Justice League by Bendis vol. 1

It’s a new era for the Justice League!  How do they celebrate it?  By helping Black Adam beat up a superpowered invader to his home country of Khandaq.  This invader goes by the name Brutus, and while there’s nothing unusual about his goals, there is something about his powers.  Namely that they have the same signature as that of a newcomer to the DC Universe – the superpowered teenager known as Naomi.  It turns out this Brutus is from her world and the only way to stop him from coming back over is to shut the door on his side.  Which is what the League plans to do, with Naomi’s help… and Black Adam’s as well.

“Prisms” collects the first five issues of Bendis’ run which lasted for fifteen issues and one annual.  Given that issue after his run ended was a lead in to the “Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths” event, it’s not hard to see this as being something of a “lame duck” situation as the writer feels like he was brought on to keep the title going until this latest event sorted itself out.  I’m honestly not surprised that DC chose not to have him come back with a new #1 issue post-”Crisis” because what’s here is rather ordinary superhero action.  There’s fighting, some banter, a few cute ideas and nothing to separate it from other titles on the market, and what the writer himself has done before.

That said, I did like the idea of the invader from another dimension finding himself incredibly outmatched by the heroes, to the point where they decide to invade his home.  Trying to get Black Adam on the team is also interesting, even if he comes off as way less antagonistic than I’ve seen him in other titles.  The art from David Marquez is also nicely detailed and up to his usual standards when it comes to delivering impressive superhero action.  All this combines to make “Prisms” a resoundingly “okay” read and one that I’m really glad I didn’t spend the extra money to get in hardcover form.