JLA: Golden Perfect
writer Joe Kelly and artists Doug Mahnke and Tom Nguyen
I don't usually read JLA - I don't know - maybe because I grew up with Xmen. A friend lent me some of his JLA comics and graphic novels. I read Golden Perfect first. The JLA found a woman who was from a "hidden" city - the city "held" her son hostage. He was chosen as the next successor to being the king of the land, the king directly gets power from the earth and maintains the splendor of their city and way of life.
The JLA rushed to the city to rescue the child and they were faced with a dilemma - it was true that the boy's fate was tied to the land - the city would be destroyed if the true ruler renounced his calling but then again a mother and a child must never be separated. Wonder Woman believed that the the former was a lie - even after she used the lasso (which was supposed to force whoever is tied down by it to tell the truth) to determine the truth. This broke the lasso (which was supposed to be unbreakable). Wonder Woman was supposed to be the guardian of Truth and because she denied the truth and the lasso broken, reality began to unravel - truth became relative to the perception of the people. Thus, the Earth became the center of the Universe, it became flat, Superman because very buff, Batman began to disappear because most people thought he was an urban legend, and so on...
I was always irritated when the JLA mentions they uphold truth, freedom, and the American way. ARGH! It's like they're the only ones who believe in that! But in Golden Perfect, the writers explored the possibility that the League became imperialistic when they forced their beliefs and principles, their standards of what is right and wrong on a culture and independent and free country. I expected that Wonder Woman would be the one to be all high and mighty and init ulo - and to see her fall from her high horse, admit she was wrong and was open to compromise was good to see.
I was surprized to find that I liked Plastic Man - yes, he was a welcome comic relief!
