By: Grant Morrison Publisher: DC Comics Average Rating: Binding: Hardcover Label: DC Comics Number of Items: 1 Number of Pages: 256 Publication Date: September 02, 2008 Reading Level: Young Adult Release Date: September 02, 2008
Buying this because of Morrison? So did I. After reading All-Star Superman and some of his Vertigo titles, JLA seemed like a fun place to continue. This Deluxe hardcover contains JLA #'s 1-9, and JLA Secret Files #1 which is a full-sized prequel issue that I assume was a one-shot. It is co-written by Mark Millar.
If you would rather have these issues in a softcover paperback issues 1-4 are avaiable as JLA: New World Order and 5-9 as JLA: American Dreams. I do not know if Secret Files #1 is included in either of those collections. I will say that each of those books is a tiny, flimy little trade and considering that this hardcover is available from Amazon for the about the same price as the two of those combined I recommend going with this one.
In regards to the content, I felt the first story arc from issues one through four deserved two or three stars. If you have a strong connection to these characters you might think more highly of it but I know little about them and came on board strictly because of Morrison. Just to be objective I must say I never would have guessed those four issues were penned by Morrison had his name not been on the cover. In my opinion they lacked the flair, witty dialogue, and overall brilliance we have all come to expect from the master. Just when I began to regret this purchase issue five came along and the Grant I know began to shine through. Books six and seven were very good, and the Elseworld tales from issues eight and nine were fantastic. The Secret Origins one-shot which concludes the collection was also good.
I think if you really like the Justice League you will very much enjoy this collection. If you are signing up for Morrison, the first four issues may leave you flat but by the end I think you will come around. I look forward to purchasing to the recently released volume 2.
What a disappointment! I can't remember the last time I was so disappointed in a "graphic novel." I guess I've been spoiled by the literary quality evinced in works like Kingdone Come, Marvels, Identity Crisis, Astonishing X-Men, Silver Surfer Requiem, Green Lantern Rebirth....
The artwork was too cartoony and the story and dialog too inane for my tastes. I wish I could get my money back. A good collection is one you can read over and over again. I will never pick this one up again.
Where's the depth? The lavish presentation of this volume and the prospect of Grant Morrison taking on Earth's mightiest heroes were enough to have me sold before page 1. Unfortunately this collection fails to live up to its own hype.
Yes, Morrison can write a good action sequence, but he feels utterly wasted here, barely setting himself apart from any other spandex scribe. The usual depth of characterisation or prismatic refraction of genre that he made his trademarks are completely gone. In its place we simply have the relentless victories of super-powered boyscouts whose dialogue has all the depth of locker room banter.
Even when he does pull out the big science, it seems all too familiar from past decades or just blatantly wrong (opposite magnetic poles attract, not repel, each other.)
With "Animal Man", "New X-Men" and "All-Star Superman", Morrison proved that he could bring intelligence, emotion and new-life into the "capes" genre; in "JLA" we are just given some low-brow entertainment that just doesn't stand up to the test of time.
Morrison does it again How in the world did it take me so long to read this? It's absolutely brilliant. The Zauriel story is good (and epic), the Tomorrow Woman story is outrageous and probably a lot more hilarious than intended, and the Hyperclan stuff is great. The only miss is the origin story ("Star Seed"), which is forgettable at best. And Morrison's take on Batman is inspired.
But the real gem is Imaginary Stories/Elseworlds. The Key is a ridiculous villain and Morrison plays him to the hilt. The alternate realities are genius (Wonder Woman as an Indiana Jones pastiche fighting Nazi zombies? More please!), and Connor Hawke trying to use his father's idiotic trick arrows to take down an army of robots is even better.
This is Morrison firing on all cylinders. The only thing I can liken it to is the old Fantastic Four stuff after Kirby really hit his stride, with nutty mind-blowing images of alien craziness and everyone sort of crackling and emoting right off the page. It's epic and grand and cranks the endorphins right up to 11. This is exactly why comics exist.
Born again In the mid-90's, DC's flagship Justice League title was floundering in terms of sales and quality. Enter Grant Morrison, the inventive and innovative writer best known for his defining runs on Animal Man, The Invisibles, and Doom Patrol, and he would be responsible for making the Justice League relevant once again. JLA features Morrison re-shaping the Justice League to include DC's big guns once again: Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Martian Manhunter, The Flash, Green Lantern Kyle Rayner (John Stewart would come a little later), and Aquaman. Through this team, Morrison would craft fun yet surprisingly intelligent stories that illustrated everything a major superhero comic book should be. This first deluxe hardcover volume of Morrison's run on JLA collects the tales of the JLA's struggle against the Hyperclan and The Key, as well as their first encounter with the enigmatic Tomorrow Woman. Almost as prolific as Morrison's writing on the title is the artwork of Howard Porter, who simply put was born to pencil these characters. All in all, Grant Morrison's run on JLA was everything a superhero title should be, and now is your chance to either check it out for the first time, or re-experience it all over again.
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