Justice League #4
August ‘87
“Winning Hand”
Keith Giffen: plot
J.M. DeMatteis: script
Kevin Maguire: pencils
Al Gordon: inks
Bob Lappan: letters
Gene D’Angelo: colors
Andy Helfer: editor
For all the humor inherent in making the Justice League logo the “diaper” for this issue’s big bad guy (the Royal Flush Gang’s robotic Ace), Maguire’s undisputed strength lies in drawing facial expressions, and this cover’s wide shot of the Leaguers just doesn’t carry the same punch as when he’s drawing close-ups. Certainly, the book couldn’t survive with only talking heads filling its pages, but you really want the art to shine on the cover, and this one just doesn’t carry a whole lot of sparkle.
As for the inside of the book, my first read-through left me rather nonplussed. After three issues I was happy to chalk up to foundation building, I frankly expected something, well, significant to happen here. At least more significant than Booster Gold almost single-handedly taking down the Royal Flush Gang and earning official entrée into the League’s ranks. Because basically that’s all that happens.
After reading the issue a second time, however, I came away having enjoyed the work a good deal more. Certainly the book hadn’t changed: Booster’s jokes that I thought fell flat the first time around still made me cringe, but Ace’s declaration of annoyance followed up with swift backhand suggested the writers knew the dialogue might have its critics, and I found myself on DeMatteis’ side again.
The heart of this book is the interaction between the characters, and frankly I would be happy to see them tackle the most banal of tasks, right on down to grocery shopping and laundry, except for one fact: Batman is on the team.
Batman’s all seriousness. When he’s around, everyone should be taking care of business. And when he’s with the JL, the team should be preventing worldwide cataclysm. Why? Because he’s Batman, and nothing short of the end of the world should get him to leave the streets of Gotham. If he weren’t in this book, I’d be happy to watch all the rest of the team fight amongst themselves and then drink chocolate malts, but with him here, I expect a much more serious threat than the damn Royal Flush Gang.
I understand the need to have a grounding presence on the team, someone who can be all business all the time, but over the past four issues, Martian Manhunter has performed that role brilliantly, to the point of making Batman redundant. But hey, DC is (and was back in ’87, too) in the comics-selling business, and Batman sells books.
Maybe they should’ve just put Batman on the cover.
More Fun with Maxwell Lord!
The complete 60 Weeks with the Justice League on The Danger Digest:
#1, #2, #3, #5, #6, #7, #8, #9, #10, #11, #12, #13, #14, #15, #16, #17, #18, #19, #20, #21, #22, #23, #24, #25/1, #26/2, #27/3, #28/4, #29/5, #30/6, #31/7, #32/8, #33/9, #34/10, #35/11, #36/12, #37/13, #38/14, #39/15, #40/16, #41/17, #42/18, #43/19, #44/20, #45/21, #46/22, #47/23, #48/24, #49/25, #50/26, #51/27, #52/28, #53/29, #54/30, #55/31, #56/32, #57/33, #58/34, #59/35, #60/36
All images this post copyright DC Comics. Original text copyright Jon D. Witmer/The Danger Digest.
No comments:
Post a Comment