Justice League of America: Volume 2: Survivors of Evil

 

By: Matt Kindt; Tom Derenick; Eddy Barrows; Doug Mahnke

So, I thought this would pick up where Volume 1 left off.

Yeah, okay. Ridiculous, right? To think that part 2 would directly follow part 1? Apparently.

Survivors of Evil opens with Martian Manhunter and Stargirl – two heroes that were *not* in the first. It was at this point that I realized that I forgot a lesson from my childhood – a lesson my father, an avid comics collector, taught me  – that just because a comic has a similar title, and the same heroes, doesn’t mean that it’s on the same timeline, or even storyline.

My bad. Lesson recalled. Mental corrections made.

So, back to Survivors. Manhunter and Stargirl discover that they are trapped in some kind of prison. That all of the JLA are trapped. But although MM and Stargirl realize they are trapped, doesn’t mean that they are immune to the prison’s mental strain. In fact, although MM comments more about it, Stargirl seems to be the one more affected.

But that doesn’t mean that she’s going to give in.

This seems to be a story of Stargirl’s journey from being a costumed crusader into being a true hero. A story about what it means; what it takes to be a hero. A story of being part of a team, and what that means. A story of how the past affects the future, and the people that can separate the two.

The prison was awesome, but the story seemed slim – alot of rumination, repeating memories, and indecision. But at the same time, those few elements were what made this story so awesome. How many times when you’ve been stressed out have you repeatedly obsessed on the past, on things you couldn’t change, even if you had wanted to? Me, too many.

This was beautifully done, but as mentioned above, not a continuation on JL: Origins. This is a different animal, completely, even if it has the same characters. But it is a worthy read.