World Famous Comics: Justice League of America Vol. 3: The Injustice League
Justice League of America Vol. 3: The Injustice League
By: Dwayne McDuffie Publisher: DC Comics Average Rating: Binding: Hardcover Label: DC Comics Number of Items: 1 Number of Pages: 144 Publication Date: June 24, 2008 Reading Level: Young Adult Release Date: June 24, 2008
Super Friends nostalgia, anyone? Writer Dwayne McDuffie's love letter to the Legion of Doom isn't bad for a generic supervillain team up story, and if you're in the mood for a PG-13 homage to the TV series "Challenge of the Super Friends," this book fits the bill.
What's missing from McDuffie's story is a sense that the stakes particularly matter. The characters are just going through the motions until a better storyline comes along, but if you want to see how much creative mileage a more wildly imaginative writer can get from Lex Luthor's Injustice League, then pick up the JLA trade paperbacks JLA Vol. 3: Rock of Ages and JLA Vol. 6: World War III, both written by Grant Morrison, both escalating their seemingly straightforward supervillain team up stories into apocalyptic science fiction scenarios.
Returning to the present volume, two forgettable backup stories, about which the less said the better, allow this book to meet the minimum page count requirement.
Wasn't that impressed I was waiting impatiently to buy this one, since I have the other two in the series. Much to my dismay, I wasn't impressed by it. As the other reviews mentioned here, I agree with most of them regarding "Don't judge a book by its cover" since, most of the cover villians shown aren't in the book. It was a good read since I am a fan, but it could have been better. So I guess I can't wait for the next one now :)
Outright Deceptive I'm amazed how lenient some reviewers have been with this offering. Sure, the outstanding art warrants a star and there are a few great moments of dialogue between characters (reminiscent of the classic Len Wein/Dick Dillin books of the 70s or Giffen/DeMattieis/MacGuire books of the 80s) which could be worth a second star but the absolute absence of any significant story makes this volume a mere trifle. And with the main story only occupying some 100 pages of the volume (the remaining pages being filled with a short Red Arrow standalone and the dangling start of a completely different story line, plus numerous black filler pages to keep the left/right orientation in place), this qualifies as an insignificant trifle. I'd guess the reason DC initially released this as a hardcover is that nobody would pay the $20 cover price for a 100-page comic book. And then there's the issue of major characters pictured on the cover who play no role whatsoever in the actual book. Where's Two Face? Where's Scarecrow? Where's Solomon Grundy? Where's Bizarro? Besides dangling right next to the cover logo, he's a no-show inside the actual book. The story conveniently omits the characters that would actually make the confrontation between the two forces intriguing, instead opting for shallow cop outs where heavy hitters such as Superman, Green Lantern, and Wonder Woman are taken out with relative ease by villains way below their league. Then major league villains such as Deathstroke simply run away at the start of the big end battle. This is the sort of book that you might take all of 15-20 minutes to read and you'd still regret wasting that time afterwards.
The Injustice League: Less Than the Sum of Its Parts Dwayne McDuffie's run on "Justice League" gets off to a big start, with the Injustice League capturing the Justice League. The last time that Lex Luthor and the Joker teamed up in "Infinite Crisis" they put a bullet in Alexander Luthor's head. Here, though, they're far less vicious--Luthor won't let any of the other villains harm their Justice League foes until they've captured Superman. Most of the villains don't have much dialogue; the Joker, in particular, has only a couple of lines and is pretty inconsequential to the storyline. The entire story is somewhat pointless, and its only novelty is that it is a lead-in to the JLA: Salvation Run (Jla (Justice League of America) (Graphic Novels)) series.
The superfriends vs. the legion of doom Did you like Superfriends? If so, then you will enjoy this. If not then you will want to stay far away. Almost gave it 3 stars but the art is worth an extra star.
Anything Goes Trivia
Trevor
Megaton Man
