Formerly Known as the Justice League #5

November 2, 2003

Quick Rating: Very Good
Title: The Wrath of Manga Khan

Captain Atom is in critical condition as the rest of the team faces the weirdest alien invasion of all.

Writers: Keith Giffen & J.M. DeMatteis
Pencils: Kevin Maguire
Inks: Joe Rubinstein
Colors: Lee Loughridge
Letters: Bob Lappan
Editor: Stephen Wacker & Dan Raspler
Cover Art: Kevin Maguire, Joe Rubinstein & Lee Loughridge
Publisher: DC Comics

Review: This series, for five months now, has proven that sometimes you can go home again. The Giffen/DeMatteis era of the Justice League was a great ride and a welcome departure from the grim, depressing, “gritty” comics that dominated the industry at the time. This return to form has been absolutely beautiful.

Over the last few issues the “Superbuddies” were kidnapped, brainwashed and sent into the arena with each other, where Mary Marvel beat Captain Atom within an inch of his life (reminding us that, even though this series is mostly lighthearted, we’re still dealing with some extraordinarily powerful individuals and, therefore, the potential for danger is always there). As some of the team tries to get him competent medical attention, the rest take to the skies where a massive alien spacecraft has arrived with one of their oldest and funniest foes – along with an ex-teammate that I’m sure many Green Lantern readers hoped never to see again, but that frankly, I’ve kind of missed.

This is a wonderfully funny title. The dialogue between Maxwell Lord and L-Ron comes across like a comic book version of Abbott and Costello, and even watching the Blue Beetle’s frantic effort to find scientists who can help the nuclear-powered Captain Atom cracked me up.

Maguire is a woefully underrated artist, possibly because he doesn’t do the massive overly-detailed scenes or shots of women spilling out of their costumes that a lot of artists make their names with these days, but he’s a good, solid storyteller and nobody, repeat, nobody drawing comic books today is better at drawing facial expressions. You can tell more story with one glance at Maguire’s Blue Beetle faces than you can in pages of even the best dialogue.

The real downside to this title? Next issue is the last one. Thankfully, DC has already announced a sequel for next year. I’m there.

Rating: 8/10