Justice League of America #7 Review

Meltzer delivered an enjoyable ending to his initial story arc on the Justice League of America. The Revolution is interested to see what Meltzer has in store for the JLA next. I am confident that Meltzer and Benes will turn out another strong read in Justice League of America #7. Let’s do this review.

Creative Team
Writer: Brad Meltzer
Penciler: Ed Benes
Inker: Sandra Hope & Ed Benes

Art Rating: 9 Night Girls out of 10
Story Rating: 9 Night Girls out of 10
Overall Rating: 9 Night Girls out of 10

Synopsis: We begin with Black Lightning arriving at the Batcave and handing Batman and invitation to join the new Justice League of America. Batman comments that it is rather simplistic to settle on a roster based on who was involved in the fight with Amazo and Grundy. Black Lightning responds that the original roster of the JLA was formed the same way.

We then cut to Vixen and Hawkgirl accepting their invitations to join the JLA. We then shift to Black Canary and Hal Jordan giving Arsenal an invite to join the JLA. At first, Roy thinks it is a joke. Hal then hands Roy a package. Inside is a red version of Green Arrows string across the chest vest and a belt with a red “R” for a buckle.

Roy puts them on. Roy asks if Ollie knows about this and if he is going to be mad. Hal says don’t worry about Ollie. Black Canary gets all teary eyes looking at Roy with his new costume. Hal even gets teary eyed as Roy asks how he looks. Hal responds “All grown up.”

Arsenal then asks if the “R” on his belt means he should change his name. Hal says that he can still go by the name Arsenal. Roy responds that it is time. It is a family business and a family name. Roy and Hal hug as Hal says “Welcome to the League, Red Arrow.”

We cut to Geo-Force meeting with Black Lightning. Geo-Force says that he has new powers that are out of his control. Geo-Force demonstrates it for Black Lightning by stabbing his hand with a sharp rock. Geo-Force’s hand starts to glow. Geo-Force says this isn’t him. That this is her. Suddenly a large rock hand erupts from the ground next to Geo-Force. Black Lighting exclaims that Geo-Force has Terra’s powers. Geo-Force asks Jeff not to tell anyone until they figure out what is going on.

We shift to Red Tornado accepting his invitation to join the new Justice League of America. Red Tornado is still adjusting to being back in his android body. Red Tornado thinks how just because you can fly doesn’t mean that you aren’t in a cage. Poor Reddy misses the sense of smell and touch when he had his human body.

We hop back to Black Lightning and Batman in the Batcave. Batman activates a teleportation doorway. Jeff asks Batman if he has decided to join the JLA. Batman responds that he was going to ask Jeff the same thing.

They step through the teleportation gateway and are greeted by Superman. Black Lightning asks where they are. Superman responds that they are in Washington, D.C. Superman says welcome to the Hall. (Oh, damn! Meltzer did not just bring the old Hall of Justice from the Superfriends cartoon into this new DC Universe!!)

John Stewart and Wonder Woman designed the Hall, Batman paid for it and Superman built it. The Hall of Justice is located on the same site as the former headquarters of both the JSA and the All Star Squadron. That it is back to remembering what is important. That the Hall sends a message. That the JLA isn’t an idea. It is an ideal. And people need to be able to see them and know they are here.

We see the meeting room with the team leader’s gavel on the giant round table. Black Canary’s name is on the gavel signaling that she has been elected leader of this new Justice League of America.

Superman and Batman continue to give Black Lightning the tour of the Hall. They show Jeff a huge room full of memorabilia from the various members of the JLA as well as the villains that the JLA has battled.

Wonder Woman then appears on the scene and shows Black Lighting “The Kitchen.” They walk through a large doorway and enter a huge training room. It is called “The Kitchen” because if you can’t stand the heat…you should get out of the kitchen.

Black Lighting then looks out the window in the training room and realizes that they are in a satellite orbiting Earth. That once you enter The Kitchen it takes a person “slideways” and teleports them to the JLA satellite. The Kitchen can simulate any type of scenario or environment.

We hop back to the Batcave where Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman are all meeting. Superman is unsure if it was wise for them to allow Hal and the others to simply pick who they want on the JLA. Wonder Woman says that sometimes you have to trust the Fates.

Batman comments that personal choices, especially selfish ones, don’t always lead to victory. Superman says that this selection process was a bit too much like happenstance. Batman points to the bat on his chest and says none of this is happenstance. Batman says that the League is bigger than all of them. And they should never let it be anything but that.

We cut to Dr. Will Magnus studying the new Amazo chip. We then cut to Happy Harbor, Rode Island, where Dr. Ivo is running out of a cave. An unknown creature is chasing him. The creature says that Ivo cost the host pain and it doesn’t like that. The host says that it is a herald. Ivo asks who the creature is a herald for. The creature doesn’t answer. The creature then jumps from the shadow of the cave and it is none other than Starro!

We shift to the members of the JLA all meeting together and taking a group photo. We then cut to Hal meeting with Green Arrow. Hal tells Ollie that Hal didn’t tell Roy that the Red Arrow costume was from Ollie. Ollie comments that he failed Roy all those years ago and this time he wanted to get out of Roy’s way for the right reasons.

Green Arrow said that if he had helped the JLA tackle the Red Tornado situation then he would not have been able to leave the League. That Ollie loves the League and misses it everyday. But, there are some things that Ollie loves more. And that is Roy.

We get a prologue with Batman and Black Lightning inspecting Trident. Batman says that he laced radio tags through out Trident’s costume. Batman then takes Trident’s fingerprints and runs a search on them. The computers at the Batcave, Gotham Police Department, AFIS and the Hall of Justice all come up with no matches.

However, the computer from the Fortress of Solitude comes up with a match to the Legion of Super Heroes. Batman is shocked. Batman says that Trident is from the 31st century.

Comments
The Good: Justice League of America #7 was another fantastic read. Meltzer just keep hitting homerun after homerun with each issue of this new JLA. I am so impressed with the high quality of writing and art that we have gotten on this new Justice League of America each and every month for these first seven issues. Meltzer has exceeded my expectations for this new version of the Justice League of America.

Meltzer serves up a wonderfully written issue with several very touching and emotional scenes. I hate to admit it, but I actually got a little emotional myself while reading several of the scenes. The scene where Hal and Black Canary present Roy with his JLA invitation and the Red Arrow belt and costume was extremely moving. Poor Roy has been through so much in his life with the feelings of abandonment and his drug addiction. It is wonderful to finally see Roy attain the legendary status as a Justice Leaguer. Roy most definitely deserves this honor.

Roy’s character has grown a lot and he is the perfect choice to honor Ollie by filling Green Arrow’s space on the JLA roster. And I totally dig that it is official that Roy has junked the Arsenal codename and is now Red Arrow. Yet another piece of Kingdom Come begins to manifest itself in this new DC Universe.

Meltzer did an incredible job capturing the emotions of all three characters. You could feel Roy’s sense of accomplishment as well as Hal and Dinah’s pride seeing Speedy all grown up and becoming his own man as the Red Arrow. The characters had excellent chemistry between them.

The scene with Ollie and Hal was also poignant. Ollie hasn’t been the best father to Roy and he knows that full well. I dig how Meltzer has Ollie state that his absences in Roy’s life caused Roy to fall into many troubles like his drug addiction. That it is only right that Ollie’s absence in this case should pave the way to Roy’s greatest achievement by filling Ollie’s roster spot in the JLA.

Seeing Ollie being blunt about his love for the League and how he misses not being a part of it every single day shows just how hard it was for Ollie to step aside and let Roy fill his spot. Then Ollie stating that despite his love for the JLA, he loves other things more. That was great.

Ollie definitely has had a rocky past and has made so many mistakes when it comes to being a father to Roy. It was great to see Meltzer show how Ollie truly loves Roy more than anything else in his life and is willing to sacrifice his own happiness by letting Roy join the League. That is the sign of a true father.

Meltzer also did a great job handling Red Tornado’s transition back into his android body. Having Reddy remember the scent of his wife. The feeling of her warmth. And how all of that is gone now that he is back in his android body. I dig how Meltzer mentions that just because Reddy can fly doesn’t mean that he isn’t caged.

Poor Reddy has to feel more caged than ever before. At least before he was human he didn’t have any idea of what he was missing out on. Now that Reddy had a taste for what it was like to be human, now not having it once again must be brutal to deal with. Meltzer continues to impress me with his handling of Red Tornado’s character.

Meltzer has done an excellent job bringing a human element to all the different Justice Leaguers. Because the JLA has so many characters that are icons, it tends to overwhelm the writer. Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman are all icons. The other Justice Leaguers are big names in their own right. When a writer is dealing with such big name heroes it is difficult for them not to come across like royalty or gods.

However, Meltzer manages to make these Justice Leaguers real people. Meltzer gives the various Leaguers a human side that we have rarely scene before in the various previous versions of the Justice League of America. I’m glad that Meltzer is viewing these characters as just regular people first and then big name super heroes second.

And all of these emotional scenes and excellent chemistry is largely due to the fact that Meltzer is crafting some strong dialogue. Every character has a well developed and unique external voice. The dialogue has a nice natural feel to it and has a good flow.

Justice League of America #7 was a well paced issue. It moved at an enjoyably steady pace and gave the reader a chance to catch his breath after the wild ending of the initial story arc. Meltzer also delivers a well plotted story. It is obvious that Meltzer has a clear vision for where he wants to go with this title and has a point and purpose to his stories.

The strong plotting is evident in how many various plotlines Meltzer is constructing for the short term and the long term. Meltzer teases the reader with a little more information concerning the Geo-Force plotline. We learn that Geo-Force somehow has Terra’s powers and that he cannot control him. Being a huge Teen Titans fan, you know I’m interested in this plotline. Could we be seeing the return of Terra in some form or another? Meltzer has definitely piqued my interest in this plotline.

Meltzer also teases the reader with the quick scene of Will Magnus studying the Amazo chip. This should provide for an interesting future plotline. I like Magnus and the Metal Men so I’m glad to see them popping up over here in the JLA. I can only imagine what in the world Magnus is going to do with that Amazo chip.

And just when you thought Meltzer had teased the reader enough, he then gives us the scene with Starro and Professor Ivo. I’m sure everyone noted the location of the cave that Ivo and Starro are inside. The secret cave outside of Happy Harbor is where the original Justice League of America operated from.

And how about the return of the villain that the JLA fought when they first debuted in the DC Universe?! Fantastic. And Meltzer mentions that Starro is the herald for someone. Who could that be?

I dig this plotline and it should make for an excellent future story arc. I’m glad to see Meltzer building off of the appearances of the mini-Starros that we say in the last story arc. It is always enjoyable when a writer puts layer upon layer on his stories and builds off of previous story arcs.

As much as I love all the aforementioned parts of this issue, I think the part that I completely geeked out the most over was the debut of the freaking Hall of Justice! Damn, right baby! I still can’t believe that Meltzer introduced the Hall of Justice from the Super Friends cartoon into the DC Universe. That is awesome! Yeah, I know that Meltzer calls it just “The Hall,” but we all know it is the Hall of Justice.

I also like how Meltzer blends the classic Super Friends headquarters with the Satellite headquarters where The Kitchen is located. The Satellite JLA was always my favorite version, so I’m glad to see that the JLA still has a satellite to operate from. I think this was an excellent move to blend together two of the most iconic headquarters for the Justice League.

Meltzer also shows off his excellent grasp over the essence of the JLA. Meltzer re-enforces the fact that the JLA is truly large than anyone hero. That it is an ideal. It is a belief in something greater. A banner for hope and justice. And The Hall of Justice is the perfect symbol for that belief of hope and justice.

The Hall is a beacon of justice that the public can view and be constantly reminded by the ideals of the Justice League of America and that their heroes are always here for them. That provides the proper closure to the events of Identity Crisis and Infinite Crisis when the heroes of the League lost their way and their purpose and failed the public.

And I absolutely loved the historical significance of The Hall’s location. The same spot in Washington, D.C. where the JSA and the All Star Squadron had their old headquarters. Fantastic. I love that Meltzer is honoring the rich past of the DC Universe.

It seems like ever since the original Crisis on Infinite Earths, that DC has been running scared from their long and storied history. That they were doing their best to ignore it or erase it completely. It is great to see DC finally embracing their long and rich history. It is their greatest strength and is something that Marvel doesn’t have.

I like the roster that Meltzer has assembled for this newest version of the JLA. You have a nice balance of types of powers and personalities. The only character that I am neutral on would be Vixen. However, some quality character development by Meltzer should remedy that issue.

Meltzer delivers an awesome ending. As a monster Legion of Super Heroes fan you know I was jumping out of my seat with excitement when Batman said that Trident is from the 31st century. By having the Fortress of Solitude’s computer system having records of the existence of the Legion of Super Heroes marks the re-integration of the Legion into the present day DC Universe. It is about time and I couldn’t be happier. I hated it when DC strip mined the Legion out of existence and removed anything tying the Legion to the present day DC Universe.

I am hoping and praying that all of these hints about the Legion that we have been getting over in the Justice Society of America, Action Comics and now here in the Justice League of America all lead to the return of the Levitz Era Legion. I’m excited to see what Johns and Meltzer have in store for us with regard to the Legion in the upcoming JLA/JSA crossover.

Ed Benes supplies his usual excellent artwork. I dig Benes’s style. Benes turns out a couple of awesome splash shots. The two page splash shot of The Hall of Justice was incredible. Benes makes the JLA a visually appealing comic book and really helps to bring Meltzer’s story to life.

The Bad: No complaints with this issue.

Overall: Justice League of America #7 was another excellent read. Meltzer and Benes are a wonderful team and they have been kicking plenty of ass on this new incarnation of the Justice League of America. I’m excited for the upcoming team-up between the JSA and the JLA. Both Meltzer and Johns are white hot and the JLA and the JSA are two of the best reads that DC publishes. That means that we should be in store for one incredible story arc.