About Heroes

Writer: Dwayne McDuffie

Artists: Ed Benes & Sandra Hope

 

I was a little wary about this issue.   Ed Benes makes his return for the title after a one issue break and I was worried how his art would look with McDuffie's writing.  Not the actual quality of the art, Benes has that in spades, but I was worried how McDuffie's amplified pacing would work with Benes' style.  I thought Benes and Meltzer worked great together so I was wondering how Benes would adjust to McDuffie. So far, so good.  Looking back, I suppose that Joe Benitez was a good pick for the last issue, as Benes' art comes off as a less stylized version of the same characters.  Anyway, the characters here look good, Benes has had many issues to get that down, let's talk villians.  By far, Benes' Luthor is the best.  He's menacing and evil and the new suit looks so much better than the one that appeared in Superman/Batman or Supergirl.  It's sleeker, and he can turn his head in it, making it infinitely better (there's a Batman movie joke in there somewhere). 

 

After the events of last issue where every member of the League was captured except for Superman and Black Lightning, Luthor appears and goads Superman into getting angry and lashing out.  Lex's theory is that Superman can only be beaten when he loses control, so the torturing of his teammates is meant to do that.  Lex shows Superman all of the Justice League's female heroes held captive in the most gratuitous T & A shot I've ever seen in a comic without nudity.  Everyone's boobs or butt are prominently on display. Superman and Black Lightning eventually make it to the Legion of Doom's (sorry, Injustice League) headquarters and try to free their teammates and put up a good fight but the amount of villains assembled here simply outmatches them.  My favorite moment of the book was the inclusion of the Joker, he's just wacky and insane, and puts explosive Kryptonite paint into a device for Superman to find.  It works, but it merely annoys Superman, which the Joker says was the point.  It was a great moment. Right now, I'm really happy with McDuffie on the book.  I'd never read any of McDuffie's stuff before his Fantastic Four run, and the Justice League is a little different than the FF, but after watching the JLU DVD's I'm confident that if McDuffie stays on the book for a long time we will continue to get quality stories.  B+