Justice League of America, #7

Well, the cover is nice. BOTH covers are nice, but there is no way that I'm going to spring for two, so sorry DC. I got the one with Hal on the front of course. And look, up in the back, is Guy, Ted and Booster! And Kyle!

I...I actually rather enjoyed this. It took an awfully long time to get here, but finally...finally, they are finished playing with the pictures and have actually formed a team. Built a new headquarters and everything! Designed by Wonder Woman and John Stewart! He also designed the headquarters for the Justice Society, so he's been getting some steady work lately, which is nice. And the Danger Room...OOPS! I mean the Training Room, is located on the old satellite. Makes sense I suppose, less chance of massive property damage. They've actually nicknamed it the "Kitchen". Lightning wonders why the heck they would call it that, and Diana says, "if you can't stand the heat..." Hardy har har.

Anyway, I'm a sucker for stories with the new headquarters and such. Heck, they could have just published the blueprints and I would have stared at it for hours. Apparently they are even going to give tours and such. They have a trophy room and everything! Can't you just see Batman trying to dodge the groups of sixth graders?

Ahem. Anyway, the book opens with Black Lightning handing an invite to Batman, who wonders why they didn't send Hal. Lightning smirks and says it was because they wanted him to say yes. Actually, I think Batman was a little disappointed...after all, he and Hal have been getting along pretty well lately. And Hal is just SO pretty.

Then we move to Vixen and Hawkgirl saying yes to their invites. And Roy starts practically blubbering when he gets his. I'm surprised he doesn't wet his pants. He then has a Kodak moment with Hal and Dinah, which I actually found to be rather sweet.

Then Geo-Force gets a little angsty. Meh. Red Tornado is in...well duh. Superman shows Lightning all over the new headquarters and they all reminisce for a bit.

For some reason Will Magnus shows up with the Metal Men. Glad he makes it out of 52. And Professor Ivo gets chased by Starro. Ooooh....scary!

Then things get a little bit strange. Red Arrow, formerly known as Arsenal comes in wearing his new outfit, and feeling a little self-concious. He trades bon mots with Hawkgirl, which is actually rather amusing. She asks him why no hat, and he replies that he thought a hat was kind of dorkish. She thinks the shoelaces up the front is dorkish, but she likes his boots. Then Roy confesses to Hal that he's sort of got the hots for Kendra, and Hal starts to warn him about what Ollie would say...

...And suddenly we are onto another scene with Ollie and Hal. Turns out that Ollie was the one to give Roy the new red outfit, and he confesses that he screwed up dealing with Roy when he had that little drug problem way back when...

...And we're back to finishing Hal's sentence from when he was talking to Roy. Is it supposed to be like this? I really was jarred by the juxtaposition...did they put the pages in out of order, or is this just some sort of really weird scene changing? All of a sudden, we are back with Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman. Superman fries all the remaining photographs for some reason, and then they are all together taking a group shot...

...Aaaannndd...there is a really quite fabulous three-page wide fold-out, showing all the new members, complete with pictures on the wall behind them, showing older incarnations of the Justice League. *sniff* Brought a tear to my eye, it did. Boy Vixen is REALLY doing her best to fall out of her costume.

...And suddenly we are back to the scene with Hal and Ollie. Again, this really threw me. Ollie is snivelling about how much he misses the League, but he loves Roy more, or words to that affect. Hal and Ollie are strolling into the beautiful sunset, when you turn the page...

...and bam! Black Lightning and Batman are standing over some alien body, and Bats grimaces and says that "He's from the 31st Century."

Huh?

So, the art was nice, and there were some very nice moments with Roy and Hal and Dinah, and I liked the unveiling of the new Headquarters, and the fold out was beautiful, but the last pages just jumped around from scene to scene, and it was all very difficult to follow. Was it just my copy? Am I too old, and just not "with it"?