The fourth wall is an interesting element in storytelling. Breaking it is often considered taboo. It can shatter the illusion of the story, returning the audience to the real world, ejecting them from the escape or the intimate details and drama of other lives, fictional or otherwise. Giffen and DeMatteis cast such conventional wisdom aside here, though, using the fourth wall as a means to enhance the already entertaining humor of this property. They transform what may seem to be flaws in the storytelling into opportunities to make jokes, and the result is the strongest issue of this delightful limited series. I'm pleased that a followup -- I Can't Believe It's Not the Justice League! -- is in the works with the same creative team.
The Justice League watches over the storefront headquarters of the "Super Buddies," their one-time allies in a goofier incarnation of the world's greatest team of super-heroes. They have cause for concern... the Blue Beetle and Booster Gold's bickering has blinded them to the danger of a phalanx of robotic centurions outside the building, and within, the opportunistic Max Lord is attempting to "negotiate" with the equally opportunistic and borderline psychotic cosmic merchant named Manga Khan over the destiny of their robot pal, L-Ron.
Maguire's expressive artwork is reinforces the goofball humor perfectly. So much of the funny stuff hinges on the characters' reactions, and no one does reactions -- especially humorous ones -- like Kevin Maguire. I also love the delightfully crude and oddball designs for the various robots -- from J-Lo to the Khan robot army -- as those designs reinforce the goofy, Silver Age pastiche that the script is aiming for. Furthermore, it was a treat to see Maguire tackle G'Nort, a character that never turned up during his tenure on Justice League in the 1980s.
A lot of the storytelling here is a Silver Age spoof. From the robot army to the "cosmic" being's ultimatum to the heroes, it's all rather silly, and the writers know it. Even the characters comment on the ridiculous nature of the situation while ever mindful of the "danger" as well.
Where the script really hits the mark, though, is in its acknowledgement that none of what is going on here makes any sense in the greater context of the DC Universe as it stands in 2003. The Batman shouldn't be enjoying the situation, but he is, and the characters comment on it. The mainstream heroes shouldn't be standing idly by, but they do. The characters shouldn't be talking as though they're explaining the situation to an unseen audience, but they do. Instead of sloppy writing, though, the writers make that out-of-character and out-of-context elements the point as opposed to a hindrance.
My one qualm with this final issue is the fact that the Beetle/Booster "conflict" -- a tug of war between maturity and adolscent impulse -- is never really resolved. I'm sure the creators will pick up on this symbolic subplot in the next limited series, but it was crying out for some kind of ending of its own here.
