Citizen's Grade: O.K.
This is the JLA tale introducing the Milestone Characters to the DC Universe. Written by Dwayne McDuffie (Milestone Editor-in-Chief) and art done by Ed Benes, Rags Morales and others.
Icon and the Shadow Cabinet break into the JLA headquarters to steal the essence of Dr. Light (the female version). A fight ensues between the JLA & Shadow Cabinet, then Hawkman shows up....a fight ensues between Hawkman, JLA & Shadow Cabinet against their own Shadows as Shadow Thief reveals himself. The Shadow Cabinet then escape, Dr. Light's powers are returned to her......and the JLA realizes they've been "had".
After Batman's "death", the League begins to drift apart as Superman, Wonder Woman, Flash, and others go on hiatus, and Green Lantern Hal Jordan and Green Arrow form their own version of the Justice League. Black Canary dissolves the League, although some members still meet and promise to uphold the League's values and charter.
Dr. Light then becomes involved in a fight with Shadow Thief, who possesses new & improved powers. He opens a "portal" for Starbreaker (a Vampire who feeds on Suns). Her fellow Leaguers come to her rescue too late and then search and find her at the Shadow Cabinet's headquarters. They ultimately defeat Starbreaker by pulling the sun energy he's absorbed out of him, & Paladin's bullet to the head. They rescue Dharma.
Dharma then shows Icon & Superman that he is the one holding together two Earths (Milestone's and DC's). His death would have meant the destruction of one of the Earths, and that he believes he can meld the two together over time. He swears Superman and Icon to secrecy and keeping Earth safe.
I liked how writer McDuffie introduces the Milestone Characters in this volume, but I wonder if Batman's death affected his story. It seemed to sort of chop off, and most of the Milestone characters don't appear (except for a scene later where they are all unconscious)for the rest of the volume. There seemed to be equal parts conversation and action. Benes and Morales do a great job (as usual)with the art, and the others were ok. I didn't like Jose Luis's Superman, but the rest was good. Shane Davis was alright, and I hadn't seen Ardian Syaf or Eddy Barrows before (that I can recall), but they were decent. Overall, I thought this was a decent story, and I like the direction that McDuffie has been going with the Justice League of America since taking over writing duties.
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