Rating: 
Summary: GREAT JLA STORY BY GRANT MORRISON
Review: The Rock of Ages storyline, which collects issues #10-15, kicks off with an audacious claim to be the ultimate JLA adventure. It very nearly succeeds in that respect. Grant Morrison tells an engaging if sometimes confusing split-level tale concerning time travel, the philosopher's stone and a glittering cast of enemies. With a little patience, it's a quite decent adventure. The premise is a setup for a battle royale between a Wonder Woman-less JLA (she "died" prior to this adventure) and Lex Luthor's Injustice Gang. Luthor has his hands on the philosopher's stone, a gem of incredible power that he can bend to his will. He uses it to send hard-light constructs to the JLA Watchtower to distract the league. Then the Genesis Wave hits the Earth, and various and sundry spectacular confrontations between the bad guys and the good guys ensue. To spice things up a little, Luthor has surrounded the watchtower with 12 nuclear warheads set to go off. Of course, Batman figures out the mastermind behind the attack and plots a strike against the Injustice Gang, which includes the Joker. Metron, or an evil version of him, makes an appearance and informs the league that they have to locate the philosopher's stone and destroy it before it fall into the hands of Darkseid. After splitting up to tackle the enemy on different fronts and having some vague, loopy adventures through time that don't really add anything of significance to the plot, Aquaman, Green Later and the Flash regroup at a point in time 15 years removed from the start of their battle. Darkseid has succeeded in taking over the Earth and destroying many of its heroes. The three manage to achieve a pyrrhic victory over Darkseid and travel once more through time to the present, albeit aged beyond their years, in order to get a message through to the league not to destroy the stone. The hero Aztek works frantically to disarm the nukes while Batman, Martian Manhunter and Superman attack the Injustice Gang's satellite tower. Plastic Man works from inside the Injustice Gang as a counterspy, though his simply being accepted into the gang stretches credibility just a bit. The destruction of the stone is what's responsible for this mess and for Darkseid's taking over the Earth, though exactly how it ushered in such a monumental event is unclear. The biggest problem is keeping all the plotlines straight. They come together, pull apart and run parallel for a bit, then come back together again, but without benefit of smooth transitions. The dialogue is at times about as subtle as a stomach pump, and the action, while eyepoppingly drawn with a generous and loving hand, is hard to follow at times, though some major action sequences are very well done. The strong visual content is one of the book's strengths. The heroes have rarely looked more powerful and heroic and just plain fantastic. The colors are deep and rich, though the women don't look quite as good as the men. The book's most serious weaknesses are its confused plot lines and actions that don't quite make sense, such as Luthor sending hard light constructs to wreak havoc when he could have used such a powerful stone to do even worse damage, or why the time traveling leaguers would encounter a future version of Wonder Woman when she was deceased in the present. The JLA suffers greatly from the absence of Wonder Woman, but perhaps it's nice to know how integral a player she is for the league, which really is not the same without her. However, an Injustice Gang with Luthor and the Joker, and Darkseid on the side, is too juicy to pass up. This is good old-fashioned comic book fun and a fairly compelling read in spite of the holes in the plot. Highly recommended.
Rating: 
Summary: Fantastic (again)
Review: This book is truely the best ever, as I said in my last review. I recently re-read this book, and I was blown away by it's amazing story line, brilliant characters, and superb illustration. I don't think that words can do this excellent book credit. If you only buy one thing ever, buy toilette paper, if you buy two things buy JLA ROCK OF AGES!
Rating:
Summary: Fantastic (again)
Review: This book is truely the best ever, as I said in my last review. I recently re-read this book, and I was blown away by it's amazing story line, brilliant characters, and superb illustration. I don't think that words can do this excellent book credit. If you only buy one thing ever, buy toilette paper, if you buy two things buy JLA ROCK OF AGES!
Rating:
Summary: "The only way we're gonna serve you is medium rare."
Review: This story is Morrison, arguably at the top of his form, writing a runaway train of a story with so much complexity that it takes several re-readings to understand everything. While the writing gets the book its five stars, there are a couple of sequences near the end of the book that are illustrated by artists who are not so much inferior to Howard Porter as they are jarringly different. Porter is a big, splashy superhero artist, and some of the art in the final chapter is a lot less showy. Usually, I'm all for that, but if I'm watching Charlie's Angels, let's please not have it intercut with clips from My Left Foot. That said, Porter's visions of the future JLA are really cool looking, and the final showdown with Darksied is worth the price of the book all by itself. One more caveat: this book does indeed feature the horribly designed, conceived, written, advertised, and promoted Super-electricity-man, representing perhaps the single most shameful "let's make a buck" moment in the history of DC Comics, so while the smart, funny writing and blockbuster art make the story fun, you can't turn a page without going, "Oh yeah, that costume." Be warned, but read it anyway.
Rating:
Summary: "The only way we're gonna serve you is medium rare."
Review: This story is Morrison, arguably at the top of his form, writing a runaway train of a story with so much complexity that it takes several re-readings to understand everything. While the writing gets the book its five stars, there are a couple of sequences near the end of the book that are illustrated by artists who are not so much inferior to Howard Porter as they are jarringly different. Porter is a big, splashy superhero artist, and some of the art in the final chapter is a lot less showy. Usually, I'm all for that, but if I'm watching Charlie's Angels, let's please not have it intercut with clips from My Left Foot. That said, Porter's visions of the future JLA are really cool looking, and the final showdown with Darksied is worth the price of the book all by itself. One more caveat: this book does indeed feature the horribly designed, conceived, written, advertised, and promoted Super-electricity-man, representing perhaps the single most shameful "let's make a buck" moment in the history of DC Comics, so while the smart, funny writing and blockbuster art make the story fun, you can't turn a page without going, "Oh yeah, that costume." Be warned, but read it anyway.
Rating:
Summary: best of the bunch!
Review: this was the best JLA book i've read in a long time! the plot was great and the dialuge was supurb! I dont care what people say, Grant Morrison is the best JlA writer and this book proves it! course we could use less Darkside more injustice gang. still, this book is great! dont miss it!!
Rating:
Summary: Excellent as usual from Grant Morrison
Review: What can I say. I have never written a review..., let alone for a comic book. I was an avid Superhero fan as a kid, but gave it up for the joys of girls, sports, and alcohol as an adult. Luckily a few years ago I walked into a comic book store and found Grant Morrison's work. I mostly collected Vertigo, but when I found out that Grant was writing JLA, I thought I would give it a shot. AM I GLAD THAT I DID. His entire run was tremendous! I don't know how the book is now, that he has stopped writing it (I have always found Mark Waid rather boring...yes JLA got me back into Superheroes for a while, but I have dropped out since) The plotting, dialogue and action is terrific. Some points of the story may remind "old-school" comic book readers of the X-Men's "Days of Future Past", but it exceeds that story on every level. (Of course I am biased being deep in my heart a DC kid forever!) In this storyline and all others Mr. Morrison manages to find depth in these characters, and keep the story complex. May I just say that I wish Grant Morrison wrote my favorite childhood character, Batman, on a monthly basis for eternity! He writes the intrepid Batman-the mere mortal amongst giants- better than anyone!
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