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Mood: Amused ]
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Currently: Listening to CBC Radio – that clearly has replacement techs working ]
I finally got to the big cross over that has been rumoured for years.
The cross over between the JLA and Avengers has been in the works for years. An earlier version even got as far as pencilling (ironically enough by George Perez) before it was cancelled. This one finally brings together two of the biggest teams of comics. Both have been charged to find twelve items that can be used to prevent the destruction of their respective universes.
And because it’s superhero comics, there has to be fighting, so we get to see Thor and Superman duke it out, as well as Wonder Woman and She-Hulk. The best of these is Green Arrow and Hawkeye, although Green Arrow comes out the worst of that excahnge. Initially, they teams work against each other trying to gather the essential items of the quest, but when they realize they are being used, they unite to fight the cosmic big bad.
The biggest issue with this book is the plotting. In order to give the heroes something to fight, Busiek has a new created cosmic big bad, Krona, to fight against. The problem is that Krona has to be so powerful that only the united teams can bring him down. (And for some reason, Krona looks human and dresses like supervillains. Why can’t cosmic big bads look non-human? That is more plausible.)
The story telling is disjointed and jumps all over the place in time, mostly to allow the swapping in and out of historic JLA/Avengers teams and members. Because of the temporal story line, costumes, incarnations and even relationships kept shifting. Other characters in the universes also get cameos, but there is a noticeable lack of X-Men. Busiek justifies this with our supervillain’s attempt to force the two universes together causing temporal rifts. But perhaps the worse thing is the deus ex machina ending.
This book got three stars for the subtle Green Arrow/Hawkeye rivalry story line that permeates the book. It is really the only thing that feels like there is a joy of storytelling, and a knowledge and care for the characters. The rest of the book feels earnest, as if Busiek wants us to know he has important work to do.
One of the saving graces is Perez’s art. It is very good, almost brilliant at times. You can see where he laid out panels with his trademark multi-panel action and/or symetry. Which works in a story about teams from mirror universes fighting each other. His ability to draw hundreds of people fighting is at its peak. You can forgive his tendency to draw the women as D-cupped weight lifters.
This is an OK outing, and this group of heroes deserves more than just OK.