JLA: Classified #26

Writer: Howard Chaykin
Penciller: Kilian Plunkett
Inker: Tom Nguyen
Letterer: Ken Lopez


When revolutions spring up in two neighboring South American dictatorships the JLA, and the U.S. government, are shocked to learn that superhuman enforcers almost immediately quell the uprisings. The JLA, despite the misgivings of a prominent member, are determined to investigate these countries and their new superhuman soldiers. Even with the backing of the United States the U.N. refuses to allow the JLA to interfere in the sovereign affairs of other countries and so the League decides to take matters into their own hands.

This story might have been a little bit cooler if it hadn’t been done already the story-arc before last. I understand that most of the stories appearing in JLA: Classified thus far have been culled from either unreleased limited-series or unpublished stories from the brief period when JLA had rotating creative teams. I also understand that this particular arc was a last-minute replacement for the story that was originally supposed to appear, Peter Milligan’s long-delayed and much anticipated (by me anyway) “Kid Amazo” arc. Still, considering I just finished reading another JLA: Classified dealing with almost the exact same subject, the whole thing smacks of poor planning. Not to mention the whole “superheroes vs. terrorism and/or world governments” angle has been done to death.

Barring all of that, this story isn’t terrible. It’s not great, but it’s not awful. The plot is decent (though, like I said, somewhat overdone), there are some cool moments of interaction between the League and the ending was interesting enough to pique my curiosity. Then again, Chaykin’s take on Batman was completely annoying. Throughout the issue, Batman was constantly acting like an arrogant, immature jerk, continually trying to provoke Aquaman into some kind of fight. I only wish Aquaman had been given the chance to knock Bats right in the kisser. Seriously, I’ve never seen Batman portrayed as such an out and out prick before… and that’s saying something. It was almost distracting.

The main reason to pick up this book is for a chance to see Kilian Plunkett at work. This guy is one of the most talented artists in the industry but his work is all too rarely seen. Plunkett’s portrayal of the main characters is a dead-on, iconic interpretation. His design sense and attention to detail are eye-catching and his storytelling is flawless. The artwork alone increased my enjoyment of this story ten-fold. I can safely say that if I come back to this particular story it will mostly be for Kilian Plunkett’s artwork.
 

Special thanks go out to Jeremy Shorr, owner of Titan Comics for allowing us to use his advance preview books for review purposes.

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