Lobo is ready to bring the pain.
Justice League of America had two distinguishing qualities when it first launched early this year. It boasted a strong team dynamic and was bolstered by the always incredible work of Ivan Reis. Sadly, these most recent two issues have shown that there's not much left once you remove those two pieces from the equation. What began as a promising addition to the Rebirth lineup has quickly lost its footing.
It seemed like a good idea to bring Lord Havok and the Extremists into the mix in issue #1. It was basically a chance to pit Batman's new team against the DCU equivalent of Doctor Doom and the Avengers. Unfortunately, Havok is every bit as egotistical as his inspiration, and he has a bad habit of hogging the spotlight. It's quickly gotten to the point where the Justice League feel like minor guest stars in their own book. Havok's rapid rise to power in his new world makes for reasonably compelling reading, but the book just isn't the same without the proper attention being paid to the dysfunctional relationships driving the JLA. Other than a couple isolated sequences, none of our heroes do much to stand out in this chapter.
You'd think the "JLA vs. Extremists" premise would at least allow writer Steve Orlando to play the more interesting personalities on each team against one another. The cover to this issue suggests a fun brawl between Lobo and Wolverine/Sabretooth analogue Tracer. But that confrontation doesn't really amount to much here. There's a lot of wasted potential with this conflict when it comes to characterization.
Even if the characterization remained as strong, the loss of Ivan Reis would still be a serious blow to this young series. With Rebirth nearing its one-year anniversary, it's painfully clear that DC still hasn't gotten any better about giving artists sufficient lead time on new assignments. This time, Diogenes Neves fills in for Reis. This issue is at least an improvement on the clearly rushed issue #2. Neves' line-work is sleek and confident. But the art still lacks the energy of Reis' issues, and also his unique talent for extracting the maximum emotion out of every panel.
The Verdict
After a promising start, it's disappointing to see Justice League of America stumble so hard and so quickly. None of the series' core strengths are on display in this issue, as Ivan Reis is again absent and too little attention is devoting to exploring the JLA group dynamic. At this point, the current arc needs to end so the series can hopefully get itself back on track.
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