The first thing that strikes one about this book is its rather uninspired title, but next is the fact that it's written by Chris Claremont. His usual comic-book playground is the world of Marvel's mutants, the X-Men, a property with which he's been associated for two decades. He's ventured into the DC Universe before, but this rare return is notable. Claremont's work doesn't usually appeal to me, but I have to admit he grabbed attention with some interesting historical fiction at first, but then lost me with some typical super-heroics.
An ancient evil lies dormant in Spirit Lake, guarded over the years by a family of Native American shamans. Unfortunately, it seems that lineage and supernatural knowledge has come an end, and is ready and waiting to be uncovered and unleashed by some unsuspecting person. Meanwhile, the members of the Justice League go about their daily business. On the agenda for two members -- the Flash and Green Lantern -- is a visit with their significant others to a mountain resort... near a place called Spirit Lake.
Hood boasts an exaggerated style, but it works well with the opening scene, set in 1877. He conveys the raw, untouched setting quite well, and there's a grimy sense of history at play as well. It's when the story turns to the present and the more colorful title characters that Hood's art seems to weaken. There's nothing particularly wrong with it, per se, but it fails to grab me. He tells the story clearly, but there's little more than conventional super-hero comic art to be found.
As is the case with the art, the script and plot are at their strongest in the opening scene, focusing on a Cavalry troop made up of African-Americans. Sgt.-Maj. Lincoln Freeman is a fascinating, well crafted character, and Claremont was tapping into something truly special through him and that opening scene. Claremont doesn't get all politically correct either. The white men slaughter the Natives, and the black men don't stand up against the injustice. Instead, they stand by and let it happen. Their disgust is clear, but Claremont includes a little shade of grey in the scene as well.
Again, like the art, the script loses its edge and my interest in the latter part of the book. GL and Flash's presence at the center of trouble is just too much of a coincidence to swallow. It would have worked fine in the Silver Age, but not today. Claremont handles Superman's everyday life quite well, though, but really, we get nothing more than a generic super-hero story following the 1877 scene.
