Here’s a comic chosen at random from my collection.
JLA: Year One tpb by Mark Waid, Brian Augustyn, & Barry Kitson (storytellers), Michael Bair, Barry Kitson, Mark Propst, & John Stokes (i), Patrick Garrahy (c), Ken Lopez (l), & Barry Kitson (cover)
There was so much about the 1990s superhero comics that I missed out on, and this one of the better stories that I later found in trade. This collection of the 12-issue series retells the Justice League of America’s origin story, but goes way beyond the original Appelaxians invasion plot from Brave and the Bold #28; in fact, it follows them for what is ostensibly a year after that momentous gathering. Along the way, they have to foil another Appellaxian invasion, and deal with the press, themselves, and their supporting casts. There are a lot of great little character bits as well, such as Aquaman mumbling all of the time because sound travels further underwater, thus not requiring such volume when speaking. The only bad part about that was that it was repeated several times throughout the issues. Another great moment was when Green Lantern is told he isn’t the leader of the team, and that Flash is. Speaking of Flash, he and Black Canary (who is taking the post-Crisis place of Wonder Woman in this tale) start to develop feelings for one another and even kiss at one point.
I also enjoyed the mystery of who was financially backing the newly formed JLA (and it’s probably not your first guess), something that we find out in the very last pages (but I won’t spoil it for you). Then there’s the part involving J’Onn, where he has kept files on all of his teammates, as well as any other superhero he’s encountered. Of course, this doesn’t go over too well with the team. It was also something that was touched on in the “Tower of Babel” story from JLA a few years later. All good stuff, especially if you like adding dimensions to material that is decades old.
The art of the series is mostly very good, but some inkers don’t mesh well with Kitson’s art, I’m afraid. Regardless, I highly recommend reading this series, especially as a trade.
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