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Wonder Woman & the Justice League America #2

Wonder Woman & the Justice League America Vol. 2

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In these never-before-collected stories from the 1990s, Wonder Woman takes over as leader of the Justice League America, whether members like Green Lantern Guy Gardner, Booster Gold or Blue Beetle like it or not. First, team member Ice battles her brother over whether she will return to her home nation. Then, in a team-up with Justice League International, the team must battle the Overmaster, who holds Earth itself for ransome. This volume features many of DC's 1990s superheroes, including the Ray, Captain Atom, Fire and Ice, Bloodwynd and more.
Collects JUSTICE LEAGUE AMERICA #84-91.

192 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 1994

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About the author

Dan Vado

88 books7 followers
Dan’s desired life goals of being a professional layabout and part-time man-about-town were interrupted when he accidentally became a comic book publisher. Founding his comic book company, SLG Publishing in 1986,

Dan went on to publish many eclectic and idiosyncratic titles, such as Johnny the Homicidal Maniac by Jhonen Vasquez, Lenore by Roman Dirge, and a host of other creators and titles too numerous to mention. In addition to his publishing work, Dan briefly wrote for DC Comics, most notably producing a thankfully-forgotten-until-someone-decided-to-reprint-it run of Justice League comics at the same time as being one of the first writers published by DC Comics with a creator-owned contract with his series (with Norman Felchle), The Griffin.

Frequently travelling the path of most resistance, Dan founded a music venue called The Art Boutiki Music Hall. Opening in 2009, the Art Boutiki brought together music, comics, and other art in one place until it closed in December 2025. Dan can often be seen wandering the streets of Midtown in San Jose, walking up to people and saying, “Do you know who I AM?”

Dan is spending the latter part of his useful life pursuing yet another, and perhaps his least yet profitable, avenue: being a writer. His current project is a 90-page novella called "My Diecast Life," which will be released in December of 2025. This new project is a series of vignettes from Vado's boyhood, told through the lens of playing with diecast cars, and offers brief looks at growing up in an Italian household, among other things.

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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
Profile Image for Chad.
10.7k reviews1,080 followers
March 21, 2018
I truly am a glutton for punishment. Volume 1 was not good. Yet the library had this, so here I am back for more. Vado has stripped the humor that the book used to be known for away and replaced it with nonstop screaming and yelling at the rest of the team. They don't seem to like each other at all or even have respect for one another. Most of the book has the three Justice League teams teaming up to stop a Galactus wannabe from destroying the earth. It's chock full of fugly, terrible art. Just look at Superman's face. Yikes!

624 reviews2 followers
February 25, 2018
This is just not good. The world is ending (for vague and largely undefined reasons), and everyone seems to hate each other. For a long stretch, it seems we can't go a page without someone snapping testily or blasting someone in anger; a major Leaguer betrays the team, apparently for no good reason, and then summarily dies, shuffled off-panel while a stalkerazzi creep leers and tries to take photos of the dead body (really, this actually happens in the book). I'm a DC shill, but this is dismal. There is some good character work on the Blue Beetle/Booster Gold friendship, and Darkseid pops up for a few pages, but that's barely redeeming. Since Goodreads doesn't have 0/5, I don't think this is a 1/5.
Profile Image for Justin Partridge.
577 reviews4 followers
September 22, 2025
“I/We had not counted on this species faith in its heroes.

They must be made to understand that these “heroes” are the cause of their species’ downfall- -

- - or they will be robbed of their opportunity to make peace.”

My time with Diana as Chairwoman of…A JL team comes to a head-scratching conclusion having been dominated mostly by a pretty weird crossover this volume. Just as it was starting to find its soapy feet!

Because when it’s in that gear, I find myself really vibing with it. And the new writer, Dan Vado, seems to have taken some of the notes from the opening arc and really made this a character focused book instead of an “issues” focused one.

I still think some of it falls flat, and that’s largely due to the scattershot feeling of the casts and the crossover (three different titles with three different casts; it CAN work, sure, just doesn’t here), but it’s neat to see this big of a title being lead by a bunch of women and doing coma storylines and asking questions about the JLA’s multinational standing as a “task force”

There is also some pretty fantastic artwork here too. Marc Campos and Chuck Wojtkiewicz aren’t artists I’m super familiar with, but I’ve really come away from these volumes in particular as a fan for sure.

Home stretch now! And I think the quality will be picking up here soon. Fingers crossed it will anyway.

Profile Image for Tony Laplume.
Author 57 books41 followers
May 5, 2020
The Dan Jurgens/Dan Vado Justice League America was the version of the League I grew up with, which sounds kind of silly because in the grand scheme it was only a handful of years (1992-1994, to be precise). Wonder Woman and Justice League America: Volume 2 comprises its final act, culminating in the ambitious crossover epic “Judgment Day.” I get that I’m in a tiny, invisible minority treasuring these moments, but they remain as valuable to me as when I first watched them play out.

Jurgens left after “Death of Superman” and revealing the big secret behind Bloodwynd, stories collected in Superman and Justice League America: Volume 2, and then Vado came aboard, and generally he kept the ball as Jurgens had established it rolling. Jurgens of course had the historically thankless task of following the “Bwa-Ha-Ha League,” the comic adventures from Giffen, DeMatteis & Maguire, an act eventually reprised a few other times in later years. The Jurgens/Vado League effectively ends here, although Vado continued on in the pages of Extreme Justice for a little while. Vado, here beginning his partnership with artist Marc Campos, who joined him in the early issues of Extreme Justice, might be mistaken for chasing the Image effect in this volume, which is what DC and Marvel were undoubtedly responding to in those years, but it would be a mistake to dismiss the results this way.

After Grant Morrison relaunched the League in the massively popular JLA, the instinct was to forget and belittle what had come before, so this volume represents the culmination of a lost legacy. What Vado did was build on what Jurgens had accomplished: the “Bwa-Ha-Ha League” in essence grew up, as evidenced by the development and fate of its most innocent member, Ice, in these pages. Jurgens’s League members all face climactic moments. Booster Gold & Blue Beetle, the biggest goofballs he inherited, were devastated by Doomsday, and they barrel to growth and recovery, and end their paths joking again, against all probability. Fire finally regains her powers, after losing her best friend. And Bloodwynd decides the course of his destiny, which as it turns out is more akin to Phantom Stranger than Martian Manhunter (an arc that has gone unanswered in the quarter century since its conclusion). Maxima, perhaps, is left with the least resolution (none, really), but you can’t have everything. Guy Gardner, meanwhile, had rocketed off on his own adventures at last, which were to have many wrinkles over the years (none of these heroes have had the kind of longevity he’s had, which no doubt seems improbable to readers who still vividly remember “One punch!”).

I was always a Bloodwynd guy. I know, as obscure a comics devotion as remembering, much less fondly, that “Judgment Day” happened at all! But the character always fascinated me. A powerful dude but full of reluctance and even ambivalence. A unique superhero. It’s just nice to see him go out on his own terms.

“Judgment Day,” I think, happened at all for the same reason the long “Trial of the Flash” happened in the ‘80s. In that case it was because of Crisis On Infinite Earths; in this one Zero Hour. There were large swathes of the Vado League I missed at the time, so reading the collections has helped fill in some of the gaps, and helped me catch things that flew over my head at the time. Booster’s arc in “Judgment Day,” how history doesn’t unfold as he thought it did, is due to Zero Hour ripples, as it turns out. (The next issues were actually tie-ins, the whole Triumph business.) This is the first time I’ve gotten to read the complete “Judgment Day,” in fact.

It includes issues from Justice League International and Justice League Task Force, the latter written by Mark Waid, who years later took part in another ambitious collaboration, 52. Call me crazy, but I think he remembered his experience working on “Judgment Day.” He turns in the best issue of the arc, a countdown (which happens to feature Bloodwynd settling into his would-be new role) that looks like it’s headed in one direction, but settles on another.

Campos looks like a response to Image. It’s a stark contrast in art to the artist from the previous volume, who looks like he was turning in a generic version of Jurgens. The funny thing is, Campos is not hugely removed from the style of Howard Porter, who gained superstar status in the pages of Morrison’s JLA. And strangely enough, Porter supplies a couple covers to this League (tuning up the band, as it were).

But this is not Image material. There is great storytelling here. And at its core is the League in crisis, as every DC property experienced at the time, concluding, as I’ve said, the story begun with Doomsday.

Well, anyway, for me anyway, this is prime Justice League material.
Profile Image for Roland Baldwin.
500 reviews2 followers
August 9, 2024
It falls down with the crossover. It’s terrible and ends on a cliffhanger again. Truly as extreme 90s as you can get. Quite boring
Profile Image for Willow Redd.
604 reviews40 followers
November 9, 2019
This was bought for me as an anniversary gift by my ex. He knows I'm a fan of Wonder Woman, so he thought this would be a good purchase. It also happens to be from the time I was still heavily into comics, but includes stories I had not read.

So, here we have a post Death of Superman/Return of Superman Justice League storyline that sees the return of a previously seen Justice League villain called "The Overmaster," a strangely all-powerful being known for completely destroying civilizations and taking a single specimen as remembrance. How is this a Wonder Woman story? Well, she's just taken over as the leader of the League, much to the chagrin of one Captain Atom. It's interesting how much disrespect WW receives in this story because it's in the Post-Crisis timeline where she has only been in "Man's World" for just under ten years. In this continuity, it is Queen Hippolytta's tenure as Wonder Woman that make up the Golden Age adventures.

The over-arching story is okay, but it feels like Mark Waid, Gerard Jones, and Dan Vado didn't have as much time to tell the story as they wanted. Some of the happenings feel rushed, like panels had to be cut for space and leave a few holes in the storytelling, which is unfortunate, because it's a decent story, including an important moment in minor-Leaguer Ice. A lot of this story deals with friendships, both the Fire and Ice and Blue Beetle and Booster Gold friendships are tested during the battle with the Overmaster. Also, the art in the earlier issues seems lacking to me.

Overall a fine story, just wish the writers had a few more issues in which to space it out, which is saying something when you consider that they were using the three existing Justice League titles to tell it. Still, worth the read for someone tracking the Pre-Crisis versus Post-Crisis changes like I am at the moment. A good gift, I think, just a pity he couldn't find the first volume as well.
14 reviews
May 8, 2026
Superhero melodrama at its finest!

I read this story in its original floppy format when they were first released, when I was just discovering comic books. I gravitated to this team because the characters were new and fresh, and felt like “my characters” rather than the previous generation’s “Super Powers” lineup. I loved this story as a teen, and I still got a charge out of rereading it decades later. The emotional resonance was impactful, particularly the bonds between Blue Beetle and Booster Gold, and Fire and Ice. I do think occasionally the art is a little over the top, with character faces looking like they’re screaming at each other in every panel even though often they’re having normal conversations, although if nothing else, it heightens the melodrama.

Great story that I think is underrated because the characters are more remembered for their Bwahaha era than this more serious take on them.
Profile Image for Mark Stratton.
Author 7 books31 followers
June 10, 2019
A couple of issues leading up to the “Judgment Day” storyline, then we find out where Ice dies. And Booster Gold dies, then isn’t dead.

This all takes place not long after the whole “Death of Superman” storyline. And Bloodwynd remains a mystery.

And Marc Campos artwork is just poorly suited to these stories. Everyone looks like they are always enraged. I get it was the 90’s, but seriously, this was bad.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Eskana.
532 reviews2 followers
January 15, 2022
Review:Quite the product of the 90s. This volume is quite a mixed bag. The art is pretty bad, overdrawn, over-dramatic, and messy-looking. There seems to be no distinction between foreground and background, and the style was pretty bad. The dialogue isn't bad either; the characters are almost constantly fighting with each other, over the most contrived reasons.
On the other hand, the plot is pretty interesting. We obviously have quite the serious event going on. This volume deals with the arrival of the Overmaster on Earth, and he's come to wipe out human existence. He's also come prepared with a Cadre of superpowered beings, as well as the ability to mentally force heroes to join his side. The countdown is on, and "someone will die!"
That being said, overall, the dialogue, the infighting, and the art really drag this volume down. Also, while this volume obviously had some important takeaways (discussed below in spoilers,) overall, this volume seems sadly skippable, if it weren't for the character moments for a few people in particular.

Plot Synopsis: At the beginning, it's pretty clear that the League is in a troubled position. Wonder Woman is still in charge, even though Superman is no longer dead, but she is being challenged for leadership by Captain Atom. Somehow, even though WW was the only one really to bring Guy Gardner to heel, she somehow finds Atom a bit of a handful. Atom, for his part, is an incorrigible hothead who won't listen. Why doesn't he like Diana? No idea. Except for his frequent references to her as "princess".... Was that really the best they could come up with?
At the same time, some of Atom's recent actions have put the League's relations with the UN in jeopardy. There's still some fallout from Doomsday's attack, as well. Fire is still without powers, but Ice's powers have grown since the altercation with her brother. And her attitude's grown pretty frosty too. No more nice Ice. Beetle is still hesitant to get involved in the action, while Booster Gold is struggling to stay in with his makeshift super-suit, provided by Ted.
When Overmaster appears and the world is shaken by a series of earthquakes, Booster Gold, the hero of the future, begins to remember details of this event. He, Captain Atom, and a team of heroes go to confront Overmaster at Mount Everest. Booster is convinced based on his historical records that this is supposed to be his greatest moment, but instead, he almost dies in the attack from the Overmaster's Cadre. His arm is ripped off, and the team rush him back to headquarters. Meanwhile, Ice is mind-controlled into joining the Overmaster.
The Overmaster's destruction reins around the world. Earthquakes, vanished cities, and general panic reigns. The UN restricts the League from acting, causing a division in the ranks as Captain Atom refuses to follow orders from either the UN or Wonder Woman. Central City appears to be destroyed... Flash wasn't fast enough to save it. Fire is distraught that Ice was missing, and then the whole team gets a downer with the news that Booster's flatlined.
BUT THEN....
A few new threads are laid, and it's easy to see why, from here, the League was divided into three (especially Captain Atom's "Extreme Justice," quite possibly the most 90s thing you'll ever see.) And it had lasting impacts. But I wouldn't suggest it to new readers. Even I skimmed past most of it.... although, to be honest, I was reading it for the classic JLI member bits, so anything with Fire, Ice, Beetle, Booster, and other classic members works for me.
Profile Image for Jody Banman.
190 reviews
January 28, 2026
I really can't believe DC comics even considered reprinting this crap let alone did so, this is literally the worst era of Justice League that I'm aware of, and I've read everything Justice League before this run and a fair amount of what came after it. This run essentially was the catalyst for the end of collecting and reading comic books for me, I was buying these issues until I reached a point where I just moved on to other things and quit reading comics, and I had been pretty obsessed with comics and the Justice League just a year or two prior to this era. Not to belabor the point, but this is awful.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews