Max Power - Review of Justice League Generation Lost volume 2

 

Review:

This is the explosive conclusion to the bi-weekly Justice League Generation Lost limited series. And what a conclusion! Maxwell Lord has been playing a long game, always several steps ahead of Booster Gold and his Justice Leaguers, the only people in the world who remember who Maxwell Lord is and the horrendous things he's done.

In these 12 chapters, including a double-sized finale, Captain Atom takes another time jump into the future and contributes to the destruction of the moon, Fire is shot and very nearly killed, Blue Beetle is captured by Maxwell Lord, tortured, shot and killed (not another Blue Beetle killed by Lord!), Batman and Power Girl finally remember Max, and Wonder Woman barely survives her own beatdown. Yes, bursting with action!

Writer Judd Winick mostly sticks the landing in this long running and complex serial. All the apparently scattered threads of Max's plan come together, and, in the end, he controls Checkmate plus the OMAC project, stitches together elements of Blue Beetle's alien tech and Creature Commandos into a giant, sassy, adaptive OMAC-Prime. The more the team fights it, the more it studies them, learns their weaknesses and mimics their powers back at them.

Rotating through three teams of artists, no doubt due to the deadline pressures of their challenging bi-weekly schedule, gives each chapter a subtly different look. Keith Giffen had done layouts for the first six chapters of the series, but with him long gone, the creative teams have been more free to apply their own styles. The result is impressively consistent and coherent, with the artists clearly buying into the concept from the beginning. Hi-Fi colors, as always, are gorgeous.

The focus on Booster Gold growing into a leader is a highlight of these chapters. He is far from a perfect leader, still clearly learning on the fly. 

Description:

Written by JUDD WINICK Art by AARON LOPRESTI, FERNANDO DAGNINO, JOE BENNETT and others Cover by DUSTIN NGUYEN In this second JLGL collection featuring issues #13-24 of the twice-monthly series, the U.N. revokes Checkmate's charter, Captain Atom is wanted, and Blue Beetle is . . . dead? Don't miss the second half of this can't-miss epic!

Collects: issues #13-24

Authors:  Judd Winick
Artists:  Joe Bennett, Jack Jadson, Fernando Dagnino, Aaron Lopresti, Matt Ryan
Published By:  DC Comics
Published When:  Oct 18, 2011
Parental Rating: Teen
ISBN:  978-1401232832
Pages:  320 pages

Max Pursuit - Review of Justice League: Generation Lost volume 1

 

Review:

When Brightest Day followed Blackest Night, it took a unique publishing format. The DC Universe crossover event alternated between two series with weekly releases, meaning two issues from each series per month.

This beautiful hardcover book collects the first twelve issues of the Justice League: Generation Lost series. The story quickly reassembles the core of the old Justice League International team, with Booster Gold joined by Fire, Ice, Captain Atom, a new Rocket Red and the current Blue Beetle (Jaime Reyes). There is no Guy Gardner - although the scene in which he turns them down, cringing in fear of his former girlfriend Ice is a cute tangent. The earliest days of the original JLI also saw regular appearances by Martian Manhunter, Batman and Black Canary, none of whom are here either.

The reassembled team has one driving mission: find Maxwell Lord, figure out what he is up to, and stop him.

Wait, wasn't Maxwell Lord dead? Killed by Wonder Woman during the Infinite Crisis? Well, yes, but in classic comic book style, he was resurrected in Blackest Night and is once again scheming. When Generation Lost begins, the whole world is hunting him and only his powerful mind control ability saves him. But once he blasts the whole world with a 'Forget Me' mental nudge, only this small band of JLI heroes remembers and keeps after him.

The dozen issues in this collection cover a lot of ground - beyond setting up the scenario where none of the other heroes remember Lord, nor are they willing to assist Booster and the team, there are battles with Checkmate, Max reappearing multiple times to interfere in their work and mind-controlling first Fire then Booster, before plotting to have Magog kill Captain Atom, as they chase him around the globe. But they are always at least one step behind, even when he shows up on their doorstep.

This book is a must-read for the fascinating growth in these characters. The Jaime Reyes Blue Beetle learns some lessons in being a hero and in teamwork; Ice gets an origin-story rewrite, one with eerie similarities to the Disney Frozen movie that hit theatres a couple years after this book (Mom's name is Elsa, little Tora can't control her ice powers and hurts her siblings and friends before embracing it and, well, letting go); Fire bounces between a fiery rage and deep compassion, especially for the injuries suffered by Rocket Red and her best-buddy Ice.

Most surprising of all is the growth in Booster Gold. With only passing references to his work with Rip Hunter in his solo series, Booster emerges as the team leader. He actively sets their goals; he leads their tactics and strategies; he works to bolster his team's flagging spirit and commitment. No longer the goofball of earlier Justice League days, nor the shameless self-promotion of his original 1980s series, nor even the behind-the-scenes fixer of his concurrent second solo series, this is a grown-up Booster who takes his responsibilities seriously.

By the end of this twelve-chapter volume, they are no closer to finding Max Lord. He is clearly toying with them, always a step or two or more ahead of them.

A bi-weekly publishing schedule has its challenges in pushing out actual printed comics by the deadlines. So, the book uses a rotating trio of art teams to meet those challenges. The result varies a little from team to team, but less than you might expect. No doubt a big influence on at least the first six chapters was Keith Giffen's role in doing the layouts, a skill that he has demonstrated elsewhere, as in the entire weekly series 52. Once he leaves the book, by issue #7, the individual style differences start to emerge and become more apparent. What stands out most are the gorgeous covers! The rotating set of artists gave several different people a role in the covers, and they produced a poster-worthy collection with impressive uses of color contrasts and strong inks.

The book does need a more careful edit. Maybe the quality of editing also suffered from the tight deadlines but there are several instances of typos or people using the wrong word, such as saying "in lieu of" when they clearly mean "in view of".

A fun and intense series, I look forward to part two.

Description:

Members of the original JUSTICE LEAGUE INTERNATIONAL team must stop their former friend from destroying all of the world's super-heroes in this graphic novel series that directly ties into BRIGHTEST DAY, the follow-up to the comics event of 2009, BLACKEST NIGHT.

Mind-controlling mastermind Maxwell Lord is targeting the old members of the defunct Justice League International. Now, surviving members Booster Gold, Captain Atom, Fire and Ice must stop him from destroying the entire superhero community.

Collects: issues #1-12

Authors:  Keith Giffen, Judd Winnick
Artists:  Keith Giffen, Joe Bennett, Jack Jadson, Fernando Dagnino, Aaron Lopresti, Matt Ryan
Published By:  DC Comics
Published When:  April 19, 2011
Parental Rating: Teen
ISBN:  978-1401230203
Pages:  286 pages

A Townful of Strong Women: Review of Fire and Ice: Welcome to Smallville

 

Review:

This book looks and feels so different from your typical - or really any - superhero capes and powers story. It's a delightful collection of the complete Fire & Ice: Welcome to Smallville limited series.

First and foremost, it's about time that these women got a series! Fire and Ice, two BFFs who have been in and out of Justice League books for decades, finally get an extended spotlight. 

Tora Olafsdotter, the Norwegian ice princess or goddess (depending on your place in continuity!) and Beatriz da Costa, the steamy-hot Brazilian model with her flames and flight, are as opposite in personality as in powers.

Their differences get full play here. The different reactions to their Smallville-based banishment are a centerpiece of both the plot and the page-to-page action. Wait, banishment to Smallville? Yeah, after a disastrous outing that included a destructive public spat between Guy Gardner and Fire, Superman sends them to his hometown to learn some life lessons. It's R&R time, with heavy emphasis on the Rehab.

Ice embraces the opportunity - the small town, the pace of life, the community, the depth of relationships, it all inspires her. Fire, however, is horrified and humiliated. She's determined to keep up her hero creds and her social media profile. When the hair salon idea doesn't pan out as hoped, she recruits a bunch of C-List villains (Beefeater, Lot's Wife, Honey, Linka, Miss Congeniality, Gentleman Ghost and more) to serve as foils for her heroics. And later as her pet villain-rehab projects.

Mix in a possessed mask from the living island of Kooey Kooey Kooey plus a ravenous demon from Ice's past, throw in a one-night stand with Lobo, and Smallville never saw such caped chaos.

What really sets this book apart are the relationship angles in the story, and the amazing visuals from this all-woman creative team. The dialog and relationship tensions are sometimes clever, always deep and nuanced. The result is something unique in superhero comics. To name just a few of the fun and unusual elements you'll find here: Fire and Ice go through all the love-hate swings of true blood-friends; Martha Kent and her pie are a running gag; Tamarind the hairdresser of dubious skill but folksy wisdom; wheelchair-bound Charlie and his possessed sister Rocky; and of course, the on-going drama among the C-Lister villains. All these and more are rich and filled with texture, having both levity and depth.

The visuals are bright and cheery throughout. The faces are reminiscent of the best of Archie Comics with their big eyes and open expressions. And these pages are loaded with great fashions. Caped heroes are renowned for always wearing their costumes, even when enjoying quiet moments. Not here! These characters are always changing their clothes, almost like normal people! They don so many different good-looking outfits in the stories. And the beautiful variant covers included in the TPB show how different artists took their cue from this creative team in order to reimagine Fire and Ice in other sassy, sexy, country outfits and more.

The book does have a handful of misses. The biggest of which has to be the intelligent alien robot L-Ron. He was introduced to the DC universe at almost the same time as Fire and Ice, in the old JLI. Here, he is akin to a Disney movie comic sidekick, a role that is completely unnecessary here with so m any other comic moments throughout. The Simplistic and rapid conclusion also leaves us wanting more. It all resolves in a relational way, perhaps more feminine than the typical macho slugfests, and that is great, very consistent with the rest of the book. But the tension wraps up and dissipates too abruptly.

But those are minor quibbles in an otherwise fantastic book, a highly recommended four capes.

Description:

Small town, big trouble! Things go from bad to worse for the iconic Justice League duo of Fire and Ice, as they seek a fresh start in Superman’s hometown.

Things could not possibly be worse for Fire and Ice. Superman sent the former Justice Leaguers packing for Smallville following an extremely public and utterly disastrous mission, and in doing so doomed them to a fate worse than death: irrelevance.  

Ice finds herself drawn to the quiet life and dreams of planting roots. But Fire...well, Fire will do just about anything to get the heck outta Dodge and back on the hero circuit—including challenging the biggest villains in the DC Universe to a knock-down, drag-out, live-streamed brawl in the streets of Smallville! Can Fire and Ice’s friendship survive visits from the Multiverse’s weirdest and wildest wannabe villains, Jimmy Olsen’s search for scoops, and… the stress of running a hair salon?!  

Collects: Complete 6-issue limited series

Authors:  Joanne Starer 
Artists:  Natacha Bustos, Tamra Bonvillain
Published By:  DC Comics
Published When:  Aug 6, 2024
Parental Rating: Teen
ISBN:  9781779527394
Pages:  144 pages

Time, Magic and Confusion - Review of Time Masters Vanishing Point

Review:

This book marked what must surely have been Peak-Visibility for Booster Gold. With the release of this limited series, fans were spoiled with three concurrent books, totaling four issues per month, featuring Booster Gold. They included his own monthly solo series, of course, plus the bi-weekly series Justice League: Generation Lost (review coming soon) in which Booster emerges as the team's leader, plus this new six-issue series.

Rip Hunter is the central character in this series; he has been going by the label Time Master since his very first appearance in 1959. Here, he is joined by Booster Gold, Hal Jordan Green Lantern and Superman. The stories overlap very lightly with the Batman: Return of Bruce Wayne series focused on his adventures lost in the time stream. That book's review is here _____.

The team of time travelers spends shockingly little time actually looking for Batman. They are far too busy being scattered and reunited through time themselves, not to mention battling threats both primitive and advanced. Writer and Artist Dan Jurgens weaves in many nods to both Rip Hunter's past and to the ongoing plotlines in the Booster Gold series. Claw, Serhattu, Black Beetle, the Linear Men, Waverider and more characters old and new have a role to play here.

These references and characters are smoothly enough integrated into the plot overall, although appearances by Goldstar and Supernova may be more jarring to those not avidly following Booster's other books.

Less well integrated are their central quest (finding Batman) and any growth or changes of heart or character. This is especially the case with Hal Jordan - he remains deeply scornful of Booster Gold's abilities and motives throughout. It's a huge miss, given the evolution of Booster in the Justice League: Generation Lost series and in the vignettes that lead each of the chapters in this series.

Th narrative also ends so abruptly in the trade paperback that one hopes the original comics had an additional page or two, or at least editorial blurbs of where the reader should look next.

What Jurgens does nail, of course, are the scenes with older Booster Gold and childhood Rip Hunter. These vignettes are sweet, thrilling, loads of fun and tease so much more backstory still to be told. We Booster Gold and Rip Hunter fans want more!

Jurgens teams with Norm Rapmund for the art finishes, picking up a partnership formed in the Booster Gold series a couple years earlier. The result is fun and at time dramatic. Jurgens is a master of the well-timed powerful full-page splash spread, and we get loads of those throughout. They also mix in appearances by sexy, leggy female characters in the sword-and-magic sections, perhaps another nod to Rip Hunter's earliest adventures, or to the well-worn tropes of the genre.

Overall, this collection is loads of fun. It could be even stronger with more overlap of the Batman story and a smoother conclusion.

Description:

With Batman lost in time, DC’s top heroes must search throughout history to find him - and keep time from tearing itself apart!

Vanishing Point - the place where time itself comes to an end - is tearing itself apart, and one of the keys to keeping reality from being torn asunder is finding exactly where Bruce Wayne is in the time stream! Rip Hunter puts together a high-powered band of Time Masters to travel throughout history in search of the World’s Greatest Detective, but can even the combined might and skill of Superman, Green Lantern and Booster Gold help the Time Master pinpoint where Batman went at the end of FINAL CRISIS?

Collects: TIME MASTERS: VANISHING POINT #1-6

Authors:  Dan Jurgens
Artists:  Dan Jurgens, Norm Rapmund
Published By:  DC Comics
Published When:  April 12, 2011
Parental Rating: PG-13
ISBN:  9781401230470
Pages:  144 pages