Comic Reviews : JLA #2 / Captain America #22

Justice League of America #2 - Writer Brad Meltzer, Artist Ed Benes, Inker Sandra Hope, Colorist Alex Sinclair

Premise - Batman, Superman & Wonder Woman are still deciding who should be in the JLA, while the apparent line up are all off on their own adventures. Black Lightning and Vixen in solo roles and Green Lantern, Arsenal & Black Canary on a group mission and finally Red Tornado hanging out at home.

What I Liked:
1)The art work is pretty. Ed Benes is a very good artist and Sandra Hope's inks seem to compliment his work. The coloring is also well done.
2) The teaming up of Green Lantern, Black Canary and Arsenal. This harkens back to the Denny O'Neil / Neal Adams hard traveling heroes days.
3) The interplay between Arsenal and Green Lantern and Black Canary. Some nice character bits.

What I Didn't Like:
1) Are all five storylines taking place at the same time? With an issue #0 we are three issues into the series and still have not started the JLA up again. The pace is very s-l-o-w.
2) Superman asking Wonder Woman yes or no on Batman behind his back. We just established that the Trinity are tight friends and comrades-in-arms and now this stab in the back by Superman. Very out of character.
3) Vixen has her Totem belt stolen by two low level bad guys. Doesn't do much in making her League material.
4) The Red Tornado & Cathy home story. I thought I was reading Young Romance for a second. Really overplayed.

Overall Grade C+

Captain America #22 - Writer: Ed Brubaker, Artist: Mike Perkins, Colorist: Frank D'Armata

Premise - Captain America's regular comic catches up with the Civil War. The spotlight is on Sharon Carter (Cap's girl-friend and Shield agent) and she is seeing a therapist to discuss why she choose Cap over duty to her job.

What I liked:
1) The art work is solid. Mike Perkins is a good story teller and has decent art. He is not a knock your socks off type guy at this point, but it is very readable and professional. The coloring is okay, a little too dark, but keeping with the tone of the book.
2) The effective use of flashbacks to bring this comic up to date with Civil War. I doubt any reader of this book hasn't been reading Civil War, but still it was a nice way of getting the book in synch without sacrificing telling a story within the context of this issue.
3) Cap and Sharon getting together and having an adult relationship. If they are in love and can only meet on a rare occasion, this made sense.

What I didn't like:
1) The paper. It's glossy, but feels so extremely thin. A minor point.
2) The story. Sharon in fact is not in love with Captain America, but the Red Skull has Faustus manipulating her. I hate this crap. Hell why not make her a LMD on top of it. She can't really be in love with Cap, so she was manipulated into it. The Red Skull (who is fighting for control of a body) has been behind her falling for Cap for how long? All of this type of stuff is a cop out to keep the hero from every having a real relationship. It's really stupid and annoying. Also Faustus just uses an image gimmick to disguise himself. Shield would have better security then that. Finally it demeans Sharon to think she could be manipulated so easily.
3) Captain America is a supporting player in his own book to allow any real events with Cap to happen in Civil War. Crap!

Overall Grade - D.