JLoA #22 -- S P O I L E R S

[IvCNuB4]

This is the first issue I've bought since #12. I'm a sucker for Red Tornado stories. Started out a bit slow, as in Meltzer-way-too-much-talk slow, but things get rolling soon enough. Vixen comes clean about the nature of her powers and without missing a beat Black Canary kicks her off the team ! Finally Dinah shows some balls and starts acting like a leader ! Loved it when she shut down WW, Superman and Red Arrow during the meeting. Amazo makes his return, and gets Red Tornado's new body to boot ! I like the design and the way it lights up when he powers up. Thought it was a bit too convenient when he stole the cape from the red body, puts it on and it changes color to match his new body but whatever ...

Benes art was really great this issue also !

[HouseSolo]

I could hardly stomach the beginning. I mean, I like hearing about how Red Tornado feels he's losing his humanity and all that, but I don't need to hear about how he's watching others have sex, and how they have sex. Really unnecessary, there were other ways to accomplish that.

Then Superman and Hal having a heart to heart with Red Arrow about his feelings for Kendra seemed forced. It could have worked, but it just kind of came off as tacky.

From there on out the issue rolled fairly well, and truthfully I'm much more curious about what becomes of Vixen than Amazo. I can't imagine her power shut down will work, at least not until she has a showdown with Amazo. That's been a long time coming.

[Hawkman]

McDuffie's doing well enough to keep me on board. Wasn't as good as his last two issues, but it was a good start to an actual unimpeded arc from the man, so for that I'm excited.

There were a couple of problems I had here, though. Firstly, Kendra and Roy's relationship continues to be a case of telling rather than showing. I still have to ask where they became so close exactly, and here I had to question what were they supposedly arguing about as well. And secondly, Reddy's conversation with Kathy at the beginning had a few, shall we say, awkward moments? "I watched (didn't he actually just catch a glimpse accidently?) our two friends having sex. Will you marry me?"

Other than those minor quibbles, though, I was thoroughly entertained. It was great to see Dinah step up and take charge, even in the face of both Wonder Woman and Superman, and the situation concerning Mari is apparently much more complex than what one--or at least I--had originally hypothesized it to be. Zatanna's appearance was minor, but a good sign of things to come, and Amazo's comeback at the end was very nice. A good build-up to it throughout the issue as well, though not at the expense of everything else that took place.

So I'm by and large happy with the state of Justice League right now, and am looking forward how this arc progresses.

[Mr.EZ]

I could have taken or left the issue. It didn't really impress me, but maybe that's because it was such a quiet issue. Lots of conversation, much of it cliche or meaningless. Why didn't McDuffie just have Hal say, "So I says to Mabel, I says..." instead of telling some story of his ring running out of juice, because that's really all the story was. A character walking into a room talking to another character, only to be interupted by a third character.

Yawn.

Also, if you're going to build a new body for RED Tornado, why make it BLACK and evil looking?

[Xero]

I really enjoyed his issue, and I like the fact that McDuffie is taking the time to give all the members their own voice and personality. Really loved the Bronze Tiger cameo (really wish DC had approved Dwayne's Bronze Tiger & Vixen mini-series).

[The Cool Thatguy]

Whoo! Canary acts like a leader should and kicks Vixen off. I like Mari, but keeping secrets when you're on the A-team ought to mean you're instantly expelled. Especially when it's regarding your powers and how it affects your teammates.

I also like how Dinah acts like a friend and gets working on solving the problem. Hope that means Vixen's back on the team when the arc's done.

[Jack Zodiac]

No !@#$? Dwayne pitched a Bronze Tiger mini? I'm glad someone still gives a rat's ass about that character. Ostrander barely used him in his Suicide Squad mini.

It was an alright issue. I'm getting a little tired of the never-ending Red Tornado drama, though. But I dig the new Amazo look. If it were tweaked just a bit more, it'd be perfect. Maybe make him look a little less like Red Tornado, but just enough to get that whole Spidey/Venom, Superman/Bizarro thing going. Still not even a little interested in Roy and Kendra's relationship, and I thought the dialogue between Clark and Hal about it was terrible. I did enjoy seeing Dinah finally take charge, though, and not come off like an !@#hole for it. And I hope that Mari's story goes on, just not in the pages of Justice League of America. It'd be great for whatever mini-series Dwayne had set to pitch.

The art was pretty terrible this month. I can usually handle Benes' extremely ordinary style, but this was awful, and it had me wondering, does he always ink his own work? I never notice either way who inks his stuff because I'm not a fan of his, but this month I noticed that he was sole artist, so he penciled and inked- and the inks were just plain bad. Way to dark and heavy over his thin, sketchy pencils. But only some character and scenes. Red Tornado didn't come off as over-inked, but then I think he was handled more by the colorist in his hologram form. I was just wondering, though, because I've been putting up with Ed's art for years now, and it's never awful, it's just not very good, but this week it was really, noticeably bad.

[Xero]

Yep here's the pic and the quote, I blogged about it (http://novakometa.blogspot.com/search?q=bronze+tiger) a while back. The vHive link is dead now they've relaunched since then, just go to Dwayne's forum and ask him about it again.

http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/7343/391/1600/bronzevixen.0.png

I pitched a Bronze Tiger and Vixen series many years ago called "Bronze Thrills." Maybe I should dig it up again. It was a modern take on the old "Avengers" TV show. Steed and Peel, not Cap and Iron Man.

I just re-read it. Holy crap, I love it! Great art from Eddy Newell, a story that rehabilitates Bronze Tiger and makes Vixen just as cool as she is on JLU. It links their origins in an unexpected way and sets them up for new stuff. I'm going to pitch it as soon as I figure out how.

Dwayne McDuffie

[Hypestyle]

mmm... Mari.. don't change your outfit.. :smile:

...so Tornado's real name is... John Smith? neat.. oh, and Kathy's his wife? ("you can't get porn?") heh.. so is he like the Vision where he has all the "real" parts? all the red is just an outfit, not his real skin?

..who is the bronze tiger? what are his powers? why does he apparently wear a silly tiger-head mask?

....uh.. just how is anybody going to help Vixen get her real powers back and cancel the siphoning? and now that she's off the team, who's going to find the time to help?

..I wonder how Roy and Kendra would react if they knew they were being watched.. but I hope they don't break up..

..glad to see Steel involved with the team again-- but I want to see him in costume..

-- i'm not as glad to see Amazo-- what happened that he was disembodied the last time?

...I want to see more groups of villains again, soon..

[Will.S]

The art was pretty terrible this month. I can usually handle Benes' extremely ordinary style, but this was awful, and it had me wondering, does he always ink his own work? I never notice either way who inks his stuff because I'm not a fan of his, but this month I noticed that he was sole artist, so he penciled and inked- and the inks were just plain bad. Way to dark and heavy over his thin, sketchy pencils. But only some character and scenes. Red Tornado didn't come off as over-inked, but then I think he was handled more by the colorist in his hologram form. I was just wondering, though, because I've been putting up with Ed's art for years now, and it's never awful, it's just not very good, but this week it was really, noticeably bad.
Ed Benes will ink himself from time to time but usually he either has his sister Mariah or Sandra Hope inking him which usually looks better. I will agree that his art didn't look that good in this issue due to such heavy and muddled inking. The coloring wasn't exactly great either, Pete Pantazis is usually pretty good but overall the booked looked sloppy.

The story itself was pretty good, it's nice to see Dwayne back to doing his own stories after so many tie ins and interference from other things. I like the continuing relationship between Roy and Kendra but I was puzzled as to what the agression was all about from her end. Superman and Hal's talk to Roy also seemed redundant considering that Roy wanted to talk to Kendra about her issues with him in the first place but perhaps there's more to tell on her end.

I liked seeing the Bronze Tiger/Vixen scenes that we saw here as well, outside of Checkmate I haven't really been all that exposed to him but he seems to have an interesting relationship with Vixen and they seemed to have had a nice bit of history together judging from their talk. When she was taken off the team by Black Canary it seemed rather cold at first but it seems like they're both planing on tackling the problem personally.

As far as the Red Tornado stuff goes, the intro with Kathy (who I thought was Black Canary for some reason) made me feel sympathetic towards him and it also rings true of all the times he's been used and destroyed throughout his time with the Justice League. I also liked seeing all the big brain characters working on the case alongside Batman like Steel and Will Magnus although for some reason I had no idea who Dr. Niles Caulder was until I wiki'ed him up and said "D'oh!".

Not sure what to think about the new Amazo body, it's not really that great looking or original given that it's just a painted black and red version of Red Tornado's body and same can be said for Meltzer's Dr. Impossible. And like I said before, Benes's art wasn't looking too hot here, it's not all bad but it doesn't look all that good either. I wished that this book had a better penciler like Pete Woods who should be given a lot more high profile books given how he currently being wasted on Infinity Inc.

Anyway, art and character problems aside it's still a pretty enyoyable book.

7.5/10

[pariah-1972]

(yawn) I'm not sure why i keep reading this i wasn't crazy about it when i read it and now after reading the comments (which were pretty fair considering) it just seems like re-hashing a lot of stuff that Meltzer put forth.

[Will.S]

..who is the bronze tiger? what are his powers? why does he apparently wear a silly tiger-head mask?
As far as I know he doesn't have powers but he's a top tier martial artist along the lines of Richard Dragon and such.

[The Cool Thatguy]

As far as I know he doesn't have powers but he's a top tier martial artist along the lines of Richard Dragon and such.

Functionally speaking, I'd put him above Richard Dragon. Bronze Tiger not only survived, but led the Suicide Squad, fighting and beating superhumans with his bare hands. He's pretty hardcore, only lacking in the jerk department

[titanfan]

I think Tiger might have even beaten Bats once, although he's lost to him several times as well...

I like the continuing relationship between Roy and Kendra but I was puzzled as to what the agression was all about from her end.

She's been pissy ever since the Cheshire thing. (Especially after Roy ran off and got them captured on that prison planet place)

[Hawkman]

As far as the Red Tornado stuff goes, the intro with Kathy (who I thought was Black Canary for some reason)...
Probably because Benes only draws males and females, typically with the only differentiating factors between characters of the same sex being outfit and hair color/style. And considering both Kathy and Dinah have mid-length blond hair in the book, I'm sure you're not the only one who initially made the same mistake.

I'm not trying to bash Benes' art. I actually think it's pretty look at, but his biggest problems for me continue to be his look-alike characters and his often vacant backgrounds.

[Jack Zodiac]

Ed Benes will ink himself from time to time but usually he either has his sister Mariah or Sandra Hope inking him which usually looks better. I will agree that his art didn't look that good in this issue due to such heavy and muddled inking. The coloring wasn't exactly great either, Pete Pantazis is usually pretty good but overall the booked looked sloppy.

His sister, huh? That's kinda neat. I like seeing art teams like that- brothers, sisters, couples. But yeah, the inking made his art even worse. It was like... Vince Coletta inking Kirby, if Kirby weren't Kirby.

I liked seeing the Bronze Tiger/Vixen scenes that we saw here as well, outside of Checkmate I haven't really been all that exposed to him but he seems to have an interesting relationship with Vixen and they seemed to have had a nice bit of history together judging from their talk. When she was taken off the team by Black Canary it seemed rather cold at first but it seems like they're both planing on tackling the problem personally.

Tiger and Vixen used to be a couple back when they were both in the Suicide Squad. And now that I've heard about it, I think McDuffie would be the best writer to get those two together again, so I really hope that he pitches a mini-series for Vixen instead of devoting Justice League of America pages to her personal journey.

As far as the Red Tornado stuff goes, the intro with Kathy (who I thought was Black Canary for some reason)

I could give you one glaringly obvious reason, but I bet you already know what it is.

Not sure what to think about the new Amazo body, it's not really that great looking or original given that it's just a painted black and red version of Red Tornado's body and same can be said for Meltzer's Dr. Impossible. And like I said before, Benes's art wasn't looking too hot here, it's not all bad but it doesn't look all that good either. I wished that this book had a better penciler like Pete Woods who should be given a lot more high profile books given how he currently being wasted on Infinity Inc.

Oh, yeah! Dr. Impossible! What the !@#$ ever happened to him? Like all other interesting tidbits from Meltzer's shoddy run, he was forgotten, and in all the Fourth World hysteria, I guess he was overlooked and probably ain't showin' up again any time soon.

And I agree, this book needs some better art. It's the !@#$ing Justice League. Pete Woods isn't a great artist, but you're absolutely right that DC has wasted his talents on mediocre books like Infinity Inc. or just plain terrible books like Amazons Attack. I'd love to see him on this title.

[The Cool Thatguy]

Vixen and Bronze Tiger are cool characters, but personally I'd hate to see them back together again.

They had a good relationship in Suicide Squad, one that fell apart due to the direction that life took them. They seperated on good terms and it ought to stay that way. Let them have new plots and old interests, damn it. The last thing we need is them repeating plots.

[HouseSolo]

Agreed, and I don't see much coming of it. They did acknowledge that it never works between them. At least Bronze Tiger did.

[Will.S]

She's been pissy ever since the Cheshire thing. (Especially after Roy ran off and got them captured on that prison planet place)
Ahh I see, I'll have to get to reading that arc as I've been skipping some JLoA issues as of late.

Probably because Benes only draws males and females, typically with the only differentiating factors between characters of the same sex being outfit and hair color/style. And considering both Kathy and Dinah have mid-length blond hair in the book, I'm sure you're not the only one who initially made the same mistake.

I'm not trying to bash Benes' art. I actually think it's pretty look at, but his biggest problems for me continue to be his look-alike characters and his often vacant backgrounds.
Yeah like, when I read the part that said "What are you talking about? I love you. I make love with you." I was like :eek:

"When the hell did this happen?"

[Will.S]

His sister, huh? That's kinda neat. I like seeing art teams like that- brothers, sisters, couples. But yeah, the inking made his art even worse. It was like... Vince Coletta inking Kirby, if Kirby weren't Kirby.
Hah, well don't kill me but I kind of liked some of Colleta's inking on Kirby.

:redface:

Tiger and Vixen used to be a couple back when they were both in the Suicide Squad. And now that I've heard about it, I think McDuffie would be the best writer to get those two together again, so I really hope that he pitches a mini-series for Vixen instead of devoting Justice League of America pages to her personal journey.
I would like to see this mini as well.

Oh, yeah! Dr. Impossible! What the !@#$ ever happened to him? Like all other interesting tidbits from Meltzer's shoddy run, he was forgotten, and in all the Fourth World hysteria, I guess he was overlooked and probably ain't showin' up again any time soon.

And I agree, this book needs some better art. It's the !@#$ing Justice League. Pete Woods isn't a great artist, but you're absolutely right that DC has wasted his talents on mediocre books like Infinity Inc. or just plain terrible books like Amazons Attack. I'd love to see him on this title.
The Dr. Impossible character is in a weird situation. I suppose Meltzer wanted to introduce him for other writers to use or he might have had plans for him but since Morrison is doing the whole New Gods revamp he'll be about as out of place as Countdown's Forager. Plus given the whole opposite thing he has going on that might be hard to reconcile unles he reverse engineered his tech and gave it those quirky names.

And agreed on the Amazons Attack thing...ugh what a waste of good art.

[Binker]

By Nathaniel Ruff (also known as Binker, Binker2 and Nate on many forums)

JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #22

Written by Dwayne McDuffie
Art by Ed Benes
Edited by Eddie Berganza

PLOT:
An all-out action issue as Red Tornado is given another chance at life! The problem is that the dormant Amazo program within him wants the death of all League members! Plus, Zatanna and Animal Man come to aid Vixen with her power problem.

REVIEW:
Issue #20 marked my return to JLA, and my first experience with McDuffie's writing, and everything were all positives. That issue also doubled as a return of sorts with The Flash since I've been missing out on the character since I dropped the book in the middle of the "Wild Wests" arc. But once that issue was out of the way, it was time for #21, which was a tie-in to Final Crisis. Sadly, the positives from issue #20 were never the case with #21. Ever since McDuffie started his run, so far most of it have been tie-ins. And because of that, many people have been turned off by it. Issue #21, which I did not review, was one of them. It wasn't to my liking because it was basically the Libra scene from DCU Zero, extended to fit most of the issue. Because of it, it was passable. Now, again, with that out of the way, now we can focus on JLA issues that aren't tie-ins, finally, starting now with issue #22. Let's check it out.

After reading this issue, I felt better. Given how I felt about the JLA comic, and issue #21, the "so-so" or even "maybe wanting" the JLA comic became "yup, that's on my pull list" with this issue. That might be saying much, but it is really now that I have no second thoughts about putting this under my pull list with no problems. All this is due to the interesting aspects with the story; Red Torando and his wife, Vixen and her problems with her powers, something going on with the Red Arrow/Hawkgirl relationship, and finally Amazo. Because I, as I said in my review to issue #20, never got McDuffie's run when it started, this issue (not quite including #20, again) felt like a sequel to Brad Meltzer's run. I knew what McDuffie did from issue #13-now, but it is just here that I felt how I did. So that's why I said that there were no problems with me saying that the JLA was back on my pull list.

The story with Vixen has been lasting around in the JLA title, but it is only now that this story got a development outside the notion that, yes, the Trinity knew about it. But now, it is the rest of the League that knows, and Black Canary has her off the team. I thought Dinah, the sweet a$$-kicking superheroine had become a b!itch when she did that, but it wasn't until she leads to Vixen with the idea that she should find out how to fix her powers that she didn't become that anymore. Good. Maybe the new thing introduced is a bit of a problem with the relationship between Red Arrow and Hawkgirl. This seemed new as it didn't feel like I heard it before, unless I'm wrong on that. But the problem itself is not revealed, though what could it be is hinted through Hal (oh yeah, he's back as the JLA's MAIN GL!) and Superman and their relationships (including a reference to Ollie's, too). And what I got was that, even with deep feelings toward one another, and a fling or two, Red Arrow and Hawkgirl's relationship doesn't seem to have moved on past that, other than still being a work one. And what RA is being told is that HG would want something more than that, and RA looks to understand that, because if you think about the panel after he is told this, he wants the same thing too. So will there be a deeper, more depth, Red Arrow/Hawkgirl romance? Maybe, maybe not. We don't know what McDuffie is planning, and this is a comic book after all.

Overall, I felt so better about JLA after this issue. And again, that is saying much, but that's how I feel after reading this issue, given how I felt about issue #21, and this has neither concerns nor problems being under my pull list again. And I pointed out, the reason why I said all that about this issue and title is because of how interesting this issue was, in terms of the story and the characters, which didn't seem to contain the type of feel since McDuffie started his run, as pointed out by other reviewers. With Red Arrow and Hawkgirl having a relationship trouble, Vixen kicked out and the story point with Red Torando and then Amazo, I'm ready for the next one. And that is something that wasn't the case concerning issue #21 after reading #20.

RATING: Yay

Next Issue: Wonder Woman vs. Amazo!

[DDM]

I could hardly stomach the beginning. I mean, I like hearing about how Red Tornado feels he's losing his humanity and all that, but I don't need to hear about how he's watching others have sex, and how they have sex. Really unnecessary, there were other ways to accomplish that.

Then Superman and Hal having a heart to heart with Red Arrow about his feelings for Kendra seemed forced. It could have worked, but it just kind of came off as tacky.

From there on out the issue rolled fairly well, and truthfully I'm much more curious about what becomes of Vixen than Amazo. I can't imagine her power shut down will work, at least not until she has a showdown with Amazo. That's been a long time coming.

I am so glad I dropped JLA.

[HouseSolo]

I am so glad I dropped JLA.

Heh, I've been thinking about it for some time now. I'll stick out the rest of this arc indefinitely and we'll see where it goes from there.

[Christopher Cross Is God]

Vixen and Bronze Tiger are cool characters, but personally I'd hate to see them back together again.

They had a good relationship in Suicide Squad, one that fell apart due to the direction that life took them. They seperated on good terms and it ought to stay that way. Let them have new plots and old interests, damn it. The last thing we need is them repeating plots.

I'd love to see Dwayne taking on a Vixen/Bronze Tiger mini.

Having them in a mini-series together doesn't necessarily mean they'd become a couple again or they'd be repeating the same plotlines. There are plenty of fresh scenarios which can be done with the two, and in my opinion McDuffie's the man to write them.

[pariah-1972]

Am i the only one tired of the "android that longs to be human" shtick It's just getting so old.

Red Tornado has a great look but his personality is not engaging most of the time.

I think it would be the best thing for his character to remain human for a while since he would stop whining so much and his powers would make more sense and he wouldn't be a walking doormat that gets killed all the time.

[HeckBoy]

I still don't reall understand Red Tornado. What is he exactly? A spirit inhabiting a robot body? Or is he robot that has a "soul?" Like, I don't understand what's actually do the thinking/doing/feeling, the robot "programming" or the soul?

[pariah-1972]

I still don't reall understand Red Tornado. What is he exactly? A spirit inhabiting a robot body? Or is he robot that has a "soul?" Like, I don't understand what's actually do the thinking/doing/feeling, the robot "programming" or the soul?Thats a pretty good question.
I wish i could answer it.

[Paul Newell]

He's an "alien" in an android body. Unless that was retconned.
Originally the Red Tornado was inhabited by an alien hero from Rann called the "Tornado Champion". The Champion was a sentient "wind" that formed a tornado shape. When it first took control of the android body its memory was erased and it, in effect, became the Red Tornado.

[Bored at 3:00AM]

The writing was a real step-up from the mediocre crap that the previous have featured, but Ed Benes really needs to stop coasting on T&A and try stretching a little more to develop his style. He can't simply draw the same body and face on every character and expect that to fly these days. I know there's a lot of people who hate his stuff, but I think Benes is a better artist than people give him credit for. He just needs the kick in the ass to start evolving a bit. Unless he does that, he's just going to stagnate and be forgotten within a few years.

[BYC]

The writing was a real step-up from the mediocre crap that the previous have featured, but Ed Benes really needs to stop coasting on T&A and try stretching a little more to develop his style. He can't simply draw the same body and face on every character and expect that to fly these days. I know there's a lot of people who hate his stuff, but I think Benes is a better artist than people give him credit for. He just needs the kick in the ass to start evolving a bit. Unless he does that, he's just going to stagnate and be forgotten within a few years.
I think he is definitely coasting more currently. His Birds of Prey seemed a bit better, and his Thundercats looked fine, and not so deliberately cheesy.

[General Grievous]

yay! The first issue in months That I have really enjoyed:)

getting sick of ed benes art, he needs a new inker.

[Fatguy]

YEAH. I coulda gone without creepy as hell voyeur Red Tornado moments. Just...no. Please no.

Am i the only one tired of the "android that longs to be human" shtick It's just getting so old.

Definitely not the only one, I'm also pretty sick of it. In fact, I think I'm pretty sick of Tornado in general right now. I was actually really excited for him to be on the team but ever since this series started, all he's done is MOPE and have bad guys fight over his body. It's like Paris Hilton became a robot superhero.

I liked some stuff in the issue, but the stuff I didn't like sticks out so much that it's hard to focus on the good...so I won't :wink:

I'd give it a 5/10

[Hawkman]

I'm basically indifferent to Red Tornado at the moment, but I have to say, Meltzer making him human was a nice twist that I was disappointed to see him go back on. Could've been the one fairly large change in his run that actually stuck, but instead we're right back where we started again. Just another reason now for me to look back negatively on Meltzer's run.

[pariah-1972]

I think im going to give up on JLA for now it's just too repetitive and stupid.
I had hopes for Mcduffie but this isn't working.

[oldblood-mechanic]

Wow, I'm shocked at all the negative reaction to this comic. I absolutely adore this series, and love the artwork of Benes. I did find that the inks were a little too heavy, but this is still way better than 80 % of the stuff out there; and to say that the guy that's doing Infinity Inc. would be better,:eek: You've gotta be kidding right? I find that series has some of the most wretched disjointed artwork out there. Benes knows how to draw figures, and action very well, which makes him the perfect penciller for JLA.

As for the issue itself, I agree that it was great to see Canary take charge. It was equally great to see her not abandon Vixen, and go to try to help her in the end.

The meeting with Vixen and Bronze Tiger was very interesting, I had no idea that these two character had a history together, so it was a bit of a surprise to me, but I still liked it.

Red Tornado talking about watching Red Arrow and Hawkgirl was a little off-putting, but the rest of it was well done. I liked the addition of Niles Caulder and Will Magnus, as well as Zatanna. That went a long way to showing just how difficult it is to put Tornado back together again, and that not just anyone can do it.

The picking up of the Amazo plot thread is also a necessity, as it was left wide open. But given that, I am also hoping to see Dr. Impossible again. I think he could be a really interesting villain, especially if he continues to use stolen tech from a variety of places. And, IIRC, it was never proven whether or not he really was a New God, so he may well have escaped the Death of the New Gods unscathed.

[pariah-1972]

Of course it shouldn't be that hard to put Reds body back together since it's been done so many times.

[hushy1979]

I think he is definitely coasting more currently. His Birds of Prey seemed a bit better, and his Thundercats looked fine, and not so deliberately cheesy.

I agree completely with his BOP work being better, but from what I recall, his THundercats was quite cheesy too. Cheetara's knockers were HUMUNGOUS and the action scenes in the series were horribly sub-par. I hated that series anyway. Too far-fetched, many plot-holes and the art seemed extremely rushed in the last 2 issues. the first 3 were OK imo, in fact, the first ish blew me away.

Sigh, I miss Thundercats.

[4PointOh]

CBR wasn't too thrilled:

http://comicbookresources.com/?page=user_review&id=191

While I wouldn't say it's as bad as the critic suggests, I must admit that I'm baffled as to why a JLA comic containing my dream line-up hasn't really engaged me much. The book seems so unfocused and the stories arbitrary.

[The Cool Thatguy]

CBR wasn't too thrilled:

http://comicbookresources.com/?page=user_review&id=191

While I wouldn't say it's as bad as the critic suggests, I must admit that I'm baffled as to why a JLA comic containing my dream line-up hasn't really engaged me much. The book seems so unfocused and the stories arbitrary.

Maybe because every other issue deals with.focuses on some crossover event and not the team itself? And that Brad left how many unresolved plot threads?

McDuffie's a greater writer, but you'd never know it given the mandates that seem to weigh this title down in addition to subplots that were thrown around willy nilly.