Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Justice League of America- The Injustice League by Dwayne McDuffie, Ed Benes, Mike McKone and Jon Benitez

Green Arrow and the Black Canary are finally getting married after years of being lovers as well as friends. But against the backdrop of the two parties being held for the participants, the traditional bachelor party runs into some snags. First, Olliver Queen, the Green Arrow, won't have anything to do with the strippers hired for the party. But they still want to get paid, and they don't take checks.

After that is taken care of, but before the other men can arrive, reporters who have found out about the party camp outside the hotel where it was going to be held. So the party must move to the Hall of Justice. Meanwhile, the woman are having their own bachelorette party for Black Canary, Dinah Lance.

But even as they get ready to celebrate the coming wedding of two of their own, The Joker, Lex Luthor and Cheetah meet to determine who gets to join their own little party, the Injustice League. The idea is to charge a protection fee to other supervillains, and in return, if they require assistance against a superhero, the Injustice League will help them- for 30% of the take of their job. To prove the worth of their concept, they take on the Justice League's newest discovery, the New Firestorm, and injure him so badly that they send him to the hospital, where he is in critical condition.

Then, they take on the Justice League a few at a time, kindapping the heroes to set the stage for taking on the greatest Superhero of them all- Superman. But when all the other Justice Leaguers are captured, it will be up to Firestorm to see if he can save the day. Also, they have to deal with a hero from another Universe, the Atom, who has been transported out of his universe and into our own, and the disappearance of Flash. But can they get the man who was transported to the Atom's universe back while sending the Atom back to his rightful place? And what happened to the female cop who disappeared when checking out the Atom, anyway?

The final story tells of Red Arrow's encounter with a homeless bum who used to be a supervillain on Christmas Eve. Why did the man run from him, and does he pose a threat anymore?

I really enjoyed this story which reprised many of the more famous foes of the various superheroes (Dr. Light, Gorilla Grodd, Sinestro (the new female version) and so on). It also has links to the old "Superfriends" series in the design of the Injustice League's Hall of Doom (right down to the name!) and cast of characters.

The story mixes both light-heartedness (Ollie's bachelor party and Dinah's bachelorette party) with the more serious action of Firestorm's near death, and Luthor's threat against the other superheroes to drive Superman into anger, where he will be easier to defeat and capture. The fight sequences are well-done, the threat of the other supervillains feels real and menacing, and the sequence where the freed heroes appear to fight the Injustice League makes you laugh and cheer at the same time.

Extremely well-done, and both funny and menacing by turns. Though I'm not a regular reader of the Justice League, this graphic novel made me see why so many people enjoy it and have been fans for so long. Highly recommended.

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