Justice League of America #53 Review

The Omega Man arc concludes in Justice League this week with the simply titled “Finale.” Which is worse, that I thought it was longer or that they couldn’t come up with a title for it?

Justice League of America #53

It starts with a fight between Superwoman and Donna Troy, in which Donna muses about her life, how complicated and sad it is, and how she’s always angry now. There’s also yet another of the more and more frequently occurring bits where the author seems to speak to the reader directly, as she talks about how she needs to stop swearing, which many readers are complaining about as being so out of character for her. Ultraman and Dark Supergirl look on, apparently bored, as Omega Man wanders amongst the memories of all those he’s killed. Supergirl ends the fight by knocking them both out, and the group flies off to where Batman and company, who surrendered last issue, are rebuilding the machine the Crime Syndicate was trying to use before.

Blue Jay narrates the scene, talking about his own life as an almost entirely unknown hero on this Earth of so many, while Jade and Batman bicker about his giving up. The Quicks are still off moving the citizens of DC around at super speed to keep them away from the Omega Man. Blue Jay announces he’s done with the machine, at which point Owl Man turns a disruptor on everyone, dropping them, and then signals his team. Johnny Quick ambushes Jesse, and Superwoman “wakes up.” After much bickering and discussion, Batman complaining that Owl Man betrayed him, the machine is activated to bring down Jade’s energy dome.

Surprise, surprise, Batman had a plan. The machine actually opens a wormhole, sucking in Omega Man, and the heroes manage to shove the Crime Syndicate into it. When Kara “kissed” Batman last issue, she was whispering she would help them now in return for unspecified help later. We see that, as I was wondering about before, the Tangent Green Lantern came into play, bringing back Alex Luthor to help change the machine to not only remove Omega Man, but to send him back to each world he ravaged and change his energies so he will “cure” them all. Tangent GL leaves to go home, and Blue Jay decides he’s leaving as well, to try and be more effective elsewhere. Power Ring’s ring suddenly pops up, going through the portal to seek a new host. The dome comes down, due to the odd team from the Congorilla/Starman one shot, and there’s another big triumphant scene of the assembled DC heroes who were trying to break in admiring the team as Congorilla says “Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the Justice League,” once again seeming like Robinson’s speaking to his critics. Supergirl stays Dark, and the crowd scene oddly includes Damage, who is, indeed, still dead. Once more, can I get an editor’s job there? I can do nothing and get paid for it, too.

What I liked and what I didn’t:

I’m glad Robinson used Tangent’s GL, even if I was wrong about how. Batman having a last minute plan to deceive all the villains was good. I can understand Blue Jay leaving- since he came to this world from the ruins of his own, he’s lost his only two remaining teammates, been a bit player at best, and been captured I don’t know how many times. It was nice seeing Alex Luthor, a major hero of Crisis on Infinite Earths who was twisted into evil by Infinite Crisis, get some redemption.

There’s lots of little bits of things that don’t work here. Why Supergirl stayed dark after Omega Man left is never explained. Donna grouses about her rage, which seemingly explains her massively Out Of Character behavior lately, but we still don’t know WHY she’s acting this way, nor does it change. Supergirl was a JLA spy among the bad guys, but didn’t manage to knock out Superwoman in the fight, but did drop Donna? The machine was supposedly fixed using parts created by Jade’s power, but the pieces stay there when her brain is scrambled by Owl Man? Donna keeps being drawn with her new lasso, that apparently does nothing whatever, as she never uses it. As I said, Damage is in the crowd, even though he’s dead. And this is the second time in the story that we are assured “Oh, no, this team here, this IS the Justice League.” Robinson seems a mite defensive. Maybe he needs to either listen to the readers, or ignore them.  As a final gripe, why is Supergirl on the cover, which is supposed to be “iconic” images, in a costume she never wears in the issue?

Tags: Crime Syndicate James Robinson Justice League Comics & Justice League Reviews Omega Man