JLA #78-90 by Joe Kelly Review

 

Rules of Engagement [#78-79] / White Rage [#80-82]

• JLA #78 - Rules of Engagement, Part I : "The Price For Peace" = I already knew about the last page reveal, but man was this great. I love this era of DC, because it seems like the writers aren't afraid of putting the JLA in difficult positions and have them confront tough issues. Kelly did this during Golden Perfect, and now Rules of Engagement is attacking the moral quandaries of the JLA in full force! The JLA's jurisdiction has always been a great debate, and you could arguably see virtue on both sides; I would agree with Batman because they are heroes, not a police force. The Green Lantern Corps however, is something that is much more suited to deal with this (even the United Planets!). However, Bureaucracy gets in the way of things happening, and Diana is always going to choose to be proactive anyways. The Faith stuff is interesting as well, and I'm sure that brings more clarity to the scene we saw during issue 69. Manitou Raven and Dawn are awesome, and all the new members including John Stewart have meshed really well into the lineup. I do miss Plas and Kyle though, even if he got mentioned at the beginning.
• JLA #79 - Rules of Engagement, Part II : "Look To The Tribe" = Those first couple pages were hilarious. Joe Kelly is a master of dialogue in this run, and I've said this a billion times but he really gets these characters. Manitou Raven is still my favorite, although Supes and Diana were fantastic in this. The space plot got resolved pretty quickly with the deus ex faith, as well as Kanjar Ro getting caught in 4K, but this chapter gave us a lot of great set-up for the rest of the run. Who is Manson? How did Batman find Faith? What is her connection to the US military, and who is the evil that she worked for? Why has she been referred to as the fat lady? Is Firestorm trying to hit on Dawn? Where did J'onn go to get over his pyrophobia?
• JLA #80 - White Rage, Part I : "Safe Haven" = The art killed this one for me. I did not enjoy Rouleau's style; his caricatures are a huge departure from the sleek figures of Doug Mahnke. The plot was fine; the pacing was very off. I'm interested in the Bats/Wondy stuff and the J'onn/Scorch dynamic, but this Haven arc was not as interesting. There were a couple good lines about sovereignty in the US, but besides that... I honestly feel like the art skewed my enjoyment of this. The final page with Faith is either a machination by this clandestine group trying to take her down, or she just lost control of her powers for some reason.
• JLA #81 - White Rage, Part II : "Dead Dreams" = There was one good page: the Martian Manhunter/Scorch mental sequence. Besides that, the art is killing this book. We learn that the whole situation last issue was a cover-up, the Safe Haven metas are part of an Elite 2.0 called Axis America. These Neo-nazi's come out of nowhere, and this either sucks or I've just completely lost the plot. I enjoyed the J'onn sequence. That's pretty much it: I would call this book a slog, but it reads pretty fast. The dynamics and dialogue aren't good enough to save this book from bad art. Let's pray Joe Kelly can save this arc before the end.
• JLA #82 - White Rage, Part III : "Clockwatchers" = At this point I'm just going through the motions of this story. I don't care for Axis America, I don't care for the Faith plot. The fights were fine. The revelations were meh. The J'onn/Scorch last page was wild. Ready for some better art please!
• JLA #83 - "American Nightmare" = Art upgrade! This one needs a reread at some point, but a great piece on Superman and the concept of the JL as an American super-team. How does that affect their goals, ideologies, jurisdiction? Some cool ideas and dialogues, but like I said I definitely need a reread bc of the wonderful twist that threw things into flux.

Trial By Fire [#84-89]

• JLA #84 - Trial By Fire, Part I : "Life Is A Strange Play" = What a way to get me hooked back into this series! Mahnke's art is fantastic as always; there's something about it that keeps my eyes glued to the page. So glad that we traded Duncan Rouleau's style for this godly depiction of the JLA. The first three pages had my jaw drop, and I absolutely loved the premise of this arc. The flies returned in the Dawn/Ronnie sequence! What do they mean! What does the flashback mean? What caused the mental incursions across the DCU? Who gave these gifts to the JLA? What's really going on between J'onn and Scorch? And what the heck is that Firestorm creature at the end?
• JLA #85 - Trial By Fire, Part II : "Something Extraordinary" = "WTF" comics is back! What did J'onn see in tree form? What has possessed him, because he clearly looks like it in the Scorch sequence. John and the GLC are obviously connected to this because of the Guardian in last issue's flashback. The caveman with the bloody sack last issue was Vandal! And in his sack was the severed head of a martian! He refers to them as Dakath/Destruction/The Burning, which is totally dope. The pacing is excellent, and those final pages were nerve-wracking: now I definitely think it's J'onn since he phased Clark into the table. Btw, were those guys phased into that citadel the same soldiers outside of Major Disaster's trailer, forced to look at the sun?
• JLA #86 - Trial By Fire, Part III : "Fernus" = Page after page, I become more certain that I am reading a banger JLA story for the ages. This is so good! The brawl on the Watchtower, the Vandal backstory, the Ganthet stuff, and that last page reveal! Come on! Interesting that this Burning Martian is a sub-species just like the Green & White Martians. If Scorch somehow activated this personality within J'onn, I'm assuming that means that the Greens are the Dakath? Is Fernus a dark personality of J'onn, or something/someone else? Is Scorch in on it? What are the guardians' involvement? Ganthet implies they created the Burning.
• JLA #87 - Trial By Fire, Part IV : "Barbaric Ancestry" = History lesson! Oh my god, Joe Kelly is one of the best at power scaling, a master at maintaining continuity of powers without diminishing the feats demonstrated previously by characters. The formidability of Fernus is terrifying, even more so than the evil Superman analogues we see so frequently. The lore was fantastic as well, with the decision to implant a weakness to fire intentional due to the euphoric and procreative nature it causes on the Burning Martians. The plastic man stuff was awesome as well, so happy for him to finally be brought back to the fray. The identity switch is interesting and fits very well as a foil for Fernus/J'onn.
• JLA #88 - Trial By Fire, Part V : "A Burning Earth" = Escalation in Excelsis! Joe Kelly finds a way to pit the JLA against Earth shattering threats while simultaneously telling such a personal story about the League and how they operate. I was very let down with the stories post Obsidian Age (Rules of Engagement was actually really good), but this has raised my standards so freaking much. Doug Mahnke is one of the greatest JLA artists - scratch that one of the greatest artists in the entire history of the industry. I cannot stress how much I love his style. Plastic Man stole this issue, and I can tell Kelly is just as happy as I am that he is back amongst his heroes to curb stomp this world-breaker. Forget the last page bait, let's finish this arc with a bang.
• JLA #89 - Trial By Fire, Part VI : "Out of the Ashes" = Brilliant ending to this arc. Easily one of the best Martian Manhunter stories ever, I would definitely put it on level with New World Order. This really made me want to check out Ostrander's run on J'onn with Tom Mandrake (I believe?). Bittersweet that I only have one last issue with Joe Kelly before this run comes to a close, but I'm so happy I finally got around to reading it because oh boy this is Grade-A cape storytelling. What's not to love about this arc: great lore, great character development, powerful dialogue, unbelievably good art, the whole shebang!
• JLA #90 - "Perchance..." = NOOOOOO! I think this might have cemented wonder-bats forever in my eyes. To frame the relationship in the context of either destroy the world or bring in into utopia is kind of brilliant, both agents of war and peace in some ways, trying to find the good in each other. Perfect issue, only complain I have is that with a better artist (cough cough Mahnke) this would have been elevated a lot more.