Armed only with his enormous intellect, a lifetime of training and a plethora of technological devices (sound familiar?) Prometheus cuts a swathe through the top heavy JLA, including Batman. Of course, he is ultimately defeated (by Catwoman, who has stowed away on a publicity tour of the new JLA watchtower to pilfer a few choice items from its trophy room) but escapes from the JLA to strike again.

This tale, despite the fact that it appears under a different writer in a different run on the title, was almost certainly the inspiration for Mark Waid's excellent "Tower of Babel"; in which two "normal" human beings become the most dangerous adversaries the near-gods of the JLA have ever faced. The men in question? Ra's al Ghul and .. Batman.

As with most JLA tales there is a threat to the world's safety that the heroes must band together to fight against. The threat this time comes in the form of the immortal Ra's al Ghul, long time enemy of Batman and proponent of eliminating 90% of the human race for the good of the planet.

However, the twisted eco-terrorist knows that before any such plan of his can succeed he must eliminate the one group of people who could stand in his way - the Justice League of America. Unfortunately for the JLA, Ra's has a secret weapon that none of them could have expected - the secret contingency plans developed by Batman to defeat a "rogue" JLA in a crisis situation.

When presented in it's original 4 issue format, Batman's role was kept a secret until issue 2 when he astutely recognizes that the unusual methods that are being used to stop the individual members of the JLA are from his own secret contingency plans. The graphic novel lets the cat out of the bag on this part of the story somewhat, the back blurb and front cover both clearly showing Batman in his new role of nemesis to the JLA, albeit an inadvertent one.

Ra's al Ghuls chosen method for wiping out humanity is innovative, although the pseudo-science behind it is glossed over in favour on concentrating on the execution Batman's plans for beating the JLA. On a second or third reading, any other madman with a taste for global destruction could just as easily replace Ra's Al Ghul so long as there was a plausible explanation for him attaining access to Batman's secret files.

This story is really about Batman as a part of the JLA, a man walking amongst gods on a daily basis. Batman's tense and abrasive relationship with the rest of the JLA is infamous and his history with the group is plagued by arguments and resignations. Although this history is not touched on in too much depth, except when Batman attempts to justify his actions to the rest of the group, Waid conjures an almost palatable feeling of betrayal and fear in the heroes when they realize that one of their own has been plotting against them. Waid's writing is as character focussed as ever and it is the subtle interplay between the characters both in the foreground and background of the story that shows his ability as a writer to take characters to places where we have rarely seen them before. There are touching moments between the heroes as they struggle to deal with the consequences of what has happened; a particular example being a conversation between Green Lantern and Plastic Man where Green Lantern promises that "he'll never let him get hurt again"; these scenes are countered an equal amount of petty sniping from those on the team who's egos have been damaged by Batman's betrayal.

Obviously, Batman never meant for his plans to fall into the wrong hands (who ever does?), but this does nothing to salve the feelings of the 'League. His efforts to track down Ra's al Ghul and put an end to his threat to the world populace do little to endear him to them again either. Waid provides a well-reasoned and pragmatic discourse on behalf of Batman when he explains why safeguards were needed should the JLA ever "go bad". This is an interesting point and one that is not fully realized within the confines of this story; whilst the JLA complain that Batman has abused their trust they never really appreciate that he has never truly trusted them in their roles as guardians of Earth or mankind.

Throughout the story we are treated to the stylish pencils of Howard Porter. Porter has had a long run on JLA, drawing almost all of Grant Morrison's run before moving on to work with Waid during his run (now concluded). In some ways, for readers such as myself who got on board with the "relaunched" JLA, Porter is the JLA. He produces well-paced artwork always here, coupled with the cunning use of the background of panels to feature side conversations between members of the JLA. It is these that give the book a depth that usually isn't seen in team books such as JLA, where many popular characters are competing for "screen time" with each other. Characterization, the strong point of this drama is further enhanced by Porters attention to detail in the faces of the characters, often in contrast to the iconic of the JLA.

Overall, Tower of Babel serves as an excellent piece both for existing fans of the JLA or Batman and an powerful introduction to this complex and dynamic team for those who have ignored it up until now. Those with an affinity for the characters will find their interest piqued by the depth of emotion and characterization that Waid gives, whilst new readers may be surprised at the complexity of what can be perceived as merely a group of iconic characters.

Have we forgotten how many times Superman has gone rogue because of someone taking over his mind? And we must not forget Hal Jordan's (the former Green Lantern now the new Spectre)transformation into Parallax.

Yep in my opinon Bats was right in devising ways to stop them - just in case. And in the context of the characters they should have acknowleded this. They know from experience how right Batman usually is. Where was their trust in him? But I have to admit when it comes to The Batman I am biased. He is my all time favorite.

But this story does show that Batman must not ever be underestimated. It would also be nice to see a story that shows how right Batman was in designing ways to stop the JLA and not telling them.

Okay back to the real world. This was a great story. Buy it!!

Normally when we think of Batman we think of a vigilante who haunts the night trying to bring down the bad guys. I believe that he is much more complex than this. Batman is a man who, having suffered tragedy at a very young age, Has vowed never to be life's victim again. And thus, he does everything in his power to strategize and manipulate in order to make sure that he comes out on top. Like any successful man of power he plans all the way to end. Considering every possibility...everything that could and can go wrong in a given scenario. Batman is the sort of hero Machiavelli would admire because he is willing to do ugly things (short of murder) to accomplish his objectives.

Law #2 in the 48 Laws of Power (by Robert Greene), says "never put too much trust in friends". And this is essentially what is behind Batman's actions in this book. Batman is well aware of what lies behind men's hearts. He knows how fickle they can be. They can be loyal to you one minute and betray you the next. This is what has driven Batman to accumulate information on each JLA member. He has studied each member their character, their powers and has devised a stratagem to bring each one down. Should one of them turn to evil in the future.

Unfortunately Ra's Al Ghul (translated as The Deamons Head) Batman's foe. Has discovered the information that Batman has been keeping in his lair. And has used it to disable each member of the JLA so that he can carry out his plan to "purify" the earth.

When the members of the JLA find out that the heart of their misfortune originated with Batman. They vote to expel him. Not only because of what Ra's has done. But also because they all feel that he has betrayed their friendship. By keeping information on each one of them, Batman has essentially shown that he did not think very highly of his teammates in the JLA...when they trusted and admired him. When Batman is cast out I think it registers on him how badly he has been mistaken about friendship. And sometimes there is far more to getting a job done than the "business is business" philosophy.

I am not a JLA fan but this really is a very good story. And I liked it because it provided a very good study to Batman. For all of Batman's strategising. He never considered what would happen if the information got into the wrong hands. He never stopped to consider how hurt his friends would be. When Batman is expelled he doesn't simply walk away and shrug his shoulders. He actually looks hurt that his teamates have cast him aside for what he has done. It shows a different aspect to Batman than him simply being an arrogant loner. It shows that he actually cares about what other people think of him. And the loss of friendship.

Mark Waid has done a good job on this story.