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JLA: Rock of Ages (Book 3)

JLA: Rock of Ages (Book 3)

List Price: $14.95
Your Price: $10.17
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 2 stars
Summary: When Morrison is good, he's very good...
Review:

But when he tries to do this complex space opera stuff, it goes awry. The same thing that happened with JLA happened with New X-Men. By the time he got to his final story-line, it was a jumble of confused action sequences. Compare that to Morrison's Cassandra Nova stories from earlier in the series.

Likewise, Morrison's first JLA story arc (New World Order) is some of the best mainstream comic book story telling I've ever seen. But by the time he got to World War III, everything was confused and jumbled again.

Rock of Ages is like that as well, although it has one saving grace, the unsettling future world run by Darkeseid. he struck gold with that part of the book, but then lost it after the showdown with Darkseid.

Still, I think Morrison is one of the best writers in comics. Check out his We3 series, probably one of the creepiest things he's ever done.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Really, really cool
Review: "Rock of Ages" is the best superhero comic book story ever written. Part 5 was so good, I needed a cigarette.

Grant Morrison's talent on the JLA is that he handles all of the characters better than anyone else. His Superman is very Superman. His Batman is extremely clever and competant. The Martian Manhunter is patient and wise, Wonder Woman is strong, and Green Lantern is a bit clueless but very capable. This is pure fun the way superhero comics are meant to be.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Really, really cool
Review: "Rock of Ages" is the best superhero comic book story ever written. Part 5 was so good, I needed a cigarette.

Grant Morrison's talent on the JLA is that he handles all of the characters better than anyone else. His Superman is very Superman. His Batman is extremely clever and competant. The Martian Manhunter is patient and wise, Wonder Woman is strong, and Green Lantern is a bit clueless but very capable. This is pure fun the way superhero comics are meant to be.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A great synthesis...
Review: ...of Morrison's wacky, deconstructive style with traditional super-hero action. The first writer to make Darkseid seem scary in years. His characterization and imaginative use of such characters as Lex Luthor, the Joker, Batman, Green Arrow, Green Lantern, Plastic Man, the Atom, Aztek, and the Mirror Master is better than almost any I've seen in comics. This has so far been the peak of Grant Morrison's run on JLA. Be forewarned, though: you need a brain to understand it. I also recommend Morrison's work on ANIMAL MAN, DOOM PATROL, and THE INVISIBLES, but the same caveat applies.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A Great JLA story
Review: A story best read in one sitting, "Rock of Ages" is complex. sometimes confusing, but the pay off is fantastic. Morrison continues to impress with his story-telling. Confused? Read it again. Great stuff... Check out Morrison's "Animal Man" for more strange adventures.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Spacey Superheroey Action
Review: And by "spacey" I don't only mean happening in outer space. This is also one of Grant Morrison's strangest tales. It starts as a pretty straighforward adventure of the JLA against Lex Luthor and his Injustice Gang. What the superheros of the JLA, including Superman and Wonder Woman, don't know is that the choices they make in defeating the Lex Luthor might endanger the whole planet and leave it open for an invasion by Darkseid.

Then things get weird.

This story arc is hailed as Morrison's best in his long run on JLA and I recommend it fully.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Oregon Reader
Review: Do not waste your money. What could have been a perfectly enjoyable tale about the Justice League doing battle with an alliance of their greatest enemies is, instead, a bearly-comprehensible jumble of half-thought-out ideas. First of all, Wonder Woman is barely seen, and such tiresome characters like Green Arrow and Aztek have entirely too much time (wasn't the purpose of the JLA relaunch to focus on the main characters and leave the second-stringers to less books?) Secondly, what everyone wants to see - a Justice League versus Injustice Gang battle royale never happens. Third, the whole series is really just a lead-in to the Mageddon story of a few issues later (what is with the digression to Wonderworld? And what exactly did Martian Manhunter sense at the end of chapter one? Anyone?) The only saving grace of this convoluted jumble is the artwork, which is at best only a little better than serviceable, and the characterization of a clever, misanthropic Lex Luthor. Bottom line - for a good read, look elsewhere.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: The worst, so far...
Review: Horrible. They're young. They're old. It's the past. It's the future. Nothing is as it seems. Nothing makes sense. It's just a bunch of garbbled trash. Poor Grant Morrison had to be under the influence of some illegal drug to actually think this mess made any sense. Stay off the dope, man. It messes up your mind. I had to force myself to finish this. It was painful, but I did it. Horrible. Awful. Please, don't waste your money. I'll tell you all you need to know... at the end they disband the JLA. Why they do is not important, because in the very next issue (JLA: Strength in Numbers) they re-group. Skip this book and go straight to "Strength in Numbers", which is far superior than any of the previously published JLA books (Rock of Ages, being the worse).

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Perhaps the best pure superhero story in years.
Review: I admit freely that I had some problems with the Rock of Ages storyline when it was coming out in monthly segments; there was too much happening way too fast, too fast to keep up with it all. But buy this paperback and read it all at once: it's breathtaking. Porter's art is at its peak in Rock of Ages, and Morrison's writing here might be the tightest in the genre. It exemplifies what superhero fiction is really capable of.

Unlike other superhero classics, such as _Watchmen_, _Legend of the Dark Knight_, or _Kingdom Come_, Rock of Ages does not attempt to deconstruct the superhero genre; indeed, the image presented by this book is that to do so is akin to objectifying mythology. Superheroes are the icons of our time, and icons do not falter.

While your reading, take note: Rock of Ages foreshadows a future JLA story which promises to be the greatest of all. Recall, "You are only the forerunners. Prepare for the fortification of earth."

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Not Morrison's best work
Review: I tend to agree more with the "reader from NYC" down below than any other, so I thought I'd give an alternate to the glowing reviews. First off--this book, #3 in Morrison's run on JLA (issues 10-15), is pretty good, but not great. I agree with NYC that this was more like two stories that were being told on top of one another, and both halves suffered because of it. I understand that the sub-narrative was important to establish the urgency of the primary narrative, but it didn't really work all that smoothly. Morrison on a bad day is better than most average writers, but still, the characterization of the JLA'ers was not great, and at no time did I really feel invested in what was going on. Also: Howard Porter's pencils contributed little to the story--I think reading Morrison's script would have been much more enjoyable. To sum up: it's worth reading, and there are some great moments, but overall it could've been better. I say this with all due respect to Mr. Morrison's proven writing ability.


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