The Outhouse - The Greatest Comic Book Forum

[48THRiLLS]

Next weeks pick looks rad.

[Victorian Squid]

I think it worked out well that, even though it is part of a larger story, the mini-adventure of Cap was sort of a done-in-one.

Also they almost but not quite made him interesting.

[Amoebas]

I picked JL: GN #6 for a couple reasons
1) nothing else really said "THIS is the one"
2) I love the series and thought it would be good to get it talked about.

The first thing struck me was the lack of Tony Harris on the cover. I loved the guy on Starman but his JL:GN covers have for the most part been an uter embarresment. A Cliff Chiang cover was most welcome and a great image of falling through time.

Inside, the first thing that struck me was the art. The book basically has three rotaing artists...
Aaron Lopresti (issues 1 & 5) just beautiful
Joe Bennet (issues 2 & 4) Not bad but not great
Fernando Dagnino (issues 3 & 6) meh

In the attempt to not compare Dagnino to the other artists from the book I still only call him 'passable' as his style resembles the old Captain Atom artist Rafael Kayanan (whom I never liked).

Storywise, well other have basically said it all ready. Typical super-hero stuff but then the entire tone is changed as Cap Atom gets a side story when he discovers where and when he is. Conventional time travel is turned upside down with the time twist and the full extant of Max Lord achievements are revealed (along with a nice suprise guest star).

Something else happened in this issue though. Judd Winnick told a damn good story.

I love the series and it's bi-weekly schedule as I can't get enough of it. Only 20 more to go before the finale.

Story - 9
Art - 5
Total - 7

[Zero]

Justice League: Generation Lost #6

While I would never call the old JLI comics bad, they've never held any appeal for me and while the characters seem to be wheeled out every few years for a moment in the sun it's rarely a positive experience for the fans. Countdown to Infinite Crisis springs to mind here. It's pretty surprising therefore that Judd Winick of all people has written something that is pleasing so many people.

I'm very much not the target for this story. I try to avoid reviewing books like this because my bias against more traditional fair isn't something I care enough to combat. While the twist was nice, giving us one kind of time travel story when we expected another, nothing else about the book made me want to either backtrack or move forward with the story. Competent is what I'd call this, with nothing glaring awful or dazzlingly brilliant happening anywhere down the line.

Oh DC, your house-style art is so so bland. The art churned out here by Dagnino is exactly what I'd expect from a mid-level DC superhero title. I have no idea what Keith Giffen's layouts added to or detracted from this story, but the figures and action layered on top of them left me with no real affection for the art.

It's a comic that I'd never have read without being prodded, and one I doubt I'll give a second thought once the review group moves on. Nothing special.

5

[Eli Katz]

I gave this issue to my nephew a few days ago. His assessment:

"It looked stupid, but it was actually cool."

[S.F. Jude Terror]

JL: GL #6 Review

Nobody needed to convince me that Justice League: Generation Lost was a great book. I've been on board since I heard it was announced, and not because I've a huge fan of the characters - in fact, I barely know them because I never read Justice League International - but because I feel that DC can really tell some great stories when they focus on some of their underdog characters and set out to tell one long, epic, coherent story. In that way, this series reminds me of 52, and I was excited to see what everyone else would think of it in the review group.

This issue takes a moment out of the regular story to show what happened when Captain Atom went into space to discharge the energy from the bomb left by Max Lord. The energy sends Captain Atom into the time stream for a little less than a day, and though time stream stories seem to be all the rage these days, this one approaches things a little differently.

For one thing, the setting when Captain Atom arrives appears to be about 150 years or so in the past. However, it turns out that this is actually a future world created when Maxwell Lord's dastardly actions, and the failure of the JLI to stop him, caused the death of all of the heroes and the end of the modern world, along with all the progress and technology that came with it.

The story presents two very interesting concepts. One is that the JLI must stop Maxwell Lord to prevent some kind of catastrophe, which offers a counterpoint to the last issue, which painted Max Lord in a nearly sympathetic light. Another is that this future world is, in all honesty, not so bad. It's simpler, with a lack of any kind of technology and, it would seem, superpowers, but it is not a post-apocalyptic wasteland, nor is there some evil tyrant oppressing the people, at least as far as we can see in this issue. Instead, it appears to be a peaceful, rural world which many people might find preferable to the modern one.

Best of all, this trip through time was completed in one issue, adding to the story without needlessly dragging it out, and adding an element of seriousness to the plot. This series as a whole has been good, clean, superhero fun, reminiscent of an earlier age in comics (the eighties), and I would highly recommend that anyone who's not picking it up jump on with this issue, which makes a great starting point.

9/10

[Eli Katz]

The story presents two very interesting concepts. One is that the JLI must stop Maxwell Lord to prevent some kind of catastrophe, which offers a counterpoint to the last issue, which painted Max Lord in a nearly sympathetic light. Another is that this future world is, in all honesty, not so bad. It's simpler, with a lack of any kind of technology and, it would seem, superpowers, but it is not a post-apocalyptic wasteland, nor is there some evil tyrant oppressing the people, at least as far as we can see in this issue. Instead, it appears to be a peaceful, rural world which many people might find preferable to the modern one.

Interesting point. But you have to wonder what pains were endured to reverse human progress by more than a century.

I assumed that some horrible Year Zero, a la the Khmer Rouge, must have taken place to wipe away all the features of modern society as well as the heroes. I wonder if Winik will give a richer, more complete view of the future world. It would certainly be cool to know how the world returned to a mostly agrarian society.

[S.F. Jude Terror]

Interesting point. But you have to wonder what pains were endured to reverse human progress by more than a century.

I assumed that some horrible Year Zero, a la the Khmer Rouge, must have taken place to wipe away all the features of modern society as well as the heroes. I wonder if Winik will give a richer, more complete view of the future world. It would certainly be cool to know how the world returned to a mostly agrarian society.

Yeah I'd like to see it explored further. I just thought it was interesting, generally when a comic book shows a future that the present heroes need to prevent it's something like Days of Future Past, where it's obviously an undesirable result regardless of the methods used to get there, but this was like rural Pennsylvania. 200 years into the future, all of those heroes would be dead anyway, so in the grand scheme of things, would it be all that terrible if they gave up? Not saying I think they should, but it's a valid question for the characters to ask, I think.

[Amoebas]

but it is not a post-apocalyptic wasteland

Once you discount the radioactive wasteland that Captain Atom visits

[S.F. Jude Terror]

Once you discount the radioactive wasteland that Captain Atom visits

Yeah but that's just one area, they're living like Little House on the Prairie in the rest of the world, as far as we've seen.

[Victorian Squid]

Yeah but that's just one area, they're living like Little House on the Prairie in the rest of the world, as far as we've seen.

Not really, that would just be one small area shown too then.

That being said, I am with Max Lord on this one.

[guitarsmashley]

Oh DC, your house-style art is so so bland.

uhhhh..is there a house style that is any better? Vertigo ends up with some seriously bad artists in the name of gritty. Top Shelf and Aspen are pretty much awful silvestri, turner crap and Marve's is just as Boring as DC's.

[Mr_Batman]

All I can say is that this was a damn good issue

[******]

Justice League: Generation Lost #6

I guess it's good that most everyone else seems to have enjoyed this because it honestly didn't do a whole lot for me. Not that it was bad, it just didn't do anything to get me excited about JLI characters. (An impossible task most likely.) I was grateful for the lack of bwahaha-ness, but mundane isn't necessarily better just less annoying. I suppose the twist would be cool for those into these characters, but as a hater I'd just assume Max Lord kill 'em all. The art was bland and unmemorable.

Story: 5
Art: 5
Overall: 5

[Eli Katz]

Justice League: Generation Lost #6

I guess it's good that most everyone else seems to have enjoyed this because it honestly didn't do a whole lot for me. Not that it was bad, it just didn't do anything to get me excited about JLI characters. (An impossible task most likely.) I was grateful for the lack of bwahaha-ness, but mundane isn't necessarily better just less annoying. I suppose the twist would be cool for those into these characters, but as a hater I'd just assume Max Lord kill 'em all. The art was bland and unmemorable.

Story: 5
Art: 5
Overall: 5

Hater.

/Jude Terror'd