The “A” stands for Abysmal
What the hell happened to JLA? “Crisis of Conscience” was great. It mattered. Stuff happened. It made me look forward the next issue. And now “World Without a Justice Lague” has me dreading the next issue.
I can’t seem to pin down what it is that makes me hate the book so much now. Is the the bad writing? The sub-par art? The characters involved? I think my biggest complaint may be the fact that every issue seems unrelated except for the villain of the story. It goes from Martian Manhunter’s funeral to the formation of an ad-hoc League that disbands before the end of the issue to a Black Canary/Green Arrow team-up to a Green Arrow/Batman throwdown, with no real transitions or explanations for what’s happening. Only the Key, some mystic woman I’ve never heard of before and her dead husband seem to continue from one issue to the next. Oh, and Mr. Harras needs to look up the word “envy” in a dictionary. That was either rage or pride; definitely not envy.
Is Geoff Johns really that good? Was his presence on the book the only element that made it worth reading for five straight issues? Or is there some grand conspiracy to make every book Johns leaves turn to crap in the blink of an eye so he looks even better by comparison? If you read JSA, you might be wondering the same thing.
Wow, I completely disagree here.
It hasn’t been the most earth-shattering story, but considering it revolves around a nobody villain and it doesn’t seem like filler, I think it’s doing a good job. I’ve also been enjoying the further elevation of Green Arrow as the hero you’d love to kick in the junk.
And I’d say the source of Green Arrow’s anger is definitely envy – he hates Batman because everyone takes Batman so seriously – as one of the big three – even though he’s just a man. GA also says “I was there closer to the beginning – I was there to fund it – way before you and your money came along.” He’s making the case for why he should get the credit and adoration that Batman gets.
He’s not jealous of Superman or Wonder Woman – he knows his place compared to them. But he sees no reason why Batman should be on such a pedestal compared to him.
I don’t think someone would be so concerned with seeing another knocked down a few pegs if they didn’t crave that attention for themselves. I think that qualifies as envy.
I assume this is the final arc in JLA, and I think it’s doing a great job showing the league fall apart. Early in this arc, they touched on GA’s efforts to rebuild it by basically playing political games; now the dynamics of the group are tearing it apart. Had the league simply fallen apart because of Identity Crisis fallout, I’d feel a little cheated. So we’re seeing just how irreperable the damage is.
As far as the art goes, some of the anatomy is a little disjointed, but Dan Green is probably my favorite inker out there. To each his own, I guess.
I thought it was so bad I quit reading two issues ago. It seemed disjointed and pointless, like an echo of ‘Crisis of Conscience’ that was too faint to matter.