JLA #63
"Golden Perfect, Part 2"
Mildly Recommended (6/10)
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DC Comics
Writer: Joe Kelly
Pencils: Doug Mahnke
Inks: Tom Nguyen
Colors: David Baron
Letters: Ken Lopez
Editor: Dan Raspler
Price: $2.25 US/$3.75 CAN |
Ambitious... that's how I'd describe Joe Kelly's plot and theme for this story arc. He delves into the concept of truth and its variations, turning the abstract into the concrete. It's imaginative and intelligent, but it's also confusing. Despite its depth, the theme is touched upon only lightly because the writer is trying to convey so much information at once, and not all of it makes it through. Still, he amd Mahnke have definitely captured the larger-than-life, epic nature of this title in their burgeoning stint.
Wonder Woman embarks on a quest in order to have her Golden Lasso of Truth repaired, and the only ones who can handle the job are the Moirae, better known as the Three Fates of Greek myth. Meanwhile, the world has begun to go crazy. Criminals are released based on promises to return to court, while superstitions become science. Universal truths have become subjective ones, and vice versa, keeping the heroes of the Justice League busy with many an emergency.
Mahnke conveys the iconic and powerful nature of the heroes and mythic figures in this story wonderfully, while Baron's colors capture the dark and mature nature of the story nicely. At times, the art shifts away from Mahnke's usually weird and organic approach to a more detailed and smooth look that reminded me of Travis (Wildcats) Charest's style.
Like any kid, I lied to parents about various things, minor and major. Some of those lies were -- in some cases, unfortunately -- repeated over and over again, until eventually, the lie became the truth in my mind. Truth is a fascinating concept. There are universal truths -- the sun will rise tomorrow -- and subjective or selective ones. Kelly's choice of subject matter is rife with possibilities, and that's the greatest strength and the greatest weakness of this story arc.
The main problem with this issue is that Kelly hammers the reader with a lot of information, and the connections between the wide variety of conflicts and scenes isn't fully spelled out yet (though I expect that will come with the concluding chapyter next month). The theme of truth is such a vast one that Kelly has a lot of avenues to explore, and he tries to head down all of them at once.
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