Briefly, the review. This issue was pretty good for all that was jammed into it: the editorial mandated crossover of Doomsday, Saint Walker’s first appearance as a member of the team with great characterization, the Eclipso darkness creeping across the universe, Alan Scott in bad shape in a magical Starheart-powered city, and of course the regular members of the JLA. Brett Booth’s art, while occasionally anatomically awkward, is great and quite a better match than Bagley was for the book. I think I would have loved it if not for the Doomsday intrusion of a meaningless and random battle…. Though maybe I’m projecting my overall feeling about this book and it’s not the endless “Why aren’t the big seven in the JLA?!”…

I started reading Robinson’s Justice League of America for the preludes to the “The Dark Things” JLA/JSA crossover because (1) I’ve been reading the JSA since during it’s return to the modern age in the 90s and (2) James Robinson’s classic story telling in The Golden Age and the magical Starman.

The Justice Society has been my only regular team book all these years and certainly what I measure all teams against. Perhaps this also has extended to the sort of stories and tone I expect from a team book. Here is where it seems I have gotten myself into trouble.

When I learned about Robinson, with his love for DC history, penning the upcoming, at the time, crossover I was overjoyed. By most accounts, it was something different and not as welcome as what was expected. What did people expect? I don’t know. I thought we’d get more character-driven and exploring conversation — we got some in an Alan Scott/Obsidian issue in JSA and the Donna/Jade issue in JLA — but instead it was mainly epic battle after battle. You can look back through my reviews if you want to know more about that….

After reading issue 55 it dawned on me, perhaps I am just reading the wrong book. In other words, Robinson’s version of the JLA isn’t my problem it’s that this is a book called Justice League of America. Barring the Giffen/DeMatteis run, largely this book has been about epic team-ups of the world’s greatest heroes with epic battles against epic villains. I think Robinson has actually made the best of this by making it interesting and interjecting rich character moments where he can but this isn’t a book or a team in the mold of the JSA or that of Robinson’s greatest works. It isn’t what I expected. Again, that isn’t his fault.

James Robinson, you are doing a great job and making the JLA a much more interesting and mysterious book than normal. We thank you for it.