Writer: Joe Kelly
Artists: Doug Mahnke and Tom Nguyen
Publisher: D.C. Comics
Joe Kelly used to be one of my favourite writers as he was delivering some of the funniest stories I'd ever read in the page of "Deadpool", but truth be told I've been less that impressed with his work on the JLA, and this issue stands up as a prime example of why. I mean the issue seems to be of the mind that making the JLA into a band of ineffectual buffoons is what readers are looking for, and while the final pages of the issue make it clear that the JLA's poor performance was all part of a cunning plan, this doesn't really quell the underlying sense that Joe Kelly simply doesn't seem to understand the idea that the JLA are supposed to be the best of the best. If nothing else under his control the JLA have come across as downright ordinary, and he doesn't really help his case by the steady string of threats that don't really excite the imagination. I mean while I'm sure the readers of Superman will enjoy the return of the Elite, this issue does a poor job of establishing who these characters are, and why the JLA would have such a difficult time of it.
There's also the simple fact that the big ending that has the world saved when the nations of the Earth unite to battle the Elite is such a goofy plot device that I found myself openly wondering if this was supposed to be some sort of a gag on the readers. This also doesn't really explain the fairly glaring question of where the heck were the half-dozen other super-hero teams that populate the DCU, as if the JLA was slapped down like they were in this issue, one would think the Elite would quickly have found themselves up against some royally chessed off heroes. Still there is some entertainment value to the battle itself, as the issue does a reasonable job of delivering a couple jaw-dropping moments where it appears JLA members have been killed, and the plot twist in the final pages is mildly clever, though one has to wonder why the world's population wouldn't be ticked off when it was revealed they had been played for fools, rather than the "Wish the World Could Sing" hand holding that results.
Doug Mahnke's work doesn't blow me away when it's called upon to deliver the large scale JLA moments, and given they were supposed to be the big impact moments that would convince the world it needed to unite under one banner, I have to say I was less than impressed by the confusion that surrounded the panels where the JLA members looked to have bought the farm. Still I did enjoy the visual design of the new Elite and there are some solid visuals in these pages such as the panel where Plastic Man has his molecules disrupted, or on the following page when an enraged Superman emerges from the rubble. There's also a nice double page spread, that makes the cheesy plot development where the entire world battles the Elite a visually effective sequence.
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