Books : Justice League of America Vol. 1: The Tornado's Path

In association with Amazon.com

Rating:

- These are Heroes
Brad Mektzer's is, for me, "mostly-hit"; many of his works (the Zero Game, Identity Crisis) are great reads, while others feel uneven (the interesting but convoluted Book of Fate.) This meant that the graphic novel containing the first seven issues of his JLA relaunch weren't guarenteed satisfactory reads.

But they were.

This book hits all the right notes--it shows a group trying to re-piece itself, as well as a deeply personal story focusing on one of the League's lesser-known members, Red Torando. This makes for a compelling read--the traditional action-intensive romps take a backseat to the story of an adroid who loves his family and wants to be human. His quest, in turn, drives the plot and this is the book's greatest sucess--taking an unknown background character and showing us who he is, and why he needs to be a JLA member.

Another highlight is the stunning art, provided by Ed Benes and Sandra Hope. Detailed without being overly flashy, his stlye is a perfect fit for Melzter's character-based storytelling.

Don't fret--I'm not saying this is comic's equivelant of a soft-hearted indie film. Bows are shot, heat vision is utilized, and Batarangs are chucked. But at the end of the day, we've followed the Torando's path.

Rating:

- Pushing traditional comic book boundaries ...
The origin of this newest incarnation of the Justice League is grand storytelling of immense scope. Told with the greatest respect and appropriate homage to the League's long and rich history, the tales collected in this latest graphic novel move and touch the emotions while spiced with lots of action and fanboy-pleasing characterization. The psychological, relational interplay between the Big Three (Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman) and between the now-human Red Tornado John Smith, his wife Kathy Sutton, and their daughter, Traya are fascinating and just plain lovely to behold. The maturing, long-lived relationship between Green Lantern Hal Jordan, Black Canary, and the former Speedy/Arsenal, now Red Arrow is also shown moving toward a newer, greater complexity and understanding. There's little doubt that writer Brad Meltzer is well on his way to joining the pantheon of stellar JLA chroniclers which includes Grant Morrison, Kurt Busiek, George Perez, Gardner Fox, and Mike Sekowsky. The art here by Ed Benes is spectacularly beautiful and the overall design of the work is extraordinary. A very promising new chapter for the World's Greatest Super-Heroes. Essential for fans and a great jumping-on spot for new readers.

Rating:

- Welcome to the new JLA
It's one year after the events of Infinite Crisis and the three big guns of DC Comics have decided it's time to put the Justice League back together again. With a nod to the All-Star Squadron, Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman sift through photos of various heroes voting on each as potential members of the new league. `The Tornado's Path' revolves around three central characters, Red Tornado, Professor Ivo and Solomon Grundy. Reddy wants to be human, Grundy wants an unkillable body and Ivo just wants to die. Oh and Solomon Grundy is now *ahem* super intelligent and compares himself is Sisyphus. Yeah, it's that kind of story.

The first thing that hit me was how good the art is. In this department I have no complaints. It's the scripting that I have an issue with. Don't get me wrong. It's far from bad and I love the fact that the story includes many of the best JLA villains including Professor Ivo, Amazo, Felix Faust, Starro and Solomon Grundy. My biggest problem is with the dialog that is often too clever for its own good. I had to cringe when Hawkgirl shouted, `Hey Face... Meet Mace' before wacking Amazo upside the skull. In fact there is a general excess of grrrrrl power in the new JLA. Vixen has already jumped to the head of the pack as my least favorite new JLA member. At least she changed her hair from that disastrous mullet thing she used to sport (and when it all boils down isn't she just an Animal Man rip-off).

The story leaves a ton of questions that hopefully will be cleared up in later issues. Why would Deadman help the villains? What is Felix Faust's roll in all of this? Why were many of the villains implanted with pseudo-Starro brain controllers? Who was helping Professor Ivo with advanced technology? The reason I bring these up is because if these questions aren't answered these plots points can quickly move from intriguing mysteries to just lazy scripting. My last gripe is that you would REALLY need to be a ravenous DC comic's reader to understand all that's going on. For instance, last I heard Felix Faust was really and irrevocably dead as in even his soul had disintegrated to nothing. It took me some research on Wikipedia to learn that he somehow returned in a Black Adam miniseries. Also, Professor Ivo's dream to die would seem more likely if he was still in pain and physically ravaged. In `Tornado's Path' he looks fit as a fiddle.

One of the things I really enjoyed about the 52 compilations was the end notes by the writers and artists. I think that this should be mandatory in compilations. It's like a DVD special features. Unfortunately the JLA end notes are rather dull and consist of pretty much nothing but self congratulations on a job well done. About halfway through I quit reading them.

After a second reading `The Tornado's Path' started to grow on me and maybe I've been overly harsh. Most people will probably enjoy it and the art is extraordinarily vibrant. My biggest wish is for Brad Meltzer to ratchet down the Kewlness level in his writing. The story is at its best when it focuses on Red Tornado and his simple dream to be human.

Rating:

- Huge disappointment
I thought the story was lousy. I did not find the Red Tornado to be a compelling or tragic character and I thought the characterizations of Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman made them less as characters. A huge disappointment. I also found the story to be unnecessarily violent--ripping off Red Tornado's arm in a gory scene. I threw the book in the trash. Writers are artists are welcome to have all of the "artistic freedom" they want, but I don't have to buy it, and when I make the mistake of doing so, I don't have to keep it around.

Rating:

- Wow, what a horrible ending.
If you like writers who ignore continuity, excel at writing scenes almost anybody else in the biz could write just as well, and completely ruin enjoyable stories as they go along by weighing them down with boring lame characters and horrible main villains that nobody cares about, maybe this horrible incarnation of the JLA is for you. Me? After reading this steaming pile of crap and the wretched Lightning Saga that follows it, I'll be welcoming Dwayne McDuffie's run on the series with way more love than I'd usually give the guy.

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