Justice League of America #8

By: Matt Kindt (story), Doug Mahnke (pencils), Christian Alamy, Tom Nguyen, Keith Champagne, Marc Deering (inks), Gabe Eltaeb & Hi-Fi (colors)

The Story: It’s going to take a heck of a bail to get the Leaguers out of this prison.

The Review: I’ve come very close to dropping this series on several occasions, which is a fairly big deal considering the title, the characters, and the creative team we’re dealing with here. In fact, it’s only the mere potential of those three things that have kept me going, even after some fairly lame issues. It’s just plain disappointing that you can have so many icons on a team and still not seem to figure out what to do with them.

Of course, the size of the team was always a part of the problem. It’s difficult to give each character his or her due within the span of an issue or even a whole arc if you have to get the requisite exposition and action scenes out of the way first. Perhaps Kindt recognizes these difficulties, which may explain his choice to work with only two Leaguers for his opening arc. The resulting issue is focused and effective, without unnecessary distractions from too many voices crying for attention.

Then, too, Stargirl and Martian Manhunter make a great combination. You don’t get a more classic pairing than the no-nonsense veteran with the young optimist. Granted, they don’t do much together here, but you can see the appealing contrast in J’onn’s caution versus her eagerness, his bitter experience against her pure desire to do the right thing. Come to think of it, we don’t have too many mentors-mentees in the superhero genre anymore, do we? That’s too bad, seeing from Manhunter and Stargirl how potent that relationship can be.

Even though this issue confirms that earlier reports of the Justice League’s death have been exaggerated, what it does not do is confirm how they ended up where they are. Instead, Kindt keeps you preoccupied with the nature of their current setting. Though Stargirl and Manhunter are led to assume it’s a prison, it is certainly no ordinary one. Instead of physically restraining the Leaguers, this place has them psychologically trapped. What’s both brilliant and insidious about each “cell” is how they’re made inescapable, not by any outside obstacle (as Stargirl proves), but by the conscience of the Leaguer inside.

In so doing, Kindt reveals dimensions to these characters in a way that Geoff Johns neglected to for most of his run on this title. Wonder Woman grapples with the dark side of romance, finding herself torn between the choice of fighting on or losing the men she loves (“I am a warrior…but my feelings…I’m paralyzed. I am destined to die a warrior’s death, not this fate… This…simpering, weak…”). Shazam’s inner child is drawn out by a world without consequences, prevailing over the heroic man he’s supposed to be. Simon Baz kneels in a massive crater he believes is of his own making, riddled with guilt and a need to justify himself (I could see what…what they were thinking. Assuming I was a terrorist. Assuming the worst. So I thought…why…wh-why not? …Just…just give ‘em what they expect…”).

But something remains amiss as you follow Manhunter through these various prisons. You can’t help wondering how this place can strike so precisely at each Leaguer’s deepest weaknesses, and why Manhunter is simultaneously able to travel freely through it but unable to get through to his teammates. There’s an inherent contradiction in the way he suspects the true nature of the Jason Rusch lookalike who serves as his guide, yet still follows his lead. It makes you wonder if this whole place isn’t simply a construct J’onn has unconsciously made for him and everybody else.

The one thing you always take away from Mahnke’s work is how glorious he makes superheros look. Under Mahnke’s pen, these icons appear even larger-than-life, as regal and powerful as god-kings. Paradoxically, Mahnke also conveys a core humanity through the characters’ expressions, and it’s in the tortured look in their eyes that you grasp how damaging these prisons are to the Leaguers’ psyches.

Conclusion: You won’t necessarily get the answers you’re looking for, but Kindt gives you a whole lot else to chew on and Mahnke’s art is always a treat.

Grade: B+

- Minhquan Nguyen

Some Musings: - Love the reference to the first Superman movie when Clark, still wracked with guilt over the death of Dr. Light, attempts to fly fast enough to turn the clock back and undo the damage. It’s both an homage and a mockery of the sheer ridiculousness of that movie.