JLA 80-Page Giant 2011In an odd trend this week, especially considering it’s so far from Halloween, the JLA goes to Hell (make your joke here) in the JLA 80 Page giant (Secret Six is also in the midst of a story taking the group to Hell). The basic formula throughout is that two unlikely Leaguers get paired off in a different level of Hell, and must work together, possibly fighting each other first, to defeat whatever the theme/sin of that region of Hell is. There are some big names and lesser lights of the League here, and, oddly, Ragman, who has never been a member of the League to my knowledge, nor according to the research I’ve done on him.
For those who like detail, below I will list the heroes and what they had to overcome:
Batman (Wayne) and Plastic Man deal with Fraud
Green Arrow and Ragman fight each other before conquering Anger
Donna Troy and Bulleteer (yes, she was briefly a member) confront Lilith over Heresy
Superman and Red Tornado find themselves in Limbo
Hawkman and Etrigan the Demon are tricked into fighting each other as they confront Violence
Fire and Lobo (they let anyone in at one point) are accused of Greed
Booster Gold and Oracle team to defeat Gluttony
Zatanna and John Stewart confront some of their past transgressions dealing with Treachery
Supergirl and Wonder Woman get offered their hearts’ (?) desires as they are tempted with Lust
AS each group defeats their foe/sin/temptation, they get some kind of trophy, which later on all combine into some incredibly powerful mask (By Your Powers Combined, I Am… wait, wrong story), which was the whole purpose of this: Lord Satannus manipulating the League into re-creating this powerful artifact so he can take control of Hell back from his sister. His plan is foiled, naturally, by Batman, who ALWAYS has a better plan- in this case substituting the shapeshifted Plastic Man for a piece of the great mystic doohickey. Plas succumbs to the lure of power to try and fix his many mistakes, rallies himself to resist and has everyone blast him to beat the mask. They think he’s dead, touching scene, oh, wait, he’s back, complete with “I should kick the bucket more often” line as everyone is glad to see him and hugs him. They turn Stannus over to Blaze and leave.
Yes, I’m mocking this issue a lot. We’ve seen this formula before. In fact, as I recall, the last 80 page giant had a similar riff, but then it was pairs of Leaguers tossed through time. They even give us a vaguely similar error- in that one, Steel teamed with Wonder Woman, although he wasn’t in the group of heroes at the beginning or ending; in this one, Power Girl is inexplicably in one of the group scenes of heroes, although she appears nowhere else in the book. She actually might be in one more panel, but it could be a mis-colored Supergirl. The pairings are weird, as were some of their assigned “sins.” Aside from Ragman being here for no good reason, I have some other problems. Wonder Woman is drawn like the current weird alternate version, but talks throughout like the “regular” version. Also, the great temptation she and Supergirl have to overcome is…. Batman? Yeah, a lot of fans want to see a Bruce/Diana pairing, but the great desire of her life? And while Kara has been shown as having a crush on Dick in the past, this was just a weird choice.
Similarly, Superman and Red Tornado were in Limbo because “They have committed no sins.” Really? Of all the JLA-ers here, these two have never sinned? Anyone else remember Superman killing the Phantom Zone escapees in the Pocket Universe (which may or may not have been retconned depending on which week it is)? Superman is a paragon, everything a hero should be, I grant you, but never sinned? He skipped being a teenager? C’mon now….
Zatanna’s Treachery was the now infamous mind-wipe of Batman during Identity Crisis, while John’s was his over confidence during Cosmic Odyssey destroying an entire planet. I’m sick to death of both of these themes. How many stories have spun off lately involving fall-out from Zee’s really bad choice then? And John’s been hit over the head with this stick more than enough times, as well.
These giant specials are a chance for lesser known characters to shine, and it’s utterly wasted here. No one shines, everyone’s lost in the crowd with the arguable exception of Plastic Man having his big heroic moment at the end. And even that came out very ABC After School Special. I was hoping for a lot more from this, and it just didn’t happen.
What I liked and What I didn’t:
I did most of this above. I do like them making the wide ranging choices of the League’s many members to pick from. Green Arrow as Angry, I buy. Likewise, Hawkman and Etrigan for Violent, and I can even see Booster and Oracle as Gluttons after a fashion.
What I didn’t: Ragman as a JLA-er (since when?), the random Power Girl appearance, Wondy and Kara in Bat-Lust, the lost chance to do a story that could have been great and let some of the little guys shine. This could have been great. Instead, it was more like “Who can I shoehorn in here?”
A COMIC BOOK BLOG RATINGProsConssome good choices for the sins and castthe errors, the seen this before feeling Rating60% You might also like...
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Tom ParryPosted on April 9, 2011 at 4:50 amI believe Ragman has been an honorary member of the JLA since 2001′s Black Baptism mini-series… plus he was also featured in a few JLU comics (though those are not canon)… regardless, it was probably just an oversight by the writers not realizing he wasn’t a real member.
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This post was added on 8 Apr 2011, 21:30 by Wayland who has contributed 282 posts to this blog.
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