Review: Justice League of America Vol. 4- Surgical Strike

Quick Summary

Pros: The opening story is fun and doesn’t take itself too seriously. The main storyline has a solid conclusion and introduces some great character development for Frost.

Cons: Not everyone will appreciate the opening story’s over-the-top approach. The main storyline is lackluster and features a pretty generic villain. Inconsistencies in storytelling interrupt the flow of the narrative. The artwork isn’t that great.

Overall: A number of problems end up making this volume one of the weakest in the series so far. The majority of these problems can be found in the book’s main storyline, which is not that interesting and has a message that ends up feeling very contrived. There are some solid story elements toward the end but they end up being too little, too late. Readers who truly enjoy the characters on the JLA might consider picking this volume up but everyone else might want to think otherwise.

Story

Justice League of America Vol. 4: Surgical Strike is fun in some places and frustrating in others. On the positive end of things, the volume has a few solid character-driven moments that hammer in emotion and drama. On the other side of things, there are more than a few moments where things feel contrived or where contradictions take away some of the story’s emotional impact. In addition, the actual adventure here is decent but the villain is so generic in his purpose that he becomes instantly forgettable. All in all, this book isn’t bad but it’s slightly below average quality is a disappointment, especially after how good the previous volume ended up being.

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Surgical Strike starts out with a Black Canary/Lobo team-up that is ridiculous and fun in its own unique way. The entire concept here revolves around Lobo trying to protect the home planet of a benevolent species of space-dolphins. It is an adventure that absolutely does not take itself too seriously. This is going to be a polarizing story among fans, as some will love it for its less serious approach to action and others will hate it for this same reason.

From here, the majority of the collection revolves around Prometheus’s attack on the Justice League of America. His attack ends up feeling lackluster and contrived in a number of ways. The volume tries to make it seem as if he is exploiting underlying cracks in the foundation of the team but the actual execution primarily just sees him outsmart the team in various places. In addition, the Prometheus’s underdeveloped backstory makes him come across as a generic anarchist rather than any sort of formidable or unique opponent.

The positives here end up coming in near the story’s conclusion. Here, regular people come to the League’s defense and help them defeat Prometheus, which is a wonderful moment. In addition, the League learns that Frost killed people in the Microverse, which might be one of the best development’s in the team’s journey thus far. Their realistic reaction to this revelation is very emotional and makes for a great read in a volume that is otherwise a bit disappointing. I only wish moments like this comprised a larger portion of the collection.

The biggest problem through every portion of Surgical Strike is the inconsistencies that arise in the storytelling. For example, Black Canary threatens to kill Lobo for not returning to Earth on one page and on the next page expresses how happy she is that Lobo chose to return. This can also be seen when the League acts as if Prometheus tore them all apart emotionally, despite his attacks being almost entirely physical. The problem here is that that major story elements are built upon these inconsistencies, making these story elements flimsy and unappealing.

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Art

Much like the story, the artwork in Surgical Strike has a range of quality but ends up falling just short of average. Hugo Petrus’s work features characters that often end up looking goofy and facial expressions that look very strange. In addition, Kelley Jones’s depictions of Black Canary look very strange and take away from most of the scenes she is in.

The volume still has a few artistic positives here and there. This includes some of Kelley Jones’s work, specifically the breathtaking depictions of the cosmos and bulky version of Lobo. In addition, though Stephen Byrne’s work on the volume’s final chapter ends up looking average, it is at least more consistent than the rest of the volume. Unfortunately, these positives do not make up for the negatives and leave the book feeling visually mediocre.

Continuity

Justice League of America Vol. 4: Surgical Strike continues the story from Justice League of America Vol. 3: Panic in the Microverse (Review).

The story here continues in Justice League of America Vol. 5: Deadly Fable (Review).

This volume also references stories from other comic books, detailed below.

• The events of Justice League vs. Suicide Squad (Review) are referenced a number of times here, specifically in how they relate to Frost and Lobo’s position on the team.
• Batman’s absence here appears to be the result of his involvement with Dark Nights: Metal (Review).
• Prometheus mentions his encounter with Midnighter, which happened in Midnighter Vol. 1: Out (Review)