Justice League of America: Another Nail #1
Written and Drawn by Alan Davis Some
books are just made for the fans. If you pick up a Superman
or Batman title without reading the series for a few years,
chances are you wouldn’t have the foggiest idea what’s
going on.
One
of the ups of the Elseworlds line is that the whole thing
is completely new. The creators know that, so they don’t
usually make your ears bleed when going through the details
of the setting with you. But then there are the Elseworlds
minis, which can suffer from being either too ambitious
in scope or too shallow and simple. And sometimes the miniseries
may even be a sequel to another Elseworlds miniseries, as
is the case with Justice League of America: Another
Nail.
Another
Nail (sequel to Justice League of America: The
Nail) begins with a massive conflict in space. The
forces of New Genesis and Apokalips are engaging in an all-out
war, collateral damage spreading throughout the quadrant
as fighting escalates. On Oa, the Guardians rally the Green
Lantern Corps to save innocents from worlds dying in the
conflict, but even the most passive among the Corps agree
they must remove the source of destruction rather than futilely
defend helpless planets and evacuate refugees.
Joining
forces with the New Gods, the Corps launch a war-ending
attack on Apokolips, where a less-sane-than-usual Darkseid
builds a doomsday device which will destroy both New Genesis
and his own world. He dons new armor that will feed on the
energy released by the weapon, kills off all his subordinates
and fights his opponents to a stand still.
However,
some augmented long-time enemies of the dark one burst onto
the scene and turn Darkseid’s toy against him, causing
the destruction of both he and his world, and leaving the
galaxy at peace. Oh, but then there are Darkseid’s
nagging final words about being the only one who could save
them all…
So,
a year later, the JLA reviews the whole crisis because,
as it turns out, the Oan power battery is inexplicably draining,
and the whole thing has a strange connection to Earth since
the New Genesis/Apokalips war began during the conflict
with Super-Jimmy.
Okay,
this is where I confess that I never read Justice League
of America: The Nail, because I got really lost in
all the exposition of Another Nail #1. Super-Jimmy
(I’m guessing an evil Jimmy Olsen?) was the threat
last time around, and they manage to tell us that a few
times over without really weaving it into the current story
or giving us a great idea of what actually happened.
I did
manage to understand the Elseworlds elements of portraying
Superman as the rookie hero, that the non-superpowered Leaguers
are no longer part of the team, and that all hell seems
to be breaking loose, but far too much time was spent acclimating
us to the world of the last miniseries. I can only imagine
how that might have bored more literate readers, but the
fact that it left a noob like myself confused and snoozing
doesn’t bode well.
It’s
also a bit strange to have the massive cosmic war run for
half the issue and then suddenly get yanked to the JLA’s
new satellite. The stories just don’t mesh very well.
People who go for the battling in space will probably be
turned off by the droning backstory of the latter half,
and JLA fans might not enjoy swimming through all those
pages of GL Corps and Fourth World just to hit a block of
exposition for a few events that’ll probably be more
exciting when they continue next issue.
The
art I can’t fault, and not just because it’s
Alan Davis. This book is absolutely gorgeous. Mark Farmer’s
inks and John Kalisz’s colors are deep and gripping,
and they handle the cosmic battling so well, it makes me
long for more Fourth World.
But
this series doesn’t welcome newcomers with open arms.
If you’re a fan of JLA: The Nail, you might
go for this more than the rest of us. To anyone longing
to see Green Lanterns fighting para-demons, definitely give
it a look. If you’re an occasional reader who wants
a simple romp with the JLA, hold off.
Rating:
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