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captwinghead's review
4.0
Aside from some unnecessary ass shots... this was quite possibly the only Justice League story I've read that actually used women well? I am utterly shocked considering women were barely in Identity Crisis, and when they were, they weren't used well.
This is a story that takes Dinah Lance, Diana Prince, Mari McCabe, Kendra Saunders and used their abilities well. Red Tornado's wife Kathy is here for a short while and she even has some really great moments. I've read New 52's Justice League (regretfully), a volume of Rebirth's Justice League of America (regretfully), Waid's Justice League books, a classic volume of JLA and a few other issues here or there and the women are never used well. Even Diana has such a small role compared to the men and I'm never sure why. Her abilities are incredibly versatile yet she's usually regulated to exposition or, even worse, being rescued. The other female members of the team are also usually not used that often, or all that well.
Considering my chief gripe with Identity Crisis was the lack of great representation of women, imagine my shock when the same writer managed to use these female characters better than I've ever seen them used in a JLA book. Wonder Woman is treated just as importantly as Bruce and Clark in building the new team. Mari's abilities are used quite diversely, she doesn't get rescued when she's in peril, she saves herself and the end scene with the little girl seeing her as a role model for her work stopping Amazo was perfect! Dinah is shown as a brilliant fighter, incredibly smart in battle and her love and support of Roy during his lowest point comes back in a really big way. Hawkgirl isn't as present as the others but, for the little that she's here, she's shown as a fierce warrior that is greatly respected for her skill in battle.
Also - Hawkgirl! New love of my life! <3
Sorry to say so much on that and so little on everything else but that really meant a lot to me. When reading team books, I usually just resign myself to not seeing female characters aside from cheap T&A shots that make me regret reading the books at all. This was a pleasant surprise (y'know, aside from the unnecessary ass shot of Wonder Woman during what was supposed to be a brutal fight scene).
Anyway, the story itself was great. I never cared all that much about Red Tornado but this story made his plight and his love for his family a compelling plot. I loved the stuff with Roy Harper. He's one of my favorite characters and I liked that this featured how much Hal, Dinah and Ollie want to do right by him and also acknowledges that Ollie treated him like shit. It also managed to show how great of a father Roy is -which is always a plus for me.
I liked seeing Jefferson Pierce here. I enjoyed the bits at the beginning with Clark and Bruce demonstrating how much they trust each other. I thought all of the interpersonal relationships were done really well in this book.
So, yeah, 4.5 stars. Definitely a recommend from me.
This is a story that takes Dinah Lance, Diana Prince, Mari McCabe, Kendra Saunders and used their abilities well. Red Tornado's wife Kathy is here for a short while and she even has some really great moments. I've read New 52's Justice League (regretfully), a volume of Rebirth's Justice League of America (regretfully), Waid's Justice League books, a classic volume of JLA and a few other issues here or there and the women are never used well. Even Diana has such a small role compared to the men and I'm never sure why. Her abilities are incredibly versatile yet she's usually regulated to exposition or, even worse, being rescued. The other female members of the team are also usually not used that often, or all that well.
Considering my chief gripe with Identity Crisis was the lack of great representation of women, imagine my shock when the same writer managed to use these female characters better than I've ever seen them used in a JLA book. Wonder Woman is treated just as importantly as Bruce and Clark in building the new team. Mari's abilities are used quite diversely, she doesn't get rescued when she's in peril, she saves herself and the end scene with the little girl seeing her as a role model for her work stopping Amazo was perfect! Dinah is shown as a brilliant fighter, incredibly smart in battle and her love and support of Roy during his lowest point comes back in a really big way. Hawkgirl isn't as present as the others but, for the little that she's here, she's shown as a fierce warrior that is greatly respected for her skill in battle.
Also - Hawkgirl! New love of my life! <3
Sorry to say so much on that and so little on everything else but that really meant a lot to me. When reading team books, I usually just resign myself to not seeing female characters aside from cheap T&A shots that make me regret reading the books at all. This was a pleasant surprise (y'know, aside from the unnecessary ass shot of Wonder Woman during what was supposed to be a brutal fight scene).
Anyway, the story itself was great. I never cared all that much about Red Tornado but this story made his plight and his love for his family a compelling plot. I loved the stuff with Roy Harper. He's one of my favorite characters and I liked that this featured how much Hal, Dinah and Ollie want to do right by him and also acknowledges that Ollie treated him like shit. It also managed to show how great of a father Roy is -which is always a plus for me.
I liked seeing Jefferson Pierce here. I enjoyed the bits at the beginning with Clark and Bruce demonstrating how much they trust each other. I thought all of the interpersonal relationships were done really well in this book.
So, yeah, 4.5 stars. Definitely a recommend from me.
karliclover's review
5.0
I'd like to first say that Ed Benes is an amazing artist. Perfection.
The story was really, really good. It's very touching and very sad. It's pretty much the story of Pinocchio, but with Red Tornado. He's way more human than machine (which is further touched upon in volume 2) and it's great.
I was a little confused when I saw Felix Faust because in 52, Ralph Dibny trapped him in a tower for all eternity. But then I did some research and learned that he got out somehow. I don't know how I feel about that, but that's not Meltzer's fault.
I also like this lineup for the JLA. And the stuff with Ollie was nice. What I don't like, though, is Roy and Kendra flirting with each other.
The story was really, really good. It's very touching and very sad. It's pretty much the story of Pinocchio, but with Red Tornado. He's way more human than machine (which is further touched upon in volume 2) and it's great.
I was a little confused when I saw Felix Faust because in 52, Ralph Dibny trapped him in a tower for all eternity. But then I did some research and learned that he got out somehow. I don't know how I feel about that, but that's not Meltzer's fault.
I also like this lineup for the JLA. And the stuff with Ollie was nice. What I don't like, though, is Roy and Kendra flirting with each other.
rbreade's review
Writer Brad Meltzer shifts point of view and time to give this way more structural heft than most comic books, but Ed Benes art, though well done throughout, continues the trend of putting female superheroes, such as Black Canary, in high heels and expecting readers to believe they can effectively fight. It's not believable. Also, he tends to draw their costumes with little posterior coverage, and sometimes even the front of the suits are drawn so as to require a Brazilian bikini wax in order to decently wear. This sort of thing prevents comic books from ever breaking out of the pre-teenage boy ghetto where they've been trapped for so long, and it's mystifying because my sense is the demographic has shifted upward in age as comics became more expensive.
shane_tiernan's review against another edition
4.0
I liked this a lot. and look forward to reading the rest of the series. It's always cool to dip into the pscyhe of ionic heroes like Batman, Superman and Wonderwoman especially when they're working together. The voting thing was a great idea. Unfortunately, I guess I haven't read enough DC comments because they there were at least 3 or 4 references that I was clueless about.
Benes' art rocks. This is exactly th style that I like most for men (and women) in tights.
Benes' art rocks. This is exactly th style that I like most for men (and women) in tights.
fangsfirst's review against another edition
3.0
NOTE: like most of the Justice League stuff I've read the past few months or so, this was a loan from someone who wanted me to read it
I'm apparently in an absurd minority in that I don't like the art (it reminds me of the 90s school where storytelling and anatomy took backseats to whether it looked "cool" or—for female characters only, of course—"hot") nor the story, though I also don't hate either of them.
It's mostly the beats and tone of Meltzer's storytelling I don't like (see also: Identity Crisis). More "what is humanity?" around Red Tornado? Here for it. More deep cuts and references? Sign me up.
But the violence and darker tone as a whole just don't jive with it for me, and come off competent but still like "dude, it's so 'mature'!" (...also like a subset of the 90s), down to Lindelof's introduction which frames the story as "Pinocchio—BUT VIOLENT!"
While Meltzer does do a good job of separating voices, sometimes it felt like sweeping everyone into a specific box (Wonder Woman is a tactical warrior! Superman likes people to be nice! Batman doesn't trust people!) and had the same feeling of weird mismatch, like even more of the "look how mature it is!" nonsense. It seemed as if Meltzer was trying entirely too hard to make characters he clearly loves into "deep, adult, mature" characters, but did so like an average 14-year-old who is valiantly honing their writing craft: inserting violence and pathos but imperfectly.
Particularly given my divergent feelings on the art, I suspect this is (yet again) an instance where the parts that work for most people I "get", but don't work for me because the "meat on the bones" of it feels imbalanced. Which is to say, something like: everyone else is super excited at this being 100% white meat chicken and I'm looking for a drumstick. We are all after chicken, but want different things from it. And this has just got a wing or two as far as I can see.
I'm apparently in an absurd minority in that I don't like the art (it reminds me of the 90s school where storytelling and anatomy took backseats to whether it looked "cool" or—for female characters only, of course—"hot") nor the story, though I also don't hate either of them.
It's mostly the beats and tone of Meltzer's storytelling I don't like (see also: Identity Crisis). More "what is humanity?" around Red Tornado? Here for it. More deep cuts and references? Sign me up.
But the violence and darker tone as a whole just don't jive with it for me, and come off competent but still like "dude, it's so 'mature'!" (...also like a subset of the 90s), down to Lindelof's introduction which frames the story as "Pinocchio—BUT VIOLENT!"
While Meltzer does do a good job of separating voices, sometimes it felt like sweeping everyone into a specific box (Wonder Woman is a tactical warrior! Superman likes people to be nice! Batman doesn't trust people!) and had the same feeling of weird mismatch, like even more of the "look how mature it is!" nonsense. It seemed as if Meltzer was trying entirely too hard to make characters he clearly loves into "deep, adult, mature" characters, but did so like an average 14-year-old who is valiantly honing their writing craft: inserting violence and pathos but imperfectly.
Particularly given my divergent feelings on the art, I suspect this is (yet again) an instance where the parts that work for most people I "get", but don't work for me because the "meat on the bones" of it feels imbalanced. Which is to say, something like: everyone else is super excited at this being 100% white meat chicken and I'm looking for a drumstick. We are all after chicken, but want different things from it. And this has just got a wing or two as far as I can see.
lindakat's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
tabman678's review
4.0
Justice League of America vol 1: The Tornado's path is a reboot of Justice League after the events of things like Infinite Crisis, Identity Crisis, and 52.
Now here's the thing about relaunches that renumber the book, it's almost always sales driven right? Well part of the magic of this one is it does not feel like that. It doesn't feel arbitrary or done just for a bump in sales. A large chunk of that I think goes to the writer Brad Meltzer who has a love of the entire DC universe deep within these comics.
The focus is on the trinity as they're picking new people to invite to the league and various other characters like namely Red Tornado, Black Lightning, Vixen, Arsenal, Hal Jordan, and Black Canary. Red Tornado moves into a human body, but a shadowy villain is manipulating these events from the shadows. And Red Tornado doesn't have what he thinks he does. Vixen loses her sense of self. All while the trinity pick and choose. I think it has a good balance between the multiple plot threads. The weakest element for me is the pace, and the fact that the League isn't formed until the last issue in the collection (collects issues 1-7 for anyone keeping track).
Other than the pace I think this is a very good first volume for the Justice League, besides being weighed down by all the continuity of Infinite Crisis and 52.
The pencils by Ed Benes are good at the particular style he's doing. Very comic booky, big muscles and big boobs. It's drawn well but every guy looks the same and nearly every woman does too. It does the job but beyond being well articulated in it's style I'm not going to sing any further praises.
Alex Sinclair on colors does a fine job though, he keeps it grounded in that the color style isn't over inflated and kept to the "realism" of the images. Sandra Hope's inks are the part that stand out though. And are the feature that had me going "damn" at how the images of theses heroes stood out.
4 stars. Good relaunch and I enjoyed the story. I look forward to the next volume when I get to it.
Now here's the thing about relaunches that renumber the book, it's almost always sales driven right? Well part of the magic of this one is it does not feel like that. It doesn't feel arbitrary or done just for a bump in sales. A large chunk of that I think goes to the writer Brad Meltzer who has a love of the entire DC universe deep within these comics.
The focus is on the trinity as they're picking new people to invite to the league and various other characters like namely Red Tornado, Black Lightning, Vixen, Arsenal, Hal Jordan, and Black Canary. Red Tornado moves into a human body, but a shadowy villain is manipulating these events from the shadows. And Red Tornado doesn't have what he thinks he does. Vixen loses her sense of self. All while the trinity pick and choose. I think it has a good balance between the multiple plot threads. The weakest element for me is the pace, and the fact that the League isn't formed until the last issue in the collection (collects issues 1-7 for anyone keeping track).
Other than the pace I think this is a very good first volume for the Justice League, besides being weighed down by all the continuity of Infinite Crisis and 52.
The pencils by Ed Benes are good at the particular style he's doing. Very comic booky, big muscles and big boobs. It's drawn well but every guy looks the same and nearly every woman does too. It does the job but beyond being well articulated in it's style I'm not going to sing any further praises.
Alex Sinclair on colors does a fine job though, he keeps it grounded in that the color style isn't over inflated and kept to the "realism" of the images. Sandra Hope's inks are the part that stand out though. And are the feature that had me going "damn" at how the images of theses heroes stood out.
4 stars. Good relaunch and I enjoyed the story. I look forward to the next volume when I get to it.
captwinghead's review against another edition
4.0
Aside from some unnecessary ass shots... this was quite possibly the only Justice League story I've read that actually used women well? I am utterly shocked considering women were barely in Identity Crisis, and when they were, they weren't used well.
This is a story that takes Dinah Lance, Diana Prince, Mari McCabe, Kendra Saunders and used their abilities well. Red Tornado's wife Kathy is here for a short while and she even has some really great moments. I've read New 52's Justice League (regretfully), a volume of Rebirth's Justice League of America (regretfully), Waid's Justice League books, a classic volume of JLA and a few other issues here or there and the women are never used well. Even Diana has such a small role compared to the men and I'm never sure why. Her abilities are incredibly versatile yet she's usually regulated to exposition or, even worse, being rescued. The other female members of the team are also usually not used that often, or all that well.
Considering my chief gripe with Identity Crisis was the lack of great representation of women, imagine my shock when the same writer managed to use these female characters better than I've ever seen them used in a JLA book. Wonder Woman is treated just as importantly as Bruce and Clark in building the new team. Mari's abilities are used quite diversely, she doesn't get rescued when she's in peril, she saves herself and the end scene with the little girl seeing her as a role model for her work stopping Amazo was perfect! Dinah is shown as a brilliant fighter, incredibly smart in battle and her love and support of Roy during his lowest point comes back in a really big way. Hawkgirl isn't as present as the others but, for the little that she's here, she's shown as a fierce warrior that is greatly respected for her skill in battle.
Also - Hawkgirl! New love of my life! <3
Sorry to say so much on that and so little on everything else but that really meant a lot to me. When reading team books, I usually just resign myself to not seeing female characters aside from cheap T&A shots that make me regret reading the books at all. This was a pleasant surprise (y'know, aside from the unnecessary ass shot of Wonder Woman during what was supposed to be a brutal fight scene).
Anyway, the story itself was great. I never cared all that much about Red Tornado but this story made his plight and his love for his family a compelling plot. I loved the stuff with Roy Harper. He's one of my favorite characters and I liked that this featured how much Hal, Dinah and Ollie want to do right by him and also acknowledges that Ollie treated him like shit. It also managed to show how great of a father Roy is -which is always a plus for me.
I liked seeing Jefferson Pierce here. I enjoyed the bits at the beginning with Clark and Bruce demonstrating how much they trust each other. I thought all of the interpersonal relationships were done really well in this book.
So, yeah, 4.5 stars. Definitely a recommend from me.
This is a story that takes Dinah Lance, Diana Prince, Mari McCabe, Kendra Saunders and used their abilities well. Red Tornado's wife Kathy is here for a short while and she even has some really great moments. I've read New 52's Justice League (regretfully), a volume of Rebirth's Justice League of America (regretfully), Waid's Justice League books, a classic volume of JLA and a few other issues here or there and the women are never used well. Even Diana has such a small role compared to the men and I'm never sure why. Her abilities are incredibly versatile yet she's usually regulated to exposition or, even worse, being rescued. The other female members of the team are also usually not used that often, or all that well.
Considering my chief gripe with Identity Crisis was the lack of great representation of women, imagine my shock when the same writer managed to use these female characters better than I've ever seen them used in a JLA book. Wonder Woman is treated just as importantly as Bruce and Clark in building the new team. Mari's abilities are used quite diversely, she doesn't get rescued when she's in peril, she saves herself and the end scene with the little girl seeing her as a role model for her work stopping Amazo was perfect! Dinah is shown as a brilliant fighter, incredibly smart in battle and her love and support of Roy during his lowest point comes back in a really big way. Hawkgirl isn't as present as the others but, for the little that she's here, she's shown as a fierce warrior that is greatly respected for her skill in battle.
Also - Hawkgirl! New love of my life! <3
Sorry to say so much on that and so little on everything else but that really meant a lot to me. When reading team books, I usually just resign myself to not seeing female characters aside from cheap T&A shots that make me regret reading the books at all. This was a pleasant surprise (y'know, aside from the unnecessary ass shot of Wonder Woman during what was supposed to be a brutal fight scene).
Anyway, the story itself was great. I never cared all that much about Red Tornado but this story made his plight and his love for his family a compelling plot. I loved the stuff with Roy Harper. He's one of my favorite characters and I liked that this featured how much Hal, Dinah and Ollie want to do right by him and also acknowledges that Ollie treated him like shit. It also managed to show how great of a father Roy is -which is always a plus for me.
I liked seeing Jefferson Pierce here. I enjoyed the bits at the beginning with Clark and Bruce demonstrating how much they trust each other. I thought all of the interpersonal relationships were done really well in this book.
So, yeah, 4.5 stars. Definitely a recommend from me.
booknooknoggin's review against another edition
4.0
Body swapping, and many villains. Fun action packed story, and new JLA.
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