Divided We Fall

I loved this book. Very satisfactory follow up to volume 7. I don't want to give anything away, go buy this book!

A schism within the JLA sees them without the assistance of Batman. This is a big problem, when the Queen of Fables comes calling and wants to use the League for her own ends, even somewhat literally. Will Batman come to their aid? Even if he does, there is still the distrust to deal with later, and the vote.

This collection follows directly after the Tower of Babel storyline. This follows as the JLA comes to terms with Batman's betrayal and consequent expulsion from the group. The first story involves the Queen of Fables, who have escaped from a book of fairy tales and is suffering from the Snow White's Stepmother Complex and is intent on bringing down Wonder Woman (in her eyes, Snow White). The JLA battle all types of fairy tales monsters and modern horror-flick creatures (Jason and even the Terminator). There's even a scene where the Martian Manhunter is being shoved into a burning oven by a witch a la Hensel and Gretel. Anyways, the JLA overcomes the odds but they are at a major crisis, where those that voted for Batman don't seem to see eye-to-eye w/ those who voted against him. Superman sees this problem and has a conversation w/ Batman where it shows how his betryal has left the JLA vulnerable and uneasy due to the distrust growing between them. To remedy this problem, Batman calls them to the Bat-cave but there's one problem, every single super-hero and their alter-egos have literally split (except for Aquaman and Wonder Woman). The split takes it toll on the JLA, as Mark Waid shows how one cannot co-exist w/out the other. Superman looks more like the Kryptonian ruler he had been forseen to be by his father and Clark Kent is afraid of his own shadow. Batman seems to be simply a machine w/ no personality and Bruce Wayne is a psychotic fop. Anyhow, at the end Plastic Man (actually his alter ego) comes to the rescue and sorts out this entire metaphysical mess. The JLA returns to all its glory with Batman welcomed back into the fold. I really enjoyed this story, it was epic in the sense that it involved the near end of the World but to me it seemed to hinge more on the personal side of the JLA. This contrasts greatly from Grant Morrison's epic tales which involved a cartload of chracters. Mark Waid has hit a homerun wih this story and I would recommend it to all comic book fans.

I loved this book.JLA is one of my favorite superhero books and Mark Waid did not disappoint as the replacement to Grant Morrison. In "Divided We Fall", we get to see how they fix the whole fiasco of Batman and the consequences of what the JLA went through in Tower of Babel.It turns out that the leaguers were far more deeply affected than anyone could have guessed, and it is resolved here.If I'm being cryptic, it's only because I can't give away the end of the previous book. That'd be cheating!This book also shows some strong character development for many of the leaguers, and some very welcome mature focus on Plastic Man.United we stand. You don't buy this book, we fall.

I laughed more in this tpb than I did in any other JLA books to date. The artist seems to really have the facial expressions down, and they seem to fit what the character would actually look like under difficult, embarrassing situations. But what I liked most about this book was the fact that I was able to see interesting things that I hadn't imagined possible in JLA. For instance, Wonder Woman gets a romantic kiss from a team member (I'm not telling, go get the book...), Superman gets flustered, Batman gets his tail whipped by a team member (you'll never guess), most of the team gets to be normal, and finally, Plastic Man gets some character development. About Plastic Man, I'd have to say that this book rescued him in my eyes. He was really starting to get on my nerves as the comedian all the time. Hopefully, some of the maturity will stick with him. The stories are interesting enough, but the main storyline is the whole batman-kicked-out-of-the-league-how-does-he-get-back-in... Anyway, excellent book. I highly recomend it for any fans of JLA!