Justice League of America #23 review

Things Fall Apart

Thank...you...GOD!

The issue can be summed up neatly...Amazo beats the shit out of the JLA. Seriously, beats them hardcore.

Well, there is a little story. It starts off with Zatanna, Black Canary and Vixen sitting around talking about her powers issues and Zatanna attempts to use magic to correct it. When that fails, she examines the source of the issue which is apparently some giant bastard spider creature which Zatanna is unable to use her magics on. It's an odd beginning to an issue that otherwise kicks ass. Now I tore into the last issue of this title going on about how awful it was but this issue.....look, McDuffy's run is pretty much a joke by this point and I don't particularly care where this story goes, but the action was so fucking awesome this issue that I am gonna pick up next month's issue.

So Amazo hands Superman his ass. Flash comes in with an 800 pound rod (when could Flash pick up 800 pounds?) and skewers Amazo but failing to kill him. Amazo goes on the attack and it's just...bam...bam...bam...keeps on hitting Wally with all the powers of the JLA. Wally, however, gives it one last go before he collapses and uses the Speed Force to drain Amazo's super speed. Firestorm comes at him...beats his ass. Hawkgirl...beats her ass. He's about to lay the smackdown on WonderWoman and Black Lightning before Green Lantern Hal Jordan shows up and blasts a giant hole through Amazo's chest. So he beats it to the lower levels of the Hall of Justice (ugh!). Superman, Canary, Zatanna and Vixen are looking for him together when he appears and quickly dispatches them all except for Vixen who, who is now absorbing the powers of her teammates, attempts to absord those powers from Amazo. Some sort of crazy feedback thing happens between the two the issue ends with Amazo about ready to bash her head in.

This issue was just very exciting. It takes me back to the Morrison JLA series when they were treated as a pantheon facing these huge threats. No piddling around, just big adventures with big characters doing big crazy things. This issue felt like that again. Big characters getting their asses hammered in a big way leading me to expect a big spectacular end for the story. Granted, McDuffy still has his problems. The transitions between scenes are still pretty weak. It starts off with a roundtable discussion and examination and then just ratchets to Batman and Steel recovering from Amazo's attack on them in the last issue. Smooth it aint. For this issue, hoever, not a problem. If McDuffy can keep this kind of tension and excitement on a regular basis, I would be super happy. Alas, one good issue among a string of dreck isn't enough to keep me happy.

I did say I would pick up the next issue. I will. The climax of this issue is really good. Would I recommend picking this issue up? Mmmmmmmm.....Well, it's a week old already, right? If you haven't, sure. If you haven't been reading the title you can get the gist of what's happening fairly quickly. Any fans disappointed by the last issue, like me, will get a real kick out of this issue.