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Justice League of America (2006)
Justice League of America, Vol. 6: When Worlds Collide
Doctor Light is missing, and her former Justice League teammates intend to find the man responsible and make him pay. But before they do that, they'll have to get past his Shadow Cabinet of powerful superbeings who have sworn to "Save humanity from itself." Milestone Comics characters Icon and Hardware make their first modern DC Universe appearance, and it's not clear whose side they're on!
Collects Justice League of America #27-28, #30-34
Collects Justice League of America #27-28, #30-34
176 pages, Hardcover
First published October 20, 2009
28 people are currently reading
139 people want to read
About the author
Dwayne McDuffie
429 books71 followersDwayne McDuffie was an American writer of comic books and television. His notable works included creating the animated series Static Shock, writing and producing the animated series Justice League Unlimited, and co-founding the comic book company Milestone Media.
He co-hosted a radio comedy program, and also wrote under a pseudonym for stand-up comedians and late-night television comedy programs. While working as a copy-editor for a financial magazine, a friend got him an interview for an assistant editor position at Marvel Comics.
While on staff at Marvel as Bob Budiansky's assistant on special projects, McDuffie also scripted stories for the company. His first major work was Damage Control, a series about the company that shows up between issues and tidies up the mess left by the latest round of superhero/supervillain battles. While an editor at Marvel, he submitted a spoof proposal for a comic entitled Teenage Negro Ninja Thrasher in response to Marvel's treatment of its black characters. Becoming a freelancer in early 1990, McDuffie followed that with dozens of various comics titles for Marvel comics, DC Comics, and Archie Comics.
In 1992, wanting to express a multi-cultural sensibility that he felt was missing in comic books, McDuffie co-founded Milestone Media, a comic book company owned by African-Americans.
After Milestone had ceased publishing new comics, Static was developed into an animated series Static Shock. McDuffie was hired to write and story-edit on the series, writing 11 episodes.
McDuffie was hired as a staff writer for the animated series Justice League and was promoted to story editor and producer as the series became Justice League Unlimited. During the entire run of the animated series, McDuffie wrote, produced, or story-edited 69 out of the 91 episodes. McDuffie also wrote the story for the video game Justice League Heroes.
McDuffie was hired to help revamp and story-edit Cartoon Network's popular animated Ben 10 franchise with Ben 10: Alien Force, continuing the adventures of the ten-year-old title character into his mid and late teenage years. During the run of the series, McDuffie wrote episode 1-3, 14, 25-28, 45 and 46 and/or story-edited all forty-six episodes.
On February 22, 2011, McDuffie died from complications due to a surgical procedure performed the previous evening.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dwayne_M...
He co-hosted a radio comedy program, and also wrote under a pseudonym for stand-up comedians and late-night television comedy programs. While working as a copy-editor for a financial magazine, a friend got him an interview for an assistant editor position at Marvel Comics.
While on staff at Marvel as Bob Budiansky's assistant on special projects, McDuffie also scripted stories for the company. His first major work was Damage Control, a series about the company that shows up between issues and tidies up the mess left by the latest round of superhero/supervillain battles. While an editor at Marvel, he submitted a spoof proposal for a comic entitled Teenage Negro Ninja Thrasher in response to Marvel's treatment of its black characters. Becoming a freelancer in early 1990, McDuffie followed that with dozens of various comics titles for Marvel comics, DC Comics, and Archie Comics.
In 1992, wanting to express a multi-cultural sensibility that he felt was missing in comic books, McDuffie co-founded Milestone Media, a comic book company owned by African-Americans.
After Milestone had ceased publishing new comics, Static was developed into an animated series Static Shock. McDuffie was hired to write and story-edit on the series, writing 11 episodes.
McDuffie was hired as a staff writer for the animated series Justice League and was promoted to story editor and producer as the series became Justice League Unlimited. During the entire run of the animated series, McDuffie wrote, produced, or story-edited 69 out of the 91 episodes. McDuffie also wrote the story for the video game Justice League Heroes.
McDuffie was hired to help revamp and story-edit Cartoon Network's popular animated Ben 10 franchise with Ben 10: Alien Force, continuing the adventures of the ten-year-old title character into his mid and late teenage years. During the run of the series, McDuffie wrote episode 1-3, 14, 25-28, 45 and 46 and/or story-edited all forty-six episodes.
On February 22, 2011, McDuffie died from complications due to a surgical procedure performed the previous evening.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dwayne_M...
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews
January 19, 2018
Moments of fun spread between a lot of dull, uninspiring storylines.
So this is when two worlds collide. Yes, I don't blame Dwayne for too much at fault here. A lot of shit was happening at the same time world wide in the universe such as Final Crisis and Fall and Rise storyline. So it's not all on him but man oh man he could have made the villains or evil doers more...interesting? So the Shadowking dude comes in, and Dr. Light is there to face off, with the other leaguers and honestly every issue boils down to just a big dumb brawl.
Good: The comedy still hits at times. Firestorm being the funny guy. We also get some good character interactions with everyone in the group. The art is also pretty solid.
Bad: The storylines are dull and lifeless. Villain of the week feel just like can skip right over any issue. The characters seem to act out of character at times (This is more because editorial) and the fights have no energy in them.
Overall another meh chapter. Better than Hitch's Justice League but this is pretty weak overall. A 2 out of 5.
So this is when two worlds collide. Yes, I don't blame Dwayne for too much at fault here. A lot of shit was happening at the same time world wide in the universe such as Final Crisis and Fall and Rise storyline. So it's not all on him but man oh man he could have made the villains or evil doers more...interesting? So the Shadowking dude comes in, and Dr. Light is there to face off, with the other leaguers and honestly every issue boils down to just a big dumb brawl.
Good: The comedy still hits at times. Firestorm being the funny guy. We also get some good character interactions with everyone in the group. The art is also pretty solid.
Bad: The storylines are dull and lifeless. Villain of the week feel just like can skip right over any issue. The characters seem to act out of character at times (This is more because editorial) and the fights have no energy in them.
Overall another meh chapter. Better than Hitch's Justice League but this is pretty weak overall. A 2 out of 5.
January 10, 2021
Starts off strong with the Milestone heroes showing up for some unknown reason to give Dr. Light her powers back. They fight the Justice League just because they don't want to tell them what's going on. (Yeah, it's a dumb reason.) Then Final Crisis and Justice League: Cry for Justice suck the winds out of this story. Half the team leaves and the story is half-assed finished by this B-team. You could tell McDuffie's heart was no longer in the story.
June 25, 2022
This was so good omg!
I loved this one as we basically see JL vs Milestone characters and we see how these heroes snuck in the Hall of Justice and what that leads to plus the revelations and behind the scenes stuff with Superman and Icon and all that and the operation vs Shadow thief and the restoration of Dr Light and her powers, which was really well done and the fallout of Final crisis and the death of Batman and how that collapses JLA and its interesting to see this series tie into the existing status quo of then and a new team reforming and them taking on the threat of Starbreaker and Shadow Thief and both universe heroes trying to save it and yeah its even more epic than it sounds and I love the friendships and bonds forged there, and so many new characters into the DCU now!
Just fantastic stuff, Dwayne had a habit of writing the character moments really well and he does it again here and shows why the DC heroes are larger than life, he shows them at their best and respects continuity and uses so any characters in a brilliant way and I love the drama and tension and all that plus the art of Benes and Morales is just too good and they make every page so worth it!
I loved this one as we basically see JL vs Milestone characters and we see how these heroes snuck in the Hall of Justice and what that leads to plus the revelations and behind the scenes stuff with Superman and Icon and all that and the operation vs Shadow thief and the restoration of Dr Light and her powers, which was really well done and the fallout of Final crisis and the death of Batman and how that collapses JLA and its interesting to see this series tie into the existing status quo of then and a new team reforming and them taking on the threat of Starbreaker and Shadow Thief and both universe heroes trying to save it and yeah its even more epic than it sounds and I love the friendships and bonds forged there, and so many new characters into the DCU now!
Just fantastic stuff, Dwayne had a habit of writing the character moments really well and he does it again here and shows why the DC heroes are larger than life, he shows them at their best and respects continuity and uses so any characters in a brilliant way and I love the drama and tension and all that plus the art of Benes and Morales is just too good and they make every page so worth it!
August 4, 2015
Witty. Disjointed, but witty. I suppose I couldn't expect any less from the late great Dwayne McDuffie. I do think some of the stories were carried by the clever puns more than the plot though.
January 23, 2025
Gentlemen, we’ve been had.
The crossover that put Milestone Comics on the radar... temporarily! Initially, I read about this on Black Superheroes earlier this year. Has the JLA met their match? 😱Forget Batman V. Superman!
🤔 Why 3 stars?
•The story plays like an action movie, starts great, slows down and finally ends on a high note. I think the members of the Shadow Cabinet lacked backstory.
•Donner and Blitzen were named after 2 of Santa’s reindeers!😁
•Icon and Hardware are African-American versions of Superman and Iron Man, respectably. 🤓WTF, Milestone???
•Great artwork. I just found out that Vixen is busty! No wonder women want equality! 😏
October 4, 2011
Eh.
Not sure if this is a must-read, but certainly not the worst thing I've ever picked up, either.
Black Canary is struggling to keep the Justice League together without Batman, Superman, or Wonder Woman on the active roster. Batman is dead, and Superman and Wonder Woman have other things to deal with, so all of the cool kids are jumping ship and heading over to Hal's new team.
The rest of the story is about a mish-mosh of characters that I knew little to nothing about, but maybe at some point I'll look back on this and put the pieces together. I'm not going to be in any hurry to do it, though.
Not sure if this is a must-read, but certainly not the worst thing I've ever picked up, either.
Black Canary is struggling to keep the Justice League together without Batman, Superman, or Wonder Woman on the active roster. Batman is dead, and Superman and Wonder Woman have other things to deal with, so all of the cool kids are jumping ship and heading over to Hal's new team.
The rest of the story is about a mish-mosh of characters that I knew little to nothing about, but maybe at some point I'll look back on this and put the pieces together. I'm not going to be in any hurry to do it, though.
March 15, 2025
“Work out the soap opera on your own time.”
The Dwayne McDuffie Era of JLA ends as it started. A rad-as-all-hell character focused crossover extravaganza with some shockingly expansive stakes for the whole of the DC universe. Case in point, had absolutely no idea so much of this not only spins up Final Crisis but ALSO danced between the raindrops of Batman RIP and McDuffie just makes it all look absolutely easy
Helps a ton too that Rags Morales just shows up for an issue to throw the hell down and this finally seems to find Ed Benes calming the fuck down and actually trading in all his cheesecakey stuff with some genuinely cool and functional comic book action.
Also awesome how much The Big Three are MINOR characters at best in this. And now John Stewart, Vixen, and Jason Rauch Firestorm get the leading charge all throughout this arc. Obviously I would have loved a little more of the Shadow Cabinet, especially since the Supes and Icon stuff is just so, SO good, I just think maybe a few pages more of that stuff would have pushed that a bit more in the more interesting territory (though it’s VERY interesting that two McDuffie arcs in a row have the JLA explicitly working with morally grey/outright villainous characters and then spending the next issues parsing that out, one of the few monthly comics that really did that well imo).
Idk, it’s like, is the arc perfect? No. But am I extremely happy and proud that McDuffue ends his time on the title bringing his own box of amazing toys to the DC sandbox? Bet your hot little hands i am. I wonder how the rest of this run reads. It STARTS with Cry For Justice so….maybe like I’ll just end here on the high note.
The Dwayne McDuffie Era of JLA ends as it started. A rad-as-all-hell character focused crossover extravaganza with some shockingly expansive stakes for the whole of the DC universe. Case in point, had absolutely no idea so much of this not only spins up Final Crisis but ALSO danced between the raindrops of Batman RIP and McDuffie just makes it all look absolutely easy
Helps a ton too that Rags Morales just shows up for an issue to throw the hell down and this finally seems to find Ed Benes calming the fuck down and actually trading in all his cheesecakey stuff with some genuinely cool and functional comic book action.
Also awesome how much The Big Three are MINOR characters at best in this. And now John Stewart, Vixen, and Jason Rauch Firestorm get the leading charge all throughout this arc. Obviously I would have loved a little more of the Shadow Cabinet, especially since the Supes and Icon stuff is just so, SO good, I just think maybe a few pages more of that stuff would have pushed that a bit more in the more interesting territory (though it’s VERY interesting that two McDuffie arcs in a row have the JLA explicitly working with morally grey/outright villainous characters and then spending the next issues parsing that out, one of the few monthly comics that really did that well imo).
Idk, it’s like, is the arc perfect? No. But am I extremely happy and proud that McDuffue ends his time on the title bringing his own box of amazing toys to the DC sandbox? Bet your hot little hands i am. I wonder how the rest of this run reads. It STARTS with Cry For Justice so….maybe like I’ll just end here on the high note.
May 8, 2018
Starts off strong but things get tedious fast. The team is thrown into disarray following the events of Final Crisis and the end result is a bunch of heroes standing around, trying to decide who should be on what roster.
There just isn't much to care about here.
There just isn't much to care about here.
September 18, 2021
Taking place around the events of Final Crisis, we see the Milestone universe come in contact with the DC universe. The first time I read this I had no idea who any of the Milestone characters were, and wasn’t too fond of this story arc. I’m still not overly familiar with them, but seeing the Shadow Cabinet face off with and then team up with the JLA is still a fun time. Starbreaker and Shadow Thief made for interesting villains, and seeing the mental manipulations they had on our heroes was more interesting than the physical confrontation was.
As with the majority of this JLA run, it becomes interrupted by events and requires knowledge of other outside stories in order to fully understand and enjoy what is occurring. This takes away from the enjoyment, but all around this is still one of the more entertaining stories with a full beginning and ending.
As with the majority of this JLA run, it becomes interrupted by events and requires knowledge of other outside stories in order to fully understand and enjoy what is occurring. This takes away from the enjoyment, but all around this is still one of the more entertaining stories with a full beginning and ending.
November 29, 2010
This barely got three stars, and whether he likes hearing it or not it is because of writer Dwayne McDuffie. McDuffie blames the quality of the stories and his removal from the title on DC editorial, but I think at much of the problem is that McDuffie has not learned how to write for today's market. He writes fine for a one-two issues, but today's market calls for a writer who can string together enough over 5-6 issues to make it worthwhile for the publisher to collect in a trade paperback. There are pluses, and this is why I gave it a three instead of two star review. Intelligent characters Icon, Hardware and Rocket are well written and a explanation is given for the merging of the Milestone (McDuffie sold the right's to the company's characters to DC) and DC universes.
July 24, 2011
Dwayne McDuffie did is darnedest here in 2009 to integrate his Milestone characters into the mainstream DCU, bringing in his Shadow Cabinet characters to square off against the JLA. Ably assisted on art by Ed Benes and Rags Morales, he did a good job of this, and this team-vs-team, team-with-team collection suffers only from (1) a break in the issue sequence while some other DC event was going on (the book collects JLA 27-28, 30-34),(2) the only partly-on-screen conflict between Black Canary as the JLA leader and the rebellion of some of the other JLAers against her leadership. This latter was odd and annoying, but here it particular jars in the middle of the collection.
Still, some good stuff here from the late (and missed) Mr McDuffie.
Still, some good stuff here from the late (and missed) Mr McDuffie.
August 19, 2012
"I'm not convinced that this is particularly good JLA, especially not with the second-string team, but it's nonetheless a fair read, and a great chance to see McDuffie writing Milestone again and explaining their interactions with the current DC universe."
February 5, 2016
I have always enjoyed the JLA, in all it's various incarnations through the decades. This new modern JLA is a very enjoyable read. Great art and plot make this JLA a great read for an older fan or a perfect place for a new fan. Very recommended
April 21, 2014
I liked this one! I am looking forward to reading another Justice League comic.
December 13, 2021
This volume collects the last issues form Dwayne McDuffies' Justice League of America run, and it shares the same strengths and weknesses that plagues it from the begginning. However, by this volume, the weaknesses are outweighting the positives, and its a very dull read.
As I've writen in reviews of previous volumes, he is good at writing character interactions and how the members of the JLA work as a team, but these usually serve a plot that is often either too slight, or too metaphysical, without being engaging, and that allways feels rushed. It's a shame. because the quieter intimate moments are well written (but very few in between), and I like that the lineup features less known characters like Black Lightning, Red Tornado, Firestrom, Vixen, Red Arrow and Hawkgirl, as well as Zatanna popping up once in a while. And I liked Black Canary as the leader. But these are all there to advance what are mostly dull plots and arcs.
Artwork is great as allways, which isn't surprising, cinsidering its Ed benes doing it.
Overall,a decent, but unspectacular run and collection.
As I've writen in reviews of previous volumes, he is good at writing character interactions and how the members of the JLA work as a team, but these usually serve a plot that is often either too slight, or too metaphysical, without being engaging, and that allways feels rushed. It's a shame. because the quieter intimate moments are well written (but very few in between), and I like that the lineup features less known characters like Black Lightning, Red Tornado, Firestrom, Vixen, Red Arrow and Hawkgirl, as well as Zatanna popping up once in a while. And I liked Black Canary as the leader. But these are all there to advance what are mostly dull plots and arcs.
Artwork is great as allways, which isn't surprising, cinsidering its Ed benes doing it.
Overall,a decent, but unspectacular run and collection.
April 26, 2019
I really appreciate that this book has some of my favorite heroes in it but I was disappointed that it did not focus on the league more than it did, although it did focus on some of the issues they had when Black Canary had taken the role of leader of the league and tried to do what had to be done even though she was at odds with everyone and everything else.
It really is a shame that the book isn't longer though it is very fast paced when the league fights Shadow Thief and finds starkiller. Just a good read but not great.
It really is a shame that the book isn't longer though it is very fast paced when the league fights Shadow Thief and finds starkiller. Just a good read but not great.
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May 18, 2023Similar to last volume, this has solid character yet is bogged down by the larger story arcs that aren’t compelling, as well as last minute changes ordered by editorial. It’s clear as the book goes on that the A list are no longer available for McDuffie as main characters, but he does his best with the rest of the ensemble. I long for someone other than Grant Morrison to the piece together a consistent Justice League run, but I will suffice with McDuffie’s Justice League Unlimited episodes where he was blessed to roam free.
January 20, 2023
This book had good parts but holes in it due to tie-ins which are not even referenced clearly. When I read a JLA TPB I expect the full story not highlights. I started on the next one in the series and find that several heroes are supposedly deceased and others have started their own League. What? That is bogus. I am glad I read these via kindleunlimited where I did not waste good money buying incomplete stories. Nice artwork, incomplete story.
April 6, 2024
Very good.
Dwayne Mcduffie was a great story teller across many of DC properties. His story telling was deep and I really enjoy his work. This book is a prime example of that. I had heard of some of Milestones characters but never knew much about them. He made me care about a lot of the characters in this book. Read any of his books and you can tell the love that Mcduffie put into it. Its worth your time.
Dwayne Mcduffie was a great story teller across many of DC properties. His story telling was deep and I really enjoy his work. This book is a prime example of that. I had heard of some of Milestones characters but never knew much about them. He made me care about a lot of the characters in this book. Read any of his books and you can tell the love that Mcduffie put into it. Its worth your time.
October 20, 2020
This was an unfortunate melding of two universes for no reason. Added to that is that all the team drama is from things that happened in other books. Justice League Of America should be a premier book and this run hasn't been. The art has been very good but couldn't do much for this overly complicated tale involving waaaaaaaaay too many characters.
June 11, 2019
As is so often the case with certain series, the longer they run the more they tail off. Someone should really do a graph :)
December 22, 2019
Story was a bit dusjointed. One and half stars.
November 11, 2020
Dwayne McDuffie made GREAT comics!
April 13, 2025
Black Canary if I was in this Justice League roster I would follow you to hell if necessary fuck Hal Jordan and his boyfriend
October 13, 2013
At this point it is pretty well know the difficulties that McDuffie had on his Justice League run, but I thought this was by far the best collection. I enjoyed meeting the Milestone Heroes (the only one I do know is Static, who does not appear here), and I thought that the interactions with the League were entertaining (esp. the stuff with Icon and Supes). Hardware was probably the MVP here just for being such a smartass about everything. Again, the story is slightly uneven, and I did not really feel the stakes of the final fight, but I still enjoyed the volume overall.
February 5, 2013
While I loved seeing the milestone characters finally brought into the dc universe, I thought the characters could be better utilized: both dc and milestone. I did like explaining the overlapping of the universes as well as tying the story into final crisis. I just feel that the dc's introduction of thee characters would yield more character moments.
August 27, 2015
Most of the story serves to a) bring back Dr. Light II and b) bring the Milestone universe into DC canon. It manages this rather well, with interruptions from Final Crisis rather smoothly integrated. And it's entertaining. That's pretty much it. (B)
February 3, 2016
Solid work.
Fun art.
A good story.
Problem: the reader needs to know a little about Milestone Comics and the characters.
It worked for me because I did know some of them.
Again fun, good.
No real movement of the JLA plot.
Fun art.
A good story.
Problem: the reader needs to know a little about Milestone Comics and the characters.
It worked for me because I did know some of them.
Again fun, good.
No real movement of the JLA plot.
December 18, 2009
This is no damn good.
I say that in about 2,000 more words here:
http://everydayislikewednesday.blogsp...
I say that in about 2,000 more words here:
http://everydayislikewednesday.blogsp...
May 23, 2012
The entire time that I was reading this book, I was thinking that I had already read this exact same story 15 years ago. How lazy can you get?
Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews