Brad Meltzer's run on JLoA / What is your verdict ?

[sabongero]

Brad Meltzer's run on JLoA is almost over. How did you like his JLoA ? What are your pros and cons on the work ? Do you recommend it to readers when it comes out of TPB. Are you glad Brad's tenure at JLoA is finally over, or do you wish he'd continue ?

[Super J.]

I enjoyed it. Really liked the first story and “The Lightning Saga” was a nice cross with JSA (one of the best re-launches after the “Infinite Crisis”).

But I would like to see what McDuffie can do.

[Jack]

I thought it was extremely dull, all in all.

[a-spidey]

i was a little bit disappointed. I liked the previous restart from Grant Morrison and Howard Porter more. This one was sometimes a little bit boring to read and nothing spectacular.

[jadrax]

I thought it was very good and I Look forward to his next stint with the characters.

[TotalWorldDomination]

Other then playing "guess who's inner monolouge this box is" and "Is or is not geoforce an offical member of the team cause we never got a confirmation or a scene of him being actualy asked to join" I liked it.

I wish he would have stayed on AT LEAST to tell us what Ultra-Humanite, classic Despero and Per Degaton were doing...

[Yarr]

I found his work was too drawn out. In TPB form it would probably read a lot better, but buying issues week to week made the stories feel even more slow and drawn out.

Still, I enjoyed it all and I would like to see him back on JLA in the future even if its just for one arc.

[LordAllMighty]

You should add a poll.

Like the team and the HQ but wish there was more action.

7/10

[Jack Zodiac]

Absolutely horrible.

Ridiculously crappy characterization, unbelievably inane narration, and decompression that'd make the Nineties Spider-Man books look like !@#$ing Alan Moore wrote 'em. Brad Meltzer's a mediocre novelist and a terrible comic book writer.

[josh straightedge]

Started way slow and I don't like the team much...last issue was probably the best I'd read of his run...

My idea of the JLA is Grant Morrison's old run though, I really enjoyed it...

[Joe Acro]

My two main problems were the thought/narration boxes (as sometimes it was hard to ascertain who was speaking) and plots not being resolved. Starro's up to something. Per Degaton, Despero (somehow in his original look), and the Ultra-Humanite are up to something. Deathstroke is up to something. There's a lot of villain manipulation that McDuffie might have to handle, assuming he wants to. The first problem is more likely to be the fault of the colorist, letterer, or both, so I don't really fault Meltzer for it.

[Michael P]

The word "craptacular" springs to mind.

[Duy]

Incredibly bad. It starts off with decent character moments, with the Big Three debating over the League... then three issues later, they're still sitting, debating.

A big part of it I think was Ed Benes. The guy really can't draw anything other than people standing around. When Wally came back, he had to draw Wally hugging Hal and Roy from different angles, and I dunno about any of you, but those were the single most awkward hugs I'd ever seen.

[Astonishing X-Fan]

Fantastic run. Great characterization, great narration, and I like the decompressed, fleshed-out stories.

Doesn't touch Grant's run, but I enjoyed it a lot. I loved JLU so I'm looking forward to the next run by Mcduffie.

[Hawkman]

I enjoyed it enough to stick with it for the whole run, but honestly, were it not Justice League, I don't know if that would have been the case. In retrospect, it was pretty boring for the most part, with "The Lightning Saga" being the shining exception/highlight for me.

I'm extremely relieved that Mr. McDuffie is at the helm now, and am equally anxious to read his first issue in the coming weeks. Meltzer just seemed way too in love with the characters to actually write some entertaining action here, which is what I expected there to be far more of. And it probably goes without saying now that I absolutely hate how he's handled Kendra, with her functioning as little more than a mischaracterized prop for Roy to play off of.

That being said, I don't plan on going out of my way to pick up anything else with "Brad Meltzer" on the cover, which is a shame because I actually enjoyed Identity Crisis. He's just left me with such a bad taste in my mouth with Justice League, though, that I have no interest in him handling any of my favorite characters in the near future. In fact, I might even go so far as to say that were he to write something that I'm currently getting, I'd drop it. Nothing personal; just not a fan of his decompressed style, it would seem.

[The Beast Of Yucca Flats]

I wonder if when they were putting this book together, they were thinking:

"Hey, you know that artist who did all those really kick-ass fights & action sequences in that book of ours with all the super-hot, crime-fighting babes in it? Let's get him to do characters mostly standing around and talking about either themselves or their continuity for 7 issues! Oh, and you know that other artist who worked with ,um, whatsisface?-- that English guy with the beard who hates our guts-- on that book where he drew all this incredible detail & had really cool designs for everything from the characters to the architecture? Let's get him to do two characters in a hole for nearly 22 pages! The kids'll love it!"

[Scrubz]

At first I thought it was good a year ago as it was my first exposure to the Justice League. Then a friend of mine let me read his his JLA collection starting at issue 1. Comparing Meltzer to Morrison isn't fair to Meltzer because Morrison is so so so much more in tune with how to write American comics. In twelve issues Meltzer told basically two stories. Issues 11 and 12 being essentially one shots. My biggest complaint about Meltzer is how he goes out of his way to character assassinate heroes he doesn't like. Identity Crisis being the prime example making Wally and Kyle look like morons when Morrison clearly established them as competent heroes. Another gripe is all his stories involve mysteries that aren't mysteries at all. He thinks they are big, but they are pure crap. Jean Loring psycho? Solomon Grundy never really explaining his motivations clearly. Jay Garrick saying that fighting Hitler somehow means he isn't the fastest hero and alluding that Superman, Power Girl, Red Tornado, and Green Lantern are faster than him? WTF? He has decent ideas but horrible execution, that and people just talk and shake hands the whole issue.

Benes' art saved the run in my opinion.

[Infra-Man]

It never really grabbed me, didn't like the overuse of first-person narration, and the decompression was poopie. For instance, that first arc (#0-#7) could have been done in 5 issues. Subpar at best, IMO.

[Hatut Zeraze]

The first storyline bored and annoyed me so much, I knew I'd found a special way to save money on one Wednesday a month.

I didn't bother with the rest. For all I know the following issues could have been the Moby Dick of superhero comics, but I'll never know. I have zero interest in ever reading them.

[shrike]

*yawns*

It was, overall, very... mediocre.

[disco stu]

I personally enjoyed it, he made it seem special to be part of the league, something that i dont feel morrison achived.

[Jack Zodiac]

*yawns*

It was, overall, very... mediocre.

Shrike, it isn't like you to be that kind about bad writing!

[HotRod_Tim]

My opinion, Meltzer just didn't do anything. I felt like he spent his 12 (or 13) issues just drooling over the League. He just throws in so much info about these characters that really doesn't need to be there. For example, #12, this whole issue, you don't know who's narrating but at the end you find out it's the Martian Manhunter and Aquaman. Okay. Big Deal. Why the f*** are they there? What purpose do they serve. I really hope McDuffie can touch on these because they really drive me crazy.

[Fatguy]

I just gave my opinion on issue #12 which basically sums up my feelings on Meltzer's entire run so I wont go into it again here, but on a scale:

4/10

[Jack]

on that book where he drew all this incredible detail & had really cool designs for everything from the characters to the architecture? Let's get him to do two characters in a hole for nearly 22 pages! The kids'll love it!"Actually Gene Ha did the finishing art for Top 10. Rather than be responsible for all of the art, what he did was make Zander Cannon's layouts look really, really, really pretty.

It's most noticeable in the Smax mini, which only had Zander Cannon - the style and detail remained exactly the same, but it wasn't anywhere near as pretty.

[Pink Bat Max]

The first storyline bored and annoyed me so much, I knew I'd found a special way to save money on one Wednesday a month.

I didn't bother with the rest. For all I know the following issues could have been the Moby Dick of superhero comics, but I'll never know. I have zero interest in ever reading them.

Of course, Moby Dick is often referenced for it's long, drawn out tedium..... Just sayin'.

I liked the first arc a lot. But I felt that once it gathered up that head of steam..... 'cause it sure did take a while to happen.... it needed to keep catapulting forward. Some people refer to issue #4 as 'The one where they stood up'. I'm fine with a long build up, if there's a proportinate payoff. I don't think Brad pulled it off. I'd still be willing to read more comics from him, though, but perhaps not a regular title.

[SUPERECWFAN1]

Meltzer's run was highly talked about and after a decent issue #0 where the League members talked and we saw potential future scenes in the DCU ....well it went off the damn rails pretty fast.

The Tornado arc was pretty much an excercise in de-compressed story. It lasted 5 to 6 issues and a story that could have been told in 4 issues at the max was stretched out beyond care. The entire arc was a waste of time at the end as whatever interesting dynamic that Brad could have done with Red Tornado was tossed to the side as usual.

The next arc was "The Lightening Saga" and poor Brad was in over his head as usual. The story-arc had little to no flow under his direction while poor Geoff Johns had to really do double duty making sense of the story-arc and how to use it to appeal to fans. The entire thing was a dud in Meltzer's book and pretty decent in Johns hands.

The best issue was #11 and it was a single issue story where the focus was on Roy/Vixen. Plus her revealing she was using other heroes powers now. If Meltzer was making a couple then by all rights he completely missed his mark as Vixen and Red Arrow shared more panel time and had developed a better bond than what he forced in #12.

#12 was just a nightmare. Ending his run with leaving numerous plotholes open. Pushing his mary-sue visions of Roy into someones arms that really the 2 never clicked at all. If Meltzer was gonna hook his mary-sue up with someone , make it freakin Vixen since the 2 shared more of an experince and managed to avoid death.

Total Grade:

2/10

Its just a nightmare. If McDuffie is smart he doesn't follow anything that Meltzer laid down since its moronic and dumb as crap.

[Gottaluvit]

I loved the run. My ownly minor gripe would be that the characters rarely finished a sentence, but that was minor. I'd give it 8/10

[Ilash]

I think Meltzer is a very good writer but isn't yet a very good comic book writer. In other words, while I think there are aspects to his run on the title that hinted towards a guy who really can tell a story, who does have a handle on dialog, can write characters and can build suspense. What he can not do however is pace a comic book. I haven't read the last issue yet but ultimately we have a run of thirteen issues where very little happens. The first seven issues should have been told in three and while I love that it brought Wally back, the Lightning Saga shouldn't have been written at all. Issue 11 was pretty great though.

The other problem I have is that while he clearly loves these characters and writes most of them pretty well, there simply isn't enough conflict to make the team dynamics really interesting.

Comparing this to Morrison's run is pretty unfair because they were clearly going for different things. This character-driven run is, however, comparable to Giffen and Demaittes League and frankly if you compare the first year of Meltzer's run to the first year of that incarnation, the current run really suffers by comparison.

And I haven't liked Benes art on the title either, which is strange because I have really liked it on books like Supergirl and Birds of Prey. It's probably got something to do with the inks because his art here looks rushed and overly sketchy.

So yeah, put me down for disappointed. I can't wait to see what Dwayne McDuffie does with this team though.

[BeastieRunner]

Above Average 7/10.

[Deus ex Chris]

I found the run to be boring and self-indulgent, and the cheesecake art of Ed Benes didn't help at all.

[Suzanne]

Brad did a fine job. I've hardly got any complaints. I enjoyed the line-up he put together (especially making Vixen & Roy members and Black Canary leader) as well as the character moments he built on. I'll miss him on this book, but I'm looking forward to what Dwayne McDuffie has in store.

[The Beast Of Yucca Flats]

Actually Gene Ha did the finishing art for Top 10. Rather than be responsible for all of the art, what he did was make Zander Cannon's layouts look really, really, really pretty.

It's most noticeable in the Smax mini, which only had Zander Cannon - the style and detail remained exactly the same, but it wasn't anywhere near as pretty.

Curses! My art critique-fu (or at least memory-fu) is still weak!

It's still a totally lame issue, though.

[Glaucon]

His run wasn't anything too spectacular, but he had his moments and overall it was a good run.

I thought it showed during the Lightening Saga that Meltzer was definitely a step below Johns as a comic book writer.

The one complaint I have for this run was that it felt like it never got off the ground. He was still doing an introduction and I don't think the entire Justice League got to fight together in one battle.

[marshal99]

Meltzer is the DC's equvalent of Bendis , like Bendis , Meltzer like to stretccchhhhhh storylines over several issues what could have been done in half the issues it took , ultimately making it dull , boring and talky.
At least Meltzer isn't the worse JLA writer ever , that belongs to the likes of Dan Vado (whatever happened to the guy ?) and Gerald Jones but Meltzer isn't that far away either.
I never thought that a JLA/JSA/Legion crossover would turned out to soooo dull and lifeless and basically a plot device to bring back Wally.

[slayer2005]

After 12 issues, enough self-indulgent "the League is special" lovefest crap. I want to see them kicking ass to see what really makes them special.

[LordAllMighty]

The best issue was #11 and it was a single issue story where the focus was on Roy/Vixen. Plus her revealing she was using other heroes powers now. If Meltzer was making a couple then by all rights he completely missed his mark as Vixen and Red Arrow shared more panel time and had developed a better bond than what he forced in #12.

#12 was just a nightmare. Ending his run with leaving numerous plotholes open. Pushing his mary-sue visions of Roy into someones arms that really the 2 never clicked at all. If Meltzer was gonna hook his mary-sue up with someone , make it freakin Vixen since the 2 shared more of an experince and managed to avoid death.

Dang, you hit the nail on the head. I can see more of a relationship between Roy and Mari, then Roy and Kandra.

[DubipR]

I found the run to be boring and self-indulgent, and the cheesecake art of Ed Benes didn't help at all.

Quoted for truth, Chris.
I'm now looking forward to McDuffie to actually make JLA fun and readable again...oh, and be rape-free. Homage to the Silver Age my ass.....

[Hawkman]

Dang, you hit the nail on the head. I can see more of a relationship between Roy and Mari, then Roy and Kandra.
Which is why everyone, including myself, just assumed for months that it would of course be Kendra down there with him. It was pretty much the only way he could legitimize the two getting together, in my opinion. I remember how surprised I was when I found out it was in fact Vixen. And honestly, after reading #11, I thought Meltzer was actually going to be clever and throw a curve ball at us by hooking Arsenal and Mari up in #12. It's a pairing I could easily believe too, as the two of them surviving that situation together would undoubtedly bring them very close very quickly.

[DDM]

Meltzer's JLA is dull as the wind. On the scale of a breeze, his stories would be a silent fart. It could not be more dull.

His stories made me realize how wonderful Keith Giffen & J.M. DeMatteis' Justice League/Justice League International/Justice League America remains to this day...

It's a study in contrasts.

[twoarmman]

I would say his run has been below par. It seems to have lacked direction to me. I've enjoyed most of his other works. Maybe a monthly title with a lot of characters just isn't up his alley.

[Liberty Belle Fan]

I honestly can't comment on the run since I chose not to read it due to a lot of negative feedback. Honestly, I think the idea of the Super Hero Team has been taken out of context lately with a lot of underlying drama, intimate relationships, talking and meeting, meeting and talking, talking and not doing anything, etc.

What you really need to see in a Super Hero TEAM book are adversaries and/or conflicts that are significantly epic enough for a team to be needed. Anything less than that and you really don't need a team. Let Superman, Batman, and the respective members of the league handle the tiny conflicts on their own or with 2 or 3 members. With this book I'd like to see major battles, incredible foes, and odds stacked horribly against the JLA to bring them together and dish it out the right way.

[LordAllMighty]

Which is why everyone, including myself, just assumed for months that it would of course be Kendra down there with him. It was pretty much the only way he could legitimize the two getting together, in my opinion. I remember how surprised I was when I found out it was in fact Vixen. And honestly, after reading #11, I thought Meltzer was actually going to be clever and throw a curve ball at us by hooking Arsenal and Mari up in #12. It's a pairing I could easily believe too, as the two of them surviving that situation together would undoubtedly bring them very close very quickly.

Agreed.:) It would have made a interesting twist.

[EnDwiGast]

I have to agree with the majority of the comments in this thread.
I'm glad its over, and hoping for better from McDuffie. (A writer I have a lot of respect for)

I was aptient in the beginning. Several nice homages to the past, but overall its like watching a train wreck in slow motion. You hope for a last minute save, but it ends up a wreck that i hope is soon forgotten. I think #11 is one I will be reading again over time, while i don't think I'll ever bring myself to read #12 ever again.

[Raker616]

3/10, this was without a doubt the worst JLA run ever and I would rate it less but at least Hal was in it so that's 2 points and 1 for Roy's daughter dressed as Speedy that's it.

[Bored at 3:00AM]

First off, let me state that I have no grudge against Brian Meltzer or Identity Crisis or any of the other Fanboy Rage Pet Peeves Du Jour. I've enjoyed Meltzer's writing in the past, although I think his comics work has gotten progressively worse with each new effort.

All in all, Meltzer's run on JLA was too full of itself, too obsessed with being "important" and too wrapped up in fanboy minutae than with actually telling an entertaining yarn about the World's Greatest Superheroes.

Say what you will about the faults of the Giffen/DeMatties/Maguire and Morrison/Porter relaunches, but at least their primary concern was telling a good story. With Meltzer, I got the impression, he couldn't get past the "omigodomigodomigodI'mwritingtheJLA!" geek-gasm that he never actually bothered to come up with a story worthy of the team.

He did a fine job establishing Roy & Reddy, but the rest of team barely registered over twelve issues. Black Canary's ass made more of an impression than Black Canary ever did--and she's the chairwoman. Outside of the very cool "Ring. Sling." bit with Hal, I can't actually remember him doing much of anything. Hawkgirl didn't really register as anything more than Roy's love interest. Vixen seemed under-cooked. Geo-Force seemed to be there for no other reason than Meltzer is in love with Wolfman & Perez's Terra. And the Big Three came off as self-important asses--which was Meltzer's point, I suppose. But that didn't make for a particularly compelling story.

In a few years, I think people will look back at Meltzer's JLA as a pretty good example of what was wrong with superhero comics during this particular time. Not that Meltzer's JLA was terrible or anything, it was very competently put together and quite slick in spots, but it certainly won't be the high-watermark the creators were clearly hoping for....

[pendragon]

10x better then the God awful JLI & Morrison runs.

It really had that sattelite years feel to it.

Yes it did have some problems, but still the best run in a really long time.

[Shellhead]

10x better then the God awful JLI & Morrison runs.

It really had that sattelite years feel to it.

Yes it did have some problems, but still the best run in a really long time.

"Satellite years feel" made Meltzar's run ten times better than Morrison's? Can you back that up with some additional explanation? Benes and Ha are both better artists than Howard Porter, but we're talking about Meltzar, who had nothing to do with the artwork.

Morrison's stories were fast-paced, epic in scale, and very imaginative. His dialogue may occasionally be too brief to convey what is happening, but in a visual medium, that is not necessarily a problem. By contrast, Meltzar's work was sluggish and obvious. And Morrison's stories had many cool moments, like when Batman took down three White Martians with a burning match and his fists. Or when Atom lobotomized Darkseid. Or when Martian Manhunter explained how Ultraman lost their battle the moment it started. Meltzar gave us a few tepid plot twists, padded out by verbal handjobs for his favorites heroes and not much else.

I still think that Chuck Austen's run on JLA was worse, but that raises a troubling question: what do DC editors do for their money? Why was there nobody looking over Meltzar's shoulder to say, "Brad, you've gotta pick up the pace here" or "Chuck, I'm rejecting this story, because I think that three issues in a row of JLA members acting like weepy emo fans is too much. Re-write this mess into something with a big battle scene, ok?" If the editor was afraid to edit Meltzar's work because of his success as a novelist, then DC shouldn't hire people who scare the editors, or for that matter, editors without courage.

[marshal99]

10x better then the God awful JLI & Morrison runs.

It really had that sattelite years feel to it.

Yes it did have some problems, but still the best run in a really long time.

*Cough* Satellite years feel to it ? Farrrrr from it , like the garbage that Meltzer wrote in IC , it's like he spit on the satellite era more than anything else. The satellite era JLA was never this dull and lifeless. Meltzer might be a fine novelist but he's certainly no comic writer.

[kalorama]

Even with relatively low expectations, I found Meltzer's JLA run to be underwhelming. I'd read enough of his stuff going in to know to expect it to be heavy on character moments and light-to-nonexistant when it came to plot, storytelling coherence, and forward momentum. But even the character pieces were disappointing in this one. His attempts at "developing" Roy and Tornado fell flat and rang quite false. And Benes' static artwork did nothing to pump an life into the preceedings.

[The Batman]

^^^

Aside from the crossover with the JSA which I thought was alot of fun, for the most part this run on JLA has been pretty lackluster. I appreciate Meltzer's interest in trying to give the JLA it's fair share of character moments - though the stuff with the Red Tornado and his humanity seems a bit cliche - but there also need to be, for me, the over the top widescreen action to match and I didn't feel like I got that.

I thought that Morrison's run did a much better job of bringing together over the top and down to earth in a fun package.

[EnDwiGast]

"Satellite years feel" made Meltzar's run ten times better than Morrison's? Can you back that up with some additional explanation? Benes and Ha are both better artists than Howard Porter, but we're talking about Meltzar, who had nothing to do with the artwork.


I just looked at the poster's avatar and i understood. Red Arrow.

If you're a big Red Arrow fan, thats all it takes to have thought this run was spectacular.

But if you weren't as big of a Red Arrow fan as Meltzer, then it was easier to see how this is a textbook case of a "Mary Sue".

[Jade_GL]

I'm usually pretty forgiving with comics in general. It has to be really crappy to make me say it's crappy.

I read the first arc (I bought the hardcover, what a mistake) and it was crappy.

It made little to no sense to me. Characters were thrown in with no real purpose. Frankly, I felt stupid after reading it because I really thought I missed something important. I still don't *get* plot points in that first arc. Some parts certainly were well executed and made me feel like the arc could have been great, but the parts did not make a coherent whole. In fact, the whole was just blah.

Anyway, like I Said, I am usually not one to complain too much, especially when the art is pretty and the characters are ones that I like. However, the story just sucked rocks.

[nomarfan1]

as a *new reader* (i just recently starting reading again after a 20-year hiatus), i don't have a lot of the usual fanboy baggage, prejudices, and expectations. i think i can say i came into it without preconceived notions of the jla or meltzer. so i'd like to hope i'm pretty objective here. ;)

the real problem, for me, with meltzer's writing [as has been stated numerous times], is the inner monologue sequences. it just smacks of self-importance and just trying way too hard to come across as 'hip' or 'sophisticated' or 'introspective.' (most of the time, for me, it was just distracting and plot-debilitating.) it's how i imagine graduate students would write comics were there such a thing. ugh.

i think it all goes back to the classic 'show' vs. 'tell.' for me, it was just too much 'telling.' the first six issues draaggggged on and on. that's fine if your james joyce, henry james, or any other writer based in the british isles circa-1900. but in my admittedly naive p.o.v., comics are essentially action stories (am i wrong?). i love character development, but let that development happen through actions, not thought boxes.

all in all, i thought it was pretty average. not horrible, not great. i can say that i didn't want my money back, so i guess i can leave it at that...

anyway, there's my .02.

[Gottaluvit]

I just looked at the poster's avatar and i understood. Red Arrow.

If you're a big Red Arrow fan, thats all it takes to have thought this run was spectacular.

But if you weren't as big of a Red Arrow fan as Meltzer, then it was easier to see how this is a textbook case of a "Mary Sue".


Certainly having Roy on the team was a huge part of my picking up the run, but I've always enjoyed what Brad has written, he's simply a writer that suits my taste.

However, I did not like what was done with Roy. Sure I loved the 'family' feel Brad brought in and the fact thathe spotlighted Roy's relationship with his 'family'. But in all honesty I feel there ware very few Roy Harper long time fans who don't feel just a little nervous about the direction Brad has taken the character it.

Red Arrow doesn't leave the character a lot of growth. What happens when a writer decides they want Ollie back on the team? Roy doesn't have his own book and I can't see him showing up in GA's title very often. Being RA just makes the character expendale IMO. So whilst there are many Roy fans enjoying Meltzers run, there are just as many who are unhappy with the way things went.

I can understand that Brad wanted to bring the character into the spotlight, Roy's a great character, but what we have now is only a shadow of the Roy Harper I have grown up with. So saying being a Roy fan is all it takes to make this run seem spctacular isn't necessarily true, in fact, while his use of Roy made me smile at times, it also is one of the few things I was also dissapointed in at other times.

[Fireball]

The thing that I disliked the most about Meltzer's run was the absence of any big super heroing, save the world type of story. Who did this league go up against? Amazo and the Legion of Super Heroes. When I read a JLA story, I want big huge super hero battles intermixed with good character moments.

Meltzer had some decent character moments, mostly with Speedy and Red Tornado, but all in all I think it didn't really do much of anything. Very forgettable in terms of Justice League stories.

[Kage Kisaragi]

this is actually my first read of the JLA and thus i liked it. Well.. I admit I was expecting characterization to be something akin to the Justice League Unlimited, but all in all it was okay by me. I guess that sets me up for low expectations but im cool with that, i don't expect much for 3.00 :) So long as its not Amazons Attacks. XD

[SUPERECWFAN1]

The best part of the run....seeing some fans proclaim it better than Grant Morrison or Kurt Griffen's great JLA runs of the last 20 years. Please in all seriousness ...stop it. Your just making me laugh harder here. :p

[Jack Zodiac]

However, I did not like what was done with Roy. Sure I loved the 'family' feel Brad brought in and the fact thathe spotlighted Roy's relationship with his 'family'. But in all honesty I feel there ware very few Roy Harper long time fans who don't feel just a little nervous about the direction Brad has taken the character it.

Red Arrow doesn't leave the character a lot of growth. What happens when a writer decides they want Ollie back on the team? Roy doesn't have his own book and I can't see him showing up in GA's title very often. Being RA just makes the character expendale IMO. So whilst there are many Roy fans enjoying Meltzers run, there are just as many who are unhappy with the way things went.

I'm unhappy with that more than most things from his run because it's a step back for the character. A lot of people spent a lot of time getting him out of the "Speedy all grown up" role he'd been shoved into and developed him into his own hero as Arsenal. He might have been a founding Teen Titan, and he might have dressed up even brighter than Robin shootin' trick arrows next to Ollie as a kid, but he wasn't that kid anymore. Just like Donna became Troia and Dick became Nightwing, Roy found his own place in the world of superheroes, in the same business as his mentor, but out of his mentor's shadow.

Brad's sentimental (in lieu of throwing the word "fanfiction" around even more), which ruined his view of the character, and his ability to further develope him.

[Gottaluvit]

I'm unhappy with that more than most things from his run because it's a step back for the character. A lot of people spent a lot of time getting him out of the "Speedy all grown up" role he'd been shoved into and developed him into his own hero as Arsenal. He might have been a founding Teen Titan, and he might have dressed up even brighter than Robin shootin' trick arrows next to Ollie as a kid, but he wasn't that kid anymore. Just like Donna became Troia and Dick became Nightwing, Roy found his own place in the world of superheroes, in the same business as his mentor, but out of his mentor's shadow.

Brad's sentimental (in lieu of throwing the word "fanfiction" around even more), which ruined his view of the character, and his ability to further develope him.


I totally agree. Brad could have still had those wonderful 'family' moments, he could have still had Ollie step up and show the world exactly what sort of father he really is, without wipeing away a couple of decades of character work as if it was worthless. Roy could have still been in the League as Arsenal and retained his own individuality as well as honoured his mentor. Hell I would even have acceed him goning back into the red threads if the name change hadn't acompanied it.

Now there's no way for Roy to go back to being Arsenal unless he throws his relationship with Ollie away and goes back to the uneasy, difficult way they related before. To stop being RA and go back to Arsenal would be like throwing Ollie's show of fatherly pride and love right in his face. So that limits the options for Roy's character severly, especially if a new writer wants Ollie and not Roy on the team, he's either killed off, or its all retconned out again with Final Crisis, or he drops into limbo, anyone of those choices seems to make this whole RA thing a huge waste of time.

As I've said before, I did enjoy Brads run, it was one of the books I couldn't wait to get hold of each month, but if I had to say one thing that really bothered me, its that. All other gripes are minor and didn't really affect my enjoyment of the run.

The only glimmer of hope that we will see Roy being more then just an archer has come from Dwayne McDuffie saying we will be seeing Roy use his Moo Gi Gong. I'm hopefull that if Dwayne has read enough about Roy to remember that particular skill from his Titan's days, then maybe, just maybe Dwayne will incorporate some more Royness back into the character.

[Jack Zodiac]

Like, maybe, making him more than just "Green Arrow's old sidekick," and "another guy who shoots arrows and does martial arts." We can only hope.

[Pól Rua]

Brad Meltzer's JLA was a real "ze goggles... zey do nossing!" read for me.
Whenever the new stock came into the store, you'd look through all the good stuff, but you'd always leave one spectacular bomb for late, just so you could answer the question "How bad can it really get this time?"
I regard it pretty much as the comics equivalent of MST3K. How can these people produce this stuff and not realize how awful it is?

Meltzer's dialogue struck me as half-baked tough guy rubbish. He's trying to make every character sound like Frank Miller's Batman, but they end up sounding like the background characters in a Stephen Seagal film.
It's especially jarring when you get it from a character who has a distinctive voice already. Sorry, did I miss the part where everyone in the DCU talks like a z-grade Hollywood scriptwriter's idea of a paramilitary goon? While everyone's internal monologue sounds like obsessed fan poetry?
Conceptually, there were some ideas that someone with any creative talent could've turned into something interesting and nifty... the rainbow coloured Tornadoes, for instance, but it was all buried in such an endless quagmire or terse, badly-scripted internal monologue, and dialogue that sounded like someone had hit Brian Michael Bendis in the head with a hammer a few times, that it really wasn't worth the bother of trying to excavate.
Worst of all, for all this talk, not a lot happened.
Oh sure, you've got the world's greatest superheroes, but surely you could find better things for them to do than stand around the base admiring each others' hair.
Benes' art was barely competent, which made it better than Meltzer's writing, but to be honest, his habit of drawing every character like an interchangeable plastic mannequin got grating after awhile. It's kinda like someone threw Scott Petersen, Al Rio and Ron Lim into an oven... bake until insipid.

I... uh... didn't like the series much at all.

[K'Nort]

I have a couple longbox's worth of just JLA. JLI. JLE. You name it. I've slogged through some really crappy writing (and art!) over the last 20-odd years. Plus accumulated most of the Archives of the older stuff. It has to be really really bad for it to be JLA and for me to not read it.

I dropped this after issue 3.

And I flipped through other people's issues after that and heard plot summaries. Nothing ever tempted me to reconsider.

[EZMOHR]

First time I ever bought any Justice League stuff in my life. My Justice League knowledge was JL and JLU on cartoon network. This is how I would break it down....

The Good:


Ed Benes- I honestly don't get how people can say he sucks. It may not be your taste, ala I think Jon Cassady's artwork is not my thing, but I get why people like it. I like Ed Benes' art. It looks like COMIC BOOK art. It looks like the artist I loved growing up in the 90's. The ones I like....Jim Lee, Mark Texiera. I think Ed Benes is an artist I can honestly say....yeah I like his stuff.

Red Tornado- I thought his story was good. It did seem a bit drawn out....but I don't think that was the Red Tornado parts, I think that was the rest of the story going on parts. I'm gad Red Tornado got his day in the sun, and is getting some dap now.

Roy Harper- I'll admit it....I like the character. I think everything that happened to him in the book was pretty darn good....except for one thing, which I will get to later. Plus, one of the best things I've seen in a comic this year is Roy's daughter visting Cheshire in the clink dressed like Speedy. I know in the promo picture of McDuffie's JL run, we see Cheshire in there. I can only hope, with Roy getting a big push, Cheshire will now get a big push as well.

The Lightning Saga- The only reason I have ever wanted to be interested in the Legion is because of this arc. Now, I want to be a Legion honk. Metzler along with Johns have made me want to gobble up anything Legion. That is not something I can discount.

The Red Arrow/Vixen issue- I might be one of the few people to like this issue. So far, Vixen has sucked harder than Episode 1 in Justice League. But, this issue, along with Roy was the best issue of the run. And Vixen seemed like a character I could get into and want to learn more about after this issue.

Black Lightning- It seems like the direction they are going with him might be cool. Kind of a 2nd tier guy that wants to go up the ranks, but is about to get his ASS big time handed to him and put back into his place by the villians.

The Bad:

Vixen- Until her issue with Red Arrow, she was just annoying in this book. I hope she is more like the last two Justice League issues and not the first 10.

Drawn Out- Yeah, it felt like it could've all been told in 8 issues and not the way it was maxed out.

Not Expanding on Threads- The future stuff some people have been bitching about, and the dangling Legion stuff...The awesomeness that was Per Degaton, Despero, and The Ultra-Humanite hanging out, and poof...nothing again. Same with Starro. Cool little thing going on, and then....bam, no Starro refrences again. And, the Solomon Grundy thing was just not my cup of tea.

Hawkgirl- Flat out, the forceing her and Roy together down our throats wasn't that good. It was downright awful.

Geo-Force- Not so much the isn't he or is he debate....but more the, wow, I hated Geo-Force in Batman and The Outsiders. In fact, if any Outsider (Other than Jefferson) was gonna show up in JL, I would hope it would've been Halo, rather than suck characters I can't stand, like Geo-Force.

Deathstroke: Again the Scourge of the DC Universe- If anything, I think the one character that maybe, ahem Mary-Sued by Metzler is one Slade Wilson. Now, they have to bring in the A-squad Justice League to take care of this guy. I'm sorry....Slade is still a MAN. He's not a god. And now, it seems like an arc is gonna be dedicated to Slade being the Bad Ass of the World. I'm getting sick of Slade Wilson. BIG TIME.

Why were Hal Jordan, Wonder Woman, and Black Canary in Justice League- I just wondered cause none of them did anything I think I would remember ever...save Canary becoming Chairman of the JL, cause DC feels bad they've screwed her over for awhile now.

Overall....I would give the arc a **1/2 out of ****. It's like that summer Jerry Bruckheimer movie. It's got some damn good fluff, and one pretty good all time scene, but you may not remember most of the book ever again.

[BlackDragon]

Man, that's some heavy comments about JLA... and I agree to a lot of those mentioned. In some parts. we seem to snails-pace things; in others, huh? where'd that come from?

At the end of the day though, I will say this... I seem to enjoy JLA better these days than MA or NA.

[DCLifer4179]

It was one of the most underwhelming runs in recent memory.

The zero issue and its glimpses into possible futures left a bad taste in my mouth. The first arc was all right, at best, "The Lightning Saga" was saved only by the JSA issues, and the following issues just kind of blurred into one vanilla read.

Frankly, I felt like I was watching a rerun of "SuperFriends", only less interesting.

[marshal99]

I'm sure he has his best intentions but ultimately , Meltzer's run on JLA is akin to Sanjaja from American Idol , pretty bad but somehow some people keep laping up what he comes up with. :D

[pariah-1972]

It's been kind of a disappointment for me in general.
the book took way too long to get going (freaking decompression !) and if there is any book on gods green earth that needs to stick with traditional super hero comic book action and pacing its Justice League which even Morrison knows even tho most of his work is very untraditional and cutting edge he knew what needed to be done.

i like Benes artwork the cheesecake moments don't really bother me but he was wasted early on it seems without giving much to do in the first few issues.

the lightening saga wasn't bad just to see Benes draw Dreamgirl was drooltastic.

but i think the biggest problem for me is nothing feels resolved in anyway sort of like Meltzer is starting to run in circles Especially with the last issue which was god awful even art wise was very inconsistent,
not to mention there was nothing but talk talk talk in this issue with a lot of bad characterization and dialog and nothing making a lot of sense to my mind.

i dont know much about Hawkgirl but i dont see any chemisty between her and Red Arrow,
not to mention the fact that as long as ive known Hawkgirl has been with Hawkman she also seems too mature for him not to mention the fact that he was acting all macho to try and impress her and when that didn't work he introduced her to his daughter and now all of a sudden shes ready to bang him? if she was into sensitive guys i don't think she would have been dating Hawkman all this time...



i'm getting a little tired of his obsession with Red Tornado by know even tho i always thought the character had a great costume his wife has become increasingly whiny and now he seems to be ignoring her presumably because hes in his robot form again:rolleyes:

anyways i'll be glad when this run is over even tho im not familiar with Mcduffies work we can only pray we get less decompression and more action.

[thehod]

It was OK.

It certainly didn't live up to expectations, and I've read better comics in my time, but I've also read far, far worse. Dan Jurgens, I'm looking at you.

I quite enjoyed the issue with Red Arrow and Vixen, although the art wasn't to my personal liking.

This may put the cat amongst the pigeons, but as an way of killing five minutes in the day, I found it far preferable to Justice, which just gave me a bloody headache everytime I read it.

[marshal99]

It was OK.

It certainly didn't live up to expectations, and I've read better comics in my time, but I've also read far, far worse. Dan Jurgens, I'm looking at you.

I quite enjoyed the issue with Red Arrow and Vixen, although the art wasn't to my personal liking.

This may put the cat amongst the pigeons, but as an way of killing five minutes in the day, I found it far preferable to Justice, which just gave me a bloody headache everytime I read it.

The Dan Jurgens JLA was so much better than what Meltzer ever came up with. He had many memorable issues notably "Destiny's hand" which still remains one of the better JLA stories around.

[thehod]

The Dan Jurgens JLA was so much better than what Meltzer ever came up with. He had many memorable issues notably "Destiny's hand" which still remains one of the better JLA stories around.

I'll grant you that Destiny's Hand was the high point of that run, but the rest was so appalingly mediocre that I really struggled to read most of it.

I think a bunch of those issues went into the recycle bin a few months back.

That may ultimatly prove to be the fate of the Meltzer issues too though. Time will tell.

[marshal99]

I'll grant you that Destiny's Hand was the high point of that run, but the rest was so appalingly mediocre that I really struggled to read most of it.

I think a bunch of those issues went into the recycle bin a few months back.

That may ultimatly prove to be the fate of the Meltzer issues too though. Time will tell.

Jurgen's JLA was the only one after Giffen JLI/JLA era to actually try to capture the silver age feel to the book , he was the one to bring Superman back as a official member of the JLA after COIE wrote superman out of being a JLA member and he did a very good job of actually integrating the jokey giffen JLI to a more serious tone. He also brought back the classic JLA villains like Dr Destiny & Starbreaker while updating the weapon master (i actually liked the pre-crisis version better).
The ones following Jurgen's JLA run however was really pretty bad , you should be looking at those writers and attacking them instead. Dan Vado who took over from Jurgens decreed that superman be kept off the JLA after he came back from the dead because he felt that superman was too powerful , Gerald Jones run on JLE & JLA was just awful.

[Jack Zodiac]

This may put the cat amongst the pigeons, but as an way of killing five minutes in the day, I found it far preferable to Justice, which just gave me a bloody headache everytime I read it.

Ah, I gotcha'. Blow through it in under five minutes, with any luck, you won't remember most of it. Good idea.

[thehod]

Jurgen's JLA was the only one after Giffen JLI/JLA era to actually try to capture the silver age feel to the book , he was the one to bring Superman back as a official member of the JLA after COIE wrote superman out of being a JLA member and he did a very good job of actually integrating the jokey giffen JLI to a more serious tone. He also brought back the classic JLA villains like Dr Destiny & Starbreaker while updating the weapon master (i actually liked the pre-crisis version better).
The ones following Jurgen's JLA run however was really pretty bad , you should be looking at those writers and attacking them instead. Dan Vado who took over from Jurgens decreed that superman be kept off the JLA after he came back from the dead because he felt that superman was too powerful , Gerald Jones run on JLE & JLA was just awful.

I'm not really going to disagree with any of that, sufice to say I couldn't really see any difference in the quality of the stories presented between Jurgens run and Vados run, other than the aforementioned Destiny Hand storyline. I certainly didn't enjoy Jurgens run any more than I did Vados
I will admit I maybe doing them a diservice as I really, really enjoyed Giffens run, but overall there was just an intense feeling of disapointment during Jurgens run, despite what his intentions with the title were.

[thehod]

Ah, I gotcha'. Blow through it in under five minutes, with any luck, you won't remember most of it. Good idea.

I wouldn't quite put it like that, but I can't imagine anyone either wanting or needing to take longer than that to read an issue.

[Jack Zodiac]

Not an issue of Meltzer's Justice League, at least. I'll take a half hour or so reading good stuff just to appreciate the writing and art, but something that cardboard? Nah.

[thehod]

Not an issue of Meltzer's Justice League, at least. I'll take a half hour or so reading good stuff just to appreciate the writing and art, but something that cardboard? Nah.

Maybe thats why I'm so non commital on the whole title. I've not really invested any energy or thought into reading the title, so I'm not expecting much in the way of a return, and as such its neither blown me away or completly offended me. Its been a resonable read at the most. If it weren't the Justice League, I'd have probably been less inclined to pick it up month after month. As it was I didn't mind reading it, and as I've said, there have been runs of the League that I've enjoyed a hell of a lot less.

[kalorama]

Black Lightning- It seems like the direction they are going with him might be cool. Kind of a 2nd tier guy that wants to go up the ranks, but is about to get his ASS big time handed to him and put back into his place by the villians.

Where did you get THAT from? I read all but the last issue of Meltzer's run and saw nothing that came even close to matching that description. And where, exactly, is "his place," pray tell?

[EZMOHR]

Where did you get THAT from? I read all but the last issue of Meltzer's run and saw nothing that came even close to matching that description. And where, exactly, is "his place," pray tell?

First off, Meltzer made sure to hammer it home that Luthor knows Jefferson is using his name to give himself some cred in the villian world. And that Luthor is gonna kick his ass eventually. So, boom he's gonna get taken down a peg....you know, because he is a member of the JLA, and the villians are gonna whup his ass for using them, especially, oh, the biggest villian known in the DCU.

[ninjapeps]

The best part of the run....seeing some fans proclaim it better than Grant Morrison or Kurt Griffen's great JLA runs of the last 20 years. Please in all seriousness ...stop it. Your just making me laugh harder here. :p

what? people are seriously saying this was better than what Morrison and Busiek did? this crap was better than World War 3 (the JLA one, not crappy 52 tie-in) and Syndicate Rules?

[dazzler_slave]

I went into this with cautious optimism. Cautious because I have never been blown away by Meltzer's writing (found his Green Arrow arc dull and uninspired, Identity Crisis was great in spots and absolutely horrible in others). Optimistic because I am a fan of Benes' work and I was thrilled by the team line-up. It was almost perfect for me. The big three, Satellite Era mainstay Red Tornado, Vixen (who I love), new blood like Black Lightning and Red Arrow, and the prescence of a Hawk. I would have traded Hal Jordan for John Stewart, but other than that I was pleased.

What I got was...well...not what I'd hoped. The first arc was drawn out so incredibly long that the mind boggles. Just issue after issue of nothing. The characterization was way off on so many of the characters. Most of the team didn't even need to be in the story because they hardly did anything at all (Vixen, I'm looking at you). Villains were just pulled out of the woodwork for no apparent reason, and the plot threads were flying in all directions. And then after all that waiting, the resolution fell flat. The Lightning Saga was more of the same. What exactly was going on? Who really cares? In the end it was just an excuse to bring back Wally. Now, I'm happy Wally is back, but explain to me why it was even neccessary to include the LOSH? Why would they be the ones to rescue Wally? It just seemed like an excuse for Meltzer & Johns to trot out the version of the LOSH they are fondest of.

Overall, Meltzer wrote this series like he was an internet fan writing fanfic on their blog. Everyone else has basically summed up why it was bad so I won't go into it any further. But I was very disappointed. It wasn't the worst run on the Justice League. I found it more enjoyable than Dan Vado's run or Busiek's yawnfest or Austin's...whatever you'd call that mess he wrote. However, it was nowhere near the amazing runs of Giffen/De Matteis, Morrison, Satellite Years or even JLDetroit! And Jurgens and Gerard Jones were even more entertaining because at least they had things happen in the title.

That being said, I am really looking forward to McDuffie. He is a skilled writer and I can't say I have disliked anything he's written, from the JLU cartoons to Beyond! to Fantastic Four to his old work on the Milestone titles. I am supremely confident that with him we'll get the JLA we want.

[rerun]

It was a disappointment after seeing his use of the Justice League characters in Identity Crisis, which I am a big fan of.

Not horrible, just expected more.

[Alex A Sanchez]

Incredibly bad. It starts off with decent character moments, with the Big Three debating over the League... then three issues later, they're still sitting, debating.

This could have been an effective writing device if the Big Three were there for the entire story, and the smaller guys defeated Grundy all on their own. But having them remain there for three issues, then suddenly decide that yes, there are supposed to be an active part of the tale confuses their role.

[sinjection]

Writing = Boring. Sappy.

Art = Outstanding.

I hope McDuffie does more with Black Lightning, Vixen and does not wait longer than necessary to re-introduce Green Lantern John Stewart (the BEST, MOST EXCITING and MOST DYNAMIC of the Green Lanterns), to the JLA.

[SUPERECWFAN1]

what? people are seriously saying this was better than what Morrison and Busiek did? this crap was better than World War 3 (the JLA one, not crappy 52 tie-in) and Syndicate Rules?

Yep.... about 2 to 3 pages back. It shocks me. I had to pinch myself and see if it was true or not. :p

[DayWing]

I would have liked to see him have a longer. It started out well and looked promising.

[DC/Marvelfan]

when issue #0 came out I picked it up, I liked it, and intended to read the series when it came out but, I got caught up with other stuff and forgot about it, then I was in my Comic shop one day and it was already a few issues into it, so I just let it go, but it was nagging at me, I had to check this out, so I picked up #12 and loved it, I had to go back, so yesterday I picked up every issue except for #2, and 3, they didn't have 2 and I thought I grabbed 3 but I didn't so I have to go hunt these down, I love what I'm seeing so far.

Really great book, and I love the art of Ed Benes. You don't see alot of great artists these days IMO, that have that great classic comic art look. Benes is great, it's none of that scratchy scribbled art that I hate, that's crept into a few books nowadays, it just sucks when you get a comic and it looks like a retarded 7 year old drew it, there's no fun in that.

Ed's Batman and Superman and Hal Jordon rock. Heck, everything he does is good.

I really like the story so far, I'm only up to issue #4, and I missed 2 and 3 like I said, but I like how Grundywas going to use Reddy's body but Amazo took it over, I can't wait to read more, just didn't have the time tonight to read more.

I've recently gotten back into DC comics after taking some time off for a few years, I was more so into Marvel but they have really been messing up their books since 2000, and before I I just read mainly BATMAN and, some SUPERMAN, but I wanted to get more into other characters, even though I'm a huge BATMAN fan, I wanted to expand my DC reading, I always liked the characters just never read much of them.

Happy I've started. I need to check out GL and Flash next.

DC is great 'cause it's nice to read about true heroes, and not be bogged down with their problems all the time, it's nice to have things going on with the characters in comics and not have them too perfect but sometimes in Marvel they over do it, DC has alot going on with their charcters but, I don't mind if things are perfect for one of my heroes, helps me escape even more.

[Rattlehead]

I plan on re-reading the entire arc now that I finally tracked down Number 1, but I got around to reading Number 12 last night. I really like the character interactions with one another, and Meltzer can write convincing dialogue. But I have to agree, for a book that's called the Justice League, well, nothing really happens. The Tornado's Path was an enjoyable story, but it could have been told in 3 issues instead of 6. The Lightning Saga as an idea was fine, but again, nothing really happened, and the few real action scenes happened in the pages of JSA. Again, the story could have been told in less time. I was also confused by a lot of TLS, and I am at least familiar with a lot of DCU history. Issue 11 was a nice interaction between Red Arrow and Vixen, but we are dropped into the story after the real action took place. That was the main problem I saw, Meltzer treated the action as an afterthought. 11 was a perfect example of that, he didn't care to show us how the buliding started collapsing, he jettisoned that in favor of talking. He does that again in 12,the alarm goes off at the end of the book. I like character interactions but at the same time, the question must be asked. Why was the League re-forming in the first place? There didn't seem to be very many threats running around. I would like to see another Meltzer comic, but something more suited to his writing style. JLoA was not a good fit for his style at all.

[Starwolf_o]

Meltzer might need to do a BIRDS OF PREY annual or something so he can say "I'm not a mysogynist! Honest!" with a straight face. I mean, he turned Vixen into a T&A version of the Parasite! Good sense of dialog, but might need to get a little more than "The Justice League is the coolest thing ever!" going for him. Heck, Morrison put them up against better threats.

I've vented my spleen about Identity Crisis elsewhere, especially with Wally and Kyle. Basically, Wally is treated like he became the Flash just last week and it's the league's bad luck Kyle got the power ring. I'm also uncertain of Ollie's "Superman drives people insane with envy" lines and his half-assed justification of mindwiping Batman.

It reminds me of the end of the movie Boiler Room. ("What do you want me to tell you? It's what we do here." "What? We lie? We're liars?") Hmm, I'm not sure I'd cast Vin Diesel and Giovanni Ribisi as Green Arrow and the Flash, but you never know.

Still, Meltzer has some sense of irony and self-awareness. He admited in a podcast that the Roy/Hawkgirl relationship is like Romeo going out with Juliet's mother.

[Starwolf_o]

In a wild coincidence, I just found out that Meltzer will be doing an arc on Dark Horse's BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER: SEASON EIGHT. You can't have a mysogynist card if Joss Whedon lets you write Buffy, so Meltzer will have a chance to prove himself to his detractors.

Now all we have to do is hope the first 3 issues aren't Buffy, Willow and Xander looking at photos while the real action gets done by the supporting characters.

[Shellhead]

In a wild coincidence, I just found out that Meltzer will be doing an arc on Dark Horse's BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER: SEASON EIGHT. You can't have a mysogynist card if Joss Whedon lets you write Buffy, so Meltzer will have a chance to prove himself to his detractors.

Now all we have to do is hope the first 3 issues aren't Buffy, Willow and Xander looking at photos while the real action gets done by the supporting characters.

I expect that there will be large blocks of text representing Xander's lengthy meditations on his cool teammates, as well as some kind of fanfic style relationship for him... Xander and Dawn, I guess.

[BYC]

I couldn't finish the 2nd arc, but Deathstroke got bumped up again?

So Meltzer is trying to make him the evil Batman who can dominate any situation cause he's really smart and skilled? I have to say, if this is true, it's one of the few things I probably agree with. I'm a bit tired of Batman always seemingly saving the day ever since Frank Miller's Dark Knight and Morrison's Batgod in JLA.

[Ilash]

I have to say I am a bit worried about Meltzer's take on Buffy. Don't get me wrong, I would imagine that the characterization and dialogue will be much in line with what we expect from Buffy but I just don't think he's really gotten the hang of writing for the comic book medium.

Well, here's hoping that Buffy is the place where he finally proves us all wrong. Besides, that's all in the future. For now we have Brian Vaughan on a Faith arc and there's just no way that's not gonna be great.

[blackphoenix]

Basically, there were a lot of kernels of good ideas(Red Tornado actually gaining a human body, Vixen only being able to draw powers from humans now, Black Canary as team leader,etc.) but it never really went beyond the "That's cool!" stage.Plus, the team never actually seemed to be together, and most issues revolved around the characters standing around talking(and talking and talking....). The book had potential, but Meltzer didn't bring any of it out.

THUMBS DOWN (except the flashbacks to better JLA stories and the first issue, which showed promise).

[ToraUma]

I really can't understand what people find appealing about Meltzer's writing. I know that anything I could say has already been said, but I just want to add a vote to the tally.

#11 (the issue where Red Arrow and Vixen are trapped) is exactly what a comic like JLoA DOESN'T need -- an installment that is slow-moving, completely irrelevant to the continuity and utterly unsatisfying. I wish this were my only criticism of the run.

Meltzer's writing style is so heavy-handed it makes me queasy. I think he must be aware of how dry and uneventful his scripts are, because after pages and pages of ceaseless dialogue and monologue, he'll throw in some ridiculous, over-the-top "action". Case in point: Red Tornado's arm getting ripped off.

I know a lot of people like his work. I'm just not one of them. I am, however, a devoted fan of McDuffie's Fantastic Four run, so I'm optimistic. Seriously though, the only reason I slogged through Meltzer's snoozer of a JLoA run was to get the most out of the Lightning Saga, since JSA is utterly unmissable. Johns never disappoints. He actually knows how to balance good character exposition with action.

[sabongero]

I just read issue #11. All I can say is, one shot stories like that should have been written in the issues of JLA Classified. It's not the type of story that should be written in Justice League of America. This is my opinion only guys.

Or am I wrong ?

I am just posting in reference to Meltzer's JLoA issue #11 only of course.

[Gargus]

Its was drawn well and was interesting but it just seemed to forgetable, nothing in it stuck with me really. I only read the red tornado story and stopped though as I wasnt interested in a crossover.

I guess Im biased though because when I think JLA I think grants version of JLA and thats a tough act to follow.

[Duy]

I don't really get how this run was "drawn well" at all. Ed Benes draws like a cross between Jim Lee (in terms of actual drawing, which is fine) and Rob Liefeld (in terms of movement.... i.e. there is none).

The guy couldn't even draw a proper hug. Check out Wally hugging Roy and Hal from different angles, and you'll see what I mean. I'm actually partly convinced that Meltzer's run was so devoid of action because Benes can't draw movement at all.

[Alex L]

I just read issue #11. All I can say is, one shot stories like that should have been written in the issues of JLA Classified. It's not the type of story that should be written in Justice League of America. This is my opinion only guys.

Or am I wrong ?

I am just posting in reference to Meltzer's JLoA issue #11 only of course.

I disagree to a point.

I see where you're coming from, and it is a very valid point of view. However, not everyone reads JLA Classified and, had Meltzer continued on JLA the events of this issue may have led to something.

So in terms of this particular episode, yes it could have worked better in Classified.

In terms of all stories focusing on only one or two characters, I disagree.

[pariah-1972]

I feel really stupid but for the life of me all i can remember is the "trilogy" standing around talking for three and a half issues and red tornado getting and losing his human body and the justice league fighting a bunch of there old villains.
i don't see what any of these plots have to do with one another:confused:
i'm probably gonna have to re-read the whole series again to understand what the villains were intending to do..

[Duy]

Actually, of the billion things that really bugged me about Meltzer's run, the one thing that really bugged me?

FOUR issues of the trinity picking out members. FOUR issues of them sitting around when everyone else is going to hell in a handbasket.

And then, when it's all said and done, they abdicate all membership responsibility to the others.

What a waste.

[Astonishing X-Fan]

Actually, of the billion things that really bugged me about Meltzer's run, the one thing that really bugged me?

FOUR issues of the trinity picking out members. FOUR issues of them sitting around when everyone else is going to hell in a handbasket.

And then, when it's all said and done, they abdicate all membership responsibility to the others.

What a waste.

See, I LIKED that. The Trinity went through all this work to carefully select who they think is right for the team...but the team ends up forming itself on its own. Showing them that the spirit of the JLA is above them. It formed naturally, like it did the very first time.

I think the whole point was that the League WAS NOT all about Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman...that it was BIGGER than them.

[Duy]

See, I LIKED that. The Trinity went through all this work to carefully select who they think is right for the team...but the team ends up forming itself on its own. Showing them that the spirit of the JLA is above them. It formed naturally, like it did the very first time.

I think the whole point was that the League WAS NOT all about Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman...that it was BIGGER than them.
Yes yes yes, I get it... my point is just that it... took.... so..... long.

[Shellhead]

Yes yes yes, I get it... my point is just that it... took.... so..... long.

I agree. The idea was okay, but the execution of it sucked. Brevity is the essence of wit. No surprise that the novelist thought that he could waste so many pages on the idea.

Hey, DC! No more novelists trying to write comics, okay?

[sabongero]

I finally got the last 2 issues of Meltzer's run. And I was disappointed that his run ended without a bang. It fizzled out.

It started out really good. Now I wish I didn't even buy into the beginning of Meltzer's run. Perhaps it would be better to have novelists work on an independent graphic novel and not on an actual series.

But reading at the posts here. It's a mixed cast on their opinions on Meltzer's run.

[princesa]

Did not care for it all. way too chummy-smiley "hi, Bruce-hi Clark" lets have a bagel and some tea for me.

[sabongero]

Did not care for it all. way too chummy-smiley "hi, Bruce-hi Clark" lets have a bagel and some tea for me.

You know, Brad just had another book out. So he probably has enough time on his hands to take another shot at comic books. He's had a recent foray in a one-shot Final Crisis crossover work.

I wonder if DC will give him another shot at Justice League ? MacDuffie is leaving the title soon. I wonder if it ever happened where the outgoing writer turned over a title back to the writer he replaced ?

[Dwayne McDuffie]

MacDuffie is leaving the title soon.

I am? Shit.

[sabongero]

I am? Shit.

Dwayne you're not leaving Justice League of America ?

ALRIGHT !!!!

Come on man stay until it hits issue # 100.

[Chemical King]

I can only second the feelings that Meltzer run was far from exciting. I stopped buying after the first three issues - partly because I did not know who all these villains were supposed to be, partly because I didn't care much for Red Tornado, partly because I just felt that there wouldn't be happening anything interesting in the foreseeable future.

I returned for the Lightning Saga, cause I'm a die-hard Legion fan so there was no question about that. The issues after LS I kept on buying, but already resold them on Ebay cause I didn't care much for them. #11? The trapped issue? What was that one for just one issue before Brad left the book?

I still have the feeling that the current JLA doesn't go anywhere. Some issues are kinda nice, other's I can't even remember. And I see no reason to keep them in my collection, which is always a bad sign.

So JLA? I'm rather going with the JSA...

[TJKernan]

Meltzer might need to do a BIRDS OF PREY annual or something so he can say "I'm not a mysogynist! Honest!" with a straight face. I mean, he turned Vixen into a T&A version of the Parasite! Good sense of dialog, but might need to get a little more than "The Justice League is the coolest thing ever!" going for him. Heck, Morrison put them up against better threats.

I've vented my spleen about Identity Crisis elsewhere, especially with Wally and Kyle. Basically, Wally is treated like he became the Flash just last week and it's the league's bad luck Kyle got the power ring. I'm also uncertain of Ollie's "Superman drives people insane with envy" lines and his half-assed justification of mindwiping Batman.

It reminds me of the end of the movie Boiler Room. ("What do you want me to tell you? It's what we do here." "What? We lie? We're liars?") Hmm, I'm not sure I'd cast Vin Diesel and Giovanni Ribisi as Green Arrow and the Flash, but you never know.

Still, Meltzer has some sense of irony and self-awareness. He admited in a podcast that the Roy/Hawkgirl relationship is like Romeo going out with Juliet's mother.


Did you seriously just reference 'Boiler Room', one of the most God-awful movies ever made, and compare it to Meltzer's boring series...

That makes me like his JLA run even less now, if possible...

[Lupek]

I liked the team line up that Meltzer chose, especially Red Arrow, Vixen and Black Lightning. But I didn't like much else about it. It's been a while so it's not fresh in my mind but I was bored. I dropped JLA right before the JSA crossover.

[Alex L]

I am? Shit.

Hey, that's pretty much the way Al Bundy found out his show was getting canceled.

Ed O'Neill said he was on vacation and a couple staying near him read about the cancellation in the newspaper and told him about it.

[KJ_81]

I liked the ideas behind his run. The execution however, was often lacking.

I think Benes' art covered for a lot of the story issues. I liked it enough to buy it in single issues and in the collected hardcovers, but don't really re-read it much.

I found it annoying that so much time was spent on the Trinity looking through photos, when it ended up being totally useless. I understand what Meltzer was going for, but could have given it less page time, IMO. I found the team's coming-together to be a bit unsatisfying.

[Dagger]

While I enjoyed the Meltzer run for nostalgic purposes, I just can't get into McDuffie's run so far. Don't get me wrong, I do enjoy certain things. I like that he brought in Firestorm and added Zatanna to the roster, I'm just not enjoying the stories. JLofA should be epic, imo, and this just isn't it. Hopefully it'll get better soon, or I'm dropping this title from my pull list.

[Stanlos]

There were some bright spots. Issue 0 was fun and exciting (or maybe I was suffering WW withdrawal due to the relaunch--I can't say) and I loved the wildly varied artists (often imitating different eras).

I think the rest of the run was pretty much him writing a love letter to the comics he read as a boy. It really feels like it was some sort of intimate affair that maybe I didn't have any business reading because I wasn't involved.

[Pól Rua]

There were some bright spots. Issue 0 was fun and exciting (or maybe I was suffering WW withdrawal due to the relaunch--I can't say) and I loved the wildly varied artists (often imitating different eras).

I think the rest of the run was pretty much him writing a love letter to the comics he read as a boy. It really feels like it was some sort of intimate affair that maybe I didn't have any business reading because I wasn't involved.

If I were the comics Brad Meltzer read as a boy, I'd take out a restraining order.

[Bat-Reader]

I really liked his Identity Crisis, it's the best JLA story i have ever read (i don't involve the elseworlds) but his JLA run was... a nonsencial love fest. (i kind of enjoy the red tornado angle though)

[sabongero]

Hey, fairly new comic reader here- just going around picking up whatever monthly series and TPBs catch my eye. I'm aware that I'm probably digging up old bones as far as long time fans are concerned, but I recently picked up Meltzer's JLA run and I was kinda curious as to what the general community consensus was towards his run. Personally, while it may not have been that "epic" in terms of the actual challenges they faced, I really dug the interpersonal stuff a lot.

You must be new here. Here's an old thread. You can see what previous posters have thought about Meltzer's JLoA run.