Thursday, March 22, 2012

Justice League #7

After the bombastic first story arc, here the Justice League settles down (comparatively speaking) to take care of some business.

Oh, there's action as the team tackles an odd menace, but most of the story is given over to Col. Steve Trevor, who acts an a liaison between the government and the League.

I like these "decompression" issues, because they can give us a good look at how the characters interact, and that can be one of the most entertaining things about a team book.

For my taste, writer Geoff Johns is trying a little too hard to make Green Lantern the team's smart aleck, but it's close enough to his character, so I'll go with it. (I also find it hard to believe that Batman would put up with much guff out of anyone.)

The art on this issue is by Gene Ha, and as always, he turns in fantastic work. Ha's style is unique, and has an interesting, realistic quality to it. His layouts are fresh and his action scenes are frenetic.

This issue also has a backup story, marking the re-introduction of the hero formerly known as Captain Marvel, who shall henceforth be called Shazam.

I understand the reasons behind the name change, they're perfectly logical and it probably makes good business sense - but I think it's a terrible idea, right on par with making the original Green Lantern into Sentinel.

Billy Batson has been Captain Marvel since the first Fawcett issue in the '40s - he should succeed or fail being true to himself.

That said, the Geoff Johns / Gary Frank story gets things off to an interesting (if mysterious) start.

Maybe they should have called him Captain Miracle...

Grade: B+

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