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Underground > Comic Books >

JLA: Classified #2

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12:14 / 27.12.04

And Nebulo has 3 eyes...

03:04 / 28.12.04

>> I like the Master's costume, which I noticed this issue has the Sephiroth of the Qaballah represented on it, with Kether on his forehead.

Yeah, I noticed this for the first time this issue too. I wonder if we just didn't see enough of his body in the first issue to make out the full tree.

The Natural Way

11:56 / 28.12.04

I didn't say, "Once you get it, you'll see there's no debate here..." because I'm arrogant, Mac. It was one of those times when you know you're right, but can't convey it because yr pissed and don't have the comic in front of you.

Anyway....kabbalahshmallah. Or at least in so far as it refers to the Spine-riders. I'm far more into the Wild Hunt stuff that's going on. Grant's updating english folklore/fantasy here what with Herne and the evil bondage fairies turning up. I also love the whole prequel vibe of the thing. The JLA, first to discover the alien menace, save the day, but can do nothing to stop the dreadful shit waiting on the horizon. Grant's got such a weird meshing of realities going on here - Boboss finds it all largely funny (big, cartoony apes wearing crowns and talking about Gorillatropolis, etc), whereas Macyver and I find the whole thing pretty creepy (the scene with the fairybug floating swimming towards Cyril's mouth is horrible. Cancer? Urrgh. Black Death's quite unpleasant, as is our world....). And then there's the extra layer of wicked visuals and overblown, psychedelic, super-hero strangeness. Telephoning the infant universe of Qwewq! Fantastic!

This book really has everything I want and it's dense too. Flux won't like it, but so what?

The Natural Way

12:01 / 28.12.04

Oh, one other thing: Supes rescuing the girl-in-the-bar at the beginning by knocking over her drink..... Pure Clark Kent. Pure Superman. Excellent.

14:06 / 28.12.04

Some of the aforementioned humour arises from the art, which I find warm and cartoony. I think Porter's angular style (for example) would help me to feel the horror a little more.

miss wonderstarr

08:21 / 30.12.04

So is the general consensus that #2 was a disappointment, however mild, after issue #1? This was like an above-average number of the original Morrison JLA -- a very good comic, rather than something that felt like more than a comic, more like a glimpse into the potential future of the medium circa Fall 2009, a story injected behind the eyeballs, into the veins. The pocket universe pages had that kind of buzz in #2 -- the sense that there was more here than you could grasp by actually looking; actually a pretty experimental feel to them, like Jimmy Corrigan or something from the old RAW, which is quite something in a top-brass superhero title -- but for the rest of it, the middle section, everyone's just left picking out "great moments". "Great moments" seems to imply a fragmentation, a lack of unified greatness. Squire having a rope for her ponytail is really fun, but that plus a nice image 6 pages later doesn't add up to a really good story.

Haus of Mystery

12:17 / 30.12.04

Not for me. Just as satisfying as the first, and the final page has me drooling for the finale. I think McGuinness' art was stronger this time, slightly more breathing space. I'm really loving how hissably evil the bad guys are in this comic. Batman's Grodd face-kick was particularly satisfying.

12:38 / 30.12.04

i suppose it depends on what you consider disappointing. #1 exploded with new possibilities, in terms of tone and content and pacing. #2 explored the territory.

in some sense, that's disappointing, because #2 doesn't have the same order-of-magnitude leap over #1 that #1 probably had over whatever issue of whatever comic you happened to be reading before it. average superhero comic is x, JLA Classified #1 is x^2, JLA Classified #2 is disappointing in the sense that it's "only" x^2 again, not x^3 or x^4.

what excites me the most is that Seven Soldiers seems like it may actually be x^3 or x^4.

12:42 / 30.12.04

>> as satisfying as the first, and the final page has me drooling for the finale.

I agree. I loved #2.

Gotta check out the Goraiko equations from the second issue...

16:12 / 30.12.04

I actually enjoyed issue 2 more than 1 in several ways. There where some amazing Layouts... that whole sequence with Bats chatting with Squire... awesome!

Any thoughts on which superhero grodd was finishing off there?

Also NEBULONG's comment on "I never eat my prey" reminded me of the whole corperate Virus meme. It hunts but doesn't eat what it kills... er okay maybe it's a stretch.

Loved 4D's coment "we're the Untramarines we do this" Not quite... kind of tragic that these "heroes" should be able to acchieve these feats but all we ever see of them is their fuck ups... Reminds me of Marvel's Squadron Supreme.

Also curious as to who those 2 Ultramarines are on the left of that group shot.

Loved that matrix bit, and that 4x4 panel layout for the infinat universe seemed to echo its shape as a cube. Also loved how it went all anti-mirror when Squire stuck her hands in it. Of course batman would have a dedicated hook for her hair, wouldn't want an accidental turn of the head to wipe out a star system.

"I'll leave you the Flying Saucer"

is Batman jealous of Knight I wonder.

16:35 / 30.12.04

>> Any thoughts on which superhero grodd was finishing off there?

I wondered about that too - it looks kinda like Magneto's chest plate shirt thingie but of course, that's not it.

19:13 / 30.12.04

McGuiness' art was fucking top for this ish. Check out the fullpage Mission Impossible spread when Squire's digging into QWEWQ. The Batbomber. The lips of the woman after Clark spills her drink. Gor-juss.

Oh, and you guys need to look at this yourself: Batman's face when he's barking orders to the JLAndroids. Perfect. Iconic. Batman. I can't fault any pencilling, line work, colouring/shadow in that face. Too good.

Plus+ what people have already said re: the QWEWQ pages. When you consider that the frames only hold visible inches of the JLA at any one time one gets the sense of juxtaposed scale. Both physical and mythological.

19:18 / 30.12.04

"I'll leave you the Flying Saucer"

is Batman jealous of Knight I wonder.

Ha! I think it's somewhere between 'who's yer Daddy' and Batman trying to wind the Knight up at a later date 'But Cyrilllll, Batman gave me a bloody FLYING SAUCER'.

It's probably also a meta-reference to 'here, you have it'. It's a throwaway. We've not been shown anything of the Saucer beyond it hovering a bit, and stuff. Morrison's showing that altho people may scream and shout about giving Batman crazy science, at the end of the day he can share his toy. Someone else can use it if they want. He's saying 'you keep the Saucer, I've got 500 other things to show you'.

Regrettable Juvenilia

21:53 / 30.12.04

It might also help Beryl get back to Earth from Pluto.

22:33 / 30.12.04

Oh yeah Beryl's gonna cruise back to earth in the pimped out ride her new sugar daddy hooked her up with...

Haus of Mystery

08:49 / 31.12.04

It might also help Beryl get back to Earth from Pluto.

This, with regards to the JLA. We should invite John Byrne over here. He'd shit a brick.

15:09 / 31.12.04

His name is Neh-buh-Loh.

I'm roughly in agreement w/ kovacs. But, yeah, this is only the prelude.

Next issue: a great big fight, which is something to anticipate for '05.

15:14 / 31.12.04

The whole leaving the saucer, I read it as more sark from mr Bat - here's the saucer, if you can't get them out of the universe it's a long ride back home alone (remember he boom tubed in). Maybe not sarky per say, more a kind of nudge that batman likes to give his younger friends.

06:28 / 01.01.05

Finally having read it, this was excellent, entirely on par with #1. I particularly enjoy the sense of GM's confidence in the comic-comprehension level of his audience, such that he feels comfortable essentially plotting in shorthand, rapid-fire info-density with minimal explication. If this prefigures the general approach of Seven Soldiers, I'm looking forward to that project even more than before.

19:20 / 02.01.05

Oh, and with regards to the super-compressed universe. Flash says something like "c'mon, three hours here could be like three days in the real world". We then see that Batman leaving with the JLAndroids, starting the assault on Gorillatropolis and Batman getting jzakked by Neh-buh-loh, all takes place during the phonecall between the JLA/Black Death/The Squire.

Grodd Morrison thinks of EVERYTHING.

22:37 / 21.01.05

I only just got these in my DC comp box.

Good goddamn lord, THIS is what superhero comics ought to be. Forget all your photorealistic renderings of hollywood actors sitting around blah blah blahing - this is the good shit. Exciting, action-packed, gorgeously drawn, I got little shivers of glee on almost every page.

It sucks that I get these a month later than everyone else...

22:48 / 21.01.05

Don't feel bad, Cam. I haven't gotten the issue yet... So you're ahead of me.

23:41 / 21.01.05

ETA on #3?

01:51 / 22.01.05

According to DC Solicits, #3 is out this week. Pleasantly speedy, I think, though I wouldn't be surprised if it was delayed.

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