... a comic book review on Ain't it cool news of a recent.. of the latest issue of JUSTICE LEAGUE....

JUSTICE LEAGUE #20

Writer / Artist: Bryan Hitch
Inkers: Daniel Henriquies, Andrew Curris & Paul Neary
Colorists: Alex Sinclair, Jeromy Cox & Pete Pantazis
Marvel: DC Comics
Reviewer: Masked Man

It's been a while for me, so I thought I'd check back in with my favorite comicbook concept: The Justice League (of America). Former superstar artist (I say former, because seriously, he is not what he used to be- even with three inkers and three colorist backing him up) Bryan Hitch has taken over the book since Geoff Johns left comics (some 20 issues a go). And taking the lessons he learned from Warren Ellis on THE AUTHORITY, it's been all go big or go home.

Getting into the spoilers of this issue, as Hitch kicks off a new story arc (taking over pencils as well), The Flash takes center stage. We start with half of New York City destroyed, and Green (Jessica Cruz) Lantern dead. As the Flash tries to engage her killer, he time-shifts to before she was kill and the city was destroyed. In a 'GROUND HOG DAY' fashion, it all plays out again- and again and again- four times in fact. And that's pretty much the comic. Each time the Flash time-shifts, he goes back further in time. Although, with each time-shift, we don't learn much, until the final one. Ok, now strap in as this kinda makes no sense (i.e. time travel). So the Flash is pushed back to the previous day and hooks up with the Justice League, after they just defeated an alien. For some reason the Flash from the previous day isn't there, just current time traveling Flash. And where the explosion that destroys half the city happened tomorrow, it's now happening today. As the Flash takes the League to ground zero, where we meet the guy who causes all this. The unnamed man has unlocked the secret of zero-point energy and shows off his device to investors. The League busts in, and when the Flash touches the device, it blows up half the city. The League and the man survive, and the Flash blames the League for killing everyone (cause that makes sense in some world). Grieving, the man, now wants to destroy / kill everything / everyone else. Cliffhanger!

Did you get that? The Flash traveled back in time, causing an explosion- but he only traveled back in time because the explosion happened. That is some chicken and the egg stuff right there.

As with his previous JL(A) stories, Hitch comes at them from a good angle. Epic events, some cutting edge science, lots of questions, etc. You see, the League can whip anything, so the key to a good JL(A) story is to have them figure something out first. Before they punch the cr@p out of it. Unfortunately, I just don't think Hitch is a skilled enough writer yet. He gets the big picture, but doesn't really seem to understand the act of storytelling. That is, the reasons why events happen in a story. Case in point, these time-shift do very little to move the story forward. So we just have to sit and watch them, after already getting the point of them. He just goes for crazy @$$ spectacles, and forgets the crazy @$$ spectacles have to tell a story too (or you know, 'Michael Bay movies'). Artwork wise, Hitch no longer impress me. He's not bad, but he's pretty average these days (there are flashes of brilliance here and there, but it's usually just in his backgrounds drawings). Overall, I feel he just doesn't put the time into his art, like he used too.

So based on this first issue, I'm going to guess this storyarc will play out like the others I've read (by him). Crazy epic events, that don't make a lot of sense, that ultimately come to an unsatisfying conclusion.