Justice League of America #37 - DC

First of all . . that's a cool cover by Joe Prado. But the big news is . . next month James Robinson and Mark Bagley take over this series. They should prove an interesting creative team. Mark has been on fire lately. So this story-arc . . this contest between Roulette and Amos Fortune is really all just some filler. There are a few interesting things that happen at the end . . some points of import. But for the most part . . it's a typical Royal Flush Gang story. In fact by the time the whole things over, you really kind of forget just what it was the Roulette and Amos were betting on. Over the course of the story . . it's just the typical fights between the various suits of the gang vs the current members of the JLA. In fact, in a few spots, it looks like Amos' good-fortune technology may be just enough of an edge for these losers to beat the JLA. Luckily though, with a little team-work they come through in the end. As if there was really any doubt. This story does raise an interesting point though. With the right motivation, maybe a little revamping and a change in management . . this new RFG, with it's expanded membership through the lower cards of the deck, could be an Intergang or Kobra level of threat on the super-hero landscape. Now that I think about it, I'm kind of surprised that they were revamped a bit during the Faces of Evil books. I mean, this is a group that been around pretty much since the beginning of the JLA. Yet they've always been pretty much a joke. They raise there heads every now and again, and look like they may be a legitimate threat, but then . . it seems like the JLA ends up taking them down pretty easily. So, I think they might be on the right track with some of the new ideas presented in this story-line, but . . it really all depends on if anybody bothers doing anything with it . . expanding on what's been introduced. The potential is there. I just don't know if anybody has the desire, or wherewithal to do anything with it. I guess we'll just have to wait and see. Anyways, the 2 important points show up in the prologue at the end. First of all, it appears that Roulette was doing all of this to gather info on the League, and it's members. Somehow she owes somebody, and this is her payment. She delivers that to the Key . . whom we haven't seen in a while, but . . it also appears that he's working for someone much bigger. But right now . . no hints or clues. Also one of Amos' foot-soldiers . . a 2 of Clubs that was killed during the diamond heist . . his wife confronts Amos about his death, and she shoots him. Maybe that's the spark of change in management that this team needs. We'll see. This story was brought to us by Len Wein and Tom Derenick. Overall I thought it was ok. It's just these RFG stories tend to bore me a bit.