Comics discussions, with flair…
Posts tagged Batman
A guy, a mutant, and a creeper
Apr 14th
Time to introduce a few more guest stars that are always good for some great stories and the first one has a connection to our Green Lantern, Hal Jordan.
Air Wave is Lawrence Jordan, Larry to his friends and spent a great deal of his time with radio technology, so much so that he was able to ride telephone wires on skates and pick up all sorts of short wave transmissions allowing him to overhear dastardly plans of saboteurs during World War II. Recruited by FDR, Air Wave joined the All-Star Squadron and served bravely during wartime. Larry was eventually murdered just as he was handing over the reigns of Air Wave to his son, Harold Jordan who goes by Hal Jordan. For the record the Hals, Green Lantern and Air Wave II are cousins of each other and Green Lantern Hal Jordan is the nephew of the original Air Wave.
While the next Air Wave used his dad’s equipment, at some point Hal no longer needed the artificial equipment to fly, turn into radio waves, and travel at the speed of sound. And speaking of Hal Jordan, Green Lantern… here he is fighting our next “guest star”
Captain Comet, a mutant man born with a four lobed brain which gives him super speed, super strength, flight, and all manner of other outer space cosmic powers started off in Strange Adventures and eventually migrated to this book, The Secret Society of Super-Villains which enjoyed some success due to the Super Friends and the Legion of Doom series. The Captain is still around and streaking throughout space and is typically seen in stories with Green Lantern, Hawkman, and Adam Strange. And speaking of strange….
The Creeper folks is one of the stranger heroes out there. Investigative reporter/tv celebrity Jack Ryder was shot and then operated on in order to save his life, but the doctor implants a device that when Jack presses it, it turns very straight laced, conservative talk show host into a cackling, maniacal hero with amazing speed, strength, and an acrobatic fighting style that drives most villains bats. His coloring should remind you of one particular Batman villain.. the green hair is a hint.
Adding a dash of chaos into the stiff man of steel or the dark night detective’s lives is always a good thing, for a little bit at least.
Next Time: We hit some WWII guest stars that don’t wear capes and tights. The Blackhawks, Haunted Tank, Sgt. Rock and Easy Company.
Four More Lovely Ladies
Apr 12th
Often in superhero comics it’s all men all the time, but I have a great deal more respect for the lovely women of the DC Universe who can go toe to toe with the manly men. Here we talk about four additional ones. Two with powers, two without, but all are gutsy.
Introducing Mera, Queen of Atlantis and wife of Aquaman. Mera is the queen of another dimension and she becomes King Arthur’s consort and eventual wife and mother of Arthur, Jr.
Usually the stories of “happily ever after” end at the wedding, and there is a reason for that, and almost every married couple will tell you what that is…after the wedding comes the really hard work, the marriage. There are bumps in every marriage, but losing a child has to be one of the hardest to overcome.
Mera and Aquaman fall on tough times and are separated when I started reading comics and in fact Mera had left Aquaman to return to her home dimension, but like all good couples their love continues through the hard times. Mera like most of the undersea characters has enhanced strength, the ability to exist under water as well as on land for a limited amount of time, she cannot command marine life however, but she can create and shape water into “hard water” shapes that are rather powerful. She has been powerful enough to sink a submarine with one hit. Truly, she is Arthur’s Guinevere.
Hawkgirl or Hawkwoman as she was beginning to be called when I started reading comics is Shayera Hol or Sheira Hall of Thanagar. She and Hawkman came from Thanagar together and started fighting crime in Midway City as a married couple, though as Hawkgirl she was basically the femme version of Hawkman.
Adam Strange, Hawkman and Hawkgirl/woman in the first Rann/Thanagar War.
In later versions Hawkgirl/woman is viewed as just as vicious as Hawkman, just not as strong, to make up for this Hawkgirl/woman is frequently depicted as being more agile than the bulkier Hawkman. Armed with her wings, nth metal anti gravity laced costume, and medieval weapons Hawkgirl/woman is a very powerful adversary and even joined the Justice League of America. She did not appear so far in the JLA stories because she and Carter were ALSO on the outs when I started reading and Shayera went off for some “me” time. How 70’s huh?
Time for our first non-powered female to get a spotlight here, and I think it’s overdue…
Oh Lois.. will you ever learn? The intrepid investigative reporter who doesn’t have a CLUE who Superman is? Really?
From her early appearances to Noel Neill in the Adventures of Superman show, to the time when I started reading comics, Lois went from being a doggedly determined reporter to stereotypical 50s Donna Reed/Doris Day to Mod-Fashion challenged to the 70s reliant interpretation from Margot Kidder to the 80s when she started to emerge as that strong business woman thanks to influences like Gloria Steinem and the movie 9 to 5. It is important to realize Lois was a big enough draw that she did have her own book for a long time geared towards female readers and she does show up every now and then while investigating a story without Superman around, even better if Supes happens to be off planet at the time.
Oh, and did you notice the banner on the bottom of Lois’ comic? Rose and the Thorn? hmmm…
Rose and the Thorn is one in the same. Let me explain.
Rose Forrest is a woman whose father is killed by The 100, an organized crime group in Metropolis. Rose being a tender flower “loses it” and a second personality is born, that of the avenging Thorn. Rose is unaware of anything that Thorn does as Thorn is equally unaware of Rose’s activities yet they both house the same body. Even when Batman hypnotized Thorn, she only revealed “I.. Am… The.. THORN!” Even though Batman had correctly deduced her identity. A brilliant case of Do as I Say Not as I Do from the Batman there, eh?
Thorn is originally a Golden Age villain who fought the Flash, Green Lantern, and the rest of the JSA on a regular basis.
This edginess moved DC to make the new Silver Age Thorn a bit of a bad girl as well. Not afraid to hurt, maim, or even prevent from saving a bad guy, Thorn has vowed to put all the 100 behind bars or die trying. To that end Thorn has almost unbelievable skills as a fighter with no training. She fights as if possessed and certainly fights dirty. She carries thorn like gimmicks such as thorns full of smoke screens, bombs, or just sharp. Thorn carries a barbed whip and she wears a straight red haired wig to confuse others, Rose is a blonde with short hair.
There are a ton of more lovely ladies, but next time we’ll get into some of the male guest stars!
Next Time: Air Wave, Captain Comet, and The Creeper
Batman and the Outsiders
Apr 1st
In the Super Friends days Superman and Batman are best buddies. Calling each other “chum” and going off on adventures together in comics as well as cartoons. This complete and utter friendship upon reflection… really does not make a whole lot of sense.
The two men are opposites in almost every conceivable way.
Superman gets his powers from the sunlight. Batman works at night as urban myth. Superman instills hope. Batman instills fear. Superman is invulnerable. Batman is completely human.
However, there are some similarities between the two men.
Both lost their parents. Clark was too young to know his real parents and had a surrogate family growing up. Bruce saw his father and mother gunned down in front of him in Crime Alley. Both have very strong senses about right and wrong. Clark’s was instilled by his midwestern upbringing and Bruce’s instilled by his father’s example and his desire to make sure what happened to him never happens to another child.
Superman will do anything to protect his friends and so would Batman. Their methods however do not always compliment each other. Superman favors “by the book” actions, while Batman is not afraid to dangle a crook over a ledge to get some information. Superman frequently jumps in head first relying on his invulnerability and powers to protect him. Batman plans, he calculates, he does his homework, and he strikes when and where he can be the most effective. While Superman is the bulldozer, Batman is the laser.
With that in our minds we turn to the largest schism in the Justice League’s history, when Batman quits the JLA.
Batman’s right hand man at Wayne Enterprises, Lucius Fox, was in the country of Markovia when a civil war broke out. Lucius was captured by the rebels. If you were Batman, what would you do? You would get your friend, the invulnerable juggernauts of the Justice League and you would go get Mr. Fox, wouldn’t you?
Not so fast. The Justice League in Batman’s absence promised the United Nations that they would not interfere with what is going on in Markovia as it is an internal country matter and had not spilled over into inter country conflict, which the JLA rarely got involved with anyways.
Batman is incensed. He tells the JLA off, flips them the Bat-Bird and leaves the JLA satellite in disgust.
So, now you are Batman, you have to invade a country and extract one man. How do you pull off this bit of Bat-Magic? Better yet, how do you pull off this bit of Bat-Magic AND piss off the Justice League at the same time?
Simple answer. Only two characters had previously turned down Justice League membership. Call them to help you out.
First up is Metamorpho, the Element Man. Adventurer Rex Mason was doing some Indiana Jones business in an Egyptian tomb and was exposed to some magical rays from The Orb of Ra. The rays caused him to go to sleep and when Rex Mason awoke, he was an elemental freak. He had the power to create any element naturally found in the body. Sounds dumb right? Have you seen all the elements in your daily vitamins? Go ahead, look. There is some wicked cool elements in that list. Phosphorus is my personal favorite.
Rex did not react to this change very well and was labeled all sorts of words most of which are synonyms for “freak.” Rex’s long time girlfriend Sapphire Stagg stood beside him however, much to the chagrin of Sapphire’s overprotective father Simon Stagg.
Rex rejects the JLA’s offer of membership and appears off and on in guest starring roles until this book where he finds a place on Batman’s team.
Second is Black Lightning, Jefferson Pierce, who holds the distinction of being DC’s first black super-hero with his own title in the 1970s. Riding the wave of blaxploitation, DC introduced Black Lightning who wears a fake afro and affects a ghetto/street accent when he’s a hero, yet in his secret identity, Jefferson is a high school teacher, educated and eloquent. Black Lightning has the ability to generate electricity from his body.
When he was approached by the JLA, they tested him under duress to see if he would snap and he didn’t. The ruse revealed Jefferson said some choice things to the JLA about their lack of faith and that he didn’t want to join their “jive turkey” club anyway as he did more good in Suicide Slum in Metropolis than in space. An argument that would be repeated by Green Arrow and Batman later.
The Outsiders introduced us to three new heroes as well.
Halo is a girl who Batman finds in some ruins and she is unconscious. When she wakes up she freaks out and a halo of light appears around her body. Halo can cover her body in energy of different colors that all have different effects.
- Red Aura = Heat Beams
- Orange Aura = Force Beams
- Yellow Aura = Bright Light
- Green Aura = Stasis Beams
- Blue Aura = Illusion Power
- Indigo Aura = Tractor Beam
- Violet Aura = Makes Halo Unconscious.. hmmmm?
Katana is a mysterious woman of Japanese descent who assassinates one of the rebel leaders in front of Black Lightning and then disappears in the night. She carries a Japanese katana and appears to be highly skilled in martial arts. While Katana is alone there is another disembodied voice near her, but we do not know who it is or where it comes from. This gives Katana an air of mystery as well as an automatic conflict with Batman.. she WILL kill if she deems it necessary. Operating basically via the Code of the Bushido or Samurai code, Katana appears blood thirsty and vengeful.
Geo-Force is Prince Brion Markov of the recently usurped Markov family. Brion was receiving his powers, the “Geo-Force” that is his family’s birthright from Dr. Helga Jace. Brion has the ability to create lava blasts from his hands to propel him through the air and he has the strength of the Earth itself. Brion is killed by the villain of the piece, Baron Bedlam and put in the ground, which nurtures Brion and brings him back to life.
The heroes win of course and a new team is forged with Batman as the leader. His own Justice League to mold in his own image. Take that Supes!
Meanwhile… it’s really interesting that Geo-Force should appear at this time, because over in Titans…Terra is rising.
Next Time: War Heroes!
Three Key Figures
Mar 30th
Ahh, it’s good to be back home. I had a great time on vacation and now it’s time to dig into some plot points regarding our heroes in the Justice League of America.
When you regard continuity in a comic book universe, there are several ways to stage a story that does not fall chronologically into the greater continuity. The first is the “flashback” often referred to as the “untold” story or tale. Then there is the “What if?” genre, where you can tell stories about these characters, but that these particular stories are separate from the regular continuity of the characters…such as Clark Kent landing in Russia vs. the U.S.A., interesting concept, but it’s not the way the origin plays out for the “real” version of the character.
When juggling the myriad characters in a team book, it is important to keep in mind that your “A” tier characters are going to bring in the money, but really the main changes to those characters should take place in their own books and let those changes later be reflected in the team book. For the “B” characters, changes can occur in the team book as there is no regular place that they appear outside of a scheduled mini-series, so there is not a lot of juggling to do when it comes to the “B” tier.
Well, for a period of time for JLA the writer at the time had to juggle a few things.
- In Green Lantern’s book, Hal Jordan had been exiled into outer space and so could not appear in JLA stories after #200 until that plot point was resolved around JLA #220 or so.
- The Atom had a new mini-series coming up called The Sword of the Atom which would rock the character and change his status-quo for a while to come.
- The Flash was undergoing a murder trial, so could he really be involved in the JLA while that was going on?
- The Batman quits the League to go to another team book title.
So Mr. Conway did what many would do knowing the limitations. He wanted to tell a story with Green Lantern and Flash in it and he did so by using that “untold tale” tactic. 
Notice we get a little Phantom Stranger action in this one as well. Sweet! This story is set prior to Zatanna joining the JLA, explaining her and Firestorm’s absence from such a big story. It turns out our heroes are forced by aliens to gather certain objects for aliens, but it turns out the aliens only want this one man who apparently has all the dna code of the world locked inside of him. Needless to say our heroes win all is saved. This carried our heroes through issue #210-212, leaving us time to go have some fun with the Atom in the microcosmos.
The Leaguers are attempting to find the Atom, which is like finding a needle in a haystack at the best of times. Batman, Green Arrow, Hawkman, Black Canary, and Red Tornado go after the wayward physicist and meet some crazy sword and sorcery societies which looked like a “pilot” episode for a new comic that did not materialize.
Unfortunately, the Flash is soon voted out of the Justice League.. notice that this takes place in Flash’s comic, not in JLA itself. Due to the fact that Flash is soon to be put on trial for killing a super villain named Professor Zoom, the JLA discover that he is a liability and since he has asked the JLA not to interfere, they have no choice but to expel him until his name is cleared.
Meanwhile, the tale of Atom in the Microverse may not have gone over very well, but Atom in a sword and sorcery sort of existence DID sell. Sword of the Atom is one of this Atom’s most popular incarnations. Take a Physics professor and add some native beings about 3″-6″ tall, and well, he becomes their default protector. Atom seems to not be as JLA involved after this direction pushes his character more towards Conan and less towards shiny sci-fi.
Next Time: Batman does it for himself!
Demons Three and Felix Faust
Mar 25th
Back in the world of the Justice League they are wrapping up a meeting at the JLA Watchtower when they five of their members are set against their old foes The Demons Three.
The three higher ranked demons of what passes for Hell in the DCU are called Abnegazar, Rath, and Ghast. They were originally summoned up in an old JLA tale by a more recurring foe, a Felix Faust.
Felix, you see, is a man who above all else craves power and dominion, not over petty things such as money, but knowledge, for all knowledge is power. Felix gathered the three mystical items required to summon the demons up from the earth in exchange for knowledge and the power that mystic knowledge would give. The Green Bell of Uthool, The Red Jar of Calthyos, and the Silver Wheel of Nyorlath.
The demons raised Felix found himself with power enough to cause the early Justice League some significant challenges…
The JLA of course take care of the demons and all returns right with the world, which of course we as readers know because the story is being told in flashback by a dad to a son who is visiting The Flash Museum. Apparently the dad and son are descendants of one of the Justice Leaguers in the story.
Meanwhile in the wings.. Felix plots and plans for his next grab at power…
Next up: We handle a flashback and the microverse, but more importantly three big Justice Leaguers leave the team.
Justice Society of America Roll Call IV
Mar 13th
When you think about it, when you have one set of characters that mimic your main set of characters you can take that group that is not the main group and take risks with them. The characters can grow, evolve, even die without an impact to merchandising. At least in 1982 to think that one day they would kill off a character as main as Batman was impossible. But a copy of Batman on another earth? Well, that could be entirely plausible as we will see.
Tonight we examine the “new kids” of the JSA at least as of 1982.
Yes, Robin, but the Robin of Earth-Two. Dick Grayson has grown up, become a lawyer, district attorney, and ambassador to the United Nations. Having grown up in Batman’s shadow all his life, Dick needed to get out from underneath the shadow of the Bat. Eventually he would wear a costume combining both his Robin colors and the Batman’s motif. He also went by “the Ex-Boy Wonder” to further distance himself as a man, not a boy.
Batman of Earth-One, Robin of Earth-Two, and that is the original Batwoman, Kathy Kane in this issue of Brave and the Bold.
Sylvester Pemberton picks up the mantle of Starman after Ted Knight breaks due to his involvement in creating the Atomic Bomb. Along with his friend Pat Dugan as Stripesy, both of the heroes being skilled in athletics and gymnastics, the two fought Nazism during WWII. Later Sylvester would be able to tweak the cosmic rod and make a Cosmic Converter Belt out of it in order to advance the Cosmic Rod technology even further. At this point Sylvester joins the JSA full time.
And you thought a guy couldn’t pull off the star spangled look.
Wait! Dude, you’ve done Red Tornado already!
Yes, I have.. However the Red Tornado here is an earlier version of the one that later JOINS the JLA. Just like Black Canary who immigrated over, so did the Red Tornado. Oddly enough, just like Canary the cross over occurs in a JLA/JSA Crisis issue in which the Tornado sacrifices himself, only to be rebuilt later.
And I’m very glad they gave him a better costume. That red and purple outfit just looks odd somehow.
Karen Starr is Power Girl who (stop me if you’ve heard this before), rocketed from Krypton’s Argo City to Earth where she encountered her cousin Superman. She grows up and as Superman retires, Power Girl takes over the main role of Kryptonian protector of Earth, while Clark and his lovely wife Lois Lane of Earth-Two, live a happy existence.
If you are saying, wait, that sounds kind of like what would happen if Supergirl grew up and Superman was allowed to retire.. well you’re catching on. Karen instead of Kara. Just a little bit older and more.. blessed up front. It’s impossible to mention Power Girl without mentioning her attributes. Both of them. Without a doubt she holds the title for largest bust line in the DCU.
Yes, those are the boobs you are looking for.
Ahhh, she’s sexy, she’s mysterious, she carries a crossbow and isn’t afraid to use it. Now, just look at her. Who do you think her parents are?
The cape should be at least a little bit of a giveaway, huh?
The Huntress is Helena Wayne, the daughter of Bruce Wayne and Selina Kyle, otherwise known as Batman and Catwoman. Yes on Earth-Two, Catwoman reformed after doing her time and she and Bruce found love in each other’s arms. Given those genes, Helena was at the very least destined to be a thrill seeker, but tempered with her time at law school and her father’s drive for justice, Helena took up the good fight and joined the JSA. Her addition to the JSA was even more poignant when in a story her mother was drawn back into crime via blackmail and lost her life as did Batman. Helena lost both her parents making her move to the “Batman family” complete.
Next Time: We discuss the five members of the All-Star Squadron in our JLA/JSA crossover.
Justice Society of America – Roll Call I
Mar 10th
Now, we’re here on Earth-Two and the counterpart to the JLA is the JSA. Not only the counterpart, but also the predecessor of the JLA. Back when I started collecting comics characters used to be numbered by order in which they appeared, so the original Green Lantern was Green Lantern I but he was from Earth-2. I am not going to do that here.
If any hard core comic book fans are reading this, I probably just moved to the heretic column. Oh well, I’ve been called an abomination before, and it will happen again, so bring it.
What I am going to do is typically use the character’s name and their real name to distinguish which character that we are talking about.
For the five heroes that kept being published from the Golden Age through to the Silver Age…
- Superman
- Batman
- Wonder Woman
- Aquaman
- Green Arrow
Only three of them joined the JSA. Wonder Woman was the secretary and Superman and Batman were honorary members. Neither Aquaman nor Green Arrow joined the JSA. Additionally between the Golden Age to the Silver Age no significant changes were made in the character regarding name, origin, powers, m.o., etc.., While some of these may have evolved over time there was not a distinct change that occurred along with a brand new introductory character. Since Superheroes as a genre were not commercially successful, most of those heroes went into mothballs until the powers that be decided it was time for superheroes to stage a comeback.
When that comeback occurred it featured a new character, new costume, new powers, new origins… the only thing that stayed the same consistently from character to character was the name of the hero.
With that in mind, we need to go back to the Golden Age a bit and spend some time with these heroes and heroines of the Golden Age.
The American propaganda was very important back in the days of WWII. For morale of the troops overseas and as a cheap entertainment for the kids at home. Remember, basics were scarce, so people typically read a comic and then sent it along with their magazines and newspapers to paper drives, along with scrap metal, old tires, nylons, anything to help with the war. People grew victory gardens to save money while dealing with war rationing. A coca-cola for Christmas was considered a splurge due to the sugar shortage.
So kids, needed their heroes just as much as the boys overseas. And here they are the roll call of the original JSA.
The Flash is Jay Garrick is a college student who inhales fumes from a hard water/heavy water experiment and when he awakes he discovers he can move at super speeds and he has amazing reflexes. He is easy to recognize due to the Hermes/Mercury helmet he wears.
(Barry Allen Flash of Earth-One on the left and Jay Garrick Flash of Earth-Two on the right.)
The Spectre is Detective Jim Corrigan who was murdered by mobsters. His body became infused with the “spirit of vengeance” and he became The Spectre. The Spectre starts off as just a man in an outfit with ghostly abilities, but he evolves eventually into one of the most powerful forces in the DCU as the “Wrath of God.”
The Spectre in one of his spooky tales in the Silver Age.
The good doctor who is a master of the mystical arts is Dr. Kent Nelson a son of an archaeologist who was in Egypt discovering all sorts of hidden treasures, unfortunately Kent’s father died leaving young Kent to be raised by a being named Nabu. Nabu is an ancient Egyptian sorcerer whose spirit lives in the Golden Helmet of Doctor Fate. When Kent puts on the Helmet, the power and personality of Nabu take him over to an extent and he becomes an agent for the Lords of Order to fight the never ending power of Chaos magicks.
(You have to admit, the helmet is a pretty intimidating look.)
Green Lantern is Alan Scott of Gotham City and is a top radio man in the business. Radio, right? According to comic book legend Alan was supposed to be named Alan Ladd (Aladdin?) but then a real Alan Ladd began to appear in movies and the name was scrapped. Alan’s ring and lantern are formed out of a mystical rock called The Starheart. He must charge his ring every 24 hours just like that other Green Lantern, however he has no connection to the space faring Green Lantern Corps except in name only. He was named an honorary member of the Green Lantern Corps after many duties he had performed over the years in the Earth-One universe. Unlike Hal, Alan’s ring was immune against wood, not against the color yellow.
Next time: More Classic JSA members!
Enter the Royal Flush Gang
Feb 22nd
So.. you’re thinking to yourself.
“The Royal Flush Gang? You have GOT to be kidding me.”
Nope. The Royal Flush Gang. Interesting premise and over the years the writers tend to get more inventive with them and because they are villains, they are more changeable than our heroes. They are a natural team in a world populated with Brainiac, Cheetahs, and Jokers.. well, could this card themed group really have been far behind?
The Royal Flush Gang employ weapons based on their card motifs. Spade shaped grenades, illusion scepters, lasers, hypnosis, and they ride flying cards. Come on, Flying Cards! It’s like surfing!
Aquaman and Firestorm open up our adventure on the open seas, where Aquaman is giving Firestorm a test. While Firestorm is a JLAer, he’s still the rookie and so the other Leaguers try to help him along a bit with his training. Unfortunately, the two JLAers are ambushed by people wearing outfits that look like playing cards and they are riding playing cards. Weird, huh?
Before long, many JLAers fall to the Royal Flush Gang. Superman. Wonder Woman. Green Arrow. All the JLAers who are zapped by the Royal Flush Gang’s weapons go into a sort of debilitating coma.
We eventually get to meet the Royal Flush Gang.
Ten is a female Hal Jordan, disgusted with the open sexism in the field of test pilots. Jack is a gigolo who stopped at nothing to get a score. Queen is a washed up actress looking for the role of a life time. King is a “King of the Road”, a hobo dying of cancer. Finally Ace is revealed as a robot working for an unnamed master who has hand picked his Royal Flush Gang due to their moral failings.
The JLA enters the House of Cards to fight the Royal Flush Gang and all of them fall but Black Canary whose wiles have turned the Jack against the rest of the deck. With the Flushers in custody all Black Canary can do is hope that the rest of the JLA snap out of it.
(nice to let the ladies have the bed, eh? who says chivalry is dead?)
No fear however. Firestorm’s body may be still but his mind’s half isn’t as Professor Martin Stein sees the unseen mastermind, a Green Lantern villain named Hector Hammond. Hec is a man born with a freakishly large head that gives him grand psychic powers. Professor Stein and Hammond fight on the astral plane and Hector is banished and without Hector around to suck up the energy of the JLAers, they all awake safe and sound.
Next up, we’ll check and see why those Titans are having fights with Russian heroes, living statuary, and the Disruptor.
Justice League Reunited
Feb 13th
Well, the JLA is reunited and they break off into teams to go beat the bad alien conquerors into submission, so let’s get to it, shall we?
Team One: Batman, Black Canary, Green Arrow, Hawkman, Superman, Wonder Woman, and Zatanna take off to fight the Crystal Creature, the Wood King, and the Mercury Monster in the woods of the Vermont forest.
The Appellaxians are already battling each other as Superman and Hawkman swoop in to break it up. The Wood King sticks his roots into it again and manages to grow an offshoot that catches Hawkman. Superman avoids the sneak attack and collides with the Wood King and smashes him into so many splinters. Unfortunately Superman failed to think ahead and the Wood King’s sap was full of Green Kryptonite.. (when will he learn?) Wonder Woman uses her golden lasso to pull Superman out of harms way of the other aliens while Green Arrow uses a saw arrow to trim the root still choking Hawkman.
While this drama is going on, Zatanna has encased the Mercury Monster in a bubble of super heated oil causing the monster to evaporate. Mercury boils at 357 degrees Celsius, so make a mental note, do not tick Zatanna off. Black Canary is running a decoy pattern on the Crystal Creature while Batman puts a batarang through the creature’s back side. Never turn you back on the bat.
Team Two: Aquaman, Elongated Man, The Flash, and Red Tornado
Off the Irish Coast a fisherman spotted the monsters going toe-to-toe and though the Fire Lord is much larger than the Glass Golem, they both seem fairly unharmed when the Leaguers show up. The Glass Golem blinds the Flash but fails to notice Aquaman who bursts out of the water behind him and drags him down into the depths. The Glass Golem’s last thoughts were of why the Fire Lord didn’t warn him, but one less contestant in their contest works for him, doesn’t it? Aquaman crushes the Glass Golem while Elongated Man decoys the Fire Lord using the class stretchy guy trope of taunting the villain. This gives Red Tornado the opportunity to create a vacuum around the Fire Lord to put him out. The victorious leaguers stand on the beach as the scene shifts to team three.
Team Three: Atom, Firestorm, Green Lantern, and the Martian Manhunter
As the Rock God and the Golden Roc are making a mess of NYC ala Godzilla and years before 9/11 entered our national vocabulary Firestorm makes the exclamation…
“Hey, this is New York! You’re wrecking My City!” As Firestorm uses his atomic restructuring powers to rebuild what the aliens have demolished, Green Lantern creates a jack hammer and takes out the Rock God with very little than a thought. Martian Manhunter had been holding off the Golden Roc but now needed assistance from the team. GL creates a cannon and Atom crawls into it and is fired towards the Golden Roc’s head. Atom impacts the creature and distracts it long enough for Martian Manhunter to seal the deal.
15 Leaguers vs. 7 Alien Conquerors.. victory to the JLA.
The Epilogue features Green Lantern and Red Tornado traveling to the dumping ground of every comic book story, the Sun. They toss any and all remnants of the Appellaxians into the sun to burn up, no longer keeping anything for a trophy. I hope there was not another subliminal suggestion that will send our heroes into the Sun digging for remnants of these creatures, heh.
Back on the satellite the Martian Manhunter and Snapper Carr say their goodbyes to their old comrades, with J’onn J’onzz contemplating coming back to the Justice League..someday.
Then Green Arrow begins to make his exit as Hawkman pleads with Green Arrow to stay with the League as they need him. Green Arrow rethinks his decision and rejoins the JLA ending some tension with Black Canary and the rest of the Justice Leaguers.
All in all, a very satisfying initial story, eh? Lots of heroes, conflict, wrapped up in a nice, neat bow at the end. Which brings me to Fanboyism #1
Fanboyism #1: Fans loving watching their heroes fight one another.
It’s just the way of things, which hero is better than who? It doesn’t matter what the answer to the question is, in this story all the original JLAers won, and the new JLAers lost, but that does not mean there isn’t a case to be made that any of the new JLAers wouldn’t have won against their older compatriots had the circumstances been different. So I would venture that no matter the two characters in conflict, any hero could beat another hero given the correct set of circumstances.
There will be naysayers to this theory however, who will say “Batman is prepared for everything.” or “Flash is so fast he can do anything.” Could be… but again, I could give a scenario that an equally savvy Wonder Woman or Atom could take either of those characters out, again it is about the circumstances of the fight.
One thing though.. did you notice who was a mainstay of the Super Friends cast who was not in this story…
Usually the back half of Batman and… So in this DCU, where exactly is Robin and what is he up to? We’ll take that up next time as we discuss the sidekicks.
Round Six: Batman vs. Green Arrow & Black Canary
Feb 10th
VERSUS
Well a few interesting things here right off the bat. (You did get the pun notice in the last post, right?)
Batman is apparently so bad ass that two new JLAers need to go find him. Not Superman or Wonder Woman, but Batman. What does this tell you? This tells you that we are not dealing with the campy Batman that I was first introduced to via Adam West, Burt Ward, and Yvonne Craig on the classic 1960s Batman TV Show.
Secondly, we have our first relationship depicted in comics. Sure everyone knows about Lois and Clark and most people know that Colonel Steve Trevor has a thing for Wonder Woman, but here we have two costumed individuals aware of each others identities that are explicitly boyfriend and girlfriend.
The final thing to point out here is that there are a great deal of similarities in Batman and Green Arrow.
Both are Millionnaires – Billionnaires depending on the story you read.
Both had sidekicks (more on that later).
Both use “gimmicks” with a motif. Batman has his Batmobile and Batplane. Green Arrow has his Arrowcar and Arrowplane.
Both are merely human with no extra special powers, it is their skills that keep them valid heroes in the hero game. While Green Arrow is more of a street brawler, Batman is honed via martial artists around the globe, which brings us to his similarities to the Black Canary.
Black Canary at this point in her career has a few rather bland functions. She’s a martial artist specializing in judo. She has a sonic scream which gives her some “uumph” in the super hero community. And she is Green Arrow’s “wet blanket” frequently cast in the role of calming down GA’s impulsive nature.
So, what do you do if you are with your annoying bf/gf out in the Everglades while hunting a man known for his stealth skills? You argue of course! Giving your target the perfect opening to sneak up on you and….
Well, before you know it, Bats has tagged GA and his arrow goes off and luckily nails Black Canary in the head. Bats handcuffs GA’s hands together and as Batman climbs into the trees to make his escape GA emphatically yells at him “You Can’t Do This To Me!” To which Batman replies, “I already have.”
Black Canary recovers and gets Green Arrow’s Acetylene Arrow (blow torch) to bust his cuffs open. We get a bit more about Green Arrow not being a member of the JLA currently here. He feels he does not have a place at the table as he wants to do what he does best, which apparently is not traipsing through the swamp trying to find Batman. BC quickly gets him back on task and they attempt to sneak up on Batman on the beach.
Batman is unearthing the meteor as the two JLAers sneak up on him. Taking no chances Black Canary unleashes her sonic Canary Cry which knocks Batman over. GA is rejoicing and BC isn’t so sure. When they get to Batman’s unconscious form they find she only succeeded in knocking over a “Bat Dummy”
Back on the satellite Green Arrow is venting about being tricked, but lets face it, tricked by Batman pretty much means you were tricked by one of the best. Atom meanwhile begins to get the group to think about what happens after the original JLAers get the seventh meteor.
Meanwhile, in the original JLA HQ, the meteors that have been brought together are beginning to glow…
Next time: Superman vs. Hawkman