Justice League of America #20

Writer: Steve Orlando

Artist: Hugo Petrus

Colourist: Hi-Fi

Letterer: Clayton Cowles

Steve Orlando ends the SURGICAL STRIKE arc in a much more satisfying manner than I was expecting. I do think, however, that this arc was about an issue longer than it should have been, since there's quite a big of page space left after the JLA take down Prometheus and Afterthought. Dealing with only one villains would have been something I prefer since the story could have been tighter and more focused.

I have to commend Orlando on actually delving into the main theme of this book when it first launched. This team is for the people of the DC Universe, and I really feel like this theme played a major role in this issue in a really positive way. Also, I appreciated the lack of Batman since he would have come up with a solution much quicker than those present would have which made for a more interesting fight.

Speaking of Batman: it seems that this issue takes place during METAL and that bothered me. Vixen makes a reference to people turning on their television and finding nightmare versions of Batman. Why would the JLA be at Happy Harbour when the world is apparently ending right outside their door? It seems to me that Orlando wanted an in-continuity excuse to leave Batman out of the story. Another issue I had with the story is that it simply went on for a bit too long. Frost goes through something at the end of the issue and it could have been much quicker, which would have given Orlando some page space to explore the really vague cliffhanger.

I have some issues with Hugo Petrus' artwork. I don't mind it as a whole but I take serious issue with the way he draws Atom, Ryan Choi. The first page contains the weirdest-looking Ryan I've ever seen. He looks like a MAD character in the worst way possible. Petrus also does a less than fine job with the action scenes. These pages are oddly spaced out and the panels are way too thin to really relay what's going on.

This is one of the better issues of the series yet. Orlando really hammers home the theme of the series but some pacing problems couldn't save it completely for me. Petrus' art was disappointing and is some of the weaker art this series has seen.