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Mild Mannered Reviews - JLA Comics

JLA #63

Scheduled to arrive in stores: February 27, 2002

Cover date: April 2002

Writer: Joe Kelly
Penciller: Doug Mahnke
Inker: Tom Nguyen

"Golden Perfect" (Part 2)

Reviewed by: John-Paul Zito (ZitoMan11@aol.com)

Killer Croc is released on his own recognisance!?! The Atom is dumbfounded by simple addition problems that won't add up correctly!?! Perry White publishes a story by Lois Lane that has no facts to back it up!?! An Alien space craft has found the center of the universe to be Earth!?! Worst of all it's all true!

Wonder Woman searches the ethereal realms of Olympus in search of the solution to the universal truth conundrum. She goes alone telling her team-mate J'onn that his aide is unneeded. She carries with her a cold iron chain in place of her now torn golden lasso of truth. Wonder Woman seeks out the Fates, the weavers of all life, to repair her lasso and fix the damage caused by what she believes to be the lies of the Rama Khan. When she reaches the Fates, Diana discovers they have been torn apart limb from limb and thousands of other worldly insects crawl about.

Meanwhile in Jarhanpur the Rama Khan sits with his heir as a royal magistrate reads off a list of calamities affecting the world now that truths no longer have any rhyme or reason behind them. The Rama Khan feels little pity for the outside world as he reaffirms Jarhanpur's safety.

Back at the Watchtower The Atom explains that simple numbers have stoped making sense. Just then Plastic Man busts in almost in tears. It would appear that the liar extraordinare Eel O'brien can't lie. The Atom believes that subjectivity in application is breaking down. A quick glance out a Watchtower window affirms this fear.

Back at the temple of the Fates Wonder Woman gives it her all to save the Fates and defeat the insect horde. But the Fates reveal that this is all actually Diana's fault. Her refusal to believe the lasso and her unwillingness to accept the truth have caused chaos and lies to be unleashed onto the world. Before the horror can set in Diana is telepathically called by J'onn' J'onzz.

At the edge of the world, literally, ships and boats are falling over the edge into nothingness. The world has become flat. Chaos reigns. And Wonder Woman is not responding.

Story - 5: This story has such an awesome mix of mythology and absurdity that I'm glued to it. While this arch has done a bit to flesh out a relationship between J'onn and Diana it has also gone a long ways to stir up our comfortable feeling with Wonder Woman. We are exposed to her stringent belief in the black and white nature of truth, how it governs her, and how it may end up being her downfall.

Art - 4: The art was excellent, Mahnke progresses leaps and bounds every issue. My only complaint is that last issue Jarhanpur was so vividly colored and drawn and in this issue the only panel featuring a shot of the city is colored flat and there's no texture to it. But I'm just being a nit picking fan.

Cover Art - 4: The JLA caught in a web of lies and Wonder Woman fighting her way to the top of a bug mountain. Not as well drawn as the interior but as far as the concept goes it does a lot to make the casual reader pick up and glance.

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