Justice League of America #23 - " Conquerors "  
  
  
After four fairly good months from Mark Waid, Grant Morrison's back at the helm of the JLA, and things are back running smoothly on comic's second-best super-hero team book (for number one, read on . . . ).  If only they could find somebody to replace Howard Porter...  

North America falls into a dream-induced slumber brought on by the new (?) villain known only as It, or as the Star Conqueror (why they couldn't just call it Starro is beyond my feeble means of comprehension . . .).  Dream (from SANDMAN) shows up and sends Green Lantern, Wonder Woman, and Superman into the Dreaming to rescue a boy whose fate holds  the key to saving the world.  

For starters, I loved seeing Dream appear in a "regular" DCU title.  It's about time somebody tried to bridge the senseless gap between the DCU and Vertigo.  Besides, I didn't think his presence was too distracting; rather it made sense and fit with the story nicely.  Besides . . . Morrison writes a good Dream . . . ;)

The Star Conqueror (Starro) has never been an overly credible villain in my eyes ... I mean, he's a giant starfish, for God's sake !   But the Star Conqueror did make for some impressive dramatic scenes, such as the cliff-hanger at the end of #22.  That's a big damn starfish.  

And it's that type of visual that Porter excels at; the big, bold, high-energy shot.  But when it comes down to hand-to-hand combat (as it does in #23) he turns into one of the worst artists I've ever seen.  The angles of the arms are ridiculous.  I doubt Porter could draw a hand-to-hand combat scene to save his life.  The only thing worse is his rendition of Superman, which is terrible in #23.  In fact, a lot of character looked awful in #23.  

I loved the fact that Zauriel, J'onn, Aquaman, Green Lantern (Morrison is the only writer who can write Kyle *good*), and Orion all got some nice moments in #23.  And, hey, for once Batman didn't save the day !  

" My God . . . It just blinked. "  Heh.  Those are the moments that I buy JLA for.  
  

Score:  B 
    
   

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