Justice League International #16
"Bialya, My Bialya"
plot & breakdowns: Keith Giffen
script: J.M. DeMatteis
pencils: Kevin Maguire
Inks: Al Gordon
letters: Bob Lappan
colors: Gene D'Angelo
editor: Andrew Helfer
grade: B
I feel like this issue was spit out from some alternate timeline in which things had transpired differently for the JLI title. First off, Kevin Maguire is back(
), and secondly, all the great improvements we've seen in the writing over the past few issues since Maguire's absence have gone out the window. If it wasn't for the presence of Fire and Lord Manga in this issue, I'd have suspected that Giffen, Maguire, and DeMatteis completed this story ages ago, before Maguire departed.
First off, the humor is forced and stale in a way that it hasn't been for some time now. Many desperate attempts are made:
and yet this issue had only one genuinely funny moment, from my standpoint:
Additionally, after several issues of building richer characterization among team members, it's all gone again. Batman and Fire teaming up could have led to some fascinating stuff, but instead they go the simple/obvious route,
culminating in no new mutual understanding between these characters. Nothing gets developed.
Barda's realization that they have lost any hope of recovering Mister Miracle could have been powerful,
but she's played so over-the-top throughout this issue that her cry in this panel seems like nothing out of the ordinary; she's just being dramatic again (and really, how have I not yet discussed what a terrible misogynistic stereotype they've turned her into in this comic?).
I wonder if the problem is that Maguire is
too good. His art is so rich in expression that it's hard to add characterization, interpersonal connection, and/or humor to his panels when they aren't already present. Great as he is, his work might be limiting DeMatteis with what he can and cannot add to the story with his scripts.
Or maybe Maguire takes longer to pencil, giving DeMatteis less time to make his contributions in the end.
Or maybe it's just a bad issue.
Anyway, there were some redeeming moments. I loved the sequence in which Bruce Wayne takes down his four armed assailants:
And I absolutely didn't see either twist coming at the end: first, the return of Wandjina, The Thunderer (presumed dead in issue #3)
And then his quick subsequent assassination of favorite fascist villain Rumaan Harjavti a few panels later
So, not a
bad issue, but it lost so much of the humor and characterization that were being cultivated so well across the past few issues.
Important Details:- Death of Rumaan Harjavti
- Return of Wandjina, The Thunderer, now mutated and with the ability to kill others through radioactivity.
- Queen Bee assumes leadership of Bialya
- Batman rejoins the JLI (though this is never explicitly addressed)
Minor Details:- As awesome as that cover is, Bruce Wayne...holding a gun???
- Okay, can we talk about Batman's presence here? He quit two issues back, and we saw Guy Gardner trying to get him to rejoin last issue, but now it's as if he'd never left:
What the heck?
- Speaking of which, where is Guy? He was away last issue trying to get Batman back. Now Batman's back. And, actually, where is Ice? Every other member of the team is devoted to one of two missions in this issue. If Guy and Ice are on monitor duty or something, they could at least show us this. It really does seem like the plan at this point is to replace Guy with G'nort.
- I love how Batman goes around as Bruce Wayne and yet manages
not to reveal his identity to his fellow JLI members here:
- Max mentions that he is a genius to Batman. I thought
JLI #12 established that all of Max's "genius" breakthroughs came from his mechanized helper (who is no longer with him), or was Max just being facetious?
- An ad at the back of this issue advertises "The New Guardians," not to be confused with the old Guardians, not to be confused with DC's Galactic Guardians (currently on TV at this time), the Manhattan Guardian (currently appearing in the Superman titles) nor the Global Guardians currently appearing right here in the JLI. Wow, that's not confusing.
plot synopsis: Maxwell Lord is concerned about a new weapon Col. Harjavti is about to unveil so he gets Batman, Fire, Booster Gold, and Blue Beetle to infiltrate the ceremony in disguise (Batman going as Bruce Wayne) while Martian Manhunter, Rocket Red, and Barda pursue Lord Manga on a mission to rescue Mister Miracle. We learn that Harjavti is working with The Queen Bee, who controls rogue elements of the former Global Guardians. The surprise weapon unveiled ends up being Wandjina, The Thunderer (believed killed in JL #3), but he is working for Queen Bee and assassinates Harjavti, leaving Queen Bee in charge of Bialya.
), and secondly, all the great improvements we've seen in the writing over the past few issues since Maguire's absence have gone out the window. If it wasn't for the presence of Fire and Lord Manga in this issue, I'd have suspected that Giffen, Maguire, and DeMatteis completed this story ages ago, before Maguire departed. 
