JLA: Rock of Ages

Darkseid is!

JLA issues 10-15.

This one of my favorite JLA albums: cosmic stuff, alternate futures, Darkseid, Lex Luthor leading the Injustice Gang. What more can you want from a simple super hero comic?

The all-male JLA is investigating attacks which are done by hard light constructs about themselves. The man behind the constructs is, of course, Luthor who has brought together a big team of super villains to beat the JLA; Joker, Mirror Master, Circe, and a few others I’m not familiar with. Luthor also controls the mind of an alien and makes the alien work for him.

While the team’s heavy hitters are dealing with that problem, New Gods’ Metron appears to Aquaman, Green Lantern, and the Flash. Metron tells them that they have to find the Philosopher’s Stone which is also called the Rock of Ages. If they don’t, Darkseid will destroy all life from the universe. Somewhat reluctantly, the trio agrees and Metron sends them to other realities. Unfortunately, they don’t quite succeed. After an arduous search, they are thrown 15 years into the future and into their future bodies on Earth which Darkseid has conquered. A few heroes and heroines are still alive and the trio tries to convince them that they need to get to Darkseid’s time machine and reverse everything that has happened.

In the future, only Aquaman is somewhat his old self; Flash doesn’t have any powers anymore, and the Green Lantern was captured and brainwashed in to one of Darkseid’s zombie soldiers. So, it’s a good thing that they get help from the heroes still left: the Atom, Wonder Woman, reprogrammed Amazo, elderly Green Arrow, a female Aztec, and Silver.

I really enjoyed all the alternate universes; the Wonder World at the end of existence where the greatest heroes of all time are waiting for the final battle and of course oppressed Earth. The future Wonder Woman was very impressive.

I also enjoyed the sequence where J’onn and Superman are trapped into hard light construct and the only way for them to get out of it is for J’onn to start thinking like Joker who designed the trap.

The plot does have some holes in it, though. For example, if the trio left Earth 15 years ago, why are their older selfs there? I also felt that Luthor wasn’t using the Stone much. The rest of the Injustice Gang was also pretty useless. The hard light constructs of JLA were there just for some gratuitous super brawling. But I like the rest of it so much that I’m willing to overlook those.

All in all, a very enjoyable cosmic romp!

Billy Blaster Easy Reader Graphic Novels

Billy Blaster: Ice Caves of Pluto by David Orme, illustrated by Peter Richardson, 33pgs, RL: 1.1 ~ My reluctant reader just finished this easy reader graphic novel and to date he hasn't met a Stone Arch book he didn't like. This one is very easy to read and he flew through it. A wonderful, fun science-fiction story Billy and his complaining cohort, Wu Hoo, land on Pluto and find friends buried in the ice below the surface. Billy comes to their rescue only to need Wu Hoo to come to his rescue at the end. Great big, bold, almost (but not quite) anime-like illustrations. Ds loved it and I agree. Good quality plot for the limited number of pages and Wu Hoo's dry sense of humour is a laugh. This series will appeal to boys especially.



Billy Blaster: Mind Thief by David Orme, illustrated by Peter Richardson, 33pgs, RL: 2.1 ~ Billy Blaster, superhero, and his trusty but sarcastic sidekick, Wu Hoo are back in full form with this science fiction caper. The evil Wizard of Edo is capturing the minds of intelligent men right out of their bodies and as Billy and Wu Hoo fight this evil they each become next on the list. Wonderful comic book superhero story, especially aimed at boys. The story contains a detailed quality plot that my 9 yo ds was eager to continue reading. This set of graphic novels doesn't intimidate him at all, even though as a struggling reader he needs some help at this reading level. Drawings are a fun not-quite-anime style and Billy's friend Wu Hoo is a laugh with his sarcastic (I'd rather be anywhere but here) humour.


There are already many books out in this series, too many to list but plenty to keep a boy reading for quite some time.