About Heroes

Review written by: Knightwingbk

Writers: David Goyer & Geoff Johns
Artists: Calos Pacheco w/ Jesus Merino & Guy Major

This is an orgininal Graphic novel by David Goyer and Geoff Johns teaming the JLA with the JSA. Each team has their core characters, JSA has the characters in Goyer & Johns' JSA, while the JLA has the characters from Grant Morrison's and Mark Waid's run on JLA.

The JLA and JSA get together at the JLA watchtower for an inter-hero thanksgiving dinner. But we never get to really see that dinner, because as soon as all the heroes arrive, something happens on Earth that requires both team's attention. Rather than go back to thanksgiving dinner, the heroes try to figure out what is going on, and we're off from there. Batman, Plastic Man, Green Lantern, Mr. Terrific, Shazam, Dr. Fate, and Power Girl start exhibiting some strange behavior, and attack thier teamates. Turns out, they have been taken over by the Seven Deadly Sins, freed from their imprisonment in the Rock of Eternity. Our Heroes get split up, and have to work together and free thier other teamates in order to defeat the two villains that have teamed up here.

The story is good, but I thought it was really lacking on character interactions. The gatherings of the heroes when they are simply enjoying each other's company and bonding is limited to 10 pages out of 94. A little more of this would have made the book much better, because going into it, that is what I expected from these two writers, a lot of good character interaction and development. Instead we get a little interaction and a lot of action. The action is solid, and they use Sentinel in some interesting ways, but when the heroes get possessed they really only show the effects of their posession for 5 pages and then move on from there. If the heores get possessed I want to see them affected by the demons, and you don't get that here.

I'm new to the JSA, I've never read any of their comics, so I picked this up hoping that it would be a good introduction to them. Not so here. You get a little but not a lot. So, as of this writing, this book has not compelled me to pick up the JSA trades I always see at the shops. The same goes for the JLA, if you're new to them (really, this shouldn't be ANY comic reader) this book does not serve as a good introduction to the characters.

The art by Carlos Pacheco is solid and enjoyable. This was probably the DC work that landed him the Superman/Batman run awhile back. He has a style that really captures the stature and attitudes of the characters, so he was a good choice for this book.

The book really requires a reading in one sitting, as there are no chapter stops in the book. I do not understand why this warrented a TPB printing or hardcover (When it first came out) with a $17.95 price tag. A 100 page special would have been fine for this story, but then it would not be present in the Barnes & Nobles and other bookstore chains. If you're a big fan of both teams, go ahead and pick this up. Otherwise, if you see it in a bookstore and have some time to kill, take it off the shelf, sit somewhere, read it, and put it back. A solid C.