Sunday Splash Page #290

 

"Un-Alloyed Trouble", in Justice League: Generation Lost #11, by Judd Winick (writer), Aaron Lopresti (penciler), Matt Ryan (inker), Hi-Fi (colorist), Travis Lanham (letterer)

After the whole "zombie army" thing of Blackest Night, DC did a couple of year-long series spinning out of it. Including this one, where back-from-the-dead Max Lord a) makes everyone forget he existed, b) makes everyone think Ted Kord actually committed suicide, c) kills Magog but pins it on Captain Atom, and d) uses the old JLI cast to cripple most of the major international intelligence agencies (aka, Checkmate) so he can take control of their assets to run back his stupid OMAC plan and make a world run by "regular humans." Or more accurately, run by Max Lord, a guy with mind-control powers.

So Max Lord is full of shit. What else is new in the 21st Century?

It's a frustrating series to read. It's 23 issues of Booster Gold and several of the old JLI crew - Fire, Ice, Captain Atom, a new Rocket Red and Jaime Reyes - trying to bring down Max, only to have Max lead them around by the nose. Every time they think they've got him, ha ha, nope! Max isn't there at all! Or he is, and he just shuts Booster down with the old mind control whammy and gets away again.

When they do finally get him at the end, when Booster kicks his ass and Captain Atom scares Max bad enough he'll undo his memory wipe and remind everyone what he's done, he still gets away to post Youtube videos about how, actually, those memories are lies and he's a swell guy just trying to do the right thing. That's the conclusion to a book that ran for an entire year?

It was going to segue into a new Justice League International book. Too bad DC did the New 52 about three months after this concluded. There was a JLI book in that initial roll out, but it died a swift death and I don't think the Max Lord stuff ever came. And how would it have worked anyway, with all the continuity behind it having been chucked in the trash disposal?

It makes the book sort of a weird artifact. Batman gets involved near the end - both of them, since this is after Bruce Wayne comes back from the time travel thing Darkseid did to him in Final Crisis, but Grayson's still being Batman, too. Max tries to use his Super-Adaptoid rip-off OMAC to kill Wonder Woman, as payback for the neck snapping thing. But it's Wonder Woman during that weird story JMS wrote where everyone forgot she existed, and she was going around in a yoga pants and a denim jacket version of her costume. She doesn't remember any of them, and none of them remember her. Max seems to be the only one who knows why he's doing it.

This is also the book where Judd Winick threw out Ice's long-standing origin as a belonging to a group of Norse deities. Instead, that was all something she made up to run from the memories of her father being some kind of low-level grifter who tried to use her until she lost control and killed him. Also, she was Romany now for some reason. Probably not in the Top 10 most inexplicable writing decision Jud Winick made in comics, but still pretty stupid.

I did find the parts of the story dealing with Captain Atom interesting. He keeps having to absorb massive amounts of energy, and each time it flings him to some point in the far future. He's there for a period of time until he adjusts to the energy and returns home. Winick plays up how Atom feels less and less human all the time, but that he hides it behind the stoic front. It was honestly the most I've ever given a shit about Captain Atom. That's something, at least. Not much, but it's something.

And with that depressing sendoff, we conclude the letter J.

Sunday Splash Page #289

 

"People You Meet in Prison," in Justice League International #13, by Keith Giffen (writer/penciler), J.M. DeMatteis (writer), Al Gordon (inker), Gene D'Angelo (colorist), Bob Lappan (letterer)

After Crisis on the Infinite Earths, DC went a somewhat different direction with the Justice League. Not just in the sense that this Justice League was more tied to the governments of the world, with the team having embassies around the world, but in the tone of the book. Superhero teams weren't strangers to characters getting on each other's nerves, going back to at least Ben Grimm wanting to throttle the Human Torch, but that was usually played for melodrama or angst.

While Giffen and DeMatteis had some of that - in the issue above, Batman's increasing frustration is causing him to basically be a dick to the entire team and forces the Martian Manhunter to lay down the law - Justice League International could qualify as a workplace comedy. Because amid Batman's poor attitude, you've got Oberon remarking (under his breath) that Bats could use a good psychiatrist, Canary joking Batman paid the super-villains(read: Suicide Squad) to attack the Russian prison to get permission to go there, and an injured Max Lord deciding it's a good idea to play cute with Amanda Waller. It's not making light of the whole situation, not exactly, but it's not playing things with a perfectly straight face, either.

The roster's a mix of established Leaguers, second-stringers, and a few relative newbies, but it seemed to work better than the Detroit era's attempt did. Certainly most of the characters that got promoted to the big leagues by this title have hung around (even if it hasn't always been pretty what's been done with them.)

Maybe the tone being so novel gave less-established characters a more unique hook. Blue Beetle and Booster Gold running pranks and get-rich schemes when they aren't fighting crime (and sometimes while they are). Guy Gardner being an abrasive loudmouth, except when he's got brain damage and is acting like a sweet-mannered child. Or just trying not to be a jerk because he actually really likes Ice and wants to impress her. Max Lord being the connection to the government, but rather than being a Peter Gyrich-style antagonist, Lord's putting every bit of his used car salesman charm into trying to make the League (and by extension, himself) look good.

Adam Hughes and especially Kevin Maguire are a big part of the book's success. With a title that's as much about conversations and humor as it about fighting super-criminals, the artist has to be good at facial expressions and body language. Not only to help sell the characters as feeling genuine, or sell the humor, but to keep things from looking static and dull. Otherwise, it's just a comic of talking heads, and that can get old quick. Maguire and Hughes both do that. The characters gesture and snarl and hands are thrown up in exasperation (when they aren't burying their faces in them).

Sunday Splash Page #178

 

"Those Puns Are the Wurst," in Elongated Man #4, by Gerard Jones (writer), Mike Parobeck (penciler), Ty Templeton (inker), Rick Taylor (colorist), Bob Pinaha (letterer)

I think this might be the one of only two titles in my entire comic collection written by Gerard Jones, and it comes up two weeks after the other one. Well, same warnings apply as mentioned in Sunday Splash Page #176 regarding Jones.

Set during Ralph's time on Justice League Europe, the story involves some mysterious party trying to disrupt a big European Unity conference, through the magic of nation-specific super-villains. Like the sausage-wielding German guys up above. Ralph loves a mystery, leaving Sue increasingly annoyed as he ignores her to, from her perspective, chase phantoms. Which grants an opening for the ruler of Modora, who seems to have a lot of the same weapons as the villain Sonar, to try and woo her.

I've heard Ralph and Sue compared to William Powell and Myrna Loy from the Thin Man movies, and I can sort of see it. Although I think Sue is Powell, where she doesn't really want any part of this crime-solving stuff but keeps finding herself in the middle of it. Ralph, who is ready to jump into action at the hint of anything suspicious, seems more like Loy. Either way, the whole thing is kind of charming and sweet.

Parobeck's art here is far closer to what I think most fans think of. Much more streamlined, fewer and stronger lines than in El Diablo. Some of that might be Templeton as inker. Not having seen Parobeck's pencils on their own, I don't know for sure. Very expressive, and with Taylor's colors, not too grim or serious. It fits with the overall tone of the story, which is ultimately just some second-rate Doctor Doom trying to protect his little kingdom from the dangers of working together for greater economic strength. For its own good, of course.

Once Again, Batman Is Allowed To Stick His Nose Wherever He Likes

About the new Justice League International book. Since it's supposed to be composed of heroes from all over the globe, do you think DC should have used that as an opportunity to spotlight someone from Batman Incorporated? Maybe Nightrunner (or Batwing, to help promote his title) added to the roster instead of Batman?

I'm not surprised Bats would want to be involved with a super-team that's going to be active across the globe. If nothing else, he can take things he learns there and feed it to his agents if he thinks they're better suited to dealing with the problem than the JLI. By the same token, if Mr. Unknown 2 comes across something he thinks is out of his league, he can pass it along to Batman, who can then sic Guy Gardner on it. Or the other Justice League, I guess. No, not the one with Constantine. The other, other Justice League.

I guess I'm surprised he was allowed on the team. Unless this is a new, friendlier Batman who plays well with government officials. I doubt it, since he's going around deputizing people without concern for what the local governments might think, but you never know. Batman wants on, but the U.N. won't let him. They don't trust him not to pull the team out from under them. However, they recognize someone like Batman would be good to have, so they approach someone who's already proven themselves skilled enough that Batman trusts them. Naturally it turns out whoever they selected won't be controlled anymore than Bats would, but it would explain the initial selection.

Maybe Bruce Wayne greased some palms to get Batman rubber-stamped.