JLA: Age Of Wonder #2 - A Review

Written by: Adisakdi Tantimedh
Penciled by: Galen Showman
Inked by: Galen Showman
Colored by: Dave McCaig
Lettered by: Bob Lappan
Editor: Andy Helfer
Publisher: DC Comics

As I noted last month, there are two types of Elseworlds; the ones that change a character completely within the bounds of another world and those that leave the characters we know and love untouched, but in another place in time and space.

Age of Wonder is one of the later and generally that means a story that is nothing different or special. And in regards to the characterization, everyone is just as you’d expect them to be; the characters who get developed at any rate. Starman, The Flash and newcomers The Atom and Plastic Man are given relatively minor roles in the final chapter and fall to the wayside as we are introduced to this world’s versions of Wonder Woman and Batman. Still, while some characters are given little to do besides being there in a fight scene, this book shines in other areas which more than make up for some spotty characterization.

Fans of alternate history stories will enjoy this crossover just for the concept and the well-researched references. References are made to the final days of Nicola Telsa, his rather flighty ideas regarding energy weapons and in one mildly humorous scene, his suffering from an obsessive/compulsive disorder.

The action starts some ten years after the apparent death of Superman at the end of last issue. American is entering the sunset of the Age of Invention. Hal Jordan is now a general in the US Army, Lex Luthor is Secretary of Defense, Nicola Telsa has almost perfected his death ray and the US is on the verge of joining World War I. The Germans have access to high technology thought to be possessed by only the USA and Luthor is actively working to prolong and escalate a conflict that is making him rich. Diana is helping Luthor by giving him access to superior Amazon technology and acting as his muscle.

Galen Showman proves himself quite the showman with his pencils and inks on this book. I commented before that his takes on steampunk technology are gorgeous to look at and that his redesigns of the JLA costumes to fit a turn of the century setting are among the best I’ve ever scene. I stand by that comment, even though I do wonder why The Atom looks like he is wearing Orion’s Astroglider and why they couldn’t be bothered to redesign the Batman costume? It is a bit jarring to the sense of historical accuracy to see Batman in his scenes in a story 100 years past, looking exactly as he does on the cover of Batman #615.

Despite it being nothing different in terms of character portrayal, I did enjoy this story. The setting is well-set and the mood well established. And while some characters are given the short end of the stick when the lines are being handed out, the ones who are focused upon do very well. Still, this story is a wonderful tale about a wonderful time…even without the airships and death rays.

JLA: Age Of Wonder #1 - A Review

Written by: Adisakdi Tantimedh
Penciled by: Galen Showman
Inked by: Galen Showman
Colored by: Dave McCaig
Lettered by: Bob Lappan
Editor: Andy Helfer
Publisher: DC Comics

There are generally two types of Elseworlds stories. The first, and rarer of these give us something unusual, with familiar characters rendered unrecognizable by the changes in the world. Stories where Hal Jordan is a Nazi or Superman is a bad guy, for example. The second, and more frequent type of Elseworlds, has the same characters being shown exactly as they have always been with the setting and time changed. Age of Wonder is one of the second type, but it is a very good alternate timeline story, if not one to change the course of comics like Kingdom Come or Dark Knight Returns.

The plot centers around Superman, who in this reality, came crashing to Earth in the late 1800’s and has come of age during the Age of Invention, when men like Thomas Edison were advancing science to new heights and the Industrial Revolution was just beginning. Along with Superman, other inventors form a “League of Science” dedicated toward helping Mankind with their inventions. Among the members of this League are Starman (called Ted Knight, but he has his son Jack’s goggles and cosmic rod), The Flash (Barry Allen, but he has Jay Garrick’s helmet) and Green Lantern (Hal Jordan, but he has a bit of Guy Gardner’s attitude).

Everybody is pretty much as they are character-wise in this story. Lex Luthor is still a greedy industrialist/scientist who is jealous of Superman. Superman is still a nice guy who wants to help everyone, although making him into something of an anarchist wanting to give away electric lamps is an interesting touch. And Lois Lane is the Nellie Bly of this world. Only cosmetic changes are made to the stories of the characters to better fit the setting, such as Luthor’s hairloss coming from his experiments with radium or Hal Jordan encountering his alien benefactor at Lot 51 in the Nevada desert, where the USA is conducting their first mechanical flight experiments.

The art, like the story, is good but nothing outstanding. The backgrounds are gorgeous and the designs for all the steampunk technology is excellent. I was fond of the airships in particular. And I must mention that the redesigns of all the character costumes, especially Hal Jordan’s more militaristic costume and Starman’s Doc Holiday outfit are among the best I have seen.

All in all, you couldn’t do much better than to spend your sheckles on this story. Not the best thing I’ve ever read. But it still left me filled with wonder.