Is this...the END of the Super Friends?

Read the Justice League issue, that is apparently Mr. Meltzer's swan song with some mixed feelings. It wasn't terrible...it was just...bland, I suppose. His entire run has been on the bland side, so I am looking forward with great anticipation to the arrival of Dwayne McDuffie.

Everyone takes their turn at Monitor Duty at the newly-built Hall of Justice, while being secretly watched by a mysterious duo, who also comment about what is going on. It must be a little bit creepy to know that your every move is being monitored. Ordinarily I would suspect that Batman, once again sucumbing to his raging paranoia, had bugged the new headquarters. Of course that may very well be the case, but there seems to be another set of eyes and ears as well.

We get to see "Reddy" who is becoming even more boring and unlikeable than before wander around for a while. Kendra shows up and discovers that Roy has a kid. Roy shows up with Lian, who is wearing the cutest little Speedy outfit you ever did see! Then Black Canary plays the harmonica to improve her "breath" control. She also gets a little territorial over Roy and tells Kendra that she had better not hurt him...or else. So of course Roy and Kendra jump into the sack and get discovered by Reddy. It doesn't seem to bother them very much. It IS a good thing that he had the forethought to take Lian home first.

Then Geoforce wanders around and confronts Deathstroke who is apparently behind all of his current problems, but they aren't going to do anything about it for the time being. Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman talk amongst themselves a bit. Vixen confesses that she can't channel animals anymore, and this makes some sort of impression on Geoforce. Hal and Wally have male bonding.

It turns out that the mysterious couple watching all this nonstop action and excitement are none other than Martian Manhunter and Aquaman. They are just ready and waiting to jump into action themselves, once the League NEEDS them again. I thought that Aquaman was a tentacle monster, and J'onn was hanging out disguised at Checkmate, but what do I know?

I DO know that if Giffen and DeMatteis had been writing this, there would have been a hell of a lot more going on, even with this bunch of characters. There would have been snappy dialogue, misunderstandings, and Geoforce would have been portrayed as a utter boob. J'onn would have been chain-munching chocos and Aquaman would have had that pained look on his face. Kendra and Dinah would have been MUCH cattier, something would have gotten broken, and Batman would have to stand around snarling. AND they would have defeated the Royal Flush Gang inbetween it all.

I have rather enjoyed some of the small character-driven moments that Mr. Meltzer has provided. It also seems to make some sense that with all these rather disparate characters gathered together, that they would pair off into their own little cliques, such as the Big Three, and Dinah, Hal and Roy...and now probably Wally all together. It does leave the others out in the cold a bit however. But Reddy is just BORING, and Geoforce, although he aspires to be obnoxious can't even begin to attain the level of jerkiness held by Guy Gardner back when he was brain-dead. Brion actually HAS his brains, which just makes it more pitiful.

There was always the feeling with this latest incarnation of the Justice League, that at any moment...eventually...possibly SOMETHING was finally going to happen! However, not much really did. Reddy was human for a little while, now he's an android again. Big Whoop. There was that crossover with the Justice Society, where they all ran around and looked like chickens with their heads cut off for a while. Then Roy and Mari got stuck underwater in a collapsing building, which was claustrophobic, but they got out.

We need L-Ron.