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Green Lantern, Black Canary and Arsenal are hunting for the missing body of the Red Tornado. Meanwhile, the real Red Tornado enjoys his life as a real human and tries to adjust. As for Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman, they are still deciding who should be a member of the Justice League. Elsewhere in St.Roch, Black Lightning is facing off a bunch of villains who blew his cover. Will he make it alive?
If they were inconsistencies in the first two issues, the last one and issue #0, they are gone. Meltzer does what many readers have been waiting for years. He puts the League in a fight. The last time he did, in Identity Crisis, he had problems with fight choreography. It seems that he has a better sense of comic book timing this issue. Everything grows to a collision course, and the big fight will be next issue. Let’s just hope he remembers that only the original Red Tornado can waive cyclones at his opponents.
Elsewhere, he shows good detective work with the Hard Travelling Heroes gang. The Hard Travelling Heroes are Black Canary, Green Lantern and Arsenal, each major players in the 1960s and 1970s Green Lantern and Green Arrow series. He shows us how Arsenal’s bravado differs from his Green Arrow. The relationship with Arsenal and Green Lantern will be intriguing to watch. Perhaps as much as the way the League is rebuilding itself. Some of them are active, while the so-called trinity of Superman, Batman and
Wonder Woman are content with their philosophical approach to team building.
The artwork is worse than the last issue. I hope it doesn’t continue to deteriorate. Currently, Benes’ work is not even at the level of his work in the Birds of Prey series. He’s not ready to tackle such a big roster of characters. His contribution to the series doesn’t not make it enjoyable. One can feel the pressure on his shoulders, just by looking at his work. There are too many details in places where none are required. This is a quiet story, yet the characters all look like they will jump at the readers, off the page. It’s not the right tone for the story.
Benes also experiments with a calmer and more sequential approach to storytelling with elongated panel grids and eight vertical box page designs. Usually these help comic book artists better pace their work. He benefits from that. Yet, when he should have used this type layout to put more order to his work, he resumes his chaotic layout, like in the double page spread on page 18 and 19, where Green Lantern, Black Canary and Arsenal enter the secret compound. One of the panel is a tiny shot of Green Lantern’s eye. I’m still wondering what it’s doing there and what information this eyeball is giving to readers. At the same, these pages include panels that jump over the next one, while some, taking as much space stay one page. This assignment is too much for Ed Benes. He should be replaced.
6/10
Justice League of America # 1 Review
Justice League of America # 1 Alternate Review
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