes, this production is rather poor... especially considering Pendant Audio makes much better radio plays of the DC universe with amateurs being paid nothing.
Everyone on cast sounds like a generic super voice... which makes it very hard to tell who is talking, and points out that the big names in the DC universe have very little personality. The plot is banal: I could have gotten this string of events from a eight year old with an active imagination. Later on, the story just turns into a 'who's who' of the DC universe; much like a big splashy comic book panel with a bunch of heroes fighting, but, you know, with everything being spelled out for you because this is a radio play done in the classic style.
Is it hypocritical of me to want the main cast be clearly identifiable and easy to understand, but then want the action going on when the entire superhuman community shows up to be a chaotic mess? Yes! Oh, yes, the hypocrisy is tangible. Now do that!

[David Wickham · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm wavering between really liking it and just liking it. It's one of those books that changed my opinion of some of the JLA characters. Maybe change is too strong of a word-made me question my opinion is probably better.

Who can an average person trust himself to make the correct decision when we have "heroes" who can't or possibly even won't?

Comic book heroes are our myths. We don't have Zeus and Hera. We have Superman and Wonder Woman. They're supposed to be perfect but this book really showed in a big way that they're not. There's a current debate going on among comic fans about when a character such as Superman or Wonder Woman does something that is so out of character for them, how should the reader react or should the reader react? This book gave me my answer-the reader should put themselves into the shoes, or boots, or these characters, and try to answer that question for himself. I did that and as I said, my opinion of these characters wasn't as solid as it had once been.

[Daniel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty good book in all. I have tried over the years to start and finish this one, but I failed. I decided to finally bear down and dig in and give it a full read. It's a pretty good tale, and though I believe this wold have made a better comic book entry, it wasn't bad. The writer, Christopher Golden does an excellent job of writing the tale and exploring the members of the Justice League. The plot was kind of predictable, I must admit but enjoyable nonetheless. If you like comic book novels, or characters of the DC Universe, give it a read. It's not as good as the Batman novel, the Stone King, but a fun read.

Danny

[Kathleen · Rating 1 out of 5]

*Didn't finish*

Stopped 50 pages in. The writing was too concise for me, though of course that's probably the nature of it being a novel adaption of comic book characters. However, it was to the point that I might as well have just read a graphic novel, which is not what I look for in a book.

Characterization was great though; that was apparent. The few action sequences I got to were decent. It was super annoying to jump between different points of view in one chapter. It just didn't grab me.

[Craig · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a pretty good superhero novel; not great, but interesting and attention-holding. I had the feeling that the author was more familiar with and sympathetic to the characters in his Marvel novelizations. In this one the current League has to deal with a problem that a previous team left unresolved. Did some of the Takesian virus leak over into the DC Universe out of Wild Cards? Got to read it to find out.

[Craig · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really loved these kinds of books when I was still in school, but these days they just don't connect much with me. However this one did. It really worked well for a super hero novel and really held my interest. The current justice league has to fight a treat that the first league thought they had taken care of. Very nicely written.

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another good Graphic Audio full cast audio of DC Comics Justice League of America. Great cast, good narration, soundtrack and sound effects. Time flies when I listen to the parts about The Flash! A minor spoiler in this story but that okay.

[Gene · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've always been a big Marvel fan, but I do respect the DC titles. Been look for good Superhero novels, and this is one of them. Lot of funt, great insights tothe characters and a ton of action. Highly recommend if you like Superhero Novels.

[Timo · Rating 1 out of 5]

So.... there aren't any good JLA stories around because this was second cappy one I listened on a row.
Boring, too bouncy and pointless.