Justice League of America 41
Penciled by Mark Bagley and Written by James Robinson

I have to say that Justice League of America has been such a disappointment to me for a year or more. They started this series out with so much power and promise. Brad Meltzer wrote an incredibly too short run on this book and Dwayne McDuffie tried to keep it going, but it just wasn’t the same. Len Wein’s story involving Amos Fortune and Roulette was really a snooze.

To be fair, some of this might be attributed to the availability (or lack thereof) the “big shots”. Batman is “dead”, Superman is stationed on New Krypton and The Flash is – well – complicated right now, since DC is rebirthing him and I doubt they want to commit him to the team until that’s complete. Also, Green Lantern is fighting the Blackest Night throughout almost every book in the DC comics line.

That left us with Vixen, Dr. Light, Zatana, Plastic Man, Firestorm and whoever DC decided they could borrow from the Milestone books to fill the gaps.

Blackest Night seems to have done enough to take Zatana, Plastic Man and Firestorm out of the picture.

(Sarcastically) Thank goodness James Robinson has been writing another Justice League book with it’s own team of heroes committed to Justice.

Now, let me pause to tell you I loved James Robinson’s The Golden Age Starman and I have even enjoyed his Justice League story with its diverse line up.

Issue 41 seems to want to reunite the Robinson offshoot team with the remaining members while also recruiting the current stand-ins for Batman and Superman, aka Mon-el, Dick Grayson and a few adult titans for good measure.

Does this seem a bit wacky? Dr. Light, Congorilla, a Starman, Green Lantern Hal, Green Arrow Ollie, Starfire, Cyborg, Batman, Donna Troy and Mon-el.

Well, the entire issue is a recruitment issue.

I like Mark Bagley’s art but I just don’t feel it fits Justice League.

Overall, I feel the entire issue was blah. Decent art, introduction story with a few too many whiny characters and not enough to compell me.

The book needed Gleek the Monkey. I’m kidding, I think.

ComicsOnline gives Justice League of America #41 2 out of 5 Blue Guffawing Monkeys in yellow and purple spandex.