Or – “Isn’t Peraxxis How They Charge For Tire Rotations?”
Over the last several issues, Booster Gold and his new JLI have found themselves heavily outgunned by the Signalmen, giant robots that remind me a little bit too much of the Celestials. Now, Peraxxis has come to see what the Signalmen have found, and any resemblance to Galactus is probably intentional…
JUSTICE LEAGUE INTERNATIONAL #4
Writer: Dan Jurgens
Penciler: Aaron Lopresti
Inker: Matt Ryan
Cover Artist(s): David Finch, Rich Friend & Peter Steigerwald
Colorist Hi-Fi
Letterer: Travis Lanham
Editor: Rex Ogle
Publisher: DC Comics
Cover Price: $2.99
Previously, in Justice League International: Booster Gold has been named as the leader of the new Justice League International, and what has followed has been nothing but disaster after disaster. The activation of the alien Signalmen came quick on the heels of the defection of their most powerful member, followed by an attack from beyond the atmosphere. The JLI has been beat up, hung down, brung down and all kinda mean nasty stuff, and it seems like the end of the world. (But is this a different end of the world than in Stormwatch?)
OVERSELLING THE OFFENSE…
I’m sure it’s just my memory playing tricks with me, but it seems like the entirety of the last three issues of this book are nothing but fight scenes wherein the JLI has been punked out worse than John Morrison in his last three months in WWE. Booster and Batman are overwhelmed in this issue in just a matter of a few panels, and Guy Gardner invades the citadel of Peraxxus just to get his face smacked for a few panels, just enough for the alien to absorb his language and give him a verbal beating, just to add insult to injury. There’s little to set up Peraxxus other than his effortless defeat of a Green Lantern (some would say the Greatest Green Lantern) and nigh-infinite power. Teleporting the various teams of JLI members from around the globe, Peraxxus announces that the world is about to end.
…UNDERSELLING THE COMMON SENSE.
There’s a lot of that in this issue, actually, as Booster Gold announces that his team can’t be defeated this easily, Guy Gardner announces that Peraxxus is about to be sneak-attacked, Andre Briggs (the UN architect of the new team) announces that things can’t be as bad as they seem, and there’s just far too much talking going on. When the League finally get their act together (after Godiva sexually harasses Batman with her living hair), Peraxxus defeats the entire team AGAIN in less than three pages, and activates his ultimate weapon, causing the Signalmen to rise up and begin ripping the very planet apart. His goal: To salvage whatever minerals and such are left when the planet is shredded.
THE VERDICT: TOO MUCH FILLER FOR MY TASTE…
The issue ends with the characters in precisely the same state as they were when we ended #3 (and, for that matter, when we ended #2): Flat on their backs while the menace continues. The original JLI run was fascinating partly because it took the largely inter-changable Leaguers and gave each a personality, tics and unique-ish speech patterns, which eventually overtook the plot. This book doesn’t really give us a lot of character (I forgot that Godiva was meant to be English until she threw a “bloody hell” into her dialogue) and the menace is both over-powered and maddeningly vague. It’s not even as though this is a bad comic book, it’s just a dull one, even with some lovely art by Aaron Lopresti. The female Leaguers especially look good, which makes the complete lack of anything for them to do eve more of a shame. Justice League International #4 continues this books trend of banality, and is more boring than it is upsetting or unpleasant, earning a disappointed 2 out of 5 stars overall.
[rating:2/5]Faithful Spoilerite Question Of The Day: IS this meant to be the same earth-shattering, world-ending menace we see in Stormwatch, or is there actually more than one cataclysmic alien invasion scenarios in the New 52?
3 Comments
These two are not related i think
don’t tease us with the Interlac in the pic!!!!
I have to respectfully disagree with you on the rating, Matthew. I gave it a bit higher (3.5) because the storyline does follow the “weird group” mix of the original JLI as well as Booster Gold’s unique spot as the only “B” list hero that actually has an idea of all the stuff that’s happened to the universe/multiverse through most of the crisis storied as well as the “future” of the current DC “reality”. Booster’s practically the second lynchpin to the universe next to The Flash (Barry Allen…oh…wait…there’s only one now so there’s no need to point that out…never mind) but he’s still insecure as a leader. It also shows the changes that this “relaunch” has brought about in Batman (Bruce…ah the hell with it) who is still the baddest non-powered man on the planet but now will celebrate his parent’s wedding anniversary instead of their murder and has become a mentor for Booster where in the old JLI he would have been the boss and already knocked Guy Gardner out again. I did not get to follow the Great Ten series so August General In Iron is an very interesting character to me. He’s like “The Art of War” in armor and I like that.
Godiva is interesting because she’s completely out of place and out of her “league” (pun intended) as part of the group. That usually gives a great deal of leeway to character development in the future if writers pay attention. I do agree that the writer needs to get the “sound” of her dialogue down better.
Yes, the team does get it’s ass handed to it twice but I’m pretty sure that the relaunch of the JLA title is going to show all the young, cocky heroes in that series getting their ass handed to them by Darkseid a couple of times before they realize that all of the folks with earth shattering powers need to listen to the brooding guy in the Bat suit. The villian is pretty generic to me and a bit to “current events politically correct” for my taste (I was wondering if this was “Occupy JLI” for a couple of minutes).
Anywho….just my $0.02.