Comic Book Review: JLA Classified #6
by R.J. Carter
Published: April 17, 2005
Story |
Creative Team |
Publisher |
Price |
Target Audience: |
Grade |
"Hell... Hell...
The Gang's All Here" |
Keith Giffen
J.M. DeMatteisJoe Rubinstein |
DC |
$2.99 US
$4.00 CAN |
Teen Up |
A |
For more information: DC Comics link |
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Cover by Maguire & Rubinstein
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Here There Be Spoilers.
Last issue, Booster Gold picked up a mystical talisman of Doctor Fate's.
And the Super Buddies vanished.
Let's pick up with the beginning of this issue:
Max: You did say Hell--? As in fire and brimstone and--
Power Girl: The very same.
Max: And Booster...?
Power Girl: Somehow triggered this mystic artifact and blipped Beetle and himself down into the lovely land of Devil's and Eternal Damnation.
Max: I don't even know if I believe in God! How am I supposed to believe in Hell?
Sue: Y'know, just the other day I told Booster to go to Hell. I didn't think he was stupid enough to actually do it.
So what have we learned so far? That whenever Booster gets near a mystic talisman, something bad is going to happen to Blue Beetle. Just like...
Nah, let's not even go there.
As the story quickly progresses, we find that it's just not Beetle and Booster that have been transported to the nether regions. They've taken Bea, Ralph, and Mary with them--Mary Batson, not Mary Marvel. And who do they meet up with but the unpredictable Etrigan, in full rhyming mode. And the eternal punishment selected for our displaced Super Buddies?
They're going to serve fast food to a very slow crowd. And if you think that's bad, you ought to see the real punishment that goes on behind the counter. In fact, the only thing I didn't like about this book at all was the very last page--I won't give away too much here, but it seems that just about everybody ends up in Hell when they die, even very good people.
Little. Yellow. Different.
Guy Gardner has a power ring again... uhm... again.
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Of course, the Super Buddies didn't die: they've still got a lot of living to do (Well, most of them do, anyway... Nah, let's not even go there.) So it's up to the remaining Super Buddies to mount a rescue. Let's see, that would be Power Girl and... uhm... that bartender guy, Guy Gardner. Here's a team that goes together like milk and vinegar. After finally figuring a way to go after the lost heroes, using the same artifact Booster used, the readers learn yet another surprise about Mr. Gardner: he's not only still alive, and not mutated--he's got a power ring.
Filled to the brim with absurd situational comedy and perfectly illustrated by Maguire and Rubinstein, the Super Buddies are definitely a team for the ages, one that proves that a humorous superhero team so conceived and so dedicated can definitely long endure. Well, except for that pesky crisis that's... nah, let's not even go there.
Recommendation: One panel with Fire naked. What more do you want? (Okay, two panels. Even I knew that one.)
In stores Wednesday, April 20, 2005.
Advance comics are provided courtesy of The Comic Book Store of Little Rock. Michael Tierney, proprietor, even has his own book out, Wild Stars. Check it out.
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CD Giveaway - Paper Bird, "Rooms"
Ends May 28, 2013
Drifting ever so slightly away from traditional folk music, this Colorado band delivers harmony and energy aplenty. |
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