“Sanctuary” (part 3)

Identity Crisis really changed the way the Justice League was portrayed. They were no longer simply the superhero demigods, the popular group of heroes that sat on the moon and policed the world. Identity Crisis brought a sense of corruption and mistrust to the League, an event that also shed a different light on super-villains. Brad Meltzer followed up his Identity Crisis with a fantastic thirteen issue run with the Justice League, re-establishing them as DC’s great super-group and also establishing them with a “family” theme to parallel the Justice Society’s “legacy” theme. However, since Meltzer left Justice League, this series has fallen into a complete downward spiral with no clear sense of direction.

Unfortunately, one of DC’s best titles has fallen victim to the editorial mandate that is Salvation Run. I’m having an extremely difficult time getting excited for Final Crisis, not only because of the severe non-necessity of it and the fact that most everything Countdown related falls somewhere between mediocre and complete crap. This latest issue of Justice League is no different. It’s a direct tie-in to Salvation Run, which at first was an intriguing series, but now has just fallen totally flat. In fact, the major plotline running through this story-arc could easily be part of Salvation Run. The basic premise has been the Justice League’s opposition to Amanda Waller’s deportation of the super-villains. And unless you’ve read the last issue of Salvation Run, you will have no idea what is going on.

In the last issue of Salvation Run, Martian Manhunter, posing as Blockbuster, was discovered and attacked by the villains. Now, Batman has lost contact, believes he is in trouble and basically Waller spills the beans about everything. It’s simple and again, if you’re reading Salvation Run and are really into the story, then you’ll probably like this issue, otherwise it’s a really cheap way to cash in on the overly mediocre Salvation Run. In fact, the only sense of character in this entire issue involves Red Arrow and his desire to find his baby’s momma, Chesire. But aside from that, everyone is one-dimensional and really do not need to be involved in this anymore.

So the JLA wants to attempt a rescue mission, to find Martian Manhunter and essentially check on the villains. Waller sends them off with Rick Flagg and they end up on the wrong planet. So the shameless Salvation Run tie-in doesn’t even make it to Salvation Run. Instead, the JLA falls into a rather random trap set up by classic JLA villain Kanjar Ro. That’s it. The redeeming value of this book is that an old JLA villain shows up, traps the League, reveals his ridiculous plot and then gets beat very quick. The only thing to come out of this confrontation with Kanjar-Ro was Red Arrow calling Hawkgirl “his girl.” So after all of this, the JLA goes back to Earth and worry about the implications of the villains returning.

What the hell happened to Justice League? What the hell happened to the “family” aspect of this title, the honor of being part of the JLA. Sure it took a while, but Meltzer at least made being part of the JLA feel important. Don’t get me wrong, Burnett’s writing is decent, it just has no direction and gets bogged down by Salvation Run. This is supposed to be DC’s flagship title but it’s pretty bad. I mean at least the artwork is consistently gorgeous and if you like Ed Benes’ art than the cover price might be worth it.

At Wizard World LA, the announcement was made that James Robinson would be launching a second Justice League title starring Hal Jordan and Green Arrow, two original members, and would focus more on hunting down villains. So basically it’s the Outsiders. I think before a new Justice League title is launched, the main one needs to be saved and given some kind of direction. I mean, this is the pre-eminent group of super-heroes in all of comic books and they are entirely inconsequential. So unless you really like Ed Benes’ artwork, or you really like Salvation Run, skip this issue, there are a lot of titles much better than this, even Johnny DC’s Super-Friends.

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