JUSTICE LEAGUE INTERNATIONAL #5

There once was an intergalactic miner. Who was a very big fan of the forty-niners. But then one day, to his dismay, he got his ass kicked by a bunch of colorful minors. True story - it was told to me by Writer: Dan Jurgens; Artist: Aaron Lopresti; and Publisher: DC Comics in February 2012. Honest?

So what’s the story morning glory?
In this final part of 'The Signal Masters', we get to see everyone's favourite Justice based team, with the word 'International' in its title, confront some yellow faced git.

Part One - The Problem: The intergalactic bad-ass / ugly-mother, Peraxxus, has finally done it - he has everything in place so that he can then mine and sell off the Earths natural resources to whomever he fancies. Moreover, if a ship comes anywhere near him in space, his automated defence systems will blow them like a hooker with a stammer.

Now who can help with this? The Army do not seem to have the fire-power - the Justice League are no where to be seen - and their International based group have been dumped into the sun and fried.

Or have they?

Part Two - The Solution: Thankfully, due to Booster Gold's force field, the JLI save themselves from extreme sunburn, and then devise a three phase plan to fight back against Peraxxus. (PHASE 1) Stow onto his spaceship by piggy-backing onto a rock. (PHASE 2) Once on board the ship, the team splits in two, with one half distracting Peraxxus with a fight, while the other half tries to sabotage his ships controls. (PHASE 3) Run like f*ck - or alternatively, try to get away without turning into sushi.

And do you know what? Their plan works you know.

The Question - Who the hell is that peeping tom targeting the Justice League International from afar?

What is the most memorable sentence spoken in this issue?

For the sake of pure frivolity, I did find it amusing when Peraxxus said to Goviva "Your Weapon Is Hair?" - well - it is a silly thing for a bad-guy to say.

Was the story any good?

As a story goes, I have to say that I did not mind this issue of Justice League International at all. It was very linier and straight forward tale in retrospect, plus, the plodding and light tone to the overall arc was very 'kiddie friendly' to boot. Also, in addition to this, I enjoyed the inadvertent 'Star Wars hide within a rock' scenario.

Err? I presume that it was a Star Wars related reference anyway!

Was the art any good?

Maybe it is just me, but I found that artist, Aaron Lopresti, has started to change his style slightly on this book - making it look tighter in composition and focused in tone. Also, I did like the look of some of the splash pages too - very brash and bold indeed.

However, the colouring by Hi-Fi, and the inks by Matt Ryan, does still make the overall vibe of this issue 'Saturday Morning Cartoon' - if you catch my drift - which I personally feel dilutes the impotence on this series.

What is the best thing about this issue?

Now I do not want to sound bitchy by saying this, but the best thing about this issue is that the current story arc is over. Well, a super powered evil businessman / miner? Ha! You're having a laugh! Moreover, I did like the way that the 'gang is all together now' - plus I am sure that the future can be better than what we have seen so far.

What is the worst thing about this issue?

There were one or two incidental character scenes that did not really work for me. Godiva's hesitation - anything to do with Briggs and Emma - and what the f*ck was Vixen and Batman's squabble all about? Personally speaking, this layer of characterisation did not really click within the confines of this particular story, and only acted as 'adverts' to 'whatever'.

If you could sum up this issue in a phrase or saying, what would that phrase or saying be?

Funnily enough, Batman gave me the perfect phrase which could sum up this issue very nicely - 'Do It'. OK, I know that it is an irritating comment, but its intention is very clear - like this comic book itself.

If this issue were a movie, an object, or a piece of music, what would that be and why?

OK, so what do we have here - a simple story - some colourful heroes - and a butt-ugly villain. Therefore, what about the oriental television show 'Dragon Ball Z'!

What do you think would have made this issue better than it was?

I would have had Peraxxus being duped into buying a time-share in Kooey Kooey Kooey, by none other than Ted Kord himself, the Blue Beetle. Now how's that for a return?

Final thoughts...

We need a better villain next time please Mr Jurgens! Come on - an intergalactic space miner as a baddie is just silly to say the least - and we don't want this book to be silly, do we. We want it funny and full of character. Correct?

What are your feelings people? Drop me a line and I will pass it on to Dan myself.

Marks out of 10? 8