Justice League of America #11 Review

Only In My Dreams

Written by: Steve Orlando
Art by: Neil Edwards, Sandu Florea, Hi-Fi and Clayton Cowles
Cover Price: $2.99
Release Date: July 26, 2017

It's time for more Kingbutcher!  What, you're not excited about the guy who came out of nowhere to destroy the dreams of Vanity?  I can't blame you as last issue really was not that good and just dropped this silly dream thing in our laps and expected us to care about it.  Oh well, maybe Steve Orlando will give us more this issue and even throw in a bit more explanation about the Might Beyond the Mirror.  That's what I'm waiting for.  So, do we get it?  Let's find out...


The issue opens with Ryan working on an algorithm to find Ray Palmer which is odd since Batman left him and Frost behind to follow leads to cure her "condition".  They even threw the name "Travis Cody" out there, but I guess they (or Steve Orlando) forgot about that.  They finally decide to head off to Africa and I'm fine with it because they decide to drop in on Dominic Mndawe...Freedom Beast!

I love Freedom Beast, but I have no idea what he's yapping about.  Bio-fission, bio-fusion, a phagic connection to the Red?  Okay... It worst thing about it is nothing comes from it at all.  In fact, I'm not sure why Vixen couldn't have done what Mndawe did here issues ago.

We then head off to the rest of the team in Philadelphia and again, things don't completley jive with last issues cliffhanger.  I guess that Ray seeing his mom wish for a new family jump started the fight with the Kingbutcher again.  Half of them are out cold and after reading the dialogue between Batman and our Big Bad, I was wishing one of them was the Dark Knight.  Well, maybe Kingbutcher is the worst here with his talk of things split twice sevenfold!

It all leads to Canary, Vixen and Ray figuring out what is anchoring Kingbutcher to this reality and attacking it.  It's an overly wordy scene with eye rolling dialogue galore, but that's pretty much par for the course in these parts.  At least it got rid of the Kingbutcher and we can only hope this is the last we will ever see him.

With the battle won, it's now time for Steve Orlando to make the Ray look like a complete jackass...twice!  I'm guessing that wasn't the intent, but he blows off his mother even though he was the one who left her without even a goodbye.  I know we are suppose to feel bad for Ray for all those years he was kept in the house, but I left thinking that she was the one who suffered the most here.

Then we get such a forced and ridiculous scene between Ray and Batman.  Ray yells about being right about people, but that's not what this was all about.  They fought an asshole villain who was against people getting their wishes.  Speaking of the wishes, why did we see so few wishes and why didn't we see one person wish for something bad?  The whole thing had no weight to it at all.

Things keep on going as Batman travels to Kravikoras to talk to Lord Havok about the Might Beyond the Mirror.  It seems that Havok was granted a wish, but why didn't the Kingbutcher show up there?  Maybe Havok and the Extremists were too big and the Kingbutcher only fights people wanting to rid themselves of Fibromyalgia!  When Batman says he too was offered a wish I wanted to scream!  If he was offered a wish, why is he there asking someone else about the Might Beyond the Mirror??????

The issue ends with the Kingbutcher getting a demotion and Ryan's algorhtym getting a hit on Ray Palmer.  The first one made me happy (let's forget all about the Kingbutcher, shall we?) and the second one actually has me excited.  Please don't mess this up Orlando!

This issue and arc were complete nonsense.  Steve Orlando's dialogue is laughable, but it's the lack of story and character setup that kills everything here.  The Kingbutcher was hardly a a character and the story of the wishes was a joke.  Throw in the fact that I hate Ray so much after this issue and you got a book that I can't see anyone enjoying.  It's really that bad!

The art is actually quite nice, though.  Neil Edwards does a good job here and I have to give a shout out to Hi-Fi for some great color work.  The art team tries to save the day, but I guess that's just another wish the Kingbutcher killed.

Bits and Pieces:

Steve Orlando continues giving readers a team they can't get behind doing things that nobody cares about.  I want to like this book, but every issue makes it harder and harder.  Maybe the Might Beyond the Mirror will grant me my wish for a good Justice League book...Please!

4.0/10