YOUNG JUSTICE #43
"Liberty Throughout the Land"
Recommended (8/10)
|
DC Comics
Writer: Peter David
Pencils: Todd Nauck
Inks: Lary Stucker
Colors: Jason Wright & Digital Chameleon
Letters: Ken Lopez
Editor: Eddie Berganza
Price: $2.50 US/$4.25 CAN |
Peter David's writing boasts many fine qualities. Subtlety ain't one of them, though. And that's fine. David delves into the social issues that have arisen out of the Sept.11 terrorist attacks in the United States, and though it's a bit ham-fisted, it's effective and grounded storytelling. Nauck's gift for conveying the youth and innocence of characters remains a boon to this book as well.
The parents of one of the girls enrolled at the same private school as Traya, Red Tornado's adopted daughter, and Cissie, the heroine formerly known as Arrowette, are killed by an anti-American terrorist in Bialya. Anti-Bialyan sentiment at the school is immediately directed at Traya. Meanwhile, Ellen, the grieving student, has gone missing, and at Cissie's request, Wonder Girl goes looking for her.
The light tone of Nauck's pencils doesn't detract from the the serious and socially relevant nature of the story. His manga-inspired, wide-eyed style captures the youthful characters quite well, as well as the emotional tone of the plot. He offers up a PG-rated vision of a suicide bombing, and although it allows for a more universal tone for the book, I'm thinking a little more realism and detail could have bolstered the impact. Mind you, I'm not calling for realistic war gore.
David chooses Bialya, not Afghanistan or any real-world nation, as the catalyst for this story about racism. Makes sense, given that this is set in the DC Universe and Bialya is one of a couple of catch-all bad-guy nations. David even ties this story is to events in one of Joe Casey's Adventures of Superman stories from a few months back. The analogy is clear, though, but part of me kept wanting this story to be even more grounded in the here and now. It's a minor concern, but it didn't distract me from the story a little bit.
Overall, though, David's message is a strong and clear one, and his comparison of anti-Arab sentiment in America to kneejerk reactions to the presence of citizens of Japanese descent in the U.S. in the wake of the attack on Pearl Harbor was a strong one. Though the characters react a little too strong one way or the other -- the attacks on Traya came a bit too quickly, and Ellen's swift resolution of her grief was a bit much -- it's understandable, given that David is exploring the themes in only 22 pages.
Email Don MacPherson comments about this review, or discuss it on the Fourth Rail message board.
|
