Justice League of America #21 Review

JUSTICE LEAGE OF AMERICA #21
Written by Dwayne McDuffie
Art by Carlos Pachelo

At times, I wonder how McDuffie feels about his run on JLA. Aside from his opening arc, every single issue he has written has been an editorially mandated event tie-in of some kind, whether it's Tangent: Superman's Reign, Salvation Run or the current Final Crisis event.

Hell, even his opening arc was forced to tie into the Green Arrow and Black Canary wedding. He was even kept in the dark about characters he could and couldn't use until his plans started to conflict with other stories, such as Green Lantern.

Simply put, he's being treated like a fill-in writer when he's capable of so much more and it's kind of disappointing to see him reduced to that. It's like he did something wrong and is being punished here. Despite that, he seems to be making his run work on some level, as it's typically DC's best selling title every month, so I guess he can't be all that upset over it.

This issue, despite that imposing cover, has almost nothing to do with Libra or the Human Torch Flame. It consisted of Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman entering their secret, hidden clubhouse room in the JLA headquarters and chatting for half the issue. It reminded me of the JLA #0 issue that Meltzer did where they mull over the past, talk about new members and basically shoot the shit.

Some of the items on the table were fun to read, such as Batman ribbing Clark over his "cheating" on Lois as Wonder Woman gawks at what she's hearing with incredulous comments and looks of disbelief. This leads to them discussing her new power set, whereby she steals from other members of the League instead of drawing on animal totems. Clark is amazed he even knows about this, but it's Batman, so prep time trumps anything and he's known about this from the very beginning. It's funny and I'm pretty sure only Batman could possibly get away with such ridiculous jumps in logic and that's why we love him.

They also discuss Black Canary's leadership and how she's developing. This secret meeting just served to undermine her character and position as leader in my eyes and, despite their intentions and what they say, felt like they were going behind her back and flat out saying she's not qualified to lead them. That's about the only thing I disliked about this Trinity secret clubhouse they have going here.

In the rest of the issue, we get to see the Human Flame rob a bank, lament about losing to the Martian Manhunter many years ago and now remaining off the radar and only doing lowkey break and enter jobs or the occasional bank heist. He's quickly interrupted by Red Arrow and Hawkgirl, who get their asses handed to them by this scrub, who burns Hawkgirl's wings off, causing her to crash into a police cruiser, and nearly burns Red Arrow to death (how do they intend to explain him running around on fire and the getting rid of said burns and scarring?).

However, Hawkgirl quickly catches up to him on foot and, before taking him down, is grabbed by the neck, from behind, by Libra, who tosses her into some garbage, giving her a concussion. He brings the Human Flame back to his strip club turned hideout, which we saw in DCU #0, and introduces him to Lex Luthor, Grodd and a few other big name villains, who are all on the fence and doubting Libra's boasts and offers for membership in his Injustice League. Uh, I guess they get out of Salvation Run just fine and dandy? Grodd seems to be in good spirits for getting shot and kicked off a cliff, too.

Verdict - Check It. Nothing Final Crisis related here, despite the cover's heavy focus on Libra. You won't miss a thing and I can't see this Human Flame guy going anywhere in the future, so no big loss missing his appearance either.

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