Justice League of America #10

"In Your Head"

Matt Kindt / Writer
Tom Derenick and Eddy Barrows / Pencils
Tom Nguyen and Allen Martinez / Inks
Hi-Fi / Colors
Rob Leigh / Letters
Rickey Purdin / Associate Editor
Eddie Berganza / Group Editor
Superman created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster by special arrangement with the Jerry Siegel family

The cover is by Barrows with Matt Yackey. I am glad that one of the pencilers on the inside pages got to do the cover, and I am very glad that the cover portrays an event that actually occurs in the comic. By all counts, this is a very solid cover, but not particularly awe-inspiring. One odd thing about it that bugs me is the perfect uniformity of the "holes" on Stargirl's costume. I imagine those are supposed to be rips and tears sustained during battle, but they look so clean and neat, it almost seems like Stargirl purposefully cut out those holes herself to make her costume more fashionable.

The story continues directly from last issue, with Stargirl becoming increasingly distracted by memories of her past. Martian Manhunter, who's stuck in her head, struggles to get her to pay attention to the current situation at hand. Stargirl has escaped the series of psychic prisons, but now finds herself surrounded by Deathstroke, Blockbuster, Shadowthief, Copperhead and Giganta.

The fight is a bit rough, but Martian Manhunter is able to coach Stargirl and share his powers with her until they escape and get to a quiet place. Stargirl manages to kick Martian Manhunter out of her head, then immediately takes off to protect her family. Martian Manhunter then uses his telepathy to find the Justice League inside Firestorm, who is about to blow up.

The Good:

Again, I really don't have a whole lot to say about this issue. The whole focus was on Stargirl's origin, which is completely fine because she needs to have her origin told, but I found the whole story quite unremarkable. She found her power staff in her stepdad's trunk. She didn't like him at first, but later they bonded, and now she considers him a part of the family. Very nice and sweet, but ultimately it has no bearing on the Forever Evil event, or anything to do with the Flash. At first, I thought it was a little too convenient that Stargirl had Martian Manhunter's powers, but the more I thought about it, it actually started to make a bit of sense. A little bit. But mainly I can't complain about things like that in this issue because I've already read issue 13, which has a pretty big reveal that explains everything.

The Bad:

Little to no Flash. This is a Flash blog, and when I review a comic that has basically nothing to do with the Flash, I need to penalize it. This was a completely fine and interesting issue, it just does nothing with the character I'm most interested in. On one hand, it is nice to see that the Flash has been found and accounted for, and help is (slowly) on the way. But on the other hand, I know that the Flash can't be saved a minute before Forever Evil #7, so it's kind of frustrating to be given quick glimpses of Flash in duress scattered across these issues. Basically, I'm good and ready for something to happen, and it doesn't help that the final Forever Evil issue has been delayed.

Final score: 4 out of 10

Next time: Justice League of America #13