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Mild Mannered Reviews - JLA Comics

Justice League of America #24

Justice League of America #24

Scheduled to arrive in stores: August 20, 2008

Cover date: October 2008

"The Second Coming" - Chapter Three: "The Blood-Dimmed Tide"

Writter: Dwayne McDuffie
Penciller: Allan Goldman
Inker: Prentis Rollins with Rodney Ramos and Derek Fridolfs

Michael Bailey Reviewed by: Michael Bailey

Click to enlarge



Zatanna manages to distract Amazo long enough to save Vixen and give the League a chance to regroup. They pile on and, thanks to Black Canary, momentarily bring the villain to his knees. Amazo recovers and the battle rages on. Superman rushes at the android but is taken out, as is Wonder Woman. Zatanna reverses the spell Amazo cast to rob her of her mouth and once again the Leaguers rally to bring Amazo down.

With the help of John Henry Irons and Batman Zatanna uses the soul of the Red Tornado to lure Amazo to one of the slideways, the League's teleportation system. Irons and Batman reprogrammed the device to send Amazo to the gravity well of Antares. Afterwards the Red Tornado is whole again, body and soul leaving the League to investigate the problems Vixen had been having with her powers. They visit Buddy Baker, who at first seems oblivious to the connection he and Vixen share, but when Vixen points out that the normally vegetarian Animal Man is eating chicken he realizes that someone is screwing with their heads.

4Story - 4: This wasn't a bad issue but it was one of the more action driven ones that McDuffie has produced for this series. That's not necessarily a bad thing. McDuffie came up with some really nifty ways for Amazo and the League to fight, so the battle scenes were well thought out at the very least. There was also some legitimate dramatic tension as well. I mean it's pretty obvious that the League is going to win. It's their book and the story was wrapping up, but it's nice to get lost in the mayhem sometimes.

My only real beef with this issue is that the resolution of the Red Tornado sub-plot was not as satisfying as I thought it should be. McDuffie set it up nicely but at the end it was like, "Oh, by the way, Red Tornado's back. Oh look, Vixen." It would have been nice to have gotten a little more and maybe a coda to the conversation he and his wife had at the beginning of the story.

Still this was a solid issue with some great action and a good bit of humor at the end. I don't quite know how I feel about the upcoming Vixen story but I am willing to give it a shot.

Then again I review the book, so I guess giving it a shot is a foregone conclusion.

4Art - 4: I wonder if this issue was behind art wise considering there was a guest penciller and three (count them, three!) inkers. Despite this I liked the art in this issue. The opening shot of Zatanna leaping at Amazo was nice and the action scenes were "blocked" very well. Fill-in teams are always a dodgy proposition but Goldman and crew did an admirable job.

4Cover Art - 4: Nice cover. It really is. The art is solid and it evokes all kinds of weird and messed up things.

One problem, though.

Isn't this like an issue early?

This is what I get for complaining about the Amazo cover last month.

It's always my fault.


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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