Reviewer: Andy Campbell
Story Title: Hell…Hell…The Gang’s All Here!
Writers: Keith Giffen & J.M. DeMatteis
Pencils: Kevin Maguire
Inks: Joe Rubinstein
Colors: David Baron
Letters: Bob Lappan
Assistant Editor: Michael Siglain
Editors: Wacker & Carlin
Publisher: DC Comics
“I Can’t Believe It’s Not the Justice League” continues, and Giffen/DeMatteis’s trademark humour goes non-stop for 22 pages…like “Airplane” on speed. In a good way. For those who may be new to the story, the plot is fairly simple. Booster Gold accidentally sent half of the Super Buddies to Hell, and the other half are trying to get them back. It’s a very simple plot, but then, plot is not the reason for reading this book…the comedy is. If you are a fan of Giffen/DeMatteis’s style of humour, then you will find yourself laughing out loud for the 10-15 minutes it takes you to read this book.
The other member of the triumverate creative team is Kevin Maguire, and he is certainly not to be overlooked. His art is a big reason why the humour in this book works so well. Maguire’s ability to capture facial expressions is unmatched, and he really captures the scene perfectly in each panel. A great-looking and funny book is an easy one to recommend, and this gets my highest recommendation.
To take a different direction, though…because this book contains the characters it does, and has the creative team it does, means that it’s getting a LOT of attention recently due to the events in Identity Crisis & Countdown to Infinite Crisis. The most vocal people when it comes to these series are most definitely their detractors, who say that DC is ruining these classic characters, and that they must have a vendetta against Giffen & DeMatteis. It’s also been said, even on this site, that DC needs more books like the current arc of JLA: Classified. My response to all of this? I disagree, wholeheartedly. Characters dying is part of comics. When a character dies, it’s not “ruining the character.” It’s (hopefully) just part of a good story. ***INFINITE CRISIS SPOILERS*** Blue Beetle’s death is not THAT big of a deal…seriously. Outside of this story arc, Blue Beetle really wasn’t doing much of anything, other than giving the Birds of Prey a new plane. ***END SPOILERS***
As for needing more books like this one, I disagree. While I certainly enjoy this book (very much so, seeing as I gave it a 10), there would be some problems. First, the book would lose that “special” feel it has if there were more books like it out there. Second, nothing would happen, plot-wise. As I mentioned earlier, the reason to buy this book is the comedy, not the plot. Because honestly, there’s not much to the plot at all. There’s a reason why a lot of people still refer to the Giffen/DeMatteis-era Justice League as the Dark Ages: high on humour, but low on action. Too much of that just wouldn’t work.
Okay, enough of this rant. It’s a great book, pick it up!
