Reviews, ruminations, and (occasional) ramblings.
Justice League International #9 – “Seeing Red” – Keith Giffen, J.M. DeMatteis/Kevin Maguire/Al Gordon
Like all the January issues, this one ties into the Millennium mini-series. It starts with the JLI returning from being briefed about the Manhunters, but before they have time to digest that knowledge, their new teammate Rocket Red announces that he is a Manhunter. Continue reading “Comics Reviews: Justice League International 9, Infinity Inc. 46, Young All-Stars 8”
Justice League Annual #1 – “Germ Warfare” – /Keith Giffen, J.M. DeMatteis/Bill Willingham/Dennis Janke, P. Craig Russell, Bill Wray, R. Campanella, Bruce Patterson, Dick Giordano
This story takes place right after Justice League #4, which is why Guy Gardner is still an asshole and Dr. Fate is still on the team. It starts with a handful of Kord Industries employees flying to a remote island in the South Pacific. Ted Kord (aka Blue Beetle) bought the island sight-unseen, but there’s some kind of old compound there, so he sent some guys to check it out. The place looks deserted until a woman with red glowing eyes pops up out of nowhere. It isn’t long before everyone’s eyes are red and the Kord employees head back to civilization to carry the woman’s “message” to the rest of humanity. Continue reading “Comics Reviews: Justice League Annual 1, Legion of Super-Heroes Annual 3, New Teen Titans Annual 3”
Justice League International #8 – “Moving Day” – Keith Giffen, J.M. DeMatteis/Kevin Maguire/Al Gordon
This is basically a downtime issue, showing the League as they try to get used to being under the aegis of the United Nations and move into various embassies around the world. This issue is a classic fan-favourite, and really cements the tone of the so-called “Bwa-ha-ha League”. In New York, J’onn J’onzz is supervising the movers (whose load includes a huge crate of Oreos) and finds out the embassy’s infrastructure isn’t all that great when he crashes through the floor into the room below. Continue reading “Comics Reviews: Justice League International 8, New Teen Titans 38, Infinity Inc. 45”
Justice League #7 – “Justice League … International” – Keith Giffen, J.M. DeMatteis/Kevin Maguire/Al Gordon
This one starts with Guy Gardner waking up in JLA headquarters after being punched out by Batman last issue. Guy is half out of it and crawls under a console to retrieve his ring, but hits his head on the console and knocks himself out again. Elsewhere, Dr. Fate has taken Gray Man (and the rest of the Justice League) to another dimension, where Gray Man finds himself confronted by the beings responsible for making him what he is, the Lords of Order. Continue reading “Comics Reviews: Justice League 7, Infinity Inc. 44, Young All-Stars 6”
Justice League #6 – “Massacre in Gray” – Keith Giffen, J.M. DeMatteis/Kevin Maguire/Al Gordon
Last issue, a guy called the Gray Man took over Stone Ridge, Vermont and lured Dr. Fate there. Gray Man was condemned by the Lords of Order to live in a featureless world devoid of emotion and harvest dream essence from dead people. But he figured out how to use the dream essence like magical energy, escaping from his bleak world and capturing Dr. Fate and Captain Marvel, who the JLA sent to investigate Stone Ridge. Continue reading “Comics Reviews: Justice League 6, Infinity Inc. 43, Young All-Stars 5”
Justice League #5 – “Gray Life, Gray Dreams” – Keith Giffen, J.M. DeMatteis/Kevin Maguire/Al Gordon
This one starts in a small town called Stone Ridge (in Vermont), where some people witness a car accident and try to help the victim. But they’re acting a little weird and we see that the Gray Man (who we saw a couple issues ago) is in Stone Ridge, spreading his melancholy over the town. Dr. Fate senses the Gray Man and comes to investigate, but Gray Man doesn’t seem too worried. Continue reading “Comics Reviews: Justice League 5, Infinity Inc. 42, Young All-Stars 4”
Justice League #4 – “Winning Hand” – Keith Giffen, J.M. DeMatteis/Kevin Maguire/Al Gordon
This one starts with the Justice league discussing how Maxwell Lord breached their security and why he’s trying to foist new members (Dr. Light and Booster Gold) on them. Dr. Light isn’t happy that Lord lied to her about his connection with the league and she walks out. Lord keeps pushing the team to accept Booster, whose pride is hurt when the League aren’t all that keen. Continue reading “Comics Reviews: Justice League 4, Infinity Inc. 41, Young All-Stars 3”
Justice League #3 – “Meltdown” – Keith Giffen, J.M. DeMatteis/Kevin Maguire/Al Gordon
Last issue, three misguided heroes from another planet (or possibly dimension, I’m not sure which) came to Earth to destroy all the nuclear weapons, hoping to prevent a nuclear holocaust like the one that destroyed their world. The three (Wandjina, Silver Sorceress, and Blue Jay) tangled with the Justice League and ended up taking refuge in Bialya, whose strongman leader (Rumaan Harjavti) thinks he can use them to rid all his rivals of their nukes … starting with the Russians. Continue reading “Comics Reviews: Justice League 3, Infinity Inc. 40, Young All-Stars 2”
Justice League #2 – “Make War No More” – Keith Giffen, J.M. DeMatteis/Kevin Maguire/Al Gordon
This one starts with Batman interrogating Kimiyo (Dr. Light) Hoshi about where she got the JLA signal device she used to summon the team last issue. She tells him (over and over) that some guy gave it to her and she had no reason to assume the rest of the team was unaware of that. While they’re talking, Blue Beetle brings a TV show to their attention, one that isn’t too complimentary to the new team. Continue reading “Comics Reviews: Justice League 2, Infinity Inc. 39, Young All-Stars 1”
Justice League #1 – “Born Again” – Keith Giffen, J.M. DeMatteis/Kevin Maguire/Terry Austin
This one starts with Guy Gardner (or the One True Green Lantern, as he calls himself) sitting in JLA headquarters waiting for the rest of the new team to show up. As we saw a couple weeks ago, the old JLA was dissolved (and a couple of its members killed), but a new team got together after the Legends mini-series to carry on the legacy. Continue reading “Comics Reviews: Justice League 1, Infinity Inc. 38”