Justice League of America Vol. 2: Survivors of Evil (The New 52) (Justice League of America: the New 52)

Latest edition of a classic Batman story at great price

Survivors of Evil is a tie-in book for the Forever Evil story event that focuses almost entirely on Martian Manhunter and Stargirl. As two of my favorite B-tier DC heroes this was a great read for me, but the mileage you get out of the book depends on how much you enjoy these two characters (especially when you consider the New 52's unfortunate habit of making all the big characters have "dark" origin stories). Survivors of Evil dives deep into Stargirl's retconned history; no longer a member of the JSA like she was pre-New 52 the always hopeful teen hero keeps some of her history (having a former superhero's sidekick as a stepfather) but gets the "New 52 treatment" when we learn a super villain murdered her younger brother after their first fight for no real reason. As odd as it is to give another DC hero an unnecessarily tragic backstory, this book does do a great job of digging into what makes Manhunter and Stargirl tick.The book sees Stargirl and Manhunter as the only two DC heroes who manage to maintain their sanity after the members of the Justice League, the JLA, and the Justice League Dark are all sucked into the Firestorm Matrix after the arrival of the Crime Syndicate (again you have to read Trinity War and Forever Evil to get what's going on). We learn through these two characters that Despero has transformed Firestorm into a living prison for the various Leaguers and that each hero is trapped in a mental prison of their own making. The pair attempt to help free the other heroes from within Firestorm while trying to avoid Despero. The major strike against this book is the fact that we learn at the end that all of Stargirl and Manhunter's exploits were in their own minds (i.e. their version of the mental prison Despero creates) so it is a bit of a "it was all a dream" type story. It is a cheap storytelling move but not the worst I've ever seen (after all, if you've read Forever Evil's main story you know that it is Batman not Stargirl who frees the heroes stuck inside Firestorm). All in all a great character study of Manhunter and especially Stargirl and worth reading if you love the two characters.

I was super stoked to buy this after reading JLA Vol 1 because that was a great story. However, I found Vol 2 lacked many of the elements that made volume 1 good. Don't get me wrong, I still enjoyed it, just not near as much as vol 1. The story primarily focuses on Martian Manhunter and Stargirl, and pretty much does not even include the other members of the JLA.The story is not exactly consecutive to JLA Vol 1. It ties along side the "Forever Evil" story line. If you enjoy Martian Manhunter exclusively you will like this story, but if you wanting to read more of the JLA stuff you should just wait for Vol. 3. You won't really miss much. I felt like this Vol was so underwhelming compared to Vol 1.*Warning Spoilers*I like Martian Manhunter quite a bit, and it was great that they gave Stargirl the spotlight for a bit, but they seriously focused the ENTIRE story on those two trying to escape the firestorm mind prison that Despero created. I would have liked to have seen them focus maybe one fourth of the volume on the mind prison and Martian Manhunter and Stargirl so they could get back to the other members of the JLA. In the very end they finally mention Green Arrow, Katana, Hawkman, Catwomen, and the other members briefly and how they are reassembling the JLA. The other annoying thing was knowing where they were. Were they in a memory or reality? or mind prison, you never really knew because they jump around so much. Finally you figure out *OH* they were in the mind prison the whole time, which is what I figured the whole time.This could have been much better, not really an epic story. Seems like an in between kind of thing before they get to a much better story line.

I picked this volume up along with JL: Forever Heroes and Forever Evil thinking it would add a lot to the Forever Evil story and boy was I wrong... I picked this up expecting to see the JLA fighting all out against some villains, but instead what I got was a Martian Manhunter/ Stargirl team up story. Being a fan the Manhunter and Stargirl, I didn't mind this. What I did mind, and have the biggest problem with, was the story. Without going into spoilers, the story is basically about Martian Manhunter and Stargirl attempting to break out of a prison that the Crime Syndicate put them and the other heroes in. Some members of the justice league and justice league of america make appearances in the volume, but not for long.A large part of the story includes Stargirl having flashbacks to when she first started being a super hero. This serves as an origin story for her and is done really well, but it just didn't fit right in a Forever Evil tie in story. I feel like I would have enjoyed this story more if it wasn't a Forever Evil tie in. All this story adds to Forever Evil is that it shows what Superman, and some of the other super heroes, are going through in prison while all the villains are doing the real butt-kicking in the main story line. Thats being said, unless you are a fan of Martian Manhunter and Stargirl or you are looking for a good super hero duo book, I would not recommend buying this volume.

Came as advertised and really pleased.

Excellent storyline. Solid character development. Really sucks you in.

Product was as advertised.

I picked up this volume expecting for it to be integral to the Forever Evil storyline. Not so much. While it does provide some insight into the fate of the world's greatest heroes after the Trinity War story line, the contribution was limited and could have been covered in one issue. The remainder was a drawn out get to know Stargirl storyline that ends up where it starts and thus adds little to the greater Forever Evil plot line. This is for New 52 HC collectors, but the rest can skip it.

Great read! Love the relationship between Martian Manhunter and Stargirl, looking forward to more from this title

Great price and fast delivery

Arrived safely. Thank you!