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Review: JLA Classified: New Maps of Hell
JLA Classified: New Maps of Hell
Written by Warren Ellis
Art by Jackson Guice
Published by DC Comics. $12.99 USD
It's really a pleasant surprise. After years of sneering at straight superhero comics and often bungling his attempts at them (JLA/The Authority, anyone?), Ellis finds his groove with the squarest superteam of all, the Justice League.
The secret is not that he has an airtight plot--it doesn't exactly fall apart at the end, but the defeat of would-be world beater Z is pretty anticlimactic and surprisingly sudden, like a page was missing. But up until then readers are treated to smart depictions of the League, working on their problems both solely and with teamwork. It's not a lark for them; they're just extremely good at what they do, and one gets the feeling that any one of them would figure out how to save the others if necessary. Ellis writes Clark Kent and Lois Lane so smart, sexy and funny--without losing their essences--that I find I'd really like to see him take on a Superman book someday, which I never thought I'd say until now. For his part, Guice does very fine work; not innovative but always effective, and showing a stronger Neal Adams influence than I usually see from him, though that isn't unwelcome. The art starts to look a bit more rushed by the last chapter, and he draws Superman's face so grim that he could be Sgt. Rock's younger brother (by maybe two years), but these are minor complaints. And though it doesn't affect the story itself, readers should be reassured that the ungainly, woeful CGI covers by Michael Stribling do not reflect the contents. It's shocking who gets to do covers these days.
Written by Warren Ellis
Art by Jackson Guice
Published by DC Comics. $12.99 USD
It's really a pleasant surprise. After years of sneering at straight superhero comics and often bungling his attempts at them (JLA/The Authority, anyone?), Ellis finds his groove with the squarest superteam of all, the Justice League.
The secret is not that he has an airtight plot--it doesn't exactly fall apart at the end, but the defeat of would-be world beater Z is pretty anticlimactic and surprisingly sudden, like a page was missing. But up until then readers are treated to smart depictions of the League, working on their problems both solely and with teamwork. It's not a lark for them; they're just extremely good at what they do, and one gets the feeling that any one of them would figure out how to save the others if necessary. Ellis writes Clark Kent and Lois Lane so smart, sexy and funny--without losing their essences--that I find I'd really like to see him take on a Superman book someday, which I never thought I'd say until now. For his part, Guice does very fine work; not innovative but always effective, and showing a stronger Neal Adams influence than I usually see from him, though that isn't unwelcome. The art starts to look a bit more rushed by the last chapter, and he draws Superman's face so grim that he could be Sgt. Rock's younger brother (by maybe two years), but these are minor complaints. And though it doesn't affect the story itself, readers should be reassured that the ungainly, woeful CGI covers by Michael Stribling do not reflect the contents. It's shocking who gets to do covers these days.
Posted by ChristopherAllen at 8:23 PM [Link to this post]
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