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Mild Mannered Reviews - Justice League Adventures

Justice League Adventures #7

Scheduled to arrive in stores: May 8, 2002

Cover date: July 2002

Writer: Len Kaminski
Penciller: Joe Staton
Inker: Rick Burchett

"Flash Fax"

Reviewed by: George O'Connor (mo442@nyu.edu)

Inside the JL Watchtower, The Flash and Superman race around a circular track, leaving the Man of Steel winded as The Flash delights in the new speeds he's attained. He points out to Superman the radio, microwave, and television rays now visible to the both of them at such speeds.

Superman, not particularly exhilarated by the sight, heads off to deal with League business, ordering The Flash to keep watch at the Watchtower.

Later, the Fastest Man Alive gets a transmission from STAR Labs, asking for help from the JL because of peculiar equipment failures that might lead to future troubles in the nuclear and bio-containment facilities. The Flash, realizing he can get there fastest by accelerating to the frequency of a telephone carrier wire, faxes himself as an electromagnetic transmission to STAR Labs, but when he arrives, he's two-dimensional!

Once the initial shock has departed, The Flash is surprised to see other beings in the laboratory as well. To the scientists at STAR Labs, The Flash is simply destroying valuable machinery, but to the Scarlet Speedster, he is doing battle against two-dimensional foes.

Worried about the lab equipment and The Flash's condition, STAR Labs sends out another SOS to the JL, and this time the transmission is unearthed by Batman aboard the Javelin 7. The League arrives at STAR soon after and attempts to stop The Flash before he causes any more damage, believing that the transformation from 3-D to 2-D has somehow caused their partner to become delusional.

J'onn J'onnz seems to think there may be more to Flash's behavior than madness and does not pursue his friend even as the rest of the League attempts to contain the now intangible hero. Good timing from Batman's batarang knocks The Flash off his feet, and the Green Lantern is able to trap him within an energy bubble created with his ring.

Later, the League attempts to reverse the Flash's condition, even as the Scarlet Speedster rants about the 2-D creatures having now invaded the Watchtower and that, if they turn him to normal again, he won't be able to see them.

Some detective work by Hawkgirl is noticed by J'onn, who shares his view that The Flash may be correct about the 2-D monsters, especially after the Thanagar warrior notices alien bio-plasmic energy at STAR Labs. Meanwhile, Batman somehow devises a machine that will revert The Flash to normal and Green Lantern directs his captured partner into the spherical object. The Flash, certain that he must stop the 2-D creatures, slips through a crack and rushes through the room, attempting to evade the rest of the League and find the 2-D foes.

Before Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, and Green Lantern can successfully re-capture The Flash, Hawkgirl and J'onn enter, announcing that The Flash is indeed correct. Green Lantern illuminates the room with his ring at a special frequency, and suddenly, the conquerors are visible. The League springs into action, making short work of their foes, who teleport away, threatening to return with legions of fellow conquerors.

However, just as the League distresses their future, The Flash reveals that he reprogrammed the teleportation devices to send them to the first dimension, where the creatures will be contained and captured forever within a "mobius loop."

Later, The Flash regains his familiar form, much to his, as well as the League's, relief.

Story - 3: Umm... well, I have no idea whether the science of this issue is in anyway accurate, but if it's actually based on scientific theory, I suppose it's a pretty interesting example of dimensional theories. As for a story overall, I'm not terribly impressed. Essentially, this issue is the run-of-the-mill invaders trying to conquer Earth for no tangible reason, and the idea of turning Flash into a two-dimensional character is something more akin to the 60s than present day, though I have to admit that it was sort of fun to see. I am a little sketchy, however, as to what The Flash's maneuver at the end accomplished by sending the invaders to the first dimension. If this is scientific ignorance, then I apologize, but wouldn't the invaders be able to just reprogram their transporters to return to the second dimension once they arrived in the first dimension? Just a thought...

Art - 3: I've never been much of a fan of Staton's work, so there's bound to be some prejudice here. The issue sports some decent artwork and Burchett's inks help, but overall, the characters look two-dimensional... and I don't just mean The Flash and the invaders. The stances of the characters seem awkward and unrealistic and the scenes where Flash turns 2-D look sloppy and uninspiring. Some well-designed battle scenes make-up for some of this, though.

Cover Art - 4: Now this is a good demonstration of 2-D versus 3-D! Darwyn Cooke displays a very cool, well-illustrated cover here with the entire League present, watching in confusion as a highly caricatured Flash runs through the Watchtower looking more like Plastic Man. The Flash's placement gains him the most attention on the cover, but it doesn't take long for the eyes to wander over to Wonder Woman, which, despite the fact that her role is very minor in this issue, is okay by me!