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Mild Mannered Reviews - JLA Comics

JLA: Classified #48

JLA: Classified #48

Scheduled to arrive in stores: December 12, 2007

Cover date: Early February 2008

"Repo-Men" - Part Two

Writter: Mike W. Barr
Penciller: Randy Green
Inker: Andy Owens

Michael Bailey Reviewed by: Michael Bailey

Click to enlarge



Green Lantern, Wonder Woman, Green Arrow, Hawkman and the Atom are forced to fight without their weapons in arena combat on the planet Qward. After the Qwardian Empress Shalindra drops her handkerchief the battle begins and between the determination on the part of the Leaguers and the relative inexperience using the weapons on the part of the Weaponers the League defeats their attackers. Wonder Woman nearly loses control with her opponent but Green Lantern and Hawkman are able to talk her down.

With the help of the resistance movement the League escapes. While the Emperor punishes his minions for allowing the League to escape Atom learns that the reason why Wonder Woman almost killed the person she was fighting is that without her bracelets she is beginning to succumb to the savagery her people are capable of to remind them that they were once conquered by men. The Atom offers support and the two agree to work through their respective problems.

Afterwards the leader of the resistance enters and there is an immediate attraction between her and Green Arrow. A plan is quickly formed and executed to regain not only their personal weapons but the ones that were stolen from the League's headquarters. The resistance leader easily disables the security systems, though it turns out that the Weaponers have laid a trap for them. The leader is revealed to be the Empress, but before anything can be done about it the Atom activates one of the stolen weapons. Hawkman thinks this is a fine idea and a full blown battle erupts. The Master Weaponer orders the use of Project One, which only fazes the League. The Atom uses Wonder Woman's savagery to nudge her back into the fight and she comes close to losing control again. After regaining his bow and arrow Green Arrow makes an improbable shot and Wonder Woman and her bracelets are reunited. With that the League is victorious and ready to leave.

Green Arrow says one last good-bye to the Empress before the League climbs into their escape vessel. The Atom reveals that when he destroyed the robot he unleashed an electromagnetic pulse which not only destroyed the blueprints the Weaponers had stolen but much of their data as well. Green Lantern commends him as Wonder Woman tells the group she hopes to never see this horrid place again. Green Arrow, thinking of the Empress, disagrees adding that the place had its attractions.

4Story - 4: And when I wrote, "...Green Lantern and Hawkman are able to talk her down," I really meant "Hawkman punches Wonder Woman in the face and Wonder Woman comes around."

The former seemed a bit more politic for a synopsis than the latter.

For a story that was predictable from beginning to end with characterization that can be described as two dimensional at best I am surprised that I liked it as much as I did. I wrote in my last review that despite the Silver/Bronze Age feel of the story the first part was very enjoyable and the second was the same way. It was a fun read from beginning to end and I kept reminding myself that Mike W. Barr was going for a certain atmosphere and in thinking about it that way the story worked.

So I could sit here and right about how easy the League defeated their enemies at the beginning of the issue and how obvious it was that the Empress was the leader of the resistance forces and that the romance between her and Green Arrow put Captain James T. Kirk's relationships to shame and how messed up the whole Wonder Woman sub-plot was. But I'm not going to because frankly I have flung enough venom and bile recently and it's time to just sit down and enjoy the comic.

It was a fun book. It wasn't anything groundbreaking or stunning. My whole perception of comics hasn't changed. I read a book, liked it and moved on.

And that's all I have to say about that.

4Art - 4: All right I lied. Obviously there is more to say about this issue. Curse you Mild Mannered Review format.

(Michael shakes fist at the heavens while a flock of doves takes flight behind him.)

In all seriousness I liked the art. Randy Green captured the flavor of the story and the era it was set in. The art actually was where a lot of my enjoyment came from. Mike W. Barr's story demanded a simpler looking style though the art was far from simple. A more heavy handed or natural style would have killed the flavor.

So I liked the interior art. Again, kind of surprising considering my feelings towards this title but hey, you can't hate them all.

3Cover Art - 3: This cover is fine and all, but there is something weird about having all of the characters in front of a white background. It's almost like there was supposed to be something placed behind them via Photoshop. Oh well, it's not terrible but I still don't care for it much.


Mild Mannered Reviews

2008

Note: Month dates are from the issue covers, not the actual date when the comic went on sale.

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