JLA: Classified #7

[chbryan]

JLA: CLASSIFIED #7

Written by Keith Giffen and J.M. DeMatteis
Art by Kevin Maguire and Joe Rubinstein

This is the 4th part of the six part mini-series featuring the "Formerly Known as the Justice League" cast of characters.

Fast summary: a couple of issues ago, while at JSA headquarters, Booster found one of Dr. Fate's mystic artifacts and discovered that if you wished all of your colleagues would go to hell, they would actually do so if you expressed that wish while holding the artifact. That action put Booster, Beetle, Ralph "Elongated Man" Dibny, Mary Marvel, and Beatriz/Green Flame/Fire in actual Hell. There, they learn poetically from Etrigan that Hell for them will be working at a fast food restaurant for the rest of eternity, or eating what doesn't get consumed by the other denizens of Hell.

Guy Gardner and Power Girl find their way to Hell to rescue their fellow former Leaguers.

Booster comes to a conclusion about Hell that he thinks might free them, but actually it's their ability to make even etrigan wish he'd never met them that saves the day.

Almost.

I'm not going to mention the other plotline in this story, because it would really spoil it. You should read it. You should see that when bad things happen to characters you like, and those things happen because other characters you like were behaving in character, it means so much more than when someone gets killed off as a plot contrivance.

The last page is probably overdramatic; it's the penultimate page that really got to me and surprised me.

So, if you have fond memories of the ol' Giffen/DeMatteis League stories, and if you remember that they weren't always silly, you will enjoy this issue big time. I wouldn't recommend this as a first exposure to these characters -- go find the previous three issues of this series if you can.

Overall grade: A -- other than this week's Superman and Ex Machina, I can't think of any other book I was as happy to spend money on and time with.

[bob_at_york]

Originally posted by chbryan
The last page is probably overdramatic; it's the penultimate page that really got to me and surprised me.


Go over to the talk@ and you will find that NO ONE would it overdramatic. But I agree the last 2 to 3 pages were great. It was suspenseful. This was a great issue. It felt like the end of the arc but there will be another couple of issues.

[chbryan]

Originally posted by bob_at_york
Go over to the talk@ and you will find that NO ONE would it overdramatic. But I agree the last 2 to 3 pages were great. It was suspenseful. This was a great issue. It felt like the end of the arc but there will be another couple of issues.

I didn't even know that that thread was there. (I'm lazy; I usually just look at the first page of thread titles at Talk@.) However, I'll stand by my review -- for me, I knew those two would be torn up and it wasn't depicted as well as I imagined it. Maybe just silhouettes; I don't know for sure.

However, it's just one page of "maybe I'd have done it differently" compared to all those other pages of "damn that's good".

[paulski]

Personally, the last page hit me like a hammer. I don't have a great affinity for these characters having not read the Giffen/Maguire JL but I'm very familiar with all of them, and the finale had a big impact.

In fact, it was an issue of marvelous artwork all round. Seemed a lot more lush than the last couple issues (which weren't bad either!). The story up until the end was alright, but no one ever really seemed in much mortal danger. They were in H-E-L-L, after all. There should have been some overriding feeling of peril.

Anyway, still a very enjoyable issue.

Writing: B
Artwork: A-
Coloring: A

[ObjectionTango]

I didn't really know who the girl was at the end and despite that i managed to feel sad too, and thats powerful...this arc just continues to take my breath away. I've never seen these guys on a title before, so i wasn't sure what to expect. I was never much of a DC fan but always took an interest in JLA. Really glad i didn't stop picking this up after Morrisons first arc. I actually think this is better so far. And DAMN better than whats happening in JLA at the moment...why the hell aren't these guys doing this on a continuing book? DC really don't know when they've got a good a thing as this?

[FiniteMan!]

I am a huge fan of Guy Gardner, Mary Marvel, Power Girl, Booster, and Beetle. I generally like Keith Giffen's work enough to usually buy his stuff and I like clean art like Maguire's. While I am sure this is not the norm for buyers of this book, the ICBINTJLA's were a must buy to me because of the characters, not the creators.

This was a solid issue with an amazing finish. I have bought all of the other ICBINTJLA's and have been kind of blah about them for the same reasons I became somewhat uninterested in the old Giffen/DeMattis JL's --- the conficts are quite mundane and frankly boring. You would run through a year of total crap villians and then a real threat would show up, and then more standing around and waste-of-time villians.

G&DM stuff has always relied heavily on humor, which is OK, but to me, they only hit the level of greatness on those rare occasions where they get to the hearts of the characters either via conflict with real overwhelming antagonists or via personal interaction, but I still buy their stuff each month hoping for the good stuff.

(Concerning the idea of giving them the main JLA book again, while their recent stuff is better than what is currently being printed in the main JLA book, I think their small-time heroing approach WAS a problem when they were doing the main JLA book. Grant Morrison's run is a good example of what the JLA should be: Epic. Pulse pounding Epic JLA stories makes the rest of the JLA individual books work.)

I think the Booster scenes in this issue may indicate that G&DM realize that they have gone too far making the characters silly and ineffective. (Certainly their work has been none too subtly ripped by DC's new writing braintrust in the countdown books.) If this is the case, I applaud their efforts. I like the issues where they show balance a lot more than the all goofy, all the time approach. I think fans of the characters (like myself) generally appreciate it.

This ending was greatness. They clearly were highly motivated to do this ending and it shows through. As a fan who has read a lot of their older stuff, I think this was overdue and I really appreciated this story.

I am glad to see many of my favorite characters being handled by these guys.

A+ = no complaints at all spending my money on this.

[Kahooniart]

Man, This book just makes me get mad at DC for letting us without this amazing title. I've loved every page of it so far. But this issue, THIS ISSUE is tops. As a longtime fan of the Giffen De Matteis era, I always lamented the death of certain character (no spoilers), and always wanted to see the impact of this death in the eyes of Giffen and De Matteis. I finally saw it, and it was better than I expected. Those last pages, inevitable but necesary to see. And the last page was not overdramatic at all, it was necesary, not to me (the reader) but to the characters themselves.
I don`t know if they read this, but i want to thank the creative team of this title for this one last look at this wonderful legendary group, truly the best incarnation of the JLA ever, cause when you think of it, the fights, the sagas, the grandeur, it all adds up to a comic, but at the end of the day, it's the characterization that really counts, it's the fact of truly caring for them and what happens to them.
Thank you Keith and Marc, for reminding me what it means to be a true fan.

[jedifish]

Originally posted by paulski
Personally, the last page hit me like a hammer. I don't have a great affinity for these characters having not read the Giffen/Maguire JL but I'm very familiar with all of them, and the finale had a big impact.



Blasphemy. You need to march right out and buy the first 2 trades.

I thought this was the best issue of this mini-series, probably both mini-series. It had just the right touch of humor, and showed what made their title so good, the family aspect of the League. I was incredibly moved by the last 3 pages. Very well done. It was cool to see Tora again.

[rbenevid]

I've always loved the bwahahahahah JLA era. Too bad it's being somewhat "banned" by DC. Rest in peace, Beetle, you'll be remembered.....



PS: I still hope Max from OMAC is a robot of a clone of a LMD of the original Max.

[JamesJesse]

Originally posted by rbenevid
I've always loved the bwahahahahah JLA era. Too bad it's being somewhat "banned" by DC. Rest in peace, Beetle, you'll be remembered.....
PS: I still hope Max from OMAC is a robot of a clone of a LMD of the original Max.

I don't believe the bwahahahaha JLA era is dead. These are just dark days in the DCU and things will be bright again in the future. Just not now. These Dark Days are just a test which the heroes will go through and we KNOW they will come out on top, though worse for wear.

But a lot of what is happening today takes its roots from the Bwahahaha era. And here are just 5 consistent JL and DCU elements I credit to the DeMatteis / Giffen era and are kept alive today.

1) The Blue and Gold friendship- Granted Blue is dead but this friendship has now achieved legendary status RIGHT UP THERE with Superman/Batman, Flash/Green Lantern, Batman/Nightwing and Green Lantern/Green Arrow. Booster Gold can carry the torch just as Wally and Hal keep Barry's flame burning.

Without giving away too much: In OMAC 2, Booster lost all fear of Batman because of Beetle. I don't think he will ever fear, or even like, Batman again. And who can blame him?

2) Teleport Tube Nausea- From Booster Gold and Animal Man to Green Arrow and other recent tube trip takers. DeMatteis and Giffen showed that this technology, while awesome, isn't perfect and has a very human side-effect.

3) Martian Manhunter's Love for Oreos - It has shown in other comics from JL to Superman and is a widely known fact. In Wizard Magazine, two of DCU's writers (Geoff Johns and Alan Heinberg) say Dr. Erdel brought J'onn here but Oreos were what kept him.

4) The One Punch - In GL rebirth, Hal took down Bats with One Punch! Guy says," One Punch! One Punch! Did I ever tell you I like your style Hal?" in homage to when Bats took down Guy with one punch.

5) Slimeball Maxwell Lord's Nosebleed - Heck, it was seen in OMAC just recently. And people forget that Max was a slimeball when he was introduced, and while he cleaned up, it's not far fetched that when taken away from his friends in the JLI, he reverted to type since it was their presence that changed him, and made him rebel against the Construct anyway. And with Dreamslayer and Lord Havok having taken turns in his mind, it's easy to believe they've re-encouraged his evil inclinations.

[chbryan]

Originally posted by JamesJesse
3) Martian Manhunter's Love for Oreos - It has shown in other comics from JL to Superman and is a widely known fact. In Wizard Magazine, two of DCU's writers (Geoff Johns and Alan Heinberg) say Dr. Erdel brought J'onn here but Oreos were what kept him.
[/B]

One of the many things I loved about New Frontier was a slight nod to this by Darwyn Cooke.

[Heffaloo]

I have been re-reading the Giffen/DeMatteis issues of Justice League, and they are better than I remembered (I loved them the first time). This issue of JLA: Classified was the best comic on the stands last week.

[Evan Waters]

Originally posted by JamesJesse
5) Slimeball Maxwell Lord's Nosebleed - Heck, it was seen in OMAC just recently. And people forget that Max was a slimeball when he was introduced, and while he cleaned up, it's not far fetched that when taken away from his friends in the JLI, he reverted to type since it was their presence that changed him, and made him rebel against the Construct anyway. And with Dreamslayer and Lord Havok having taken turns in his mind, it's easy to believe they've re-encouraged his evil inclinations.

But that's a boring direction for the character. He's more interesting with some moral shading than he is as a pure villain. (And the extent to which he's reverted makes him almost unredeemable for the future, barring a massive retcon.)

And how exactly would the nosebleed thing still apply seeing as he's a cyborg now?

[holtom2000]

I love the JLI!
As much as I'm into what DCU is doing, this arc is the BEST stuff DC has going right now.
Poor Fire and Guy.... what an ending!

[NeoSamurai]

Max and Moral Shading--

People seem to ignore the fact that what Max is doing is to preserve the human race from Metahumanity. Yes, Max is metahuman--a fact that he dislikes--but that doesn't negate his rationale of attempting to do good no matter the cost.

This is akin to Lex Luthor's original rationale for dealing with Superman (from MoS).

They don't see themselves as villains. They see themselves as saviors/protectors of the human race.