JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #44

A BRIGHTEST DAY tie-in! Following the events of BLACKEST NIGHT, the brand new Justice League of America enters into BRIGHTEST DAY with an arc featuring the Justice Society of America. The epic team-up begins with a character from the end of BLACKEST NIGHT joining the JLA. But when the storyline’s over, what mysterious villain will be revealed – and which hero will switch teams?

Written by JAMES ROBINSON
Art and cover by MARK BAGLEY and ROB HUNTER
Variant cover by David Mack

Price: $3.99
iFanboy Community Pick of the Week Percentage: 0.0%

Reviews

UserAddedSpoilers
TechnoViking04/22/10NoRead Review
AmirCat04/21/10NoRead Review
482
Pulls
Avg Rating: 3.4
 
Users who pulled this comic:

Comments

  1. Gonna give this title a shot, even though bagley’s art bothers me.

  2. I’ve heard Bagely might Be returning to Marvel…where I think his style works alot better. His DC work has been inferior to his Marvel work thus far.

  3. @mikeanzod21  Where did you hear that? Tell Me! Who do I have to kill to make this a reality!

     *whew, ok calm yourself*

    not that i don’t like his DC work, but man i miss him being at Marvel

  4. Robinson has been on this book for six months now and it basically has been in crossover mode the entire time (at least a couple of issues seemed to deal mainly with Cry for Justice stuff, which is at least a crossover with Robinson material). I’ve been reading JLA since Morrison, so I am not exactly an old-timer, but I may be just about out of patience. Let Robinson just write his own stories for six months. Let him use all the major DC characters. For. The Love. Of. God.

  5. While there are artists I identify more with DC or Marvel because the bulk of their work has been done with one or the other… I can’t say I could name one legit Comic Book artist that couldn’t (or shouldn’t) draw for both companies.  

    I mean for sure you could make a case for a certain artist not being right for a specific title, but I personally can’t say an artist isn’t right for DC but fits in with Marvel or vice versa.  Both companies are far too diverse art wise to be able to pigeon hole somebody as one or the other.

  6. @JimBilly4 – I agree 100%.  Give me a self contained arc that features the team Robinson wants to use. 

  7. @roivampire it was eiher at CBR or newsarama and i was just mentioned in passing

  8. @stuclach and @JimBilly4:
    A big AMEN. iFanboy’s recent article highlighting Morrison’s run inspired me to re-read all five volumes. In retrospect it may have been a mistake because now I’m even more depressed about the current title than I was before. Two years ago I was all about giving B-level characters a chance to shine in the League. But after going through what feels like 5 different rosters since Meltzer’s run, I’m starting to think that the only recipe for success on this book is to stick with the Big 7, and rotate the reserves. In my opinion, if anyone should protect the DCU, it should be the best of the best. Though I do love the idea of Grayson Batman on the team, and it’d be nice to see Kyle and Wally get some League-level action again.

    I’m willing to blame editorial and cling to the hope that with full creative freedom, Robinson can turn the ship around. And with the added bonus of the BN resurrections, it looks like it may actually happen. But I fear my ability to remain positive is starting to wane.

    Sorry to ramble. I rant because I care.

  9. As long as Batman is in JLA  I will buy this book.

  10. *six volumes. Minor error, but ya never know when fanboys are gonna jump all over that shit. They can turn on ya in a second.  

  11. You CAN have a great Justice League book without the entire big 7.  Giffen/DeMatties/Maguire JLI run anyone?  But Stuclach and Jimbilly make a great point… give Robinson some time to have an actual story that isn’t tied to something else. The title has been getting better but letting Robinson write a story by himself will make it GREAT.

  12. I’m pretty sure the next arc is Robinson’s own idea, It only loosely ties in with Brightest Day with the inclusion of Jade.

  13. If anyone isn’t aware, the team for the next 2 years is:

    Dick Grayson

    Donna Tory

    Supergirl

    Jade

    Jesse Quick

    Mikkal (Starman)

    Congorilla

  14. @JimBilly4 – It’s possible he will get a standalone because most of the characters on this team will not have their own book.

  15. @skeets Can you possibly provide a link with that information? Thanks in advance.

  16. I think i left this on my pre-order sheet.  If not, I can’t see myself pulling it. Pretty unenjoyable so far.

  17. http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=25567

    "The new lineup, he revealed, will be Dick Grayson as Batman, Supergirl, Donna Troy, Jade, Mikaal Tomas as Starman, Congorilla and Jessie Quick. The membership will remain the same for at least the next two years worth of stories."

  18. I’m actually really intrigued by that new lineup skeets mentioned the more I think about it.

  19. Yeah, it sounds strangely appealing.

  20. If that line-up is actually happening, and sticking, then i’ll be here a while.

  21. If that line up is true maybe Dick will keep being Batman for longer than i expected

  22. Robinson mentioned somewhere that the JLA lineup will finally be solid by issue 46, which would be fine if his run didn’t start 8 issues before that. I’ve been enjoying his work very much so far, but a concrete team will be more than welcome. I don’t care what the team’s called or who’s on it, I just want some big, cool stories with interesting team dynamics, and I think Robinson can deliver.

    Also, that line-up has more females than males, how cool is that?

  23. Who is leading this team?

  24. I’m getting the sense that Dick and Donna are beginning to get a handle on leadership. I wouldn’t be surprised if Kara also gets a leadership type role, fitting in with the whole ‘little trinity’ mold.

  25. Not to be too much of a cynic, but the recent history of this book has shown that DC editorial can not seem to keep from meddling with it for two issues, not to mention two years. I think the point of a line-up like that one is that Robinson should get a lot more freedom to tell the stories he wants with second stringers. Only Supergirl and Grayson have major commitments elsewhere and Grayson can become Nightwing whenever Morrison finally decides to give Bruce back the cowl. The negative is that the Really New Teen Titans is not really what I got into JLA for. I want the major DC Icons all interacting together: Supes, WW, Batman, Flash, GL. Robinson (or DC or both) is not inclined to give me that, so they better tell a good story. Because otherwise this is just another team book and there are a million of those.

  26. @jimbilly4 Like I said earlier you don’t need the big seven for a legendary run of the JLA.  Look at the Giffen/DeMatties/Maguire issues… They only had two big guns, Batman and Martian Manhunter

  27. @Hawkboy Exactly. Sure the big guns are cool, but it all comes down to who the writer can write the best. I’d rather see someone write b-list characters well than a-list characters poorly. If this is the team Robinson feels he can tell the best stories with then who am i to say he’s wrong?

  28. I thought this issue was an improvement over the last few. Bagley’s art seemed better to me, like he’s getting settled in with the characters. I like how the colorist is handling Donna’s costume, which isn’t something I normally notice. The writing seemed better this issue too – Robinson only had one moment of ridiculous over-dramatics. Seriously, when someone says ‘The END of the WORLD’, especially this close after Blackest Night, at least one character needs to reply ‘Again ?’ 🙂

  29. @Skeets – I had heard that Hal Jordan was going to be in the JLA.

  30. Picked this up on a lark. Disappointing. I realize this is supposed to be a jumping on point, but this read like filler and unsubtle exposition. 2/5.

  31. So… the big twist at the end is that Jade’s alive, even though everyone already knew that?

    This wasn’t on my pre-order sheet, but I pulled it anyway.  Won’t make that mistake again. 

  32. This series has felt like a pin-ball game, with it bouncing in and out of cross-overs and tie-ins and the constant lineup. It’s good to start to see a solid lineup forming. And Bagley’s art looked alot tighter than they have the last few issues (though it’s still odd to see him drawing non-Marvel characters). Having said that, the elevated page count makes this book feel long, and the double pagers just seem unnecessary to the over all story, almost as if they’re just trying to fill space to justify the higher price point.

  33. I’ve been enjoying this so far.  Once the team is in place and Robinson gets a chance to really get going I think this will be a nice solid run.

  34. This issue was the definition of mediocrity. I feel like we’ve been waiting forever for Robinson’s Justice League to pick up.

  35. What was with Jesse Quick/Liberty Belle’s costume this issue?  She hasn’t been wearing that in JSA.  Is she back to being Jesse Quick now?

  36. This was the strongest of the Robinson Justice League issues yet, I thought.  It’s nice that he’s writing the 4 characters he wants to write, and he’s doing it well (although why does Donna keep saying how happy she is to hit things – is that a reoccuring thing for her?).  And though there are a lot of splash pages, the inks on Bagley’s art looked solid and more defined than previous issues.  Was that Rapmund responsible for that?  If so, if they could keep the inker around, it would help.  However…isn’t Bagley drawing all 3 or 4 parts of this JLA/JSA crossover?  That doesn’t bode well.

  37. I ain’t no Englatician, but rhyming "roars" with "claws" seems like a no, no.

    This issue wasn’t spectacular, but it was fun enough that I will keep reading. 

  38. I picked this up for the JSA whose scenes worked much better than the rest. I agree with others that Bagley’s art is really distracting for the JLA and especially on a character like Batman. I can see how he worked well on Spiderman though. This is the artist DC wants on its flagship team book? Someone like Ivan Reis could take this run up a few notches as well as draw some attention with his name.

  39. @Zattaric

    Her costume is going to be the new Loki’s gender.

  40. @ slockhart  Ha!

    I just reread this issue and I liked it a lot.  I can see this team gelling. 

    @RonDEv  I think Donna’s "I want to hit things attitude" is due to all the crap that’s been going on with her lately.  Genocide turned her against WW and used her, Her dead husband & baby coming back from the dead, and what now happened to Roy.  J.T Krul did a nice spotlight issue on Donna a couple of issues ago in Titans.  I think it ties in with Robinson’s characterization.

  41. I think Bagley’s art on this is just terrible.  I was never a big fan, but I like what he did on Ultimate Spider-Man.  This just looks ugly and cartoony and amateurish.  Ugh.

  42. I’m willing to stick with this for a while. Robinson has done some amazing work in the past, and as long as he tells good, interesting stories, I am willing to ride without the "original" Big 3 on the team. Interesting that many of the members are legacies of the originals in their abilities, and that it’s 7 characters, like the classic Morrison lineup. I still want my J’onn J’onzz back though!

Leave a Comment