Broken Frontier

It’s anyone’s worst nightmare – trapped underneath a collapsed building. The fact that the two people trapped are members of the world’s greatest superhero team may not make any difference.

With only two issues left in Brad Meltzer’s much-hyped Justice League of America run, the writer chooses a claustrophobic character drama for the penultimate issue. Is this, however, the wisest choice?

Red Arrow and Vixen are trapped beneath the rubble of the Watergate Hotel along the Potomac River. So deeply buried under so much lead and metal that there is no hope of communication, no way even Superman can find them… all they have to rely on are each other and their abilities. Vixen, however, has a dangerous secret that she has been keeping… a secret that may end up dooming herself and her fellow hero.

Brad Meltzer is well known as a New York Times bestselling novelist and that has tended to spill over into his comic book writing. By that I mean that his work tends to focus heavily on the characters rather than the action. In many cases this works well but for his 13-issue Justice League of America run it has resulted in stories that may be interesting reads but move at a glacial pace. Between his "Tornado’s Path" arc and the Justice Society of America crossover story "The Lightning Saga" it feels as though he really has not taken these characters to any new places. Meltzer really does not have to worry about not breaking the toys or putting them back where he got them before handing the title over to the next writer because he’s played with them so nicely there is no danger of breakage and he never took them anywhere so he doesn’t have to put them back when he’s done. While on one level, it is nice to see a writer being so considerate, on another level it feels like all the tension has been drained out of the run. This issue is no exception.

On a technical level, Meltzer has crafted an excellent "trapped" story. Two characters, trapped in a terrible situation – will they get out alive? What will it take for them to do so? What will it cost them to escape? Meltzer hits all the right notes of desperation and emotion in the characters and he hits them in all the right places but, in the end, the one thing he does not really do well enough is give us a reason to care. The character of Vixen still remains largely a cipher unless you are already a fan of the character and the same goes for Red Arrow. More to the point, Meltzer really does not do anything to ramp up the dramatic tension because these are two Justice League members and because readers know from the start that they are not going to die and that robs Meltzer of a big chunk of his drama. When you watched the Poseidon Adventure for the first time, part of the drama was that you never knew who would live and who would die. You don’t get that here.

Brilliant artist Gene Ha fills in for regular penciler Ed Benes on this issue and Ha is a terrific choice for that. Fans of Ha’s work, however, may be surprised as he changes up his style a bit here – making this issue look almost painted rather than penciled. In some cases this effect works well but in others, like the jittery, double exposure look to indicate the rapidly descending ceiling, may leave the reader confused. One thing that works beautifully is the panel layouts. Ha scrunches the panels – crushes them under the weight of black on the pages and really gets across the claustrophobic feel. He also experiments daringly with some panel and page layouts and, while I am a bit unsure of the results I have to applaud the daring.

In the end, Justice League of America provides an interesting and distracting read but it really does not end up going anywhere or adding much new to the overall stories of this superhero team or these characters. With only 13 issues in his run, it remains to be seen whether Meltzer was wise to place this simple, character issue so close to the end. For this reviewer this issue was mostly "sound and fury, signifying nothing."