Review: Justice League International Vol. 2: Breakdown
Quick Summary
Pros: The beginning of the volume deals with an interesting concept. The artwork looks alright throughout.
Cons: Most of the storytelling is unappealing and contains a number of inconsistencies. There are far too many crossovers with other comics, distracting from this comic’s development. The conclusion is lackluster.
Overall: Readers hoping for some improvement from the Justice League International series can expect to find the opposite here. This is a volume that does little to entertain, as the narrative constantly feels cluttered and messy. Characters and concepts are introduced, developed, and discarded before ever having a chance to provide a significant level of entertainment. Overall, this is a volume that is unlikely to appeal to most readers.
Story
Justice League International Vol. 2: Breakdown, by Dan Jurgens, starts out with a bit of promise but ultimately ends up even worse than its predecessor. It tells an unappealing story, has a number of storytelling inconsistencies, and has far too many unnecessary crossovers with other comics. All of this makes for a volume that feels messy while offering very few positives. There is a moment of interest at the volume’s beginning, but this does not last long. In the end, this is a disappointing close to a series that was never able to come into its own.
(spoilers start here)
The beginning of Breakdown shows how the Justice League International deals with a completely unexpected tragedy. A few of the team’s members are critically injured and one of them is killed, all at the hands of an unknown enemy. Tragedy does not typically strike the main Justice League in this way, so seeing it happen is a unique and interesting experience.
Unfortunately, this moment of tragedy is the most interesting aspect of this volume. The rest of the book goes on to repeat a number of the same mistakes made in the first volume. This includes generic storytelling, unappealing subplots, and too much reliance on having readers develop emotional connections with characters they barely know. All of this hurts the volume and makes it less enjoyable to read.
In addition, Breakdown introduces a new problem in the form of numerous inconsistencies. There are events depicted here that contradict previous stories and some that even contradict each other. For example, the JLI encourage Kevin Kho to overcome Brother Eye’s programing since he was able to before. OMAC Vol. 1 (Review) shows that Kevin was released by Brother Eye due to interference from outside forces, not because of Kevin’s actions. An example of internal contradiction can be see when Batman is captured by villains on one page but is inexplicably free a few pages later. These errors make the storytelling seem sloppy and provide further negatives to an already lackluster book.
However, the volume’s biggest problem comes from clunky crossovers with characters from other series, including OMAC, Batwing, and Firestorm. The Firestorm crossover is the biggest offender here, as it significantly disrupts the flow of the story while providing little to no appeal on its own. Meanwhile, OMAC and Batwing take a while to introduce and even longer to assimilate into the team’s dynamic, yet are unable to provide much before the entire series concludes.
(spoilers end here)
Art
The artwork in Breakdown may be one of the volume’s better aspects, as it is consistently average throughout. Aaron Lopresti puts a solid level of detail into the characters and environments, making them realistic without pushing the envelope too far. This helps match the volume’s tone by making the characters’ actions feel powerful and heroic. There aren’t many moments here that stand out as specific examples of extraordinary art, but there also aren’t many moments that stand out as specific examples of bad art. All in all, this volume looks alright and will do little to disappoint most readers.
Continuity
Justice League International Vol. 2: Breakdown continues the story started in Justice League International Vol. 1: The Signal Masters (Review).
The Justice League International series ends with this volume. However, specific characters continue their individual stories in other comics.
- Blue Beetle’s story continues in issue #12 of Blue Beetle, collected in Blue Beetle Vol. 2: Blue Diamond.
- Booster Gold’s story continues in issue #19 of All-Star Western, collected in All-Star Western Vol. 4: Gold Standard.
- OMAC’s story continues in issue #17 of Stormwatch, collected in Stormwatch Vol. 3: Betrayal (Review).
This volume also references stories from other comic books, detailed below.
- OMAC’s origin is detailed in OMAC Vol. 1: Omactivate! (Review).
- Blue Beetle’s involvement here directly follows his interactions with Booster Gold in issue #11 of Blue Beetle, collected in Blue Beetle Vol. 2: Blue Diamond.