"American Nightmare"
Writer: Joe Kelly
Artist: Chris Cross (p), Tom Nguyen (i)
Publisher: DC Comics
Plot:
President Luthor suspects Middle Eastern country Iraq, er, I mean Qurac to have bioweapons that would enable the country to launch an all-out terrorist attack on the United States. The League must decide whether or not to engage in a pre-emptive strike without evidence or wait until something happens and react.
Comments:
Apparently, the strain of writing two of DC's higher profile titles has finally gotten to Joe Kelly, as this issue just plain stinks. Don't let the trade dress fool you, for all intents and purposes this reads like a script Kelly turned in for Action Comics. This a character study of Superman, and it's not a very good one at that. On top of that, there's no faster way for writers to get their readers mad at them then to reveal the whole issue was a dream. That's right, $2.25 (US) and the issue didn't mean a damn thing.
Now the ending isn't a surprise given that Kelly drops a lot of hints along the way, but that doesn't mean it didn't anger me any less. I buy JLA to see the strongest heroes (in either universe) team up and take on universe threatening evils, not to see a ho-hum Superman story; if I want that, I can go watch "Superman IV: The Quest for Peace."
The dream would anger me less if the story was any good, but Kelly remains in the political rut his been in for almost a year now. We get a thinly veiled Iraq and a thinly veiled analyzation of recent events in real world war. Basically Kelly is putting the JLA in George W. Bush's shoes and asking what they would do. Unfortunately, the question is handled inelegantly and not very interestingly; and like I said, it's all a freaking dream.
I remember Chris Cross making a big splash with his work on Peter David's <>Captain Marvel, but whatever made him relatively popular must have worn off because the best word that describes the art in this book is serviceable. His faces are nice and expressive, but there are a few instances where the expressions don't match what's going on around the characters. On top of that, the "Napalmettos" are muddled and hard to follow and his version of Wonder Woman looks like she belongs in a female bodybuilding competition and not the perfect Amazon she's supposed to be.
Part of my problem with the art is that it's been so inconsistent for the better part of this calendar year. Is Doug Mahnke the regular penciller, or not? Did he change his name to Frank Quitely or Bryan Hitch and I just missed it? Now that Scott Kolins has left The Flash, DC should smarten up and put him on this book as I think drawing a team book would really give him a chance to shine.
Now I'm not sure who's at fault here, Kelly or Cross, but I can't finish this review without talking about Superman and Wonder Woman in the last three pages. After Big Blue wakes up from his dream, the two characters are positioned in such a manner that just screams post-coital afterglow. Superman's wearing a robe, for crying out loud, and the last page has Diana caressing his chest as they romantically stare off into space. Before that we're treated to her coddling his face, striking a seductive pose, and Cross draws what amounts to an extreme close up of her butt (that's partially covered by text balloons). Last time I checked Diana was dating Batman in these pages and Clark was still married to Lois, so what exactly is going on there?
Final Word:
I've been defending JLA over at the SBC message boards for the better part of the summer, but now even I must admit that the recent issues have not been very good. In fact, no words can describe how angry I was when I finished this issue. Joe Kelly can't seem to write about anything but politics these days, and if I wanted that I'd go to CNN and Fox News. Someone needs to remind him that these are superheroes with outrageous powers and shouldn't be bogged down in political situations all the time. The poor writing and inconsistent art have me close to dropping the book even though the upcoming trials of J'onn J'onnz should be interesting.
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