Justice League of America #5 Review

Justice League of America has a been a big hit with The Revolution. Meltzer and Benes are cranking out an excellent read. It is great to see the JLA return to its rightful position as one of the flagship titles for DC. I’m sure that Justice League of America #5 is going to be another good read. Let’s do this review.

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

Art Rating: 9 Night Girls out of 10
Story Rating: 7 Night Girls out of 10
Overall Rating: 8 Night Girls out of 10

Synopsis: We begin with a beaten and bloodied Red Tornado lying on the floor. Solomon Grundy is squared off with Green Lantern, Red Arrow and Black Canary. Ivo is upset that the JLA’ers ruing his chance to die. Meanwhile, Kathy is frantically trying to call Red Tornado, but he obviously isn’t answering his phone.

Solomon Grundy recounts his past and origin of being doomed to live, die and then reborn over and over. Each time, he is reborn slightly different. Sometimes almost totally mindless. Other times, like the current version, very intelligent.

Meanwhile, Red Tornado begins to regain consciousness and confuses Black Canary for Kathy. We then see Traya get out of bed and ask Kathy if Daddy (Red Tornado) is going to be ok. Kathy puts Traya back in bed and tells her that Red Tornado will be ok. That the good guys always win.

We cut back to Grundy proposing to work together with Green Lantern, Red Arrow and Black Canary to track down and recapture Amazo. That separate neither of them are strong enough to stop Amazo, but together they can capture him. And then when they capture Amazo, Grundy and the JLA’ers can fight to see who gets Amazo.

We then shift to Amazo flying through the air. Amazo has all of Red Tornado’s memories as well as his own. Amazo attempts to sort out his confusing jumbled mess of memories.

We cut to Geo-Force having medical tests run on himself. His doctor tells him that he is in fine shape. Geo-Force acts like he was expecting something wrong. Geo-Force tells his doctor that he is just being cautious and wanted to make sure his powers were all working fine.

We shift to Vixen flying through the air. Vixen is losing herself to her animal side. We learn that the totem isn’t the source of Vixen’s powers. That the totem simply helps her channel her power. Mari eventually gets her human side to gain control over her psyche and remember that she has to find the totem.

We cut back to Green Lantern, Black Canary, Red Arrow and a woozy Red Tornado. Green Lantern thinks they can handle Grundy. Black Canary disagrees saying they are tired from their last fight and aren’t able to take on Grundy and Amazo. Suddenly, Superman enters the room and says that Black Canary is right and that is why you don’t have to fight alone. Along with Superman enters Batman, Wonder Woman, Black Lightning and Hawkgirl. And it is official. We have our new Justice League of America.

Green Lantern makes a microscope with the coarse focus in the middle of the base just where Batman likes it so Batman can examine pieces of the Tornado’s that Ivo created. After a long pause, Batman says “Thank you” to Green Lantern. Hal breaks into a smile.

Meanwhile, Red Arrow is smitten by Hawkgirl’s beauty. Grundy then tells the Justice Leaguers that Amazo is probably trying to sort out his memories from Red Tornado. That Amazo is probably acting like any wounded animal. His base instinct will take him back home. Red Tornado immediately realizes that Amazo must be headed toward Kathy and Traya.

We cut to Kathy hearing a noise and getting out of her bed and going to Traya’s room and checking on her. Suddenly, Amazo enters the room and tells Kathy “It’s me. It’s John.” Kathy responds by whipping out a bang stick courtesy of Big Barda and blasts Amazo out of her house. Batman narrates that after Clark died, they go organized. That after Sue Dibny got murdered; they got their families armed by Big Barda.

We cut to Ivo creating a teleportation gate to Kathy’s house. We see Amazo on the ground asking why Kathy would hurt him while tears stream down his face. Amazo then gets up and says that he is going to hurt Kathy. The JLA’ers rush through the teleportation gate in order to fight with Amazo. Red Tornado runs to follow, but is grabbed by Solomon Grundy. Grundy tells Red Tornado that he is in no shape to fight and that his teammates don’t have a prayer against this new Amazo. End of issue.

Comments
The Good: Justice League of America #5 was another good read. Meltzer continues to weave an interesting story arc. Meltzer took this issue to give the reader a quick origin re-cap for Solomon Grundy and then to fully explain Grundy’s motivation for his current scheme. I thought Meltzer provided the reader with a pretty cool explanation for Grundy’s motivation. Grundy cyclical existence where he is doomed to repeat his short life over and over certainly would not be the fate any sane person would choose. Grundy’s desire to be more than some mindless zombie who is continually reborn from the swamps makes sense.

I also dig the slick and sinister personality that Meltzer has given this version of Grundy. Grundy has always been a villain that was a physical force, but his serious lack of intelligence and cunning made him less threatening than your average villain. However, an intelligent and crafty Grundy in a suit and sporting a slick smile is a completely chilling villain. This Grundy is definitely a villain worthy of taking on the entire JLA.

I liked how Meltzer continues to build off of Identity Crisis in this new version of the Justice League of America. Meltzer commitment to the events of Identity Crisis re-enforces its position as a seminal moment in JLA history and the beginning of the end of the JLA. In order to reconstruct the JLA, Meltzer has to take in consideration the events of Identity Crisis and how the various JLA’ers will learn to work past those events.

The use of the weapon from Big Barda was a logical result of Sue’s death. It also made for a pretty cool scene. I wasn’t expecting Kathy to whip around and blast Amazo out of her house.

Meltzer delivered a great unification scene of all the various JLA members. For the first time in this new version of the JLA we finally get to see all of our heroes assembled together. It hasn’t been since Identity Crisis that we have seen a unified JLA including the big three gathered together in such a fashion. I’m glad that it took five issues to finally assemble all of our JLA’ers together.

Many writers would have been tempted to assemble the new JLA within the first two issues. Meltzer wisely decided against that. After the events of Identity Crisis and Infinite Crisis, the JLA was completely fractured. It only made sense that it would take time getting these heroes together. And even when if finally did happen, it was done unofficially. We still are waiting for the first official meeting of this new JLA. The various members of the JLA have numerous issues to work through and it is going to take time. I’m glad that Meltzer recognizes this fact and is allowing these heroes a chance to work naturally and organically through their issues.

One great example of this was the quick and subtle scene with Hal and Batman. Hal makes Batman’s microscope “just the way he likes it” with the focus knob in the middle of the base. Batman pauses for a panel and then gently whispers “Thank you” as Hal lets loose a small smile. This was a fantastic touch and such a small low key scene did more than any scene crammed full of dialogue. Meltzer really captured the personalities of both men in this scene.

These two men have been through a lot together. Batman hasn’t trusted Hal since he came back to life. Batman keeps waiting for Hal to turn evil again. It is great to see these two men back on the same page again. Hal has done enough penance for his past actions and it is time for these heroes to move on. Hal has to learn to forgive Batman for being so untrusting and Batman has to learn to forgive what Hal did when he was Parallax.

I dig how Meltzer is handling Red Arrow. Roy is the only hero in this story arc that is of the “next generation.” It isn’t lost on Roy just what a privilege it is to be fighting alongside of the greatest heroes in the DC Universe. Meltzer is giving Roy that excited exuberance of him totally enjoying the moment without him coming off like a sycophant.

Meltzer serves up a great hook ending to this issue. We get teased with a monster battle that is going to take place next issue between the JLA and the new Amazo while Red Tornado remains in the clutches of Grundy. Justice League of America #5 was a bit of a slow issue, so it was important that Meltzer end this issue with a bang in order to grab the reader’s interest.

As always, Meltzer knows how to construct a comic book in order to increase the anxiety in the reader. Meltzer has really impressed me with how he lays out a story and blends the various scenes together. The trick of increasing the scene shifts as the issue progresses is great. As the reader gets to the end, the scenes begin shifting faster and are shorter in duration. This is a great took to increase the tension in the reader as they frantically race to the end of this issue. By the time that Amazo arrives at Kathy’s house, the reader’s heart is racing.

As always, Meltzer crafts plenty of well constructed dialogue. Meltzer has an excellent feel for the personalities of the various JLA’ers and that helps create some good chemistry between the characters.

Ed Benes supplies plenty of his usual fantastic artwork. I totally dig Benes’s style and he delivers a wonderful looking comic book.

The Bad: Justice League of America #5 was slow and a bit boring. This was definitely Meltzer’s weakest issue so far. I understand that Justice League of America #5 was a necessary evil. Meltzer had to give a little back story on Grundy and then explain why Grundy is doing what he is doing. Meltzer then had to unite our heroes and set up for the big battle for the next issue. Having said that, it just felt like everything got stuck in neutral in this issue.

I think Meltzer is overplaying the “Red Tornado is now human” plotline. Red Tornado’s injury was blown out of proportion. I’ve seen Batman take bigger hits from Grundy and shake it off like a prizefighter. The scenes with Kathy continuing to call Red Tornado to see if he is ok and with Traya and Kathy talking about how Red Tornado is going to be ok was just too much. Meltzer just beat this angle into the ground with his issue. I got it already. Red Tornado is now human and can now be injured and killed. Ok. Move on.

The Vixen plotline has drug on for way too long and has had absolutely no direction or focus. These Vixen scenes have completely lost my interest and have become more of an annoyance than anything else.

Overall: Justice League of America #5 was another solid read. Meltzer is really catching his breath for next issue. Next issue should be an absolute blast to read. Meltzer and Benes continue to impress and are making this new JLA a must read. DC’s premier team is back where they belong: at the top of the hill.