Comic Book Review: Justice League America #91 - DC Comics (1994)

"Heroes Passage"
Written by Dan Vado
Pencils by Marc Campos
Inks by Ken Branch
Colors by Gene D'Angelo

The Justice League America members mourn the loss of Ice(Tora) and prepare and attend her funeral.  The League's home base of operations was destroyed and now the UN does not want the heroes to assist with the cleanup or to be anywhere near the site.

I received this comic book in the Comic of the Month subscription box so that's why I have a bit of a random book to review here.   I did not read the books that lead up to this event, nor have I read the books that immediately follow.  This is one of the things I think a lot of folks miss out on in comic books.  The big companies constantly reboot or start over from #1(without actually starting over).  I really enjoyed reading the book and piecing the story together without any backstory.  It brought me back to when I first started reading comic books.

With regard to action, this book is lacking.  By no means is that a bad thing however as the dialogue between the Justice League America members was wonderful.  Everyone is grieving the loss of Tora and there is a lot of frustration and blame being passed around.  There is also the scene where the heroes bring Tora back to her homeland and bringing the body to her mother, Queen Olaf.  The Queen was not happy with the League but did allow the members to attend the funeral.

The art looks fine and it must have been a fun task for Marc Campos as he was tasked with drawing some truly great heroes like Wonder Woman, Martian Manhunter, Blue Beetle and Booster Gold(who was in a weird suit of armor that is keeping him alive - I may need to find the previous books to see what happened).  Everything was captured pretty well and it flowed with the story.

What are your thought on reading random comic books?  Do you have any comic book suggestions for Maskerpiece Theatre to review?  Please comment below or find us on social media and let us know.  

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Comic Book Review: Justice League International - Volume 1 - DC Comics (2011)

Written by Dan Jurgens
Art by Aaron Lopresti & Marco Castiello

A group superheroes representing different countries are put together by Andre Briggs, Head of United Nations Intelligence.  The thought is, this group would be able to answer to an authority, something the Justice League does not do.  The new team, led by Booster Gold, are tasked with their first challenge which is much larger than they originally thought.  This review is about the first volume trade paperback which collects the first five issues.

This series was much better than I was originally willing to give it credit for.  Dan Jurgens writes a fun series, as one could imagine, with Booster Gold leading a team who are tasked to go out as a team having never met each other previously.  The task, being much more than they had imagined, turns into five issues of action, humor and seeing a team come together.

The team has familiar faces and, for those not as familiar with DC Comics, some not so familiar faces.  As stated earlier, Booster Gold is the leader and the other members include Ice, Vixen, Fire, Rocket Red, August General In Iron, Guy Gardner, and Godiva.  If that doesn't tickle your fancy, DC puts Batman with the group to help keep things going and give everyone an open mind to give this team a chance.

Admittedly, I do not know as much about DC as many others so I really enjoy the books that have some of the lesser known characters.  The interactions in this volume are done really well.  The heroes, being from different parts of the globe have different feelings on how to deal with threats.  There are other philosophical differences which also lead to butting of heads.  Guy Gardner alone adds the dimension of confrontation, especially when Booster Gold, who isn't known to be the most serious individual, is made leader.

Batman ties this all together well.  His belief in Booster Gold and his mentoring helps move this book along.  I was hesitant to believe Batman would be the right short-term addition to this book.
I really thought the Caped Crusader was on the cover to help the book get sold.  He may have been, but inside the pages, it works.

Aaron Loprestri, Marco Castiello, Matt Ryan, Vincenzo Acunzo, and Hi-Fi are the art team of this first volume.  They do a fantastic jobwith eye popping visuals.  I like when heroes are jumping out of panels and all of the action with all of these super-powered individuals are displayed extraordinarily.  The colors from Hi-Fi are great as pages seem to glow with the explosions, Guy Gardner's Green Lantern powers, and the interplanetary foes.

If you are looking for a fun book with a ton of action, then check out Justice League International.  It's a short lived series and you can pick up the trade paperbacks.  You can probably find the original comic books at a decent price if that's your preference.

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