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Superhero by numbers, DC style
Published by Charlie Parker
24th October 2007
Justice League America #14
Justice League Of America #14 epitomises the problem I have with ensemble books, especially when the cast is doubled with the Justice League’s counterparts, the stupidly named Injustice League. (That has to be from the 40s right?) All this overcrowding means there’s too many characters and not enough pages or panels to do them all ‘justice’ as it were.
The main crux of the story is that most of the Justice League have been captured by a bunch of the usual faces such as Lex Luthor and Poison Ivy and it‘s up to Superman and Black Lightning (a black guy who shoots lightning) to save the day in a rather ponderous manner. Despite the cover no D.C. superheroes get any sort of Chinese water torture inflicted upon them which is sad, as surely Wonder Woman deserves some terminal electricity treatment.
JLA #14 is part three of a four part story but it was easy to pick up and follow what was going on. All in all it’s typical D.C. superhero fare, the usual villains scowl and act by the book whilst Superman punches a few walls. There’s even a moment of uncomplete surprise when you think ‘ol Supes is going to deck Luthor and it just turns out to be a hologram. Damn! Supes also gets revived after being knocked out by a fire hydrant. Huh?
This comic is safe commercial fare, directed ably by Dwayne McDuffie a writer that cut his teeth at Milestone and is drawn by Ed Benes in a standard lean, modern day style where everyone is muscled to the hilt and all the gals have big knockers. Benes does have a tendency to zoom in on faces all the time, faces while talking or getting punched so it feels kind of static unlike say that guy who draws Ultimate Spiderman where you find your eyes gliding from panel to panel.
All in all it’ll pass five minutes then will pass from your brain. Average in content and execution, JLA 14 is superhero comics by numbers.
