Review: Justice League of America Vol. 5- Deadly Fable

Quick Summary

Pros: The second story arc is very entertaining and brings back a number of cool elements from earlier in the series. The closing story arc has an interesting concept. Vixen, the Ray, Black Canary, and the Atom all have a chance to shine here.

Cons: The opening story arc is not that interesting and has some poor moments from Frost. Lingering story elements, from the end of this volume, end up not being continued anywhere.

Overall: Though there are a number of things wrong with this collection, the positives outweigh the negatives and make this an entertaining volume overall. On the positive end of things, there are a number of great moments from individual characters and the volume contains one of the better story arcs in the entire series. On the negative side of things, the opening story arc and the art are both mediocre. This combination of good and bad make this a book that fans of the series will likely enjoy but those unfamiliar with what is happening will not.

Story

Justice League of America Vol. 5: Deadly Fable, by Steve Orlando, contains three stories of varying levels of quality. The first is mediocre, especially when it comes to portraying Frost, the storyline’s central character. The second is great and sees the return of the same good, cosmic storytelling that was present back in Panic in the Microverse (Review). The third is alright as a singular story but disappointing as a conclusion to the series as a whole. Altogether, these stories make a collection that has its fair share of flaws but still ends up being one of the better books in this series.

(spoilers start here)

Deadly Fable starts out by finally dealing with the “Might Beyond the Mirror”, the villain that the entire series has been setting up since the very beginning. Unfortunately, the Might, and the storyline surrounding her, end up being a big disappointment. This is mostly because Frost is portrayed so poorly throughout this arc. She immediately trusts a known villain and then goes on to never fully explain herself to her own teammates, despite just having a breakthrough with them about trust. Since the entire storyline hinges on Frost’s character, getting over this flaw is hard to do and, thus, damages the experience. Luckily, Vixen and the Ray are great throughout this experience and help distract a bit from these negatives.

The second storyline sees Batman and Black Canary return to Angor to restore life to the planet, which also triggers the return of Dreamslayer and Lord Havok. This adventure is exciting, interesting, and meaningful in every way that the opening arc is not. Part of this meaning comes from Black Canary’s message about worlds’ making their own choices and Lord Havok’s ultimate sacrifice but part of it also comes from the weight that this story has from the beginning, since it is dealing with story elements have been teased for a while now. All of this together helps make this the strongest portion of this collection.

The final story arc has Chronos attempt to kill the very idea behind superheroes. As a concept, this storyline is very imaginative and incredibly fun to think about. As an actual story, it ends up only feeling exciting in a few places. This combination makes the story feel very average as a whole, providing few positives or negatives to the volume.

Outside of the actual stories themselves, it is also worth noting how poorly this volume wraps up the series as a whole. Lingering elements of character development are left unfinished in more than a few places; such as Ray’s relationship with his mother, Frost’s status as a murderer, and a number of relationships within the team. However, the worst part is that the entire Justice Foundation idea, which appears to be very interesting, is dropped immediately after this volume concludes. Though this problem is not seen here, it promptly will present itself to anyone looking to read more about this group.

(spoilers end here)

Art

The artwork throughout Deadly Fable ends up being relatively average overall, as the positives and negatives are not that extreme and end up canceling one another out. The beginning of the collection features some lackluster art, penciled by Neil Edwards, with some strangely exaggerated facial expressions. This is easily the collection’s most noticeable sore spot, as the rest of the volume looks better than this. Miguel Mendonça’s work on the middle chapters looks good and is further enhanced by Chris Sotomayor’s bleak colors, which perfectly match the tone of this particular arc. Plus, Hugo Petrus’s work near the end of the volume is some of his best work on this series and works well in telling the story that is being told. Overall, putting all of this together makes a book that neither amazes or disappoints when it comes to visuals.

Continuity

Justice League of America Vol. 5: Deadly Fable continues the story from Justice League of America Vol. 4: Surgical Strike (Review).

The Justice League of America series ends here. The end of this volume is briefly continued in the final few pages of Justice League Vol. 7: Justice Lost (Review). Both of these series end during Justice League: No Justice.

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

• The events of Dark Nights: Metal (Review) are referenced at the beginning of this volume.
• The death of Angor at the hands of the Gentry occurred in Multiversity.
• The brick from this volume appears to be Danny the Brick, as his ability to kill gods was demonstrated back in Doom Patrol Vol. 1: Brick by Brick (Review).