I have to admit that I'm not sure what to make of this comic.It's written by James Robinson, who has an excellent track record. Whether he's tackling famous or obscure characters, the stories are always intelligent and well-crafted. His Starman run is one of my all-time favorites.
The painted art by Mauro Cascioli is certainly excellent - dark and detailed, it captures the tone of the story well.
But the story is where the issue stumbles. We're given the most minimal of setups with several of the members of this new (or alternate) version of the Justice League, and the only thing they all have in common is that they're very, very angry.
No doubt Robinson will bring this all together in the issues ahead, but for a premiere issue we don't have much to go on here.
The way the issue reads, it's almost as though they chose a bunch of heroes randomly out of a hat, and challenged Robinson to come up with a story that would include them all.
So a rough start, but we'll have to reserve judgment until we get a better idea of where this grim and gritty version of the League is going.
Grade: B
2 comments:
Ambivalent about this issue, but not giving up. These days, however, giving a book "a few more issues" is shorter than it used to be.
Read the site everyday. Straight up reviews with no snark. A nice pleasant read. And I mean that as a compliment. We're close in age, so it's nice to have that perspective. Truth to tell, with your style, you should be writing for CBG.
Jim, I appreciate the kind words. Considering that my favorite thing in CBG was Don Thompson's voluminous comic book reviews (much missed these days), yours is a high compliment indeed!
And I agree - books have a shorter period of time to hook me these days. At these prices, one has to be a bit more selective.
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