The Justice League has faced many enemies, but what if one of its members turns out to be a threat to the entire JLA? Mark Waid set out to answer this question in The Tower of Babel .
Appetizers before the main course
Another item released from the DC Delux line , Tower of Babel, is actually a collection of four stories about the adventures of members of the Justice League. Apart from the creators, there is nothing that connects the stories presented here. The first one tells about the struggle with… fate, fate. Well, suddenly it turns out that something that was unbelievable comes true seven times! In the second story, the members of the League are kidnapped by their former friend Adam Strange, who uses them for slave labor. The third appetizer before the titular comic takes place during the period when Gotham was a no man’s land. And this story is the most interesting of the three, because it shows what other heroes actually do during the crisis in Gotham. Although they do not get involved directly, they help the inhabitants of the isolated city, as well as Batman himself. However, I will not hide the fact that all three stories are average and do not stand out much from other superhero comics. In my opinion, they are read and forgotten. After reading half of this volume, I thought it would be one of the worse entries in the DC Delux series , but then it was time for me to move on to the main course. The Tower of Babel tells the story of the insidious plan of Ra’s al Ghul, who intends to divide all of humanity with the help of the titular Tower. Before implementing this plan, however, he decided to get rid of the Justice League. And here his student came to his aid, because it turned out that Batman had developed ways to eliminate his… friends (?) from the League.
Confusion of languages
Batman is, in my opinion, one of the most interesting superheroes. I love this character and have a great time with most of his comics. Thanks to the Tower of Babel, I had the opportunity to see what drastic steps Batman can go to. And I also saw that he is an outstanding strategist. It cannot be denied that the ways to eliminate individual superheroes were extremely ingenious. Some of them were obvious in their own way, after all, we know what Superman’s weakness is, but there were a few non-obvious and surprising moves. The archvillain also had a great idea to destroy humanity by depriving them of the ability to read. It’s true that I regret that more space was not devoted to showing the chaos that occurred around the world. Nevertheless, the plot captivated me from the first page, and what I remembered most was the relationship between the League members and Batman, and the especially surprising ending.
The beauty and ugliness of Justice League
The first thing that caught my eye when leafing through this comic was its ugliness, specifically Wonder Woman’s ugly face. Interestingly, both the arrangement of her hair and her facial expressions look, in my opinion, almost identical to those of Adam Strange’s wife. I didn’t like the graphics at all. Although it has its moments, because the cartoonist amazingly shows an angry Orion foaming at the mouth! And I like such scenes. Unfortunately, in most cases the characters’ faces are ugly, often lacking sharpness or more details. I’m also not entirely happy with the way the items in the DC Delu x series are released, but these are the laws of the cycle. In addition to the comic book, Egmont added three covers and an afterword by Kamil Śmiałkowski. The most interesting thing was the introduction, because it was written by the creator of this comic book himself – Mark Waid .
Is it worth tearing down the Towers of Babel?
JLA. Tower of Babel focuses on the Justice League stories created by Mark Waid. If it weren’t for the phenomenal Tower of Babel , this would be a volume to read and forget. Unfortunately, the first three stories are very average. If it weren’t for the title story, this comic would have received a five from me. The Tower of Babel is truly an epic and amazing story. Not only did the authors come up with ingenious ways to eliminate the League members, but they showed Batman as an outstanding detective, strategist, and at the same time a paranoid bastard. The Tower of Babel shows that superhero comics do not have to be about heroes’ struggles with a gigantic threat from space. No, stories in which characters stab each other in the back are much more interesting and engaging.