Comics Reviews: Justice League International 10, Infinity Inc. 47, Young All-Stars 9

Justice League International #10 – “Soul of the Machine” – Keith Giffen, J.M. DeMatteis/Kevin Maguire/Al Gordon

This continues the Millennium storyline that ran through most of DC’s books for the first couple months of 1988. A contingent of superheroes (Superman, J’onn J’onzz, Hal Jordan, Katma Tui, Arisia, Hawkman, Hawkwoman, Dr. Fate, Captain Atom, and Firestorm) have gathered near the planet Orinda, the Manhunter homeworld. They’re discussing what to do when Firestorm suddenly takes off. Captain Atom has been interacting with Firestorm a lot lately, so he volunteers to go after him (which we’ll see in Firestorm’s own comic next week). The remaining heroes head down to the planet, where they find everything is yellow (including the fine dust particles in the air), which means the three Lanterns’ rings are useless. Superman smashes into a corridor under the surface and the others follow. The lack of resistance bothers them and they’re expecting a trap. They find something even worse, as Gnort emerges from a hatchway. Yes, it’s the stupidest of all Green Lanterns (and Hal’s really not happy to see him), who only made it into the Corps because of an influential uncle. Gnort was given an empty space sector to watch over, thinking he couldn’t cause any trouble there, but Orinda just happens to be in that sector, so now they’re stuck with Gnort’s “help”. Dr. Fate senses a vast intelligence and power source nearby, so they have Arisia create a distraction while the others bust into the heart of the complex. The place is packed with Manhunters, but Superman and the others smash them pretty quickly. Fate leads them to a birthing chamber, where the Highmaster is incubating new Manhunter robots. Superman incinerates the robots and the Highmaster takes off, which causes the entire planet to collapse. The heroes evacuate and run into Captain Atom and Firestorm, who have Harbinger and another GL (Driq) with them. There’s a short back-up story showing what’s happening back at the Lantern Citadel. Mr. Miracle and Blue Beetle bust into a Manhunter ship, releasing a weird probe that attaches itself to Janwillim Kroeff, one of the Guardians’ Chosen. Miracle and Beetle are freaking out about how to remove the probe, until Kilowog comes along and hits the “Off” switch.

Infinity Inc. #47 – “Outback and Back in Beverly Hills” – Roy and Dann Thomas/Vince Argondezzi/Tony DeZuniga

This one starts with most of the Infinitors visiting Molly Scott in hospital after her car crash last issue. Molly’s fine and so is Dan Richards (who was with her in the car), but Dan blames himself since it was his granddaughter Marcy Cooper who caused the accident with the hypno-glasses she stole from Molly. The Infinitors head back to headquarters with Betty Clawman, one of the humans chosen to receive powers from the Guardians of the Universe. Betty is Australian, so some of the team get ready to escort her there so she can get reacquainted. Solomon Grundy isn’t happy about being chained up since he took off last issue, but Jade convinces him it’s for his own good and he agrees not to escape … at least for a little while. Nuklon, Wildcat, Hourman, and Mr. Bones accompany Betty to Australia and she tries to explain the concept of the Dreamtime to them (which doesn’t impress Wildcat much). They land in Alice Springs and head to a pub, where Wildcat gets a hello smooch from Tasmanian Devil. Nuklon wonders if Wildcat is trying to make him jealous (mission accomplished, I’d say) and I can’t help wondering how this fits with the later revelation about Tasmanian Devil being gay. Maybe he knew Nuklon had a thing for Wildcat and this was his way of pushing Nuklon into making a move? They head out to Uluru, where a bunch of Aborigines are expecting them. Nuklon and Tasmanian Devil start flexing … literally, as they toss huge rocks back and forth to test their strength and growth powers. Wildcat isn’t too impressed, since the women are segregated from the men, so she shows off her own powers to let everyone know she’s not ready to fade into the background. Betty tells her to climb Uluru and check out the cave paintings, but Wildcat gets a shock when the paintings seem to come alive. Betty shows up and the paintings go dormant; apparently Betty used the Dreamtime to bring the paintings to life, catching Wildcat in her area of influence. She says not many outsiders have experienced the Dreamtime and that makes Wildcat happy, even though she was excluded from the ceremony the guys attended. Back in Los Angeles, Jade comes to visit her brother (Obsidian) in his bedroom and starts putting the moves on him. He’s naturally freaked out, but it turns out to be Marcie Cooper (aka the new Harlequin) using the hypno-glasses. Obsidian tries to pound her, but her glasses let her create illusions to fool him. The same thing happens when the real Jade shows up and tries to grab Marcie. Then her grandfather (Dan Richards, one of the Manhunters from the 1940s) arrives with a gun and tries to talk her into surrendering, since the Manhunters have been pretty much defeated. Marcie isn’t ready to give up yet and uses her illusions to get the gun away from Dan. She tries to shoot him and Jade (who’s still half-unconscious) uses her powers to knock Marcie off-balance. Marcie hits a table and is knocked out, but Dan dies from the gunshot, begging Jade with his last breath to go easy on Marcie.

Young All-Stars #9 – “You Have Nothing to Lose But Your Souls” – Roy and Dann Thomas/Brian Murray/Malcolm Jones III

This one starts with a young girl named Maria swimming on an island near Jamaica. She runs into a guy who seems friendly at first, but turns out to be Baron Blitzkrieg. He’s there secretly with a bunch of other Nazis (and a U-Boat crew) and figures he’d better kill Maria to keep her quiet. But Green Lantern shows up (looking for Maria) and starts pounding the Nazis. Of course, he wouldn’t be Green Lantern if he didn’t get knocked out in some stupid way (by a wooden gun butt), but his interest in Maria makes Blitzkrieg think there must be something special about her, so he postpones her execution until he can find out what that is. Meanwhile, Fury, Iron Munro, and Neptune Perkins are in a plane with Manhunter (the Paul Kirk version), heading to the island to look for GL. After his weird behaviour last issue (freeing a Japanese prisoner in Hawaii and attacking a village in the Aleutians), they know something’s wrong with him and are hoping to stop him from causing any more trouble. They hear a noise from the back of the plane and find a stowaway: Tigress, who obviously snuck aboard last issue. She tells them her real name is Paula Brooks and she kinda has a thing for Manhunter. She taught herself to use a crossbow (and learned to fight) because she admires him so much and she’s been shadowing him for a while now, hoping he’ll sponsor her for membership in the All-Stars. Manhunter (and Munro) aren’t happy with Tigress’s way of introducing herself, but they’re kinda stuck with her. When they land, they’re met by Father Hanley, who’s worried that Maria (from his orphanage) has gone missing. He tells them there’s been a lot of U-Boat activity around and asks if they’ll help find Maria. Later, Blitzkrieg and his Nazis are taking GL and Maria to the submarine when they’re attacked by dolphins. Obviously, Neptune Perkins is controlling them, but the Nazis think the dolphins are “devils”. The rest of the All-Stars attack, pounding the Nazis and trashing the U-Boat. Blitzkrieg goes after Fury and Munro and they slug it out until Green Lantern recovers and joins the fight. Realizing he’s outnumbered, Blitzkrieg blows up the submarine and escapes. GL protects everyone from the explosion and he seems to be back to normal, although he can’t remember why he came there or why he helped Maria. Munro figures they’d better report back to the rest of the All-Stars and figure out what’s going on with GL’s weird behaviour and memory loss. Before they leave, Father Hanley gives Munro a satchel that he says was left on the island years ago (by a Professor Hardin); Hanley says he wanted to give the satchel to an All-Star and watching Munro in action has convinced him he’s the right one to have it. Back in New York, Green Lantern is worried about his recent behaviour, but his ring starts speaking and tells him (and his colleagues) that it was guiding him in his recent misadventures. Apparently, the three people GL saved are destined to give birth to three of the special humans that will be elevated by the Guardians during Millennium. After giving them the truth, the ring wipes everyone’s memories, but leaves them with a lingering feeling that GL’s transgressions were a malfunction of the ring and won’t happen again, meaning the matter is settled. Tigress is provisionally accepted as an All-Star and told she can go with the other youngsters on their next War Bond tour. Munro finally opens the satchel Father Hanley gave him and finds a Journal inside, written by Hugo Danner … who just happens to be Munro’s father.