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Mild Mannered Reviews - JLA Comics

Justice League of America #27

Justice League of America #27

Scheduled to arrive in stores: December 10, 2008

Cover date: January 2009

"Be Careful What You Wish For..."

Writter: Dwayne McDuffie
Penciller: Ed Benes
Inker: Ed Benes, Rob Hunter, Norm Rapmund & Drew Geraci

Michael Bailey Reviewed by: Michael Bailey

Click to enlarge



Dr. Kimiyo Hoshi, the former Doctor Light II, returns home from a bad day at work to find the Shadow Cabinet in her home.

In St. Roch, Louisiana Roy walks out on Kendra after she calls out Carter's name in her sleep.

In the Hall of Justice Vixen and Animal Man finish testing her abilities and she is cleared for active duty.

Back at the Hoshi household Kimiyo's on again, off again abilities begin working but Hardware manages to snag her in an energy field but the Shadow Cabinet is stunned to find that she had activated her old Justice League International communicator.

Black Canary confronts Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman in their "secret sanctuary" but before anything can come from it the League receives the call from Kimiyo. Batman, Firestorm, Black Lightning and Zatanna head to Kimiyo's house where Batman quickly figures out that the woman who has greeted them is not the former Doctor Light. Back in Washington, D.C. Hardware and Iota break into the Hall of Justice and are confronted by Superman, Flash, Wonder Woman, Vixen, Green Lantern, Red Arrow, Hawkgirl and Black Canary. Iota calls in her own reserves and suddenly Icon and the Shadow Cabinet appear. Icon introduces the group and informs the League that they must let the Cabinet pass or he cannot guarantee the League's safety.

4Story - 4: This story would have gotten a five. I was seriously considering giving it the top rating for most of my reading of the issue. One thing kept this from happening, but I'll get into that in a second.

While much of the hoopla about this issue is centered on the return of the Milestone characters, that wasn't the part that I liked. I mean I liked it. Don't get me wrong. Despite reading very little of the Milestone books when they were being published I still dig the universe and have fond memories of the "Worlds Collide" story from 1994. Superman. Superboy. Steel. Icon. Rocket. Hardware. Static. What a great story.

Yes I'm being serious. Stop looking at me like that.

So the return of Milestone? All about some awesome, but not the best part of this story nor was the "return" of the Kimiyo Doctor Light or the fact that Vixen is back on the team even though she never really left.

Actually the best part of this story was Black Canary standing up to Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman.

Yeah, I know. It was like three pages, but in those three pages Black Canary acted like she should have; the leader of the Justice League. Sure there were little things that threw me off, like her reminding them of what happened right before INFINITE CRISIS, but I think that went to the heart of her point. The "Trinity" might think they have the best intentions by keeping a private place to meet and it's great that they want to work together, but when they were in charge things did go to hell. They needed to have a boot to the head, metaphorically speaking, to let them know that Dinah was serious. She's the boss. They need to recognize that and do so in a hurry.

The bit about John Henry Irons was good too. Liked that a lot actually.

All in all, though, this was a highly enjoyable issue. Sure it was mainly a set-up for the big fight next issue, but without this set-up the fight would simply be that; a fight. In fact this issue has only one flaw.

Can JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA please stop being the back door pilot of DC Comics?

Seriously. It would be nice to have a string of Justice League stories that are about the Justice League, not about the Justice League tying into SALVATION RUN or serving as a prologue for SUPERMAN'S REIGN or for the return of the Milestone characters. It's not that these stories weren't enjoyable to one extent or another, but I think it is starting to hurt the book because it is not developing a voice or tone to call its own. Yeah, McDuffie was involved in Milestone the first time around, so this makes more sense than the others, but at the same time we're still going to have to wait another issue or two before we get back to the League for the sake of the League.

All right. I'll stop griping. Despite tying into yet another event this was an enjoyable issue with some great character work.

And I'm looking forward to the fight.

I really am.

3Art - 3: Sigh.

Time to sound like a broken record.

I like Benes. Benes is a good artist. He can handle action well and his character work is improving with every issue.

But come on. The cheesecake is...sigh. Enough is too much at this point.

I mean do we really need Black Canary sitting on a chair with her behind towards the camera with her costume riding up that behind?

Was that necessary?

Sigh.

Oh well. Good art and all that.

Just...gratuitous.

4Cover Art - 4: I like this cover. I really do. The only problem is that outside of Icon it looks very much like the vast majority of the last fifteen or so covers.

So it's good, just repetitive.

At least it's not gratuitous.


Mild Mannered Reviews

2009

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

January 2009

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