Justice League (vol.2) #40 (June, 2015)
"Darkseid War, Prologue"
Writer - Geoff Johns
Pencillers - Kevin Maguire, Phil Jimenez, Dan Jurgens, Jerry Ordway, Scott Kolins, Jason Fabok & Jim Lee
Inker - Jerry Ordway, Scott Kolins & Scott Williams
Colorists - Brad Anderson & Alex Sinclair
Letterer - Rob Leigh
Assistant Editor - Amedeo Turturro
Group Editor - Brian Cunningham
Cover Price: $3.99
Remember Convergence?
Is this thing on?
Yeah, Convergence was pretty underwhelming... however, there was this one week where a few running-late ongoing DC Comics found their way into our shipments. One was an issue of Superman (vol.3), and the other... was the one we're going to be discussing today! A true hidden gem, this issue of Justice League finally gives us the updated History of the DC Universe!
Let's get right down to it!
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We open with the promise that worlds live... and worlds die, and suddenly my ears perk up! Is this really a New-52! book? The cycle repeats over and over again. We zoom in to take a closer look... and see one of the survivors of the Amazo Virus trying his hand at superheroics. He's shot... and as he lay dying, he (and we) meet our narrator... Metron!
He gives us the quick and dirty on the attempt he made to keep the peace between New Genesis and Apokolips... which, from how often it's told must've been the most important thing to happen on either planet... ever! We're, of course, talking about the son-swapping event. Highfather sent his son Scot(t) to live on Apokolips, while Darkseid sent his son Orion to live on New Genesis.
Metron pats himself on the back for prompting that pact to be made. War was averted... and the universe/multiverse was able to roll along. That is, until something else happened... something nobody was prepared for. Crisis on Infinite Earths?! I ask again, am I reading a New-52! book?
Our trip down memory lane doesn't end there though... since the end of Crisis on Infinite Earths, there have been several more attempts at rewriting reality... including Zero Hour: Crisis in Time, Infinite Crisis, and even... Flashpoint?! Metron continues, claiming that even up to today... reality hasn't completely stabilized!
Speaking of today, we join the Justice League as they battle with Parademons... presumably on Apokolips. Elsewhere, Metron approaches a man he greets as "Mobius", though we know him better as the Anti-Monitor.
Ol' Mobius doesn't take kindly to being called by his "real?" name, and fires a blast in Metron's direction. Since he's seated in the Mobius Chair (hmm...), he is left unscathed. The Anti-Monitor reminds Metron that at one time he himself sat in that chair... which is an interesting wrinkle.
They discuss the Anti-Monitor's motivations... last we saw him, he had destroyed Earth-3 (again)... something which "cracked open" the Multiverse, leaving it easily exploited by others... like Brainiac's Convergence! Anti-Monitor isn't impressed... and suggests that Brainiac isn't worth worrying over... he's just collecting data.
Metron, still worrying about the fate of the Multiverse... Mobius Chair insight, and all... he dips back into his bag of tricks, and suggests a pact between the Anti-Monitor and... Darkseid.
Welp, sometimes going to the well once too often is futile. Metron suddenly gets blasted with red energy... and as he lay smoldering, the Anti-Monitor informs him that he isn't looking for peace... in fact, a war with Darkseid is exactly what he's looking for.
He then proclaims that the Age of the New Gods is done (again), before introducing us to his partner in crime... the daughter of Darkseid?!
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So... everything happened? Like, everything everything?!
Well, I probably don't have to tell ya, this is the first time in half a decade where I really felt as though I was "back" with DC Comics. I first dipped my toe back in with Futures End, hopeful that it would somehow end with a return to tradition... a return to legacy. While that series kinda under-delivered... and the Convergence event that followed was nothing more than a blatant time-killer to facilitate DC's move from coast-to-coast... this one issue of Justice League told me everything I needed to know.
I'd go so far as to suggest that had The New-52! started with a similar bit... many of us disenfranchised "seasoned" DC Comics fans would have been okay with things. Just the acknowledgement that... yes, Crisis happened... yes, there was a DC Universe before the Fall of 2011. The adherence to the idea that from Justice League (vol.2) #1 (Nov, 2011) forward everything was NEW... except that... and this... and that... and maybe this too... turned a lot of us off.
I've gone down this path before, but once more... I, personally, want to know that the comics in my library "matter"... they "happened". I don't want to be condescended to with "Those books are still on your shelf" or "Nobody's ripping up your old comics"... I want to feel as though my quarter-century-plus investment in these characters (and companies) is appreciated... and that folks like me are not being tossed out with the bath water. This single issue of Justice League told me... yes, those stories that shaped my understanding and love of DC Comics still happened. The New-52! is simply the next evolution... and, had it been made clear from jump-street, I'd like to think I'd have been okay with it.
Now, onto the story itself... because, there was one! I run kinda hot and cold on the New Gods... and, if I'm being honest, I tire of them only being brought back under threat of destroying them. There doesn't feel like there's a status quo for the Fourth Worlders... it's just "Here are the New Gods... watch them die... until next time." Well, that and son-swapping.
The wrinkle with the Anti-Monitor having once sat in the Mobius Chair (hell, it looks like he's its namesake!) is a really cool way to tie things together. I don't want to go too deep into the Darkseid War epic... other than to say, it's really long... maybe we'll take a look at that later on.
Overall... this might be the most "must-have" issue from The New-52! era... at least from a history and 'splaining things standpoint. Definitely an issue I recommend tracking down, even if you're not interested in the pending Darkseid War.
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Justice League (vol.2) #1 (October, 2011)
"Justice League, Part One"
Writer - Geoff Johns
Penciller - Jim Lee
Inker - Scott Williams
Colorist - Alex Sinclair
Letterer - Patrick Brosseau
Associate Editor - Rex Ogle
Editor - Eddie Berganza
Cover Price: $3.99
Having read an issue from this run of Justice League yesterday, I realized I haven't read the first issue of this volume since it first came out. I pondered that for a bit, and thought... ehh, it's only been a couple'a years. Then, the stark realization that it has been over a half decade set in. Yeesh... where in the hell does the time go?
I was just barely starting college when this came out... and now I'm about to graduate. Feels like an eternity and a blink all at once. Anyhoo, let's get right down to the dawn of... The New 52!
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It's Gotham City... five years ago. The Gotham City Police Department are tracking the Batman... as he follows a figure wrapped in tattered rags. The police chopper... opens fire (!) on Batman, however, he is able to dodge and toss some smoke grenades skyward to obscure their vision. He fires a bat-line into the leg of the creature... who isn't terribly pleased. The figure is revealed to be a Parademon! Well... what we know to be a Parademon, anyway...
The Parademon pulse-blasts Batman away before launching into an all-out attack. Shortly, he and the surrounding area is bathed in a green light... followed by an energy-construct fire engine plowing into it. Hal Jordan is on the scene... and is quite surprised to learn that the Batman actually exists.
The GCPD resumes their steady-handed investigation into the situation... which is to say, they continue their willy-nilly blasting. Hal is able to hold them off with some construct SWAT officers. In the distraction, the Parademon attacks from behind... then proceeds to destroy the police choppers with his fire-breath. Hal whips up some energy construct bats to fly the helicopters to safety.
The Parademon transforms into a quadrupedal... or however you say "a bunch of legged" form that resembles an insect... or "a dog" if you're Hal Jordan. It flees the scene, but our heroes are in hot pursuit. Hal makes sure to extinguish the multiple fires around town with more constructs.
Our next scene is Hal attempting to play "getting to know you" with Batman. He presses him for information regarding his powers. When he replies that he has none, Hal is rather taken aback.
So much so... that he doesn't realize it when Batman swipes his ring! It's a pretty funny scene... probably the best part of the issue from a writing standpoint.
The duo follow the Parademon into the sewer, where they find it fusing what we know to be a Mother Box into the wall. It "pings", and moments later, after the 'demon says "For Darkseid!", it explodes. Our boys are safe, in a... er, safe though! This bit is also likely an "ah-ha" moment for a handful of readers. Hal repeats what the suicide-parademon said... "dark side". So, there ya have it. I know for much of my childhood, he was Dark-seed... hell, sometimes I still say it that way!
Hal and Batman approach the Mother Box... and consider the fact that it might be alien in technology. There just so happens to be another new alien on the block... well, in Metropolis, anyway. Sounds like it's time for a field trip.
We shift scenes to a high school football game where Vic Stone, star player for the Ford... Titans (har har) is tearing up the field. Oh yeah, we also get a super-sneaky appearance from the mystery-woman of the New-52, Pandora. See her in the stands? I'll hand it to DC... this was some subtle stuff. Small touches like this are always neat.
Anyhoo, Vic is upset that his father no-showed the big game... after which he was supposed to meet with scouts from various colleges... and hoo-boy, they are frothing at the mouth at the thought of having Vic play for their team. It'll come as no surprise that I was never a blue-chip athlete... I ran some track, and kicked butt in volleyball... but it was never gonna pay my way through college. That said, I'm amused by the thought of a room full of coaches and scouts all shouting over each other for the opportunity to sign a high school kid. Not saying it doesn't happen... just the way it's shown here is quite silly.
Vic returns to the field... just in time to see a green energy construct jet fly overhead. Here we learn that Vic's father conducts studies on the super-set. Later, our guys land in Metropolis where Hal enters into a building to find our Metropolitan alien... it doesn't go well.
We wrap up this issue with Batman facing off with the alien in question... Superman! (duh)
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Not a whole lot to talk about here, right?
I mean... it might sound pithy, and that is certainly not my intention. I remember being a bit nonplussed upon reading it the first time... and today, I'm simply unmoved. I think this is a fine story... for a story, however, for the launchpad from which we're going to spring into the new DC Universe? Ehh... I just don't see it.
We get buddy-cops Batman and Green Lantern for a good portion of this. Now, we pre-Flashpoint folks expect there to be some tension between these two... there's history and precedent for it. Here... I dunno, we're so confused. We don't know what has happened and what hasn't... or has yet to. Thing is, DC didn't appear to know either. Hard to get invested in this when we have so little to go on. From what we did know... this was a ground-up reboot... except when it's not.
One of our first captions is kind of the albatross that pigeonholed this incentive... "Five Years Ago." I think had they left that out, and didn't push so hard to youngify their roster of heroes, this might have worked a bit better (long-term). Hell, maybe keep the "Five Year" thing... but make it so Green Lantern and Batman already knew one another. I feel that would've went far to assuage confusion. Keeping in mind that Batman and Green Lantern were pretty much kept the same as their pre-Flashpoint counterparts... they could keep them as experienced heroes, and play around with their backstories... make everyone else new, but these two keep a bit of their cache. I dunno... I think that might've helped. I mean, in the early New-52 issues of Batman, he's already shown as having had four Robins... dassalotta boy wonders's's for five years. And Green Lantern was starring Sinestro, fresh off the end of the pre-Flashpoint War of the Green Lanterns... dassa lotta baggage as well!
Anyhoo... the issue itself. Well... not a lot happened. Hal and Batman do some verbal ballet and we meet Vic Stone, star high school football player. There's a cliffhanger where Superman shows up. Dunno... feels more like an issue of The Brave and the Bold than Justice League.
The art is Jim Lee... and it's pretty great. Dude gets a lot of flak for his poses... and while there is a fair bit of that here, it is offset by some great action. I remember really digging the coloring here the first time I read it... and I still think it's nice. Love the green energy outline surrounding Hal. Really cool touch.
I know I'm kinda being tough on this... and, there's a reason. Perhaps I'm letting my bias show... which, wouldn't be the first time. This came at a time where there was so much uncertainty about what was to come. We readers just lost a generation's worth of continuity to a stunt... and we really wanted a nugget of understanding what was to come. Call it "fan entitlement" or whatever buzz-phrase is currently floating around the comicsphere... but, I remember this being a pretty tough time in the fandom for folks like me.
As I said above, this was a fine issue... just not the way to launch a new universe. Still I do recommend checking it out. It's the foundation for much of what's going on even today with the New-52 firmly in the rear-view mirror. It's been collected a bunch and is available digitally for just 99-cents.
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Justice League (vol.2) #36 (January, 2015)
"The Amazo Virus, Chapter One: Quarantined"
Writer - Geoff Johns
Artist - Jason Fabok
Colorist - Brad Anderson
Letterer - Carlos M. Mangual
Assistant Editor - Amedeo Turturro
Group Editor - Brian Cunningham
Cover Price: $3.99
If I were to pick just one New-52! book to read... it's always gonna be Justice League. This was the only title I collected for it's duration... well, besides Teen Titans, but we don't talk about that... I'm convinced those volumes were just an insanity test for the Titans faithful.
Justice League, to me, was appointment reading... it didn't need events (though it had its share) because every issue was an event! I very seldom put down an issue of this series and felt disappointed. I always felt like I got my money's worth. Kinda makes it doubly sad what the title has become post-Rebirth. Almost unreadable if you ask me. It might just be the biggest drop in quality from one creative team to the next that I've ever experienced... but, that's a discussion for another day. Today's about a book I actually like!
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We open twenty-four hours after the outbreak. The quarantined streets of Metropolis are barren... well, almost. We come across a threesome of infected looters trying to pick up as much cash as they can from an armored van. It just so happens that they're not alone. Superman and Batman are also on the scene. Superman's not scared of the virus due to his being an alien and all... Batman is wearing protective respiratory gear.
They confront the boys... who start to exhibit metahuman powers, a result of infection. This is what they call "Stage-2". One breathes a swath of fire at Superman... clearly never having met Superman before.
Another shows off his particular power... the ability to create a black hole! This one is definitely a bigger threat... however, before he is able to suck the World's Finest team into the void he enters into "Stage-3", which is to say... he dies!
Well, for a moment anyway. Batman is able to use his suit as a defibrillator and jump starts his heart. After which, he and Superman stare into the heart of Metropolis, sure in the fact that somewhere within walks Patient-Zero.
We shift scenes to Lex Luthor standing over the rest of the Justice League as they deal with having been infected. Apparently if a Meta is infected, they lose their superpowers. Lex mentions that not even the Flash, with his hyper-metabolism, has been able to burn through this. The Leaguers are described as having organ functionality at between sixty and seventy percent.
Wonder Woman enters and requests a status update. Luthor informs her that without a cure, they will all be dead within twenty-four hours. Wonder Woman is unsure whether or not Luthor's on the level... however, at this point... he's all she's got. She reasons with Lex... er, threatens to use her lasso, that is... in order to get him to spill the beans about the Amazo Virus. We learn that it was concocted using the principles of Professor Ivo's Amazo android. It was set to remove the powers from Metas... with violent criminal records (yeah, right)...
Steve Trevor and his team are on hand to hear all of this, and he inquires as to what would happen to an ordinary human should they become infected. Luthor kind of brushes it off... saying that was unplanned. He mentions a Patient-Zero who should be the key to crafting a cure. We also get a rundown on the "Stages" of the virus. Stage-One: Flu-like symptoms. Stage-Two: Manifestation of a random metahuman power or ability. Stage-Three: Gruesome and painful death. Neat-o.
Lex exits the room and runs into Captain Cold. Snart is in charge of protecting Lex's sister... and has thus far done a pretty good job. She is safe... and uninfected. Cold is acting as Luthor's "Head of Security" and as such believes he is entitled to know all about those who would do his boss harm. Luthor replies by telling him that it's a very long list.
We wrap up back on the streets with Superman and Batman. Sure didn't take them all that long to find their bounty... Patient-Zero!
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I grabbed this one seeing as though it was a "Part One"... then upon coming downstairs and actually reading it, realized that this... like most of the Justice League story arcs had a "Prologue" issue. Too lazy to head back upstairs, I'm just gonna make do.
It's probably because I have been so entrenched in comics from the 1980's of late that I was sort of expecting a bit of a recap before being thrust into the action... can't hold that against this issue, that's just not how comics are done anymore. This was meant to be enjoyed in sum, in collected edition format... I get that. No harm, no foul.
There is the question of decompression... Now, since my reviews skew toward the older, I'm not sure I've actually said my piece about this storytelling method. I remember in the mid-2000's, creators and editorial would tell fans and readers that there was no such thing as decompressed storytelling... and most certainly no such thing as "writing for the trade". I think we're all past that now... I mean, if it quacks like a duck... and takes six issues to do so, it's probably decompressed storytelling.
That being said... not a whole lot happened here, however... somehow I feel as though there was enough forward momentum to keep me satisfied. I felt that way when I read this at the end of 2014, and I feel that way today. Just goes to show that certain writers can massage the episodic "for the trade" method into something satisfying. Can't say this would hold true for other readers... but for me, I think this was a fine issue.
I would perhaps be bothered by the amount of full and double-page spreads included here... if they weren't so damn gorgeous. Jason Fabok is an artist that, to me, came out of nowhere and just knocked my socks off. I remember seeing him on the solicits for this title, and had no idea who he was... man-o-man, this dude can draw!
The story? Really not a whole lot to say... which makes reviewing such a book quite difficult... then again, I've said it before... I'm not sure what I do here can even be considered "reviewing". I think our main takeaway here is finding out just what the Amazo virus was initially intended to be. This opens up a lot of discussion... Luthor claimed to have concocted it to remove powers from Metas with "violent criminal records". We're gonna skip the ol' slippery slope argument... and just go ahead and call Lex a liar. We have some pretty good ideas who this virus was intended to effect. Not that that is a big shock or anything... just love that they gave us this image of Luthor working on and having this incredible virus to take down his adversaries.
Luthor may be my top "success story" of the New-52!, he just keeps raising the bar here. He was always a formidable opponent... well, usually anyway... here, in this "new" world... dude is a force to be reckoned with... which is something that has, thankfully, followed him into Rebirth. I like that he is played as the smartest and coolest guy in the room... but we're not hammered over the head with it like we are with Batman. Lex doesn't need the praise... he knows he's always one step ahead. Granted, what happens a few issues after this catches him off guard... but that's a story for another day.
The Amazo Virus storyline is what I consider the last "true" New-52! Justice League arc. After this we hop into the (perhaps overlong) Darkseid War... which ends with us in the post-Rebirth landscape. If you haven't read it, I'd definitely say it's worth checking out. For better or worse, it's a quick read... but one you get a lot from. Available in collected edition (as it was intended) as well as digitally.
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