Justice League of America #8

Writer: Steve Orlando

Artist: Felipe Watanabe

Colourist: Hi-Fi

Publisher: DC Comics

This story isn't compelling in the slightest.

Steve Orlando begins a new arc with this issue, The Man from Monster Valley. We meet a new character, Makson, who has lived his life since he was a child among monsters due to some bad circumstances. The JLA save him and Batman begins to suspect that he has more up his sleeve.

And thus the story completely falls apart. Orlando tries to manufacture some more tension between the members of the JLA but it doesn't feel natural at all. Batman is the one who instigates the investigation and his reasoning seems solid, but he does a terrible job at justifying his reasons and ends up alienating the JLA as a result.

Batman isn't dumb. He's been a member of a few teams for many years now and should know how to handle them, especially when it comes to explaining his attitudes or theories to the younger members. Not to spoil much, but Makson eventually makes his way back to civilisation with the JLA. This itself makes no sense, as Batman would be a lot more cautious given his suspicions and wouldn't let Makson anywhere near a television camera before properly vetting him.

I normally like Felipe Watanabe's art but it just looks bad here. It was too edged and I didn't like Makson's design at all; he looked like an idiot most of the time.

Orlando's new story fizzles almost immediately, which is due to his terrible plotting and supremely awful exposition. I liked mostly nothing about this issue. Watanabe's art was mediocre but mostly readable.