Writer: Alan Burnett
Artists: Ed Benes, Sandra Hope, Mariah Benes, Ruy Jose
What the hell happened to Justice League of America? It seemed like the book was finally moving quicker when McDuffie jumped on and told the Legion of Doom story, but then he backs off and lets fellow JLU alum Alan Burnett write a 3-part Salvation Run tie-in story that resolves nothing. Let's be honest though. No one really thought that the JLA was going to rescue the villains at the end of this issue, Salvation Run still has 3 issues left. So, from the beginning, this storyline has been kind of silly. We knew it wasn't going anywhere important, but we read it anyway. This issue has the JLA fly to the planet where the villains were supposed to end up, only to find it empty. Really? We all knew this because over in Salvation Run Bane and Deadshot had already said that they were not on the right planet. Luckily for the JLA Kanjar Ro (who?) was waiting for them to take thier powers. You mean you spent two issues building up the JLA going to this planet, only to have them fight some lame villain? At the very least we should've gotten a confrontation with Amanda Waller again, telling her how she's fucked up so badly. Ugh. Come on McDuffie, I praised you for making this book exciting to read again and then you leave it for 3 issues. Please restore my faith in this book next month when you return with Ethan Van Sciver on art.
Speaking of art, Ed Benes stinks this month. I don't know if he was rushed, or if the three inkers on the book ruined the output, but a lot of his faces and figures this month do not stand up to the work he's previously turned out for JLA. His wife Mariah Benes and Sandra Hope usually do his art justice, but here, combined with Ruy Jose who's pretty consistent with Dale Eaglesham over on Justice Society, the art falls apart. This should be DC's must read book, but instead it falls to the wayside month in and month out to things like Batman, Action Comics, and Booster Gold. C'mon! Booster Gold should never beat the JLA in terms of story no matter who's writing it. I'm worried about this books' future, especially with James Robinson's redundantly titled Justice League on the way. This book needs a kick in the pants. D
Writer: John Rogers
Artist: Raphael Albuquerque
Well, I finally found some time off from school where I didn't have any homework to do, and I had comics I wanted to talk about, especially one of my favorites, Blue Beetle, which wraps up its ongoing story with issue 25. John Rogers leaves the book with this issue and it wraps up all the threads he and Keith Giffen started in issue one. We started on a journey with Jaime, learning how to use the scarab in the first arc, we then learned some of the history behind it as Peacemaker and the Reach arrived, and then had the chilling discovery that the scarab was a weapon, sent to earth to take over it's user and make the earth prime for conquering by the Reach. Somehow, half of the scarab's programming was given to Peacemaker, and half to Jaime. This let Jaime control the scarab, rather than the scarab controlling him, as it was originally designed to, and Jaime became a hero. Once Jaime learned that the Reach were here to conquer earth he's been trying to stop them, and recently the Reach started their endgame and Jaime went up against them to stop them. At the end of last issue, Jaime had the scarab pulled out of his spine by the Reach, and they were about to kill him, and Jaime's last words were "Khaji Da!" With this issue, we learned that this was the scarab's serial number or name, and that Jaime was summoning it to re-enter him. It's a bit of genius, and it shows that Jaime has a true connection with the scarab, making him the most powerful Blue Beetle ever. Also, with this issue, Rogers' lets us hear what the scarab is telling Jaime, rather than just seeing the wierd "beetle-speak" like we have for the past 24 issues. This is cool because we've always known that the scarab was a little crude and sarcastic, just from Jaime's reactions, but here we actually get to see it's personality, and it feels right at home with the tone of the book. This book is jam-packed with moments that recall past issues, so that things that felt like one-and-done weren't trully, and they appear here as part of Jaime's plan. It's a brilliant ending to one of the freshest and best books put out by DC.
Raphael Albuquerque does the art and does a great job as usual. He took over the reins from Cully Hammner's interuppted run and really made this book his own. I'm glad Albuquerque is staying on the book for the near future, even though we don't know who the regular writer will be yet. Albuquerque on art will help that transition. It's been really fun reading this book every month after picking it up on a whim two years ago. I've never felt cheated for money when I bought Blue Beetle, I always felt like I was glad I spent money on this rather than some silly X-men book or some mini-series. If you're not a Blue Beetle fan, go get the first two trades and catch up through back issues. It's a real treat of a book and you won't be dissapointed. A
