Review by Ian Keogh
A second Elseworlds collection of what are supposedly alternate world Justice League stories, drifts even further off topic than Volume One, ignoring viable stories about the team that could be included in favour of a random selection of material, most starring individual Justice League members.
The opening selection is a series of shorts originally published as an 80 Page Giant. Kyle Baker’s story of a baby Superboy tormenting his babysitter provided the template for a much later Incredibles short, but in 1999 it got the DC executives in such a tizz they attempted to pulp the entire print run. Needless to say, it’s a hilarious highlight. Also clever is Bronwyn Carlton’s recasting of Lex Luthor as a music executive and DC’s heroes as the disgruntled exploited, and Chuck Dixon and Enrique Villagran using some heroes for a romantic drama produced as a newspaper strip. Inspiration is otherwise in short supply.
Jean-Marc L’Officier and Randy L’Officier follow with a trio of stories drawn by Ted McKeever, and you’ve got to admire their ambition in constructing them around German expressionist cinema. The transferring of Superman to Fritz Lang’s Metropolis is co-written with Roy Thomas, but is a clever conceit that never really sparks into life for Superman being forced into the role of social reformer to conform with the film. McKeever, though, creates the necessary disturbing atmosphere, and repeats the trick when Batman is placed in Murnau’s Nosferatu. It’s set in the same continuity post-Superman’s intervention, but Murnau’s expressionism is a better fit, and the story more satisfying for not exactly following the film and incorporating elements of The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari and Paul Leni’s The Man Who Laughs. That’s a nice tip of the hat to the Joker’s original inspiration, the theme of madness is disturbingly exploited, and McKeever’s eventual Batman is stunningly creepy.
The trilogy’s conclusion in ‘The Blue Amazon’ references The Blue Angel and Josef von Sternberg’s starring role for Marlene Deitrich, transposing Wonder Woman’s supporting cast and villains into the tragedy. McKeever’s constantly disturbing art carries this a long way, but it becomes bogged down by the intrusions of Wonder Woman’s cast. It might have been better restricted to Diana and Steve Trevorson and following the film’s plot more closely.
Only ‘Act of God’ closing the collection conforms to the idea of an alternate Justice League story. In a world where superheroes are operating as normal there’s a momentary flash of black light and their powers suddenly vanish. Villains are seemingly unaffected, as are heroes who didn’t have powers in the first place. Powerless heroes are a decent idea, but Doug Moench grinds it into the ground over the opening chapter with scene after scene of self-pity and speculation, while Dave Ross’ art is all about hyper-exaggerated poses within broadly unimaginative layouts with his Kyle Rayner scenes continually poor. It continues with moments stretching credulity such as the marriage of Clark Kent not surviving the loss of his powers. The best aspect is a crowing Lex Luthor looking to exploit the situation, and while it’s not integral to his story, and the title is ‘Act of God’ after all, Moench cops out on providing any reason for the powers disappearing.
A second Justice League Elseworlds collection fails to deliver, with the best moments largely shorts, only the Batman Nosferatu chapter really resonating among the longer stories. Let’s hope for an improvement in Volume Thtee.
