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Mild Mannered Reviews - JLA Comics

JLA: Classified #14

JLA: Classified #14

Scheduled to arrive in stores: November 30, 2005

Cover date: January 2006

Writter: Warren Ellis
Penciller: Butch Guice
Inker: Butch Guice

"New Maps of Hell" - Part Five

Reviewed by: Michael Bailey

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The members of the Justice League each go through their own personal hells as they are tested by the entity that calls itself Z. J'onn J'onzz maintains limited contact with his teammates but they are mostly left on their own. Superman, Wonder Woman, the Flash, Batman and J'onn manage to overcome their fears but Green Lantern is the one member who doesn't see through Z's façade and finds himself in a precarious position.

3Story - 3: The plot of this story has slowed to a snail's pace. Warren Ellis started out with a pretty decent Justice League story but as the arc continues it has become boring and repetitive.

Each member of the League went through their own personal hell and the results were predictable. Instead of doing something interesting and innovative Ellis has the characters become trapped and then realize how to free themselves. The fact that, with the exception of Green Lantern, everyone came to the same conclusion at roughly the same time makes for a very uninteresting read. Maybe if it had been spread out a little more or if the scenes weren't so similar it would have gone a lot better, but it wasn't and it didn't.

I expected a lot of from Warren Ellis. His writing has always been entertaining, but it seems like he started strong with this story and then lost interest. I wouldn't be as disappointed as I am if things hadn't started off so well.

4Art - 4: Butch Guice saved this issue. His art made a very boring story bearable. The different settings were just that, different. Guice wasn't given much to play with but he made it work just the same. The art of this story is the only thing that is keeping me interested.

2Cover Art - 2: These covers keep getting worse and worse. There is nothing interesting about this piece. Superman looks decent enough, but the rest of it does nothing for me. Michael Stribling has talent, but his style leaves me a bit cold.

This cover receives a one out of ten on the 2005 Edition of the Grab Me Meter.


Mild Mannered Reviews

2006

Note: Month dates are from the issue covers, not the actual date when the comic went on sale.

January 2006

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