JLA vol. 13: Rules Of Engagement


By Joe Kelly, Rick Veitch, Darryl Banks, Doug Mankhe, Duncan Rouleau & various (DC Comics)
ISBN 978-1-84023-923-5

When the Justice League of America, driving force and cornerstone of the Silver Age of Comics, were relaunched in 1997 (see JLA: New World Order) the sheer bravura quality of the stories propelled the series back to the forefront of industry attention, making as many new fans as it recaptured old ones; but the intoxicating sheen of “fresh and new” never lasts and by the time of these tales there had been numerous changes of creative personnel – usually a bad sign…

However Joe Kelly’s tenure proved to be a marvellous blend of steadying hands and iconoclastic antics through which the JLA happily continued their tricky task of keeping excitement levels stoked for a fan-base cursed with a criminally short attention span.

Kelly’s run on the series has some notable highs (and lows) and this portmanteau collection (gathering issues #77-82 of the monthly comicbook) happily falls into the former category as the team readjusted to modern life after the time-lost traumas of the Obsidian Age (see JLA:The Obsidian Age).

However the adventure actually kicks off with an impressive, clever and fast-paced fill-in tale from Rick Veitch, Darryl Banks & Wayne Faucher wherein the team – Batman, Superman, Atom, Wonder Woman, Flash, Green Lantern John Stewart and Firestorm – are attacked by a civilisation-crushing cosmic wanderer which achieves its goals by invading brains and stealing knowledge in ‘Stardust Memories’…

That threat successfully circumvented, the World’s Greatest Superheroes learn of an interplanetary conflict that looks likely to divide the team forever in the eponymous two-parter ‘Rules of Engagement’ by Kelly, Doug Mankhe and Tom Nguyen. With half the team travelling, uninvited, many light-years to stop a war, the remainder of the JLA stay to police Earth, giving the opportunity to add some long-missed sub-plots to the usually straightforward storytelling; specifically some unpleasant hints into new member Faith’s clouded past, a long-deferred romantic dinner for Bruce Wayne and Amazonian Princess Diana and the beginnings of a very hot time for the Martian Manhunter with fiery potential paramour Scorch…

On the distant world of Kylaq, Leaguers Superman, Wonder Woman, Major Disaster, Manitou Raven, John Stewart and Faith act unilaterally to prevent the invasion of the Peacemaker Collective but are keenly aware that once they succeed they leave the rescued world to the mercies of its own highly suspect government… especially Defense Minister Kanjar Ro, intergalactic slave-trader and one of their oldest, most despotic foes…

The last half of the book fills in some of Faith’s background as the reunited team are called to an Oregon cult compound where a new Messiah has created Safe Haven: a separatist enclave for metahuman children. Unfortunately, the Federal Authorities are not prepared to leave them alone and the resultant clash of ideologies leaves a thousand dead children on the crippled consciences of the devastated superheroes…

Yet something isn’t right: why does each JLA-er believe that they alone are responsible for the massacre? Moreover, what is the actual goal of master manipulator Manson and how does neo-Nazi team Axis America fit into the scheme?

This thrilling, action-packed three-part mystery saga comes courtesy of Kelly, Duncan Rouleau & Aaron Sowd and satisfyingly closes this fast and furious selection of witty, engaging, beautiful and incredibly exciting yarns: some of the best modern superhero adventures ever created and a reading treat well worth your time and attention.

© 2003, 2004 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

Showcase Presents Booster Gold


By Dan Jurgens & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-84576-852-2

After the cosmos-crunching Crisis on Infinite Earths re-sculpted the DC Universe in the mid-1980s, a host of characters got floor-up rebuilds for the tougher, no-nonsense, straight-shooting New American readership of the Reagan-era and a number of corporate buy-outs such as Blue Beetle, Captain Atom and The Question joined the DC roster with their own much-hyped solo titles. There were even a couple of all-new big launches for the altered sensibilities of the Decade of Excess such as Suicide Squad and a Shiny, Happy Hero named Booster Gold.

This economical black and white edition (released to coincide with the hero’s relaunch as a time-roving chronal cop) features the entire 25 issue run of Booster Gold volume 1 (from February 1986 to February 1988), plus a crossover appearance from Action Comics #594 and his redefined backstory from Secret Origins #35 (December 1988).

The blue and yellow paladin appeared amidst plenty of hoopla in his own title cover-dated February 1986 (the first post-Crisis premiere of the freshly integrated superhero line) and presented a wholly different approach to the traditional DC costumed boy-scout.  Created, written and drawn by Dan Jurgens with inks by Mike DeCarlo ‘The Big Fall’ introduced a brash, cocky, mysterious metahuman golden-boy jock who had set up his stall as a superhero in Metropolis, actively seeking corporate sponsorships, selling endorsements and with a management team in place to maximise the profit potential of his crusading celebrity.

Accompanied everywhere by a sentient flying-football-shaped  robot Skeets, the glitzy showboat soon encountered high-tech criminal gang The 1000 and their super-enforcer Blackguard, earning the ire of sinister mastermind The Director and the shallow approbation of models, actresses, headline-hungry journalists, politicians and the ever fickle public…

In issue #2’s ‘Cold Redemption’ Blackguard was assisted by thought-casting mercenary Mindancer as the Director’s campaign of malice led to another close call for Booster. Meanwhile his highly public private life took a tawdry turn in ‘The Night Has a Thousand Eyes’ when opportunistic starlet Monica Lake began briefing the media on her “relationship” with the Man of Gold. He was unable to refute the claims since he was knee-deep in hired thugs and super-villains at the time…

That cataclysmic combat in #4 resulted in a tremendous ‘Crash’ when urban vigilante The Thorn dropped in to help scuttle the 1000’s latest scheme, but once the dust settled Booster found himself in real trouble as business manager Dirk Davis was so busy licensing his boss for a comicbook that he failed to head off an IRS audit…

It appeared Booster Gold had no official record and had never paid a penny in taxes…

In ‘Face Off’, our hero saved an entire stadium of ice hockey fans from avaricious terrorist Mr. Twister, earning himself a reprieve from the Federal authorities, after which an alien refugee crashed in Metropolis’ Centennial Park in #6’s ‘To Cross the Rubicon’, just as Man of Gold met Man of Steel for the long-awaited origin saga.

Michael Jon “Booster” Carter was a rising sports star in the 25th century who fell in with a gambling syndicate and began fixing games for cash pay-outs. When he was caught and banned from competition he could only find menial work as a night-watchman in The Space Museum. Whilst there he struck up a friendship with automated tour-guide and security-bot Skeets, embarking on a bold plan to redeem himself.

Stealing a mysterious flight ring and force-field belt plus energy-rods, an alien super-suit and wrist-blasters, Booster used the Museum’s prize exhibit, Rip Hunter’s time machine, to travel to 20th Century Age of Heroes and earn all the fame and glory his mistakes had cost him in his own time…

Superman, already antagonistic because of Booster’s attitude, is ready to arrest him for theft when the almost forgotten alien attacks…

They all awaken on a distant world embroiled in a vicious civil war and still at odds. As a result of ‘The Lesson’ and a vicious battle Superman and Booster Gold both learned some uncomfortable truths and agreed to tolerate each other when they returned home. Meanwhile, back in Metropolis, Dirk Davis and company PA Trixie Collins hired hotshot scientist Jack Soo to build a super-suit that would enable Booster to hire a camera-friendly, eye-candy, girly sidekick…

More questions were answered in the two-part ‘Time Bridge’ when the 30th century Legion of Super-Heroes discovered evidence that their flight-rings and forcefield technology were being used by a temporal fugitive named Michael Carter. Dispatched to 1985 by the Time Institute, Ultra Boy, Chameleon Boy and Brainiac 5 arrived soon after the fugitive Carter and became involved in his very first case. The Director and shape-shifting assassin Chiller were planning to murder and replace Ronald Reagan but in the best superhero tradition Carter and the Legionnaires misunderstood each other’s intentions and butted heads…The plot might have succeeded had not Skeets intervened, allowing Carter to save the day and get official Presidential approval. Ronnie even got to name the new hero…

Back in 1986 the long-building final clash with the Director began in #10 with ‘Death Grip of the 1000’ when Dirk’s daughter was kidnapped and he was coerced into betraying Booster, just as the nefarious super-mob unleashed a horde of robotic terrors on Metropolis to wear out the Man of Gold and assess his weaknesses…

After Trixie was also abducted in ‘When Glass Houses Shatter’ the 1000 increased the pressure by setting blockbusting thug Shockwave on Booster, resulting in the utter destruction of the hero’s corporate headquarters and home before a frenzied and frenetic final clash in ‘War’…

With the threat of the 1000 ended ‘The Tomorrow Run’ (inked by Gary Martin) found Booster at death’s door, not because of his numerous injuries but because his 25th century body had succumbed to 20th century diseases. Set during the Legends publishing event, which saw the public turn violently against costumed heroes, the dying Carter was rescued from a mob by Trixie wearing Jack Soo’s completed super-suit after which the cast resolve to take Michael back to the future where he can be properly treated, even though Booster’s offences carried a mandatory death penalty in his home era…

Recruiting young Rip Hunter (destined to become the Master of Time) Trixie and Dr. Soo accompanied the distressed hero to a time where ruthless Darwinian capitalism ruled and everything Michael Carter once dreamed of had turned to bitter ashes…

‘A Future Lost’ (inked by DeCarlo) followed Booster and Trixie as they searched for a cure (and his missing twin sister Michelle) whilst Hunter and Soo attempted to find a way to return them all to 1986.

Booster’s illness was only cured after they were arrested: the authorities believing it barbaric to execute anybody too sick to stand up, before ‘Runback’ (inked by Bruce D. Patterson) concluded the saga in fine style with the missing Carter twin saving the day and retreating to the 20th century with the time-lost travellers.

Booster Gold’s close call had a salutary effect on his attitudes and character. ‘Fresh Start’ (inked by Bob Lewis) saw a kinder, gentler corporate entrepreneur begin to re-establish his heroic credentials with the celebrity-crazed public of Metropolis, to the extent that Maxwell Lord even offered him membership in the newly re-formed Justice League, just as sultry assassin Cheshire began raiding a biotech company recently acquired by Booster Gold International…

‘Dream of Terror’ (inked by Arne Starr) revealed all as new owner Booster discovered that his latest corporate asset had been making bio-toxins designed to eradicate all “undeserving” individuals (for which read non-white and poor) and that its creator was currently loose in Mexico City with the lethal bug. Moreover, the deranged biochemist had bamboozled militant hero the Hawk into acting as bodyguard while his plans to “save humanity from itself” took effect…

Decarlo returned to ink ‘Showdown’ in #18, as a relentless lawman from Booster’s home-time tracked him down through history, determined to render final judgement before ‘Revenge of the Rainbow Raider’ (inked by Al Vey) pitted the Man of Gold against the colour-blind and utterly demented Flash villain in a two-part revenge thriller that saw our hero rendered sightless and his future shocked sister go native amongst the 20th century primitives.

The tale concluded with ‘The Colors of Justice’ as Dr. Soo came to Booster’s rescue whilst Michelle was being kidnapped by extra-dimensional invaders…

Up until this moment the art in this volume, whilst always competent, had been suffering an annoying hindrance, designed as it was for high quality, full-colour comicbooks, not stark, black and white reproduction. Although legible, discernable and adequate, much of the earlier art is fine-lined, lacking contrasting dark areas and often giving the impression that the illustrations lack solidity and definition.

With Booster Gold #21 the marvellous Ty Templeton became regular inker and his bold, luscious brush-strokes brought a reassuring firmness and texture to the proceedings. As if to affirm the artistic redirection the stories became a tad darker too…

‘Invasion From Dimension X’ has Booster’s search for his missing sister impinge on a covert intrusion by belligerent aliens first encountered and defeated by the Teen Titans (see Showcase Presents Teen Titans volume 2). To make matters worse the extra-dimensionals are using Michelle as a power-source to fuel their invasion, resulting in ‘Tortured Options’ for Booster who had to decide between saving Michelle or the city of Minneapolis when the invaders opened their assault with a colossal monster attack…

Guest-starring Justice League International, the astounding battle climaxed in public triumph and personal tragedy after which the heart-broken, embittered Booster seemingly attacked Superman in ‘All That Glisters’ (Action Comics #594, November 1987, by John Byrne & Keith Williams); a terse, brutal confrontation that concluded in Booster Gold #23 and ‘Blind Obsession’ (Jurgens & Roy Richardson) as the real Man of Gold crushed a Kryptonite-powered facsimile android designed by the world’s most unscrupulous businessman to kill Superman and frame his closest commercial rival…

If only they had known that at that very moment Booster Gold International was being bankrupted by a traitor at the heart of the company…

After Crisis on Infinite Earths and Legends, DC’s third company-wide crossover Millennium saw Steve Englehart describe how robotic peacekeepers called Manhunters had infiltrated Earth to abort the next stage in human evolution. Built by the Guardians of the Universe billions of years ago, the automated peacekeepers had rebelled against their creators and now planned to thwart their makers’ latest project, destroying or suborning Earth’s costumed defenders in the process.

In its original form each weekly instalment of Millennium acted as a catalyst for events which played out in the rest of the DC Universe’s comics. In addition to the miniseries itself, Millennium spread across 21 titles for two months – another 37 issues – for a grand total of 44 comic-books. Issues #24 and 25 of Booster Gold were two of them.

‘Betrayal’ revealed that one of Michael Carter’s inner circle had been a Manhunter agent all along and had bankrupted the hero at the most propitious moment simply so that the robots could buy his loyalty during their assault on humanity…

The series came to a shocking climax in ‘The End’ as the scheme worked and Booster actually switched sides… or did he?

After the surprisingly satisfying and upbeat denouement Booster became a perennial star of Justice League International where, with fellow homeless hero Blue Beetle, he became half of the one of funniest double-acts in comics. As “Blue and Gold” the hapless, cash-strapped odd couple were always at the heart of the action – pecuniary or otherwise – and the final tale here ‘From the Depths’ (by Jurgens & Tim Dzon, originally presented in Secret Origins #35, December 1988) reprised the early tragic days of Michael Jon Carter in a brief and exceedingly impressive tale played as much to tug the heartstrings as tickle the funny-bone…

As a frontrunner of the new DC, Booster Gold was a radical experiment in character that didn’t always succeed, but which definitely and exponentially improved as the months rolled by. The early episodes are a necessary chore but by the time the volume ends it’s a real shame that the now thoroughly entertaining and enjoyable ride is over. Perhaps not to every Fights ‘n’ Tights fan’s taste; these formative fictions are absolutely vital to your understanding of the later classics. Cheap and fun this book is worth the investment simply because of what follows in such comics gems as Justice League International volume 1 and 2 and Booster Gold: Blue and Gold.

© 1986, 1987, 1988, 2008 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

JLA volumes 11 & 12: Obsidian Age books 1 & 2


By Joe Kelly, Doug Mankhe, Tom Nguyen & various (DC Comics)
ISBNs: 978-1-84023-702-3 & 978-1-84023-709-2

When the World’s Greatest Superheroes and cornerstone of the Silver Age of Comics were relaunched in 1997 (see JLA: New World Order) the intrinsic quality actually lived up to the massive hype and made as many new fans as it won back old ones, but the glistening aura of “fresh and new” never lasts forever and by the time of these tales there had been numerous changes of creative team – usually a bad sign…

However Joe Kelly, Doug Mankhe and Tom Nguyen’s tenure proved to be a competent blend of steadying hands and boldly iconoclastic antics through which the JLA happily continued their tricky task of keeping excitement levels stoked for a fan-base cursed with a criminally short attention-span.

Kelly’s run on the series has some notable highs (and lows) and these two impressive editions collect the author’s boldest and most audacious adventure, an epic which spanned a year of publication and rewrote millennia of DC continuity.

Collecting issues # 66-71 and # 72-76 respectively, The Obsidian Age began in Book 1 with ‘The Destroyers Part 1’ wherein peculiar water-based events and phenomena indicated that Aquaman – believed killed in a catastrophe which eradicated Atlantis – was alive and trying to contact his JLA comrades. When the team are subsequently attacked by an ancient mystical warrior they get their first clue that it’s not “somewhere” but “somewhen”…

‘The Destroyers Part 2’ sees the team recovering from a second attack by the terrifying Tezumak and shaman Manitou Raven whose coordinated manipulations bring the heroes into the ruins of ‘Stillborn Atlantis’ and all-out combat with the deranged Ocean Master. When Tempest (the all grown-up Aqualad and now a magical adept himself) and a conclave of mystic heroes, including Zatanna, Faust and Doctors Occult and Fate, are called in to assess the deteriorating situation in the no-longer sunken city, the assembled champions of science and magic realise that something truly terrible is about to be unleashed….

Renewed assaults from the past indicate another global crisis and when the JLA discover a message from Aquaman they head back 3000 years to discover an unsuspected era of Atlantean domination. With Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Green Lantern, Martian Manhunter and Plastic Man gone, a stand-in team of heroes are left to guard the world but the ancient mastermind behind the menace has also prepared a contemporary trap for the substitute JLA…

‘New Blood’ (illustrated by Yvel Guichet & Mark Propst) features Zatanna and the Atom trying to stave off a concatenation of clearly unnatural natural disasters with the aid of Green Arrow, Captain Marvel, Firestorm, Jason Blood (with and without Etrigan the Demon), Hawkgirl, ex-villain and troubled soul Major Disaster, Nightwing and new find Faith (as well as a little help from the Justice Society of America) – a desperate scratch-team woefully overmatched and under-trained…

Meanwhile the strands of mystery are unravelled in ‘Revisionist History’ which finds the time-lost First Team in 1000BC where an above-the-waves Atlantis leads a coalition of nations and super-warriors in a campaign to conquer the known world by sword and sorcery. This unknown episode of human history contravenes all the records and clandestine reconnaissance by the JLA reveals an enchantress named Gamemnae is behind the scheme.

But her plans extend far beyond her own epoch and to that end she has kidnapped the 21st century water-breathing Atlanteans and enslaved their king Aquaman…

However Gamemnae’s own team is far from united: Manitou Raven and his bride Dawn are deeply troubled by the venality of their allies and the obvious nobility of the Justice Leaguers… Meanwhile back in the future the last story of Book 1 returns focus to the new team in ‘Transition’ (by Guichet & Propst again) as the planet is ravaged by geological catastrophes and Gamemnae’s millennial booby-trap activates, intent on conquering the world of tomorrow by suborning its meta-human and mystic defenders…

Ending on a stunning mystery cliffhanger this volume also includes a behind-the-scenes text feature on the formidable enemy team ‘The Ancients’ including a delightful assemblage of design sketches.

 

Obsidian Age Book 2 opens with a handy précis of previous events before launching into ‘History is Written By…’ (Kelly, Mahnke & Nguyen) wherein the JLA battles hopeless odds in ancient Atlantis whilst trying to liberate the enslaved water-breathing descendents, and in modern times ‘Last Call’ (Guichet & Propst) finds the alternative League faring badly against Gamemnae’s monstrous animated time-trap until a ghostly message from the past enables them to turn the tide…

‘Obsidian’ follows the final tragic battle between the JLA and The Ancients, revealing how Gamemnae’s future assaults began whilst Manitou finally succumbs to his conscience and changes sides. ‘Tragic Kingdom’ (by Mahnke, Guichet, Darryl Banks, Dietrich Smith and inkers Nguyen, Propst, Wayne Faucher & Sean Parsons) simultaneously provides the origin and final fall of the deadly Witch-Queen in a cataclysmic confrontation that bends times, breaks the barriers between life and death and costs one of the heroes everything…

The story-portion culminates in ‘Picking up the Pieces’ (with art from Lewis LaRosa & Al Milgrom)  as the JLA conclude a 3000 year quest to restore their fallen comrade and re-jig their roster in the aftermath of the epic adventure that has left them all changed…

This volume ends with an insightful and revealing ‘Afterword’ by Kelly.

The action of Obsidian Age takes place in the devastated aftermath of the DC Crossover Event “Our Worlds At War” wherein an alien doomsday device named Imperiex almost destroyed the planet – but there’s enough useful background and build-up in the chapters collected in both books to circumvent any possible confusion should that saga have passed you by…

Engaging, engrossing and especially entertaining this is a superior superhero slugfest that will appeal to a lot of readers who thought the Fights ‘n’ Tights genre beyond or beneath them…
© 2002, 2003 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

Young Justice: A League of Their Own


By Peter David, D. Curtis Johnson, Todd Nauck, Ale Garza & others (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-84023-197-7

There are many facets that contribute to the “perfect mix” in the creation of any continuing character in comics. How much more so then, when the idea is to build a superhero team that will stand out from the seething masses that already exist? In the mid-1990s a fresh batch of sidekicks and super-kids started cropping up at DC after some years of thematic disfavour, and as the name and modus operandi of the Teen Titans was already established something new needed to be done with them.

But why were kid crimebusters back at all? Ignoring the inherent stupidity – and illegality if you acknowledge child-endangerment laws – of superhero apprenticeships for trainees who can’t even shave yet, why should callow champions appeal at all to comics readers?

I don’t buy the old line about giving young readers someone to identify with: the kids I grew up with all wanted to be the adult who drove the whatever-mobile, not a snotty smartass brat in short pants. Every mission would be like going to school with your dad…

I suspect it’s actually the reverse case: duffers like me with responsibilities and chores could fantasize about being powerful, effective and dangerously irresponsible: able to beat people up without having to surrender that hormone-fuelled, irredeemably juvenile frat-boy capacity for goofy fun that we’ve all missed ever since it finally died away…

After a delightfully cool try-out miniseries (see Justice League: World Without Grown-Ups) the latest crop of “ands…” soon stampeded into their own highly habit-forming monthly series. Also included in that introductory graphic novel collection was a subtly distressing tale wherein Robin, Superboy and Impulse rescued a young girl composed entirely of smoke and vapour from a supposedly benign federal agency: the Department of ExtraNormal Operations.

This second collection (repackaging issues #1-7 of the monthly comicbook with portions of Young Justice Secret Files #1) features fan-favourite writer Peter David scripting some inspired, tongue-in-cheek, gloriously self-referential adolescent lunacy, beginning with ‘Young, Just Us’ (illustrated by Todd Nauck & Lary Stucker) wherein the unlikely lads go for a sleepover in the old Justice League Secret Sanctuary and fall into a whole new career.

When a nearby archaeological dig uncovers an ancient New Gods Supercycle the boys are too busy vandalising the decommissioned mountain lair until the android Red Tornado objects. Before things become too tense the boys are called to the dig-site where DEO operatives Fite and Maad are attempting to confiscate the alien tech. After a brief skirmish with a fabulously mutated minor villain (transformed by a booby trap!) the bike adopts the kids and makes a break for it…

After a brief interlude with the pneumatically empowered Mighty Endowed the action switches to the Middle East for ‘Sheik, Rattle and Roll’ where the semi-sentient trans-dimensional cycle has brought Robin, Superboy and Impulse. Apparently uncounted years ago an Apokoliptian warrior named Riproar was entombed beneath a mountain after stealing the bike from New Genesis. Now the machine, enslaved to the thief’s ancient programming, is compelled to free the monster, but it has brought some superheroes to fight Riproar once he’s loose. Of course, they’re rather small heroes…

Hilariously victorious, the kids return to America just in time for Halloween and a riotous Trick or Treat time travel romp as meddling kids dabbling in magic snatch a nerdy Fifth Dimensional scholar out of his appointed place – endangering the entire continuum. Sadly, although YJ’s best efforts in ‘The Issue Before the One Where the Girls Show Up!’ restore reality they might have had a delayed bad influence on the quietly studious Master Mxyzptlk…

A bunch of chicks join the boys’ club in ‘Harm’s Way’ as writer David unerringly injects some dark undercurrents into the frenetic fun. Impulse’s sometime associate Arrowette (a second generation trick archer forced into the biz by her fearsome stage-struck mother) is being hunted by a psychotic youth who intends to become the world’s greatest villain and that aforementioned mist-girl Secret and the latest incarnation of Wonder Girl are dragged into the clinically sociopathic Harm’s lethal practice run before the assembled boys and girls finally manage to drive him off…

D. Curtis Johnson, Ale Garza & Cabin Boy then step in for ‘Take Back the Night’ as Secret leads the now fully-co-ed team in a raid against the clandestine and quasi-legal DEO orphanage-academy where metahuman kids are “trained” to use their abilities. It seems an awful lot of these youngsters aren’t there voluntarily or even with their parents’ approval…

‘First, Do No Harm’ (David, Nauck & Stucker) sees the return of the malevolent young nemesis as he invades their HQ and turns Red Tornado into a weapon of Mass destruction (that’s a pun that only makes sense after I mention that the Pope guest-stars in this tale). As the Justice League step in, the tale wraps up with a majestic twist ending…

The senior superstars are concerned about the kid’s behaviour and set a test, but since this is comics, that naturally goes spectacularly wrong in ‘Judgement Day’ as the ghost of alien horror Despero turns the simulation into a very practical demonstration of utter mayhem…

This terrific tome concludes with the edgy and hilarious ‘Conferences’ as the assorted guardians and mentors convene for a highly contentious parents/teachers evening, blissfully unaware that their boy and girls have snuck off for an unsanctioned – and unchaperoned – overnight camping trip together. As ever, it’s not what you’d expect but it is incredibly entertaining…

Teen issues and traditional caped crusading are perfectly combined with captivating adventure and deft, daft home-room laughs in this magical blend of tension and high jinks, comedy, pathos and even genuine horror in Young Justice.

The secret joy of sidekicks has always been the sheer bravura fun they inject into a tale and this book totally epitomises that most magical of essences. Unleash your inner urchin with this bright shiny gem and pray that now the kids have their own cartoon show DC will finally get around to releasing all the Young Justice tales in graphic novel collections.
© 1998, 1999, 2000 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

JLA volume 9: Terror Incognita


By Mark Waid & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-56389-936-2

By the time of these tales (reprinting issues #55-60) the Justice League of America had become once more a fully integrated part of the DCU and no longer a high-profile niche project for creative superstars. Mark Waid, joined here by Chuck Dixon and Scott Beatty, proved that the heroes were the true stars in a succession of fast, furious and funny fights ‘n’ tights romps that managed to blend high concept and big science with all the classical riffs beloved by long-term fans.

Starting off this volume is the extended, eponymous dark and devilish thriller ‘Terror Incognita’ as the sinister White Martians (first rearing their pallid spiky heads in JLA: New World Order) return to transform the planet into their own recreational slaughterhouse. Launching the campaign with a series of blistering personalised psychic assaults in ‘Came the Pale Riders’ by Waid, Bryan Hitch and Paul Neary, their intensifying efforts were met with valiant resistance in ‘Harvest’ (illustrated by Mike S. Miller & Dave Meikis), before Batman led the counterpunch with plenty of guest-stars in tow in ‘Mind Over Matter’ (Miller & Neary) resulting in a calamitous crescendo and glorious triumph in ‘Dying Breath’.

With no appreciable pause for breath the team then became involved in the cross-company publishing event that saw “Jokerised” super-villains running amok throughout the DCU (see Batman: the Joker’s Last Laugh for further details).

‘Bipolar Disorder’ (scripted by Chuck Dixon and Scott Beatty, with art from Darryl Banks & Wayne Faucher) saw magnetic malcontent and world class lunatic Dr. Polaris made even crazier when infected by the Crazy Clown’s unique brand of insanity, stretching Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Green Lantern, Martian Manhunter and Plastic Man to their utmost in a bid to preserve the planet deep in the icy Antarctic wastes…

Rounding out the book is a classy Christmas neo-classic as Plastic Man reveals how Santa Claus joined the JLA in the outrageously engrossing ‘Merry Christmas, Justice League… Now Die!’ by Waid, Cliff Rathburn & Paul Neary.

Witty, engaging, beautiful and incredibly exciting these are some of the best superhero adventures ever created: timeless, rewarding sagas that must be part of your permanent collection…
© 2001, 2002 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

The Greatest Team-Up Stories Ever Told


By various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 0-930289-51-X

When the very concept of high priced graphic novels was just being tested in the early 1990s DC Comics produced a line of glorious hardback compilations spotlighting star characters and celebrating standout stories from the company’s illustrious and varied history decade by decade. They even branched out into themed collections which shaped the output of the industry to this day.

The Greatest Stories collections were revived this century as smaller paperback editions (with mostly differing content) and stand as an impressive and joyous introduction to the fantastic worlds and exploits of the World’s Greatest Superheroes. However for sheer physical satisfaction the older, larger books are by far the better product. Some of them made it to softcover trade paperback editions, but if you can afford it, the big hard ones are the jobs to go for…

From the moment a kid first sees his second superhero the only thing he/she wants is to see how the new costumed marvel stacks up against the first. From the earliest days of the industry (and according to Julie Schwartz’s fascinating introduction here, it was the same with the pulps and dime novels that preceded them) we’ve wanted our idols to meet, associate, battle together – and if you follow the Timely/Marvel model, that means against each other – far more than we want to see them trounce their archenemy one more time…

The Greatest Team-Up Stories Ever Told gathers together a stunning variety of classic tales and a few less famous but still worthy aggregations of heroes, but cleverly kicks off with a union of bad-guys in the Wayne Boring illustrated tale ‘The Terrible Trio!’ (Superman #88, March 1954) as the Man of Steel’s wiliest foes, Lex Luthor, Toyman and the Prankster joined forces to outwit and destroy him, whilst World’s Finest Comics #82 (May-June 1956) saw Batman and Robin join the Man of Tomorrow in a time-travelling romp to 17th century France as ‘The Three Super-Musketeers!’, helping embattled D’Artagnan solve the mystery of the Man in the Iron Mask.

A lot of these stories are regrettably uncredited, but nobody could miss the stunning artwork of Dick Sprang here, and subsequent research has since revealed writer Edmond Hamilton and inker Stan Kaye were also involved in crafting this terrific yarn.

Kid heroes prevailed when Superman was murdered and the Boy Wonder travelled back in time to enlist the victim’s younger self in ‘Superboy Meets Robin’ (Adventure Comics #253, October 1953) illustrated by Al Plastino, whilst two of that title’s venerable back-up stars almost collided in an experimental crossover from issue #267 (December 1959).

At this time Adventure starred Superboy and featured Aquaman and Green Arrow as supporting features. ‘The Manhunt on Land’, with art from Ramona Fradon & Charles Paris, saw villainous Shark Norton trade territories with Green Arrow’s foe The Wizard. Both parts were written by Robert Bernstein, and the two heroes and their sidekicks worked the same case with Aquaman fighting on dry land whilst the Emerald Archer pursued his enemy beneath the waves in his own strip; ‘The Underwater Archers’, illustrated by the excellent Lee Elias.

As I’ve mentioned before, I was one of the “Baby Boomer” crowd who grew up with Gardner Fox and John Broome’s tantalisingly slow reintroduction of Golden Age superheroes during the halcyon, eternally summery days of the 1960s. To me those fascinating counterpart crusaders from Earth-Two weren’t vague and distant memories rubber-stamped by parents or older brothers – they were cool, fascinating and enigmatically new. And for some reason the “proper” heroes of Earth-One held them in high regard and treated them with obvious deference…

It all began, naturally enough, in The Flash, flagship title of the Silver Age Revolution. After ushering in the triumphant return of the costumed superhero, the Scarlet Speedster, with Fox and Broome at the reins, set an unbelievably high standard for metahuman adventure in sharp, witty tales of science and imagination, illustrated with captivating style and clean simplicity by Carmine Infantino.

Fox didn’t write many Flash scripts at this time, but those few he did were all dynamite. None more so than the full-length epic that literally changed the scope of American comics forever. ‘Flash of Two Worlds’ (Flash #123 September 1961, illustrated by Infantino and Joe Giella) introduced alternate Earths to the continuity which resulted in the multiversal structure of the DCU, Crisis on Infinite Earths and all succeeding cosmos-shaking crossover sagas since. And of course where DC led, others followed…

During a benefit gig Flash (police scientist Barry Allen) accidentally slips into another dimension where he finds the comic-book champion he based his own superhero identity upon actually exists. Every adventure he’d avidly absorbed as an eager child was grim reality to Jay Garrick and his mystery-men comrades on the controversially named Earth-2. Locating his idol Barry convinces the elder to come out of retirement just as three Golden Age villains, Shade, Thinker and the Fiddler make their own wicked comeback… Thus is history made and above all else, ‘Flash of Two Worlds’ is still a magical tale that can electrify today’s reader.

The story generated an avalanche of popular and critical approval (big sales figures, too) so after a few more trans-dimensional test runs the ultimate team-up was delivered to slavering fans. ‘Crisis on Earth-One’ (Justice League of America #21, August 1963) and ‘Crisis on Earth-Two’ (#22) combine to become one of the most important stories in DC history and arguably one of the most important tales in American comics. When ‘Flash of Two Worlds’ introduced the concept of Infinite Earths and multiple heroes to the public, pressure had begun almost instantly to bring back the actual heroes of the “Golden Age”. Editorial powers-that-be were hesitant, though, fearing too many heroes would be silly and unmanageable, or worse yet put readers off. If they could see us now…

The story by Fox, Mike Sekowsky Bernard Sachs finds a coalition of assorted villains from each Earth plundering at will and trapping the mighty Justice League in their own HQ. Temporarily helpless the heroes contrive a desperate plan to combine forces with the champions of a bygone era and the result is pure comicbook majesty. It’s impossible for me to be totally objective about this saga. I was a drooling kid in short trousers when I first read it and the thrills haven’t diminished with this umpty-first re-reading. This is what superhero comics are all about!

The wonderment continues here with a science fiction hero team-up from Mystery in Space #90, which had been the home of star-spanning Adam Strange since issue #53 and with #87 Schwartz moved Hawkman and Hawkgirl into the back-up slot, and even granted them occasional cover-privileges before they graduated to their own title. These were brief, engaging action pieces but issue #90 (March 1964) was a full-length mystery thriller pairing the Winged Wonders and Earth’s interplanetary expatriate in a spectacular End-of the-World(s) epic.

‘Planets in Peril!’ written by Fox, illustrated by Carmine Infantino and Murphy Anderson, found our fragile globe instantly transported to the Alpha-Centauri system and heading for a fatal collision with the constantly-under-threat world of Rann at the behest of a scientific madman who eventually proved no match for the high-flying, rocket-powered trio.

Before settling into a comfortable pattern as a Batman team-up title, Brave and the Bold had been a high-adventure anthology, a try-out book like Showcase and a floating team title, pairing disparate heroes together for one-off  adventures. One of the very best of these was ‘The Challenge of the Expanding World’ (#53, April-May 1964) in which the Atom and Flash strove valiantly to free a sub-atomic civilisation from a mad dictator and simultaneously battled to keep that miniature planet from explosively enlarging into our own.

This astounding thriller from Bob Haney and the incredible Alex Toth was followed in the next B&B issue by the origin of the Teen Titans and that event is repeated here. ‘The Thousand-and-One Dooms of Mr. Twister’ (#54, June-July 1964) by Haney, Bruno Premiani and Charles Paris united sidekicks Kid Flash, Aqualad and Robin the Boy Wonder in a desperate battle against a modern wizard-come-Pied Piper who had stolen the teen-agers of American everytown Hatton Corners. The young heroes had met in the town by chance when students invited them to mediate in a long-running dispute with the town adults, but didn’t even have a team name until their second appearance.

By the end of the 1960s America was a bubbling cauldron of social turmoil and experimentation. Everything was challenged and with issue #76 of Green Lantern, Denny O’Neil and comics iconoclast Neal Adams completely redefined contemporary superhero strips with relevancy-driven stories that transformed moribund establishment super-cops into questing champions and explorers of the revolution. ‘No Evil Shall Escape My Sight!’ (O’Neil, Adams & Frank Giacoica, April 1970) is a landmark in the medium, utterly re-positioning the very concept of the costumed crusader as ardent liberal Green Arrow challenges GL’s cosy worldview as the heroes discover true villainy can wear business suits, harm people just because of skin colour and happily poison its own nest for short term gain…

Of course the fact that the story is a brilliant crime-thriller with science-fiction overtones beautifully illustrated doesn’t hurt either…

The Fabulous World of Krypton was a long-running back-up feature in Superman during the 1970s, revealing intriguing glimpses from the history of that lost world. One of the very best is ‘The Greatest Green Lantern of All’ (#257, October, 1972 by Elliot Maggin, Dick Dillin & Dick Giordano) detailing the tragic failure of avian GL Tomar-Re, dispatched to prevent the planet’s detonation and how the Guardians of the Universe had planned to use that world’s greatest bloodline…

Brave and the Bold produced a plethora of tempestuous team-ups starring Batman and his many associates, and at first glance ‘Paperchase’ (#178, September 1981) by Alan Brennert & Jim Aparo from the dying days of the title might seem an odd choice, but don’t be fooled. This pell-mell pairing of Dark Knight and the Creeper in pursuit of an uncanny serial killer is tension-packed, turbo-charged thriller of intoxicating quality.

The narrative section of this collaborative chronicle concludes with the greatest and most influential comics writer of the 1980s, combining his signature character with DC guiding icon for a moody, melancholy masterpiece of horror-tinged melodrama. From DC Comics Presents #85 (September 1985) comes ‘The Jungle Line’ by Alan Moore, Rick Veitch & Al Williamson wherein Superman contracts a fatal disease from a Kryptonian spore and plagued by intermittent powerlessness, oncoming madness and inevitable death, deserts his loved ones and drives slowly south to die in isolation.

Mercifully in the dark green swamps he is found by the world’s plant elemental the Swamp Thing…

The book is edited by Mike Gold, Brian Augustyn & Robert Greenberger, with panoramic and comprehensive endpaper illustrations from Carmine Infantino (who blue-printed the Silver Age of Comicbooks) and text features ‘The Ghosts of Frank and Dick Merriwell’, ‘That Old Time Magic’ and a captivating end-note article ‘Just Imagine, Your Favourite Heroes…’. However for fans of all ages possibly the most beguiling feature in this volume is the tantalising cover reproduction section: team-ups that didn’t make it into this selection, filling in all the half-page breaks which advertised new comics in the originals. I defy any nostalgia-soaked fan not to start muttering “got; got; need it; Mother threw it away…”

This unbelievably enchanting collection is a pure package of superhero magnificence: fun-filled, action-packed and utterly addictive.
© 1954-1985, 1989 DC Comics Inc. All Rights Reserved.

JLA Volume 6: World War III


By Grant Morrison, J.M. DeMatteis, Howard Porter, Mark Pajarillo & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-84023-184-7

With this sixth collection of breathtaking adventures starring the World’s Greatest Superheroes, the progression of gargantuan epics and mind-boggling conceptual endeavours culminated in the cosmic spectacle re-originators Grant Morrison and Howard Porter had been patiently working towards for three years: a “Big Finish” saga that proved well worth the wait.

This book, collecting issues #34-41of the monthly comic-book, also includes contributions from writer J.M. DeMatteis and art by Mark Pajarillo, John Dell, Drew Geraci & Walden Wong as an ancient extra-universal terror-weapon finally began to eat its way through reality.

Beginning with the thematic prelude ‘The Ant and the Avalanche’ (Morrison, Porter & John Dell) the JLA faced increased super-villain violence, natural disasters and general madness and New God Orion determines that a threat from the time of the Primal Gods is loose and closing on Earth. With the entire planet in turmoil, Lex Luthor and his malevolent allies prepared to destroy all heroes once and for all…

‘The Guilty’ by J.M. DeMatteis, Mark Pajarillo & Walden Wong took a timely sidestep to focus on debased angel Zauriel and the Hal Jordan-bonded Spectre and the past mortal sins of the assembled Leaguers. Cleansed and refreshed the team then embarked on the six-part epic ‘World War Three’ (Morrison, Porter and Dell), starting by learning the origins of Mageddon, a semi-sentient doomsday weapon that fostered hatred and violence. And now it approached Earth…

Responding to its presence the erstwhile hero Aztek (see JLA Presents Aztek, the Ultimate Man) came out of retirement as Luthor’s team ambushed the JLA in their lunar citadel with devastating success… Meanwhile on Earth, the inexorably approaching God-Weapon was driving the populace, human and not, into mania and blood-frenzy whilst the hard-pressed superhero community found that even they were not immune from Mageddon’s influence…

When even Heaven refused to act in Earth’s defence all hope seemed lost until the long-lost Flash returned with assistance from the end of time and space and Zauriel won help from an unexpected source, but even this was not enough until a hero made the ultimate sacrifice and humanity took its fate into its own disparate hands for a spectacular and cathartic cosmic climax that will delight fans of every persuasion and preference.

Compelling, challenging and genuinely uplifting this tale is a high-mark in modern superhero comics and one no fan can afford to miss. Morrison & Porter’s JLA was never afraid of looking back fondly or laughing at itself: an all-out effort to be Thrilling, Smart and Fun. For a brief moment in the team’s long and chequered career they were truly the “World’s Greatest Superheroes.” This is the kind of joyous frolic that nobody should ever outgrow and these are graphic novels to be read and re-read forever…

© 1999, 2000 DC Comics.  All rights reserved.

Green Arrow/Black Canary: The Wedding album


By Judd Winick, Cliff Chiang, Amanda Conner & André Coehlo (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-4012-1841-6

Green Arrow is Oliver Queen, a cross between Batman and Robin Hood and one of DC’s Golden All-Stars. He’s been a fixture of the company’s landscape – often for no discernable reason – more or less continually since his debut in More Fun Comics # 73 in 1941. During those heady days origins weren’t as important as image and storytelling so creators Mort Weisinger and George Papp never bothered, leaving later workmen France Herron, Jack Kirby and his wife Roz to fill in the blanks with ‘The Green Arrow’s First Case’ at the start of the Silver Age superhero revival (Adventure Comics #256, January 1959).

As a fixture of the DC Universe since the early 1940s GA was one of the few costumed heroes to survive the end of the Golden Age, consistently adventuring in the back of other heroes’ comic books, joining the Justice League during the Silver Age return of costumed crusaders and eventually evolving into a spokes-hero of the anti-establishment during the 1960’s period of “Relevant” comics, courtesy of Denny O’Neil and Neal Adams.

Under Mike Grell’s 1980/1990s stewardship he became a gritty and popular A-Lister; an urban hunter who dealt harshly with corporate thugs, government spooks and serial killers rather than costumed goof-balls.

And then he was killed and his son took over the role.

And then the original was brought back…

Black Canary was one of the first of the relatively few female furies in the DC universe, following Wonder Woman, Liberty Belle and Red Tornado (who actually masqueraded as a man) and predating Merry the Gimmick Girl. She was created by Bob Kanigher and Carmine Infantino, debuting in Flash Comics #86, August 1947. She disappeared with most of the other super-doers at the end of the Golden Age, only to be revived with the Justice Society of America in 1963.

Originally an Earth-2 crimefighter transplanted to our world, she has been ruthlessly retconned over and again, and (currently) Dinah Laurel Lance is the daughter of an earlier, war-time heroine. However you feel about the character two consistent facts have remained since her reintroduction and assimilation in Justice League of America #73-75 (see Showcase Presents Justice League of America volume 4): she has vied with Wonder Woman herself for the title of premiere heroine and she has been in a stormy romantic relationship with Green Arrow.

The affair which began during of the Summer of Love finally reached a dramatic culmination a few years ago when the couple at last named the day, and this fearsomely dramatic and cripplingly funny tome gathers those unforgettable moments in a celebratory chronicle that will warm the hearts and chill the souls of sentimental thrill seekers everywhere.

Reprinting Green Arrow and Black Canary Wedding Special and issues #1-5 of the monthly Green Arrow and Black Canary comicbook, the saga begins with a hilariously immature retelling of the path to wedlock from scripter Judd Winick and Amanda Conner: spats, tender moments, hen-nights, stag-parties and a tremendous battle as a huge guard of dishonour comprising most of the villains in the DCU attack the assembled heroes when they’re “off-guard”.

Naturally the bad-guys are defeated, the ceremony concludes and the newlyweds head off to enjoy their wedding night.

And then in circumstances I’m not going to spoil for you Green Arrow dies again…

Obviously it doesn’t end there. For the start of their new series and the story-arc ‘Dead Again’, by Winick and Cliff Chiang, Ollie Queen is only seen in flashbacks as the Black Widow Canary goes on a brutal crime-crushing rampage. ‘Here Comes the Bride’ finds her slowly going off the rails and only Ollie’s son Conner Hawke seems able to get through to her where friends like Green Lantern, Superman, Oracle and even Ollie’s old sidekicks Speedy and Red Arrow tell her to move on.

As usual it takes the ultra-rational Batman to divine what really happened on the wedding night…

In ‘The Naked and the Not-Quite-So-Dead’ Dinah and Mia Dearden – the new Speedy -infiltrate the island home of the miscreants who have abducted and imprisoned Green Arrow (notice how vague I’m being; all for your benefit?) where Ollie is already proving to be more trouble than he can possibly be worth. Conner is also on hand and whilst attempting to spring his wayward dad also falls captive to overwhelming forces…

‘Hit and Run, Run, Run!’ ramps up the tension as the heroes all escape but not before one of their number is gravely wounded by a new mystery assailant, and in ‘Dead Again: Please Play Where Daddy Can See You’ it’s Ollie’s turn to fall apart as his wounded young protégé fights for life.

The book concludes in the heart-warming ‘Child Support’ with another series of poignant flashbacks describing Green Arrow’s history and his extended family of sidekicks before Dinah leads Ollie back from the brink of utter despair…

Green Arrow and Black Canary are characters that epitomise the modern adventure hero’s best qualities, even if in many ways they are also the most traditional of “Old School” champions. This is a cracking example of Fights ‘n’ Tights done right and is well worth an investment of your money and time.

© 2007, 2008 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

JLA: Ultramarine Corps


By Grant Morrison, Ed McGuinness, Val Semeiks & Dexter Vines (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-84576-383-1

Here’s a peculiar little item thrown up by the peculiarities of periodical comics publishing, but one increasingly important to fans following Grant Morrison’s creative pyrotechnics in the Batman titles. Collecting a portion of JLA Secret Files 2004 #1 and JLA Classified #1-3 the tome also rather inappropriately includes one of those always uncomfortable marriages of publishing convenience as the JLA endures another less than stellar cross-company crossover – this time from JLA/WildC.A.T.S #1.

In JLA: Justice For All Grant Morrison introduced a team of American military metahumans duped by malevolent General Wade Eiling into attacking the World’s Greatest Super-heroes. Wising up at last the Ultramarine Corps eventually declared their independence and resigned their commissions. Setting up a floating headquarters called Superbia, the quartet invited other heroes – such as the Global Guardians and some members of previous Justice Leagues – to join them as a pre-emptive strike-force that would not rule out extreme sanctions wherever necessary.

Here Ed McGuinness handles the art for the spectacular sequel as the new champions attack and are attacked by the lethally dangerous Gorilla Grodd. ‘Island of the Mighty’ finds the Knight and the Squire centre-stage as the new team’s arrogant assault goes hideously awry and all those heroes not eaten by the sinister simian are co-opted by a fantastic being called Neh-Buh-Boh and turned upon helpless humanity.

Meanwhile the JLA are fighting in a distant baby universe and only Batman remains to protect the Earth…

‘Master of Light’ pairs the Dark Knight and the Squire as Grodd’s eerie ally extends his control over the surviving heroes of Superbia, clearly working to his own agenda, whilst the super-ape easily quashes Batman’s last-ditch attack. Things look bleak in ‘Second to Go’ until the JLA returns to spectacularly save the day, before suggesting a unique penance for Superbia’s Finest…

Fast-paced, glossy and chock-full of big ideas this light romp is an enjoyable piece of eye-candy most notable for laying the groundwork and setting up the ambitious Seven Soldiers publishing event.

The remainder of this book is a less successful, but still a vitally visual fiesta for fantastic fight-fans as old JLA foe the Lord of Time begins to rewrite history, causing dimensional rifts and an uncomfortable alliance with the parallel earth heroes called the WildC.A.T.s.

The tale is stuffed with guest cameos as the heroes chase the increasingly more powerful villain through the ages, but as usual far too much time is spent with the teams fighting each other (presumably because all any comic fan could ever desire of a team-up is to discover which hero is strongest/fastest/most buff or buxom…) before they finally unite to tackle the bad-guy – who defeats himself when they cannot.

This yarn is a poor example of Morrison’s exceptional talent, but Val Semeiks, Kevin Conrad & Ray Kryssing do the best they can so at least it looks shiny and pretty. Even though a shaky fit these mismatched tales will still please the dedicated fans and the Ultramarine episodes offer a tantalising glimpse of greater things to come in better conceived books.

© 1997, 1999 DC Comics and Regis Entertainment, 2004, 2005 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.

JLA volume 5: Justice for All


By Grant Morrison, Mark Waid, Howard Porter & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-84023-110-6

By the time of the fifth collection featuring the breathtaking adventures of the World’s Greatest Superheroes, a pattern for gargantuan epics and mind-boggling conceptual endeavours had been well established and re-originators Grant Morrison and Howard Porter, whilst patiently laying the complex groundwork for a “Big Finish” saga were increasingly sharing creator credits with the cream of the comics-making premier division.

This book, collecting issues #24-33 of the monthly comic-book, also includes contributions from writers Mark Waid, Mark Millar & Devin Grayson and art by Mark Pajarillo, John Dell, Walden Wong & Marlo Alquiza, but begins with Morrison and Porter (with Dell on inks) in cracking form, introducing a brand-new super-team in ‘Executive Action’ as the American military, in the form of General Wade Eiling, announced its own metahuman unit “The Ultramarine Corps”.

The four-person squad was officially tasked with pre-emptively defending America from paranormal threats, but as the JLA (and long-term DC fans) were aware Eiling had a long history of covert, “black-bag” and just plain illegal operations and remained duly suspicious. When the Corps stole the artificial body of major League foe Shaggy Man everyone concerned knew it was bad news but even they were unprepared for ‘Scorched Earth’ wherein Eiling set his Ultramarines and the beleaguered US army against the heroes.

Meanwhile New God members of the JLA were preparing for the imminent cosmic threat they had enlisted to confront (and which would finally materialise in the next volume) whilst Batman, Huntress and Plastic Man infiltrated the General’s base to discover his real motives…

The spectacular revelatory conclusion came in ‘Our Army At War’ (with art by Pajarillo & Wong) as Eiling’s plans were disclosed and the truth about the Ultramarines was uncovered. The net result was the disillusioned super-soldiers setting up their own operation independent of any national influence and beginning to gather like-minded costumed champions for a First-Strike force. They would soon return…

Time-travelling future-robot Hourman replaced the Martian Manhunter for a while and Mark Millar, Pajarillo, Wong & Marlo Alquiza crafted ‘The Bigger They Come…’ a delightfully retrospective yarn which saw size-changing physicist Ray Palmer return to service as the Atom when power-stealing super-android Amazo was accidentally reactivated.

The main event of this volume is a JLA/JSA team-up ‘Crisis Times Five’ (by Morrison, Porter & Dell). The thunderbolt Genie of Johnny Thunder returned with a new master and reality was grievously assaulted by unnatural disasters and magical monsters. Somehow, Triumph, an old friend and foe of the League, was at the heart of it all but promptly found himself trapped in a true Devil’s Bargain…

In ‘World Turned Upside Down…’ with reason on the run the assembled champions of League and Society battled rampant magical chaos, retrofitting a little more secret history as the assorted sprites, Djinn and pixies of the Silver Age DC Universe were revealed to be something far more sinister, and ‘Worlds Beyond’ saw those Genies reduced to civil war; concluding with ‘Gods & Monsters’ as a vast army of united heroes saved reality in the nick of time and space…

‘Inside Job’ (Waid and Devin Grayson with art by Pajarillo & Wong) is deeply embedded in company continuity, set during the Batman: No Man’s Land publishing event and referencing one of the League’s first cases (for which see JLA: Year One) as genetic supremacists Locus returned to make quake-devastated Gotham City their private Petri-dish and releasing a mutagenic terror-virus that not even the JLA could combat…

The book ends with Waid, Pajarillo & Wong’s ‘Altered Egos’ as Batman led a plainclothes mission to discover who – or what – was masquerading as Bruce Wayne: an unexpectedly violent mission which resulted in the return of the League’s most dangerous opponents…

Although Justice For All is as compelling and engrossing as the preceding four volumes the inevitable slippage into company history and continuity means that some tales here might well confuse or even bewilder newer readers; but for all that the action, wit, imagination and sheer fun of these stories should still provide immense enjoyment for devotees of Costumed Dramas and Fight ‘n’ Tights fiction.- and after all, isn’t that inconvenience exactly what footnotes, search-engines and back-issue comics shops are for?

Compelling, challenging and never afraid of looking back fondly or laughing at itself, the new JLA was an all-out effort to be Thrilling, Smart and Fun. For a brief moment in the team’s long and chequered career these were the “World’s Greatest Superheroes” and increasingly ambitious epics, broken up by short, sharp single-issue sorties reminded everybody of the fact. This is the kind of joyous frolic that nobody should ever outgrow and these are graphic novels to be read and re-read forever…

© 1998, 1999 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.