Art: Ivan Reis & Joe Prado
Written: Geoff Johns
Price: $3.99
Price: $3.99
A tad late, I know, but I wanted to post the beginning of
the JL event, so that the entirety of Throne of Atlantis will be covered. Besides, many of Justice League's fans grew used
to waiting on their monthly book by now, so one late review shouldn’t be
completely inexcusable [no offense to the prior creative team].
The Good:
Let’s jump right in.
Master penciller Ivan Reis makes a splash inside and out as he takes the
reins from former monthly pencils Jim Lee.
Never did I think I would ever say removing Jim Lee from a book would
make it better, but man did it do the League some good. Team Reis/Prado kill it in every category, and
while I feel for Aquaman’s solo title, it isn’t like Paul Pelletier or Mr. Art
Thibert are slackers in any form of the word [more on that later]. So I’m quite comfortable with Aquaman’s loss
being Justice League’s gain.
The cover is simple, but aggressively eye-catching [albeit
misleading. Yes, I’m looking at you
Shazam] and every panel is as mesmerizing as the last. I found myself staring at pages upwards of
five minutes examining the gills and wrinkles in the fish, the intense detail
in the tsunami splash-page, and the actual differences in male faces from all
of our leaguers. Okay, that was a
little dirty.
Not to be outdone by his art team, Johns crafts an engaging
scenario: A missile explodes in the mid-Atlantic,
a strapping Atlantean is cruising about at the time on his seahorse...
"Neptune’s beard!"
Everyone knew it was game over that second. Retaliation was definite. Now maybe it’s the critic in me reading a tad
too deeply, but it seems Johns uses the Surface-dweller/Atlantean tension to highlight
the tense and unstable relationships among his characters. And boy are there plenty of those. We catch a brief conversation between Cyborg
and his father, Silas, who haven’t had the nicest of relationships even before Cyborg
became half computer. Their conversation
is strained and neither of them seems to want to talk, but Cyborg’s father has
taken a new found interest in his son now that he’s everything the scientist has
dreamed of since he graduated from high school.
Then there are the humorously pleasant moments between
Wonder Woman and Superman that actually ranked up there with my favorite
panels. The writing and colors bring out
the unsure but light atmosphere of their new relationship. It’s nice to see real effort behind their
sudden, amorous affair. At first it felt
forced, a “publicity stunt” if you will.
I even thought it wasn't going to last long. Personally I’m not opposed to it [no
disrespect to Lois Lane] but this change of pace is definitely refreshing and I
can’t wait to see where it goes.
"Hey I’m still relevant!"
It’s reminiscent of
Alex Ross’ Kingdom Come for me, and I can’t help but chuckle at the memory of
the most dangerous man in the universe asked to be godfather of the most
powerful fetus in existence. Think about
it: Superman and Wonder Woman have a baby.
It’s invulnerable to everything, stronger than everything, can
incinerate you with a look, and oh…IS PART GOD.
Now send that baby to Uncle Batman over the summer to be trained in the
arts of theatricality and deception, so that it will easily become the sneakiest,
most dangerous being to ever exist on any Earth, in any dimension for
all time.
"Alfred, draw up custody papers." [JL #14]
I’m getting ahead of myself though. Before we can fathom the possibilities of
power spawning, we have the ever-pleasant back and forth between Batman and
Aquaman. With Green Lantern absent, the
two alphas have no one to unite against in their mockery and have reverted to
their power struggle. Aquaman is so confident his trident is bigger, he’s cocky
even while asking for Batman’s help because the fish aren't listening to him
[trust me, it’s more serious than it sounds...I think].
Google Translate: "Get the fuck out Gotham."
There isn't much more to be said. After the rocky Cheetah arc - which I figure
was to cement the WW/Supes relationship - Throne of Atlantis is shaping up to
be the most interesting JL issue[s] thus far.
Throw the Shazam backup feature in there and you have a solid
winner. It’s fun to see Billy work
through his powers and rapid growth through his child-like lenses. Johns is really batting three-hundred in the
creativity department.
-It must be all that milk he’s drinking.-
The Bad:
There really is no “bad” this issue. Cyborg doesn't get his airtime and Flash is
busy in his solo series, but I prefer they not have characters standing around
taking up panel space a dangerous but common problem some team-ups are
susceptible to. If they have “reasons”
for being occupied that’s even less of a reason for me to be worried. It’s not like it’s Renee Montoya we’re
missing. Or Cassandra Cain.
The Nitpicky:
Because sometimes nitpicking is important. Once upon a time [literally right before
reboot] DC said “Drawing the line at 2.99.”
This is what my poster says. I’m
staring at it right now. So JL was
$3.99. Ok maybe I can get over that,
because I love the Shazaam backup feature.
But then Batman’s $3.99. And Detective
Comics. See the problem here? I’m not exactly complaining, but I am saying
not all backup features are as golden as Shazam, and a little freedom to choose would be nice.
Pencil Rogue Says:
Why are you even still here?
Go grab this comic if you haven’t already! 5/5
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