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Mild Mannered Reviews - Justice League Adventures

Justice League Adventures #19

Justice League Adventures #19

Scheduled to arrive in stores: May 7, 2003

Cover date: July 2003

Writer: Michael Bernard
Penciller: John Delaney
Inker: Rick Burchett

"What's In A Hero?"

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



Green Lantern duels a new super villain through the skies of Coast City, avoiding fiery blasts and trying to contain the menace. Unfortunately, a stray burst from the villain's cannon hits the side of an old apartment building, causing it to crumble.

Lantern rushes to the rescue, supporting the building with his power ring while firemen rush in and help reinforce the supports. The super villain escapes, but not before Hawkgirl and the Martian Manhunter arrive and follow the fleeing foe.

Later, at a nearby hospital, a young boy dwells on revenge as he waits to hear news of his mother, who was injured when the building began collapsing. Lantern dissuades the boy, especially when his hero worship of Lantern's powers and abilities blind him from the acts of heroism occurring across the city.

To prove his point, John Stewart lends the boy his power ring and goes to help out without the aid of his powers, rescuing people trapped under rubble and wreckage from the ruined apartment building. The boy helps out as well, having learned the lesson that the power of a hero comes not from their strange abilities but rather from the strength and will of their character.

3Story - 3: While there was a good message here, and it was demonstrated well enough, the set-up for the tale was a little too typical and it lacked significant depth. As can be seen by the brevity of the synopsis above, this was really a very simple story and was one that probably could have been achieved just as well (maybe better) in a six page supplement (as seen in the new Batman Adventures) rather than a full 22 pager. This is especially evident when noticing how much space the art takes up (two full length pages and a double spread- plus most pages only feature 3 or 4 panels). Another element should have been added here... a plot development, or a twist, or something that would have added a little more intricacy to a fairly two dimensional story.

3Art - 3: Had the art really been extraordinary, this issue might have held a deeper resonance. Unfortunately, Delaney and Burchett fell short of attaining anything above average and instead demonstrated a fairly mediocre effort. With all the space and flexibility that Delaney had in laying out this issue, there's really not much of an excuse for not making a really concerted effort to excel.

4Cover Art - 4: The best part of this issue by far- though a bit of a misnomer! While the image depicts Green Lantern putting the fate of "the most powerful weapon in the universe" in the hands of a young boy, the boy never does anything with the ring in the story. The text asks "what would you do?" But this idea is never even broached in the actual tale. Nevertheless, a very cool image expertly depicted with Green Lantern looming in the background in the shadows and the young boy hovering over the ring, illuminated in the dark by the weapon's green glow. The cover hints at what could have been! (i.e. a much more intriguing issue.)



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2003

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