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Mild Mannered Reviews - JLA Comics

JLA: Classified #17

JLA: Classified #17

Scheduled to arrive in stores: February 22, 2006

Cover date: April 2006

Writter: Gail Simone
Penciller: Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez
Inker: Klaus Janson

The Hypothetical Woman - Part Two: "Blood is Not Enough"

Reviewed by: Michael Bailey

Click to enlarge



While the Flash lays in a coma the rest of the JLA deal with how the world is reacting to the possibility that they have been infected with a deadly illness. General Tuzik ups the stakes of his master plan by asking for monetary aid from his benefactors in addition to the metahuman help they have already provided. The Justice League's problems continue as they investigate an epidemic of seizures in the tiny country of Santa Prisca that is caused by a distortion field that is powerful enough to affect the Martian Manhunter. On the Watchtower Wonder Woman is forced to fight a crazed Flash. Meanwhile a group of mercenaries attempt to kill General Tuzik, but are caught. They are brought before Tuzik and ask what he is going to do with them. Tuzik replies he is going to put a bullet in each of their heads and feed them to a goddess.

3Story - 3: I'm a bit torn in regards to how I feel about this issue. Reviewing a comic that is part two of a six part series is tough because it is one portion of a larger story. You can't judge it like a once in done because you need to consider it's place in the story and realize that certain aspects may seem confusing or out of place because they fit into a larger picture.

Despite the fact that I am a huge fan of Gail Simone's writing I don't think this was her best effort. In reading and then re-reading the book there were certain points where I felt she was re-treading the same ground she covered in the last issue. The pacing was similar as were the scenes with General Tuzik. I don't think she was padding the story because everything that happened served a purpose, but the tone was too much like the first part. We see the Justice League fight, we see General Tuzik talking to officials from other countries, we "hear" his thoughts on the world and something kind of freaky happens at the end.

This is not meant as an insult to Gail Simone or her writing. As I said I enjoy her work and I enjoyed the issue. I thought the fight between Wonder Woman and the Flash was really neat and showed a lot of thought and planning. She put Kitty Faulkner in the book, which is nice because I can't think of the last time I saw her in comic book form. The idea of the world turning against the JLA because they may carry some deadly illness is interesting and Gail is doing well with this aspect of the story, though I thought the President wanting to turn the Watchtower into a crater may have been a tad over the top. It was dramatic in that we need to cut to a commercial at this point so the audience knows we're serious kind of way, but it was a tad overzealous for me.

The story may be a bit slow but it is progressing nicely. I have high hopes that the story will pick up next issue and expect that the rest of the arc will be a lot of fun and take some interesting twists and turns because Gail has a track record with that type of work. This wasn't a bad comic in any sense of the word, just not as good as the previous issue.

4Art - 4: The artwork continues to impress me. I'm still not convinced that Janson is the best inker for Garcia-Lopez, but I still dug what they did in this issue. The Flash/Wonder Woman fight in particular was nice and had a great widescreen feeling to it. I have no real complaints about the art and with any luck these two masters will turn in better and better work as the story arc progresses.

4Cover Art - 4: How could you dislike a cover like this? Jose turns in a really powerful image that looks as if it could have been taken from the fight that occurs inside the comic. The level of detail in the wreckage around the two characters was nice and the ripped costumes gave me the sense that this was a rough fight between the Flash and Wonder Woman. The speed lines coming from the left side of the cover was a great touch and felt like Wonder Woman caught him in mid-run. Overall a much better cover than last issue and a great image in its own right.


Mild Mannered Reviews

2006

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

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