Justice League of America: The Tornado’s Path

I’m probably not the best person to review “Justice League of America: The Tornado’s Path.” I’m really not a huge fan of the Justice League, at least in comic book form. Don’t get me wrong, I loved the Giffen-era Justice League. I thought some of Grant Morrison’s run was pretty neat. And I really dug the all-inclusive version of the team on the “Justice League Unlimited” cartoon.
But all-in-all, the comic-book team has never appealled to me. Any grouping that included Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman just left me flat because you knew nothing long-lasting was ever going to happen to those guys.
“The Tornado’s Path” is the first big comic project adopted by Brad Meltzer after his ground-breaking “Identity Crisis.” This particular story focuses on the revival of the air-controlling robot, Red Tornado, as the League regroups after the end of “Infinite Crisis” a whole other mega-story.
In particular, the robot is transformed from a mechanical being with a soul to a living, breathing human — complete with all the frailties of a regular guy.
Of course, his transformation isn’t just a simple body switch. It involves trickery, deceit and a villainous plan by one of the league’s oldest enemies, but it gets done, and in the process, the Justice League is reborn once again.
The heroes assemble (Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Hawkgirl, Black Canary, Black Lightning, Vixen, Red Arrow and Red Tornado), take down the bad guy and announce this to be a new era of the Justice League.
And that, in its basic form, is the gist of “The Tornado’s Path.”
Sure, the art by Ed Benes is fantastic. You’ll never see Vixen and Black Canary looking better, for example. But beyond the great art, it’s a bit of a disappointment after the jaw-dropping awesomeness that was “Identity Crisis.”
Now, I’m not saying every comic needs to be a shocker like “Identity Crisis,” but it should be something: Clever, fun, action-packed or … well, something! But unfortunately, “The Tornado’s Path” isn’t anything. It’s just another story about the League reforming, and quite frankly, we’ve had enough of those to last a lifetime.

JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA: THE TORNADO’S PATH
DC Comics
$24.99 Hardcover
Written by Brad Meltzer
Art by Ed Benes
Two stars out of Four (Yeah, the Justice League is back — again.)