{"id":18450,"date":"2018-05-29T08:00:10","date_gmt":"2018-05-29T08:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/?p=18450"},"modified":"2018-05-28T15:20:48","modified_gmt":"2018-05-28T15:20:48","slug":"jla-a-midsummers-nightmare-deluxe-edition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/2018\/05\/29\/jla-a-midsummers-nightmare-deluxe-edition\/","title":{"rendered":"JLA: A Midsummer’s Nightmare Deluxe edition"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\" \"\"
\nBy Mark Waid<\/strong>, Fabian Nicieza<\/strong>, Jeff Johnson<\/strong>, Darick Robertson<\/strong>, John Holdredge<\/strong>, Hanibal Rodriguez<\/strong> & various (DC Comics)
\nISBN: 978-1-4012-7432-0 (HB)<\/p>\n

There are many facets that contribute to the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153perfect mix\u00e2\u20ac\u009d 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?<\/p>\n

In the mid-1990s, the iconic squad which truly ushered in the return of superheroes to comics suffered one of its periodic plunges in quality and popularity and ignominiously folded.<\/p>\n

Of course the Justice League of America<\/strong> is too hallowed, venerated and valuable to fester in oblivion for any length of time and was quickly reconvened in a fresh new interpretation which quickly became the breakout book of 1997, courtesy of Grant Morrison & Howard Porter.<\/p>\n

However, the scene was set for them by a strikingly exuberant miniseries which acted as a reassessment and reintroduction of the World’s Greatest Superheroes. Since the Silver Age’s greatest team-book died a slow, painful, embarrassing death, not once but twice, DC were taking no chances with their next revival and tapped Big Ideas wunderkind<\/em> Morrison to reconstruct the group and the franchise.<\/p>\n

However, he was to a large extent riffing on groundwork laid by writers Mark Waid and Fabian Nicieza – as well as the impressive illustration of Jeff Johnson, Darick Robertson, John Holdredge & Hanibal Rodriguez – in a captivating no-nonsense miniseries which went a long way towards regenerating interest\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

This slim sleek Deluxe celebration (collecting in both hardback and eBook editions, Justice League: Midsummer’s Nightmare<\/strong> #1-3 from September-November 1996) opens with an effusive Introduction <\/em>from Morrison before a world of confusion is revealed in ‘True Lies’<\/em> wherein comicbook artist Kyle Rayner<\/em> struggles to meet the deadline for his assignment. He can’t understand why anybody would want to read about whacky, fictitious masked mystery-men characters like Green Lantern<\/em> when the entire planet is in the midst of a cosmic revolution.<\/p>\n

All over earth humans are spontaneously developing super-powers as an inexplicable genetic \u00e2\u20ac\u0153spark\u00e2\u20ac\u009d triggers the next stage in evolution.<\/p>\n

Millions of superhumans are manifesting with no rhyme or reason whilst others seem doomed to remain merely mundane. It’s like a comicbook plot come to life\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

Amongst the ordinary mortals left behind are reporter Clark Kent<\/em>, billionaire philanthropist Bruce Wayne<\/em>, schoolteacher Diana Prince<\/em>, college lecturer Wally West<\/em> and corporate compliance officer Arthur Curry<\/em>. Elsewhere, separated by immeasurable gulfs, scientist J’onn J’onzz <\/em>leads an idyllic life under the skies of Mars with his wife and daughter\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

The dreams of all these mortals are troubled. They have vague, impossible recollections of being colourful champions and indomitable heroes in a world filled with their like, not this savage situation where selfish \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Sparkers\u00e2\u20ac\u009d, intoxicated with newfound power, squabble and bicker like bullies and thugs in a primarily plebeian universe\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, in a hidden place, an immortal mastermind manipulates a super-villain the entire world has forgotten ever existed, using his potent power to reshape dreams to achieve an eons-long plan\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

However, there’s far more to heroism than powers and each mentally diminished champion individually struggles to find the disturbing deeper truth they know has been somehow taken from them\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

The spell of targeted amnesia starts to unravel when journalist Kent somehow survives being caught in a savage exchange between rival Sparker gangs. Shocked back to Kryptonian normality, he starts tracking down his vanished costumed contemporaries\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

Elsewhere relative neophyte \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Legacy Heroes\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Wally and Kyle have their own epiphanic moments as the second chapter ‘To Know a Veil’<\/em> finds a restored Superman<\/em> and Batman<\/em> systematically unravelling the sinister plot.<\/p>\n

In a hidden sanctum, Machiavellian Know Man<\/em> further exploits the reality-warping gifts of his slave Doctor Destiny<\/em> to manufacture a Sparker-squad specifically designed to eradicate the re-emergent heroes. During this time Aquaman<\/em> and Wonder Woman<\/em> have united with the World’s Finest team in time to be ambushed by an army of enhanced myrmidons. The battle is in no way certain until the fully-recovered and restored Flash<\/em> and Green Lantern pile in\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

After the inconclusive clash the reassembled heroes realise they need their old telepathic team-mate back and hunt for J’onzz, eventually dragging the<\/em> Martian Manhunter<\/em> from his perfect dream of paradise regained – in reality a seedy bunker at Roswell, New Mexico. Having lost his world and family a second time, J’onn is in no mind to be merciful with his anonymous abductors\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

The saga kicks into terminal high gear with ‘Daze & Knights’<\/em> as Know Man’s tailor-made Sparker-squad attacks, only to fall as one before the brutal psychic assault of the furious and heartbroken Manhunter.<\/p>\n

His mental capabilities then glean the whereabouts of their true foes from data buried by rebellious Dr. Destiny in Kyle’s subconscious and the fighting-mad team race off to a final confrontation with their hidden enemy\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

Fast-paced, action-packed and breathtakingly bold, this galvanic tale pits the greatest champions in DC’s pantheon against an immortal enemy whose roots stem back to the earliest days of the universe is a gloriously baggage-free romp and a splendid jumping on point for readers new and old alike.<\/p>\n

This fantastic Fights ‘n’ Tights fable also includes a handy information section recapitulating and assessing the characters of Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Green Lantern, Aquaman and Martian Manhunter, plus a gallery of covers from the original miniseries previous collections.
\n\u00c2\u00a9 1996, 2017 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Mark Waid, Fabian Nicieza, Jeff Johnson, Darick Robertson, John Holdredge, Hanibal Rodriguez & various (DC Comics) ISBN: 978-1-4012-7432-0 (HB) There are many facets that contribute to the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153perfect mix\u00e2\u20ac\u009d 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 … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “JLA: A Midsummer’s Nightmare Deluxe edition”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[76,16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18450","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dc-superhero","category-jla"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4AFj-4NA","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18450","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18450"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18450\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18450"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18450"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18450"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}