Comics / Comic Reviews / DC Comics

JSA All-Stars # 12

By Koppy McFad
November 20, 2010 - 01:09

The All-Stars are drafted into an interplanetary war, but the real story is Cyclone and the strange lookalike who shows up at her school.

This is an unusual issue in both story and art. The entire team is drawn into space to help some alien race fight off an invasion. Not much explanation of why they are called upon and why they should help this group of aliens. But then the space storyline is just background for the real story of Cyclone-- Maxine Hunkel, trying to fit in at a college, especially after she has lost her powers-- and after an exact duplicate of her shows up at the scene.

The decision to focus on Cyclone's personal plight, rather than the alien threat, does feel like a cheat. On the other hand, Cyclone's story is rather interesting in the way she is presented as being quite charming while not ignoring how truly irritating the character can be. While we pity her, we can understand why other people don't like her. Maybe along the way, someone will remember that the character isn't simply some awkward girl-- she was originally suppose to have some mental illness. Maybe this story will finally do something with that aspect of the character.

The art is really uneven. Some panels are wonderful-- and then suddenly we get a facial expression or a character that just looks so--- wrong. Power Girl and Cyclone are the worst victims here. Artist Howard Porter has always excelled in big action scenes while lagging in depictions of women but this issue really emphasizes his weaknesses. He suffered some physical injury some time back which may explain things. But DC Comics could have at least asked the inker (in this case, the skilled Art Thibert) to clean up his mistakes. At the very least, they could assign him to a story that didn't emphasize female characters. In this issue, it looks like they just left poor Porter out to dry.

 

Rating: 7 /10

Last Updated: August 31, 2023 - 08:12