Providing The Grade: Justice League of America’s Vibe #1

Providing the Grade
By
The_Adam_Black

In Providing the Grade Adam Black will provide a grade for some item from pop culture. Today’s lesson will be on Justice League of America’s Vibe #1 from DC Comics.

THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS SO CONSIDER THIS YOUR WARNING!!!!

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Creative Team:

Geoff Johns & Andrew Kreisberg (Writers)
Pete Woods (Pencils)
Sean Parsons (Inks)
Brad Anderson (Colors)
Carlos M. Mangual (Letters)

In 2012 when I heard that DC Comics was adding a Justice League of America title to its new 52 lineup I was pretty pumped and then I saw Vibe would be a member—a choice I was pretty sure fans didn’t expect to see again. Then I heard that not only was he going to be in the new JLA but he was also going to get his own ongoing series—needless to say I didn’t see that one coming.

First let’s talk about the character Vibe. Over 20 years ago before the New 52 and before the Crisis on Infinite Earths DC introduced a Latino street gang member called Paco Ramone. Paco had the ability to emit seismic or vibratory waves. When the Justice League set up shop in Detroit, Paco joined the team as Vibe. He would then proceed to piss off readers who viewed him as nothing more than a Latino stereotype—plus he was break dancing when the fad was going out of style. He would later become famous as the first member of the JLA to be killed in the line of duty to the delight of readers (shame on you all).

Fast forward to the year 2013 (or actually five years ago for the story )and we have the character reimagined as Franciso “Cisco” Ramone a youngster who was caught in the event horizon of a Boom Tube when Darkseid attacked Earth (specifically the city of Detroit) in the first Justice League New 52 story arc. As a result Cisco gained vibratory and seismic powers. During the attack his brother Armando was killed by a Parademon. Five years later Cisco is trying to support himself and his gambling brother with a regular 9 to 5 when he’s approached by an agent of ARGUS (the government organization that deals with Superhuman threats) named Dale Gunn. He comes bearing good news—the parademon that killed Cisco’s brother is holed up in some house surrounded by other ARGUS agents. Gunn knows Cisco has his metahuman abilities thanks to surveillance provided by ARGUS. Fueled by emotion, Cisco uses his powers and manages to kill the parademon and thus gains some measure of revenge for his brother Armando. Gunn later reveals that Detroit is now a nexus for inter-dimensional travel and Cisco can now sense when our dimension is invaded. He offers Cisco the code name of Vibe and a job working for ARGUS—as well as a FOUNDING member of the Justice League of America. He will use his abilities to make sure nothing threatening our dimension can cross over—acting almost like a border cop as Vibe put it.

Now if you read this and think that this was way too easy and that this comic is something that could’ve been an origin story in the 70s or 80s then you would be right. But it was because we find out that Vibe is being manipulated by ARGUS head honcho Amanda Waller (who is now sexy and slim in the New 52).

Amanda has some type of metahuman prison in Detroit featuring some characters fanboys will go crazy over. Among them is Gypsy a character from old school JLA Detroit and Pariah (from the Crisis on Infinite Earths). There is a cell for Vibe in case he gets out of hand. The major revelation is that Waller and Argus have been holding Darkseid’s daughter prisoner here on Earth the whole time.

Vibe Creative Report Card:

Writing: B- Geoff Johns and Andrew Kreisberg did a good not great job with this issue. I believe it can only get better from here. The only problem is that Kreisberg will be leaving after the third issue so any creative flow will be broken up very early in the series. I can’t stand that but with the new 52 there have been dozens of creative changes. What has been established by this story is that Vibe is a more fleshed out character and that there is a lot more to him than what fans expect.

Pencils: A Pete Woods is an under valued talent in the business. I like to see him do more work in the future. His work on the Superman: Up Up and Away arc from a few years back was great.

Overall production and Grade: B+

Other Stuff I read recently:

Savage Wolverine #1 & #2—Very good story. I’m growing addicted to this storyline of Wolverine being trapped in the Savage Land. Plus having Frank Cho provide artwork is a pleasure for my eyes.
Overall grade: A+

The Legend of Zelda: Hyrule Historia—I have been a Zelda fan since the very first game on the Nintendo. In celebration of the 25th anniversary Nintendo published a companion to the series providing fans with artwork and notes from all of the games. They also included the official Zelda timeline which had left many fans puzzled over the years. If you are a fan of the series this is a must
have. Grade: A

Justice League of America’s Katana: Sorry I just could not follow the story here. All I can see is that this book will probably not last long. Alex Sanchez does a decent job on artwork but this is a title that could probably be skipped.
Grade: D

Marvel Comics: The Untold Story—As a comic book fan of many years I found this insiders view from the House of Ideas a gem. I got to realize that from all of the great stories and art there was a lot of misery going on. One day I may do a podcast on my own regarding my thoughts on this book. The sound I hear is zero download. Sigh…Adam Black gets no love.
Grade: A+

Hopefully I can keep doing this week after week and provide grades on comics and pop culture.

Thanks,

The_Adam_Black

Timdogg

#ComicBookChronicles @CBChron founder. Editor-in-Chief of @thekliqnation. Comic book reviewer, podcaster #RABBLERABBLE