Justice League of America #200
Published and © by DC, March 1982
Title: “A League Divided”
Synopsis: When the Justice League’s very first foes reappear, new Leaguers must battle original members before the team can stand united.
Writer: Gerry Conway
Pencilers: George Pérez, Pat Broderick, Jim Aparo, Dick Giordano, Gil Kane, Carmine Infantino, Brian Bolland and Joe Kubert
Inkers: Brett Breeding, Terry Austin, Aparo, Giordano, Kane, Frank Giacoia, Bolland and Kubert
Review: Give early-’80s DC some credit: They knew how to put together a celebratory issue. Gerry Conway’s script, featuring the return of the Justice League’s original foes, is more of an exercise in positioning characters and putting them through their paces than it is a compelling story. But it does its job, offering plenty of classic JLA action and character moments. The real treat, though, is the art, which reunites artists with characters they’ve long been associated with (i.e., Joe Kubert on Hawkman, Jim Aparo on Phantom Stranger and Aquaman, etc.) Not everything works, but the batting average is high.
Grade: A-
Second opinion: “Reading the comic is like an education and artistic styles.” – Ali T. Kokmen, Comic Effect #9, Spring 1995 … “Spectacular in the truest sense.” – Hassan Yusuf, FantaCo’s Chronicle’s Series Annual #1, 1983 … Recommended by The Slings & Arrows Comic Guide (second edition), 2003.
Cool factor: The art. Seriously, this issue is a feast.
Not-so-cool factor: Snapper Carr. (He’s even less cool than Rick Jones.)
Notable: Green Arrow rejoins the team.
Character quotable: “This is just sloppy seconds!” – Aquaman
A word from the writer: “Suffice to say that the coordination of eight different pencilers and ten chapters and one writer and one editor gave us all some pretty hairy moments. ” – Gerry Conway, in “The First Two Hundred” essay in this issue
Editor’s note: This review was originally published by Comics Bronze Age on Nov. 6, 2009.
