Review: Justice League of America Vol. 2- Survivors of Evil
Quick Summary
Pros: The two lead characters are depicted wonderfully and create an amazing dynamic together. The focus on personal development over large scale heroics sets this book apart. The story is interesting and well done throughout.
Cons: Readers should be aware that this is more of a Stargirl/Martian Manhunter story than a Justice League of America story.
Overall: Stargirl and Martian Manhunter take over and provide a character driven story with an emphasis on personal growth and development. Here, emotional struggles and bonds to family are highlighted and true heroism is put to the test. The friendship in this book is unique and provides an interesting look at these characters, and a quick one at the rest of the League as well. If you like character driven stories and don’t mind that this isn’t really about the Justice League, then this is the book for you.
Story
In Justice League of America Vol. 2: Survivors of Evil, writer Matt Kindt tells an uplifting and positive story about Stargirl and Martian Manhunter that reads well independently or in conjunction with Forever Evil (Review). In this book, we learn the origin of one of DC Comic’s most optimistic heroes and see how that affects her judgment on her most important Justice League mission yet. Paired with another DC favorite, Martian Manhunter, the two form a friendship that provides the story with great morals and great fun. Don’t go into this expecting a full on Justice League story, and you’ll find that there is lot to love here.
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The book picks up right after the very start of Forever Evil (Review), with the world’s greatest heroes imprisoned within the Firestorm matrix and the Crime Syndicate holding dominion over the Earth. However, unlike the other Forever Evil tie-in stories, this one is set within the Firestorm matrix itself. Here the matrix becomes a literal prison that uses the occupants’ mental weaknesses to create powerful hallucinations in order to keep them caged.
The first half of the book is primarily focused on detailing these cells and explaining how they are able to hold the Justice League members at bay. This is Kindt’s examination into the League’s psyche and a clever analysis of their mental state. We see the caring Wonder Woman’s anguish in being forced to fight hordes of villains while the childlike Shazam is kept docile and happy doing the same thing. Each cell is unique and provides an interesting look at a different member of the League.
Our journey is hosted by Stargirl and Martian Manhunter, who despite the book’s title, are the real main characters here. Their unique mental state and power set allows them to resist the matrix’s hold over them and provide the book’s largest source of character development and drama. This is another well planned and executed attribute of the book as both of these characters are incredible and often underutilized.
Stargirl’s character progression is of particular interest; the story depicts her current struggles against the backdrop of her origin story. This is a young woman who could live out a normal and happy life but chooses to be a hero simply because she wants to help people. In this story, that desire to help is tested when she and Martian Manhunter break out of the prison. Once out, she has to choose between helping her family or saving the world. This is already a compelling story, but the way Kindt interspaces the past and present makes Stargirl’s choice far more meaningful and causes it to resonate with even more power.
However, after saving the world, it is revealed that nearly everything she has just experienced was an illusion. She never actually left the prison. While this would be a disappointing cop-out in most other pieces of media, the way it is done here works well. Martian Manhunter explains that, even though the world was an illusion, the choices Stargirl made there and the moral obstacles she faced were still real. She showed true heroism and bravery and made choices she could be proud of. Plus, her intense resistance from within the matrix allowed Martian Manhunter to get a signal out that later allowed the team to be saved. While I would have liked Stargirl to receive a little more credit for her role in saving the Justice League, the way this is done highlights the personal struggle she went through rather than simply giving her props for being a hero, which is much more in line with who she is and what she stands for.
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Art
This portion of the Justice League of America series goes through several artists in quick succession before finding stability in artist Eddy Barrows. Before this though, there are a few moments that feel weird and some characters that are drawn in ways that seem off. For instance, Shazam’s smile looks menacing instead of happy and the Flash looks thin and creepy in most panels. These moments are few and far between but are still present in this section of the book.
After Eddy Barrows joins the book, the artwork holds more stability and less mistakes. Characters and locations all look detailed and nice. In addition, the point Barrows joins in is set in the real world so his more gritty and realistic art style works better to fit the book’s tone. It still isn’t the best looking art in the world, but the problems here are not large enough to be worth drawing attention to.
Continuity
Justice League of America Vol. 2: Survivors of Evil flows directly out of the events of Trinity War (Review)and occurs at the same time as Forever Evil (Review).
Most characters’ stories continue in Justice League United Vol. 1: Justice League Canada (Review).
This volume also references stories from other comic books, all of which are detailed below:
- Green Arrow mentions an “island retreat” in a reference to his origin story, detailed in Green Arrow Vol. 3: Harrow (Review).
- Green Lantern mentions “another power ring” showing up. This happens in Justice League Vol. 6: Injustice League (Review).