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sayre_94's review
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Ras Al Ghul steals Batman perfect plans to take down each member of the Justice League. Each plan being practically full proof, Ras takes advantage to try and take over the world, creating a new Tower of Babel. This causes several of the JLA members to lose trust in Batman.
lylie_van_bell's review against another edition
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.25
No me fascinó pero tampoco me disgustó. El dibujo no me terminó de gustar del todo.
unladylike's review against another edition
3.0
Seeing Batman's methods of taking down his JLA teammates is always fun, but also involves some weak plot points.
Talia and Ra's al Ghul's ability to fool the automated defences in both the JLA Watchtower and the Batcave were entirely too easy and not believable. Same goes for the take-downs of Green Lantern and Wonder Woman. The mechanics of Ra's al Ghul's titular tactic of messing with the language centers of everyone's brains on earth was a bit sloppy and counter-intuitive.
Basically, this book is a clear example of a writer coming up with a premise and a beautiful disaster, but struggling to fill in the steps of how we get there.
I may have enjoyed the feature animated film Justice League: Doom, which was loosely based on this comic arc, more than the book plotted by Mark Waid.
Talia and Ra's al Ghul's ability to fool the automated defences in both the JLA Watchtower and the Batcave were entirely too easy and not believable. Same goes for the take-downs of Green Lantern and Wonder Woman. The mechanics of Ra's al Ghul's titular tactic of messing with the language centers of everyone's brains on earth was a bit sloppy and counter-intuitive.
Basically, this book is a clear example of a writer coming up with a premise and a beautiful disaster, but struggling to fill in the steps of how we get there.
I may have enjoyed the feature animated film Justice League: Doom, which was loosely based on this comic arc, more than the book plotted by Mark Waid.
modkuraika's review against another edition
4.0
Definitely one of the most effective humblings of the group, there's a reason it's one of the first storylines to come up when discussing Justice League history.
caitcoy's review against another edition
2.0
I am extremely disappointed in this book. This is one of those very rare occasions when a movie vastly outperforms a book. It's unfortunate that I saw Justice League: Doom before I read this because it took the same incredible premise as the book and hit it out of the park. In contrast, the book is silly and heavy-handed. The main idea of both is that Batman has created plans for each member of the Justice League in case they ever go bad and these plans are stolen by a villian who uses them to incapacitate the JLA and prevent them from interfering with said villain's plans for world domination. In the book, the villain is R'as al Ghul who intends to create his own Tower of Babel and plunge the world into chaos. This premise is absolutely outstanding because it fits Batman so perfectly and puts him in direct contrast to the rest of the JLA. It's really pretty amazing how little they apparently understand Batman. At his heart, Batman will always be secretive, paranoid, distrustful of metahumans and a bit of a jerk. It's just who is. It makes perfect sense that Batman would consider all possiblities and make a contingency plan for anyone with enough power to be a problem. Before I get into why the main storyline disapointed me, can I just say this about the "Half a Mind to Save the World" issue that comes before the main storyline:
I don't often cuss in my reviews, but seriously, what the fuck was that? It has to be a) one of the most ridiculous storylines I've ever seen in a comic book and b) has absolutely zero relation to the main storyline of Tower of Babel. What the hell was the point of it? Basically, the Atom miniaturizes Superman, Wonderwoman, Flash, Green Lantern (Kyle Rayner) and Martian Manhunter in order to go speak with a civilization of bacteria that are causing a tumor in a young boy's brain. Seriously. That's not a joke, that's literally what the story is about. The bacteria, through their destructive way of living and desire to "strip mine" the resources from the boy's brain are creating a tumor and killing him. These members of the JLA have been given some time to play diplomats with a civilization of fucking bacteria before the doctors remove it with a laser. And then it immediately changes to R'as al Ghul plotting the Justice League's downfall. No chapter break, just an instant transition after Superman explains the story to the boy who had the tumor. Just insanely stupid.
Alright, on to the main storyline. My problem here with it is how little the reader is left to make their own decisions. In the animated movie, it's made clear that Batman is a different sort of hero than the others and their inability to forgive his actions causes the conflict. In the book, instead of leaving readers to question it, all possible questions are considered by Talia as she details how she stole the plans. Literally every question you could have. Is Batman responsible? Is the JLA too trusting? Is it the fault of the humans for some reason? Did I burn my toast this morning? I hate books that don't credit me with at least SOME intelligence. You don't need to spell everything out for me, thanks. And I don't blame the JLA for being upset with Batman but the ending was so poor in comparison to the movie that it frustrated the hell out of me. For those who have seen the movie: To sum up an extremely long review, I am hugely disappointed in how this was handled (especially in comparison to an extremely well done movie) but the premise is very, very good so it's worth a read just for that.
I don't often cuss in my reviews, but seriously, what the fuck was that? It has to be a) one of the most ridiculous storylines I've ever seen in a comic book and b) has absolutely zero relation to the main storyline of Tower of Babel. What the hell was the point of it? Basically, the Atom miniaturizes Superman, Wonderwoman, Flash, Green Lantern (Kyle Rayner) and Martian Manhunter in order to go speak with a civilization of bacteria that are causing a tumor in a young boy's brain. Seriously. That's not a joke, that's literally what the story is about. The bacteria, through their destructive way of living and desire to "strip mine" the resources from the boy's brain are creating a tumor and killing him. These members of the JLA have been given some time to play diplomats with a civilization of fucking bacteria before the doctors remove it with a laser.
Spoiler
Hands down the dumbest moment of what is already an incredibly stupid plot is when the scientist bacteria that is helping the superheroes sacrifices himself and his wife to send their progeny to the boy's liver a la Superman's origin story.Alright, on to the main storyline. My problem here with it is how little the reader is left to make their own decisions. In the animated movie, it's made clear that Batman is a different sort of hero than the others and their inability to forgive his actions causes the conflict. In the book, instead of leaving readers to question it, all possible questions are considered by Talia as she details how she stole the plans. Literally every question you could have. Is Batman responsible? Is the JLA too trusting? Is it the fault of the humans for some reason? Did I burn my toast this morning? I hate books that don't credit me with at least SOME intelligence. You don't need to spell everything out for me, thanks. And I don't blame the JLA for being upset with Batman but the ending was so poor in comparison to the movie that it frustrated the hell out of me. For those who have seen the movie:
Spoiler
In the movie, Batman and Superman have a moment, after everyone else has expressed unhappiness with Batman and they have tied on a vote to kick him out of the JLA, where there's understanding between Batman and Superman about their intrinsically different natures and why Batman made the choices he did. The book basically has Batman blowing up all of his relationships with no one understanding why he made his choice and or even trying to understand it. The book just misses all the nuances of the movie and fails epicly on that count for me.conor_macritchie's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
jhouses's review against another edition
2.0
Ra's al Ghul ha decidido que la especie humana es perjudicial para el planeta y decide tomar medidas para reducir drásticamente la población. Para ello toma prestados los planes de contingencia de Batman para el caso de que la sea necesario terminar con la JLA. Muy buena premisa y desarrollo un tanto precipitado.
mattstephen's review
adventurous
medium-paced
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0