Justice League International Year Five, Part II: Breakdowns (JLA #53-60 / JLE #29-36)

Keith Giffen and J. M. DeMatteis wrapped up their five-year run on Justice League International with a massive fifteen-part crossover called Breakdowns; JLE scripter Gerard Jones would continue on that title without Giffen, but JLA would receive a wholly new creative team.

As I've said before, I read JLE in college, but I did not read its sister title, and most of the time that was fine... but it did leave this storyline totally incoherent. So, twenty years later, I was quite looking forward to finally understanding what was going on here!

Overall, these issues are sequenced perfectly in the omnibus, except that JLA Annual #5 obviously goes before JLA #53, but is placed after it. I appreciate that the omnibus includes both Green Lantern #18, a Breakdowns tie-in, and JLE #36, which Giffen didn't work on, presumably because it's branded as "Part 16 of 15" of Breakdowns. Subsequent issues of JLE by Jones will presumably never be collected, but we'll get to that in my next post, I suspect.

from Justice League America #54

"Tomorrow's League Today!" / Breakdowns, Parts 1-5 / "An Old Beginning" / "Too Much Time" / Breakdowns, Parts 6-7 / "One Angry Guy" / Breakdowns, Parts 8-16, from Justice League America Annual #5 (1991), Justice League America #53-55 & Justice League Europe #29-30 (Aug.-Oct. 1991), Justice League Quarterly #5 (Winter 1991), Justice League Europe Annual #2 (1991), Justice League Europe #31 & Justice League America #56 (Oct.-Nov. 1991), Green Lantern vol. 3 #18 (Nov. 1991), and Justice League Europe #32-36 & Justice League America #57-60 (Nov. 1991–Mar. 1992); reprinted in Justice League International Omnibus, Volume 3 (2024)
plots and breakdowns by Keith Giffen; scripts by J. M. DeMatteis, Gerard Jones, and Kevin Dooley; pencils by Steve Carr (with Chris Sprouse, Marshall Rogers, Dan Jurgens, Joe Phillips, Ty Templeton, Linda Medley, Russel Braun, Keith Giffen, John Beatty, Randy Elliott, and Curt Swan), Chris Wozniak, Darick Robertson, Andy Smith, Joe Staton, Bart Sears, and Kevin Maguire; inks by Jose Marzan Jr., Bruce Patterson, John Beatty, Bob Smith, Carlos Garzon, Randy Elliott (with Michael Golden), Art Nichols, Romeo Tanghal, Terry Austin, and Robert Campanella; letters by Bob Lappan, Willie Schubert, Tim Harkins, Michael Heisler, and Albert De Guzman; colors by Gene D'Angelo, Tom McCraw, and Matt Hollingsworth

Breakdowns is a complicated story, and this ultimately proves to be its downfall, I think. The inciting incident is that Maxwell Lord gets shot, and then the UN replaces him as the head of the JLI; this ultimately turns out to be a plot by the "Queen Bee" of Bialya. Max getting shot is great, in that the early issues here have a lot of good character focus as a result; the JLA argues about what to do for this man to whom they owe so much, and even the Injustice League gets involved, but in a good way. But I felt like this was wrapped up fairly abruptly; the whole conspiracy thing seemed over before it even began. (I do wonder if plans were derailed by the fact that Captain Atom dies between parts 5 and 6, thanks to the events of the Armageddon 2001 crossover; his beef with Bialya played a big role in some of the earlier installments.)

from Justice League America #56

At the same time all this is playing out, Despero escapes Lord Manga Khan's custody (see item #6 in the list below) and Dreamslayer of the Extremists (see #5) occupies Maxwell Lord's vacant mind and uses his mental powers to take over Kooeykooeykooey. I see what Giffen and DeMatteis were going for—you have two of the biggest threats to the JLI return at its lowest point—but in practice I felt like we ended up with a story that wasn't really a unified whole, but rather lurched from point to point. A lot of the individual parts are great—I particularly liked the battle with Despero and the way it was resolved—but it doesn't feel like a story so much as a bunch of things happening. This is probably at its worst where there's a whole issue that goes nowhere about the JLI finding weird stuff in the original JLA's cave headquarters, which has been borrowed by the Doom Patrol.

It also doesn't help that it feels like the JLI breaks up and reforms like three times in fifteen parts. How many times can these people realize that despite their bickering they do all belong together? (Or there's this weird bit where the UN assigns Doctor Light and the Tasmasian Devil to join the League... and they're out like two issues later, having never done anything.) However, some of those moments work well; I loved Guy Gardner and General Glory becoming roommates and Guy getting mad because General Glory runs a soup kitchen out of their apartment! It's good to see some focus on Guy as a serious human being in GL #18, too.

from Justice League America #60

Still, the story does have its high points. There's good character moments throughout, but particularly (as I said) in the battle with Despero and in part 15, where the League regroups after the intense events of the previous fourteen issues. The final scene between J'onn and Max was genuinely moving stuff; I've come to love these guys. I know they both persist as League members in future books, but I will miss these particular versions of them nonetheless.

Weirdly, part 15 ends with the League resolving to go on and then part 16 has them disbanding, with a lot of beats that directly contradict what just happened in part 15! It's very clearly just there so that the League can triumphantly come back together in the Justice League Spectacular (see my next post) but surely it could have been handled better given Gerard Jones scripted half the installments of Breakdowns, entirely wrote part 16, and cowrote JL Spectacular!

from Justice League America Annual #5

Of the other three stories here, two are Armageddon 2001 tie-ins. This was a 1991 crossover where a guy named Waverider came from the year 2001, seeking the hero who would become the tyrant "Monarch" in his era. He had the power to touch people and see ten years into their future, which let every story tell a story about what its characters would be up to in the future. The JLA and JLE ones are both cleverly put together, giving us a series of quick glimpses of each teammember, which the reader assembles to get a complete picture. In the JLE one, Waverider is confused because he keeps glimpsing each hero in the past, but in the end, you figure out how it all came to pass. This one is mostly goofy: Rocket Red becomes an Arthurian knight, Power Girl becomes General Glory's sidekick during World War II, Elongated Man eclipses Sherlock Holmes as the greatest sleuth of Victorian London, and so on. (There is a Mrs. Miniver reference in the Power Girl story, which was not something I expected!) 

The JLA one is proper great, though; the JLA isn't together anymore in the future, but across the course of the different glimpses, you see how much these people all meant to each other amidst all the jokes. I particularly like the moment where Ice gets Guy to admit his "nice" and "mean" selves are really just the same guy. But also some great jokes, like when Mr. Miracle decides to break Blue Beetle out of prison.

Lastly, there's a Global Guardians story here, about what they do after liberated from Bialya. Despite having to squeeze a dozen-member superhero team into a small number of pages, it has them teaming up with a second dozen-member superhero team. This is... not the way to get me to ever care about these guys. 

This is the eighth in a series of posts about Justice League International. The next covers issues #61-65 of JLA and #37-42 of JLE. Previous installments are listed below:

1. Justice League #1-6 / Justice League International #7-12 (May 1987–Apr. 1988)
2. Justice League International #13-21 (May 1988–Dec. 1988)
3. Justice League International #22-25 / Justice League America #26-30 / Justice League Europe #1-6 (Jan. 1989–Sept. 1989) 
4. Justice League America #31-36 / Justice League Europe #7-12 (Oct. 1989–Mar. 1990)
5. Justice League America #37 / Justice League Europe #13-21 (Apr. 1990–Dec. 1990)
6. Justice League America #38-50 / Justice League Europe #22 (May 1990–May 1991)
7. Justice League America #51-52 / Justice League Europe #23-28 (Feb. 1991–July 1991) 

Ms. Marvel Team-Up by Eve L. Ewing, Clint McElroy, Joey Vazquez, Ig Guara, et al.

Ms. Marvel Team-Up

Collection published: 2019
Contents originally published: 2019
Acquired and read: September 2025

Writers: Eve L. Ewing & Clint McElroy

Artists: Joey Vazquez with Moy R. & Ig Guara

Colorist: Felipe Sobreiro

Letterer: Clayton Cowles

I have diligently subscribed to Ms. Marvel in single-issue format via my local comic book store since Kamala Khan's debut in 2014. Once she stopped appearing in series named after her, my comic book guy has continued to stick related series featuring her into my pull box, forcing me to read X-Men comics. I was thus surprised to recently realize that Kamala co-starred in a six-issue miniseries way back in 2019, which he did not pull for me, and which I had failed to notice, so I tracked down a trade paperback collection of it.

This is a team-up title, consisting of two three-issue stories. The first, by Eve L. Ewing and Joey Vazquez, teams her up with Spider-Man. Specifically, there's a flipbook-style first issue that tells the same story from both Kamala's and Peter's perspectives, culminating in a body-swap; the second issue is body-swap shenanigans; and then the third resolves everything. Other than a backup story in Ms. Marvel vol. 4 #38, I think this is my first time encountering the writing of Eve Ewing, though I know she wrote some Black Panther comics I will get to soon. The story is a bit contrived, but I suppose that's part of the whole bodyswap genre; without that, there's no story and no fun. I liked her work here. Joey Vazquez would later illustrate a few issues of The Magnificent Ms. Marvel, and he does a good job here; I think Ms. Marvel requires someone with a strong command of faces, and he has that.

A good blockchain joke and a good period joke. What more do you need?
from Marvel Team-Up vol. 4 #2 (script by Eve L. Ewing, art by Joey Vazquez)

The second story, by Clint McElroy and Ig Guara, teams Kamala up with her idol, Captain Marvel. Despite some good art from the ever-reliable Ig Guara, you couldn't pay me to care about the Kree, and unfortunately too much of this story is about the Kree and Carol Danvers's relationship with them; Kamala contributes little to the story other than to serve as a voice of dissent for Carol. To be honest, I felt like Kamala changed her positions at random, alternating between enthusiasm and skepticism based on what the plot required. Pretty tedious... but the first story was a good addition to the Ms. Marvel canon, and justified picking up the book. I'm sorry my comic book guy missed it!

Doctor Mid-Nite by Matt Wagner and John K. Snyder III

One of the things about my projects to read through various superhero comics is that you are inevitably discovering that you missed something. Since finishing my JSA project, I've found a few such comics; most recently that was a Doctor Mid-Nite miniseries from 1999. I was dimly aware of this—when the third Doctor Mid-Nite popped up in the 1999-2006 JSA ongoing (see items #29, 32, 34-35 and 37 on the list below), certainly I must have known he came from somewhere—but I hadn't really seriously thought about it until it was mentioned in a recent thread on the "DC Finest" subreddit about what a set of Justice Society collections might look like. That cause me to actually look into it, and upon seeing it was written by Matt Wagner, whose work co-writing Sandman Mystery Theatre I really enjoyed, I decided to take a chance on it. (I think I had always kind of assumed it was by Geoff Johns, and thus avoided it on that account.)

Doctor Mid-Nite

Collection published: 2000
Contents originally published: 1999
Acquired and read: November 2025

Writer: Matt Wagner
Artist: John K. Snyder III
Letterer: Ken Bruzenak

The original Doctor Mid-Nite was Charles McNider. Eventually he retired from superheroing (I think, it's been a while) and was replaced by Beth Chapel in Infinity, Inc. (see #10 below). She, being black and female, was eventually killed off to prove the situation was serious. This left the stage open for a third Doctor Mid-Nite to debut, in a three-issue prestige format miniseries. I've spoken in the past about my love of this form, where DC would hand a somewhat moribund property over to an interesting creator (or creators) and let them run wild. Mostly these were released in the late 1980s and early 1990s, so 1999 is a bit of late manifestation of the concept, but the foreword to the trade does note it was originally supposed to be released in 1994, but was delayed!

Matt Wagner and John K. Snyder's version of Doctor Mid-Nite is Doctor Pieter Cross, of the depressed coastal city of Portsmouth. Cross is mostly seen from the outside in the first issue, which is told from the perspective of Camilla, a young woman addicted to a steroid that Cross helps, and then employs to help him. Cross is no superhero at first, but a wealthy doctor who spends his time and money helping the poor and the downtrodden. In the first issue, he ends up angering some powerful people, whose agents spike his drink; he crashes his car, and when he awakes from the accident discovers that he's blind... except he can see in darkness. Hence, now that his enemies think Pieter Cross is essentially incapacitated, he takes inspiration from the superheroes of old and reinvents himself as "Doctor Mid-Nite."

The light!
from Doctor Mid-Nite #2

This is one of those comics where writing and art come together perfectly. Both are dramatic, occasionally grotesque, and privilege the interplay between light and dark. This isn't the grounded noir sensibility Wagner brought to Sandman Mystery Theatre: the corporate villains of the piece, for example, dress up as a shark, a vulture, and a rat for no readily apparent reason; their plan involves massive underground bases of steroid-powered soldiers used in pursuit of a real-estate scam. Cross and Camilla inhabit a larger-than-life world, where darkness predominates, but provides a space for heroism to skulk but sometimes shine. Pieter is a distant but well-drawn character, superhuman even before he becomes a superhero. There's a whole gang of people who assist him, with exaggerated personalities and intriguing backstories. I feel like Wagner must have had the creation of an ongoing in the back of his mind, even if none ever eventuated.

The campaign to bring back Nite-Lite begins here.
from Doctor Mid-Nite #1

I really enjoyed reading this overall. Superhero comics are a strange medium, and I think the best ones lean into that: they commit to being completely and totally themselves, and that's what Doctor Mid-Nite is. There's nothing else quite like it... which is great.

Alas, Camilla.
from Doctor Mid-Nite #3

The real shame of it is that there never was anymore. Mid-Nite of course made the jump to JSA, and I think there were even two stories in JSA Classified (see #39 below) that focused on him... but they were both bad, and I don't think picked up on anything specific from this story. The fact that Camilla was in none of the future appearances of Doctor Mid-Nite had me suspicious that Wagner and Snyder were going to kill her off in the final issue to prove the situation was serious... a suspicion that was confirmed when I looked up issue #3 on some comic indexing website and it had a "dies" notation for her! So I was grumpy going into issue #3... but this turned out to be in error, she survives just fine! It's just that the interesting milieu and set of characters Wagner and Snyder came up with were, alas, never used again. On the JSA, Pieter Cross is just another guy, but in his own setting he was a light in the darkness.

This post is the fifty-third in an improbably long series about the Justice Society and Earth-Two. The next installment covers Power Girl Uncovered. Previous installments are listed below:

Justice League International Year Five, Part I: Nightcrawlers! / Stars in Your Eyes (JLA #51-52 / JLE #23-28)

This post covers fewer issues of the two JLI monthlies than normal, because the next post covers all sixteen issues of the Breakdowns crossover in one go, leaving just eight issues of JLA and JLE to cover here. Those are supplemented, though by three issues of Justice League Quarterly, each of which is as long as four regular issues, so it definitely evens out! The JLQ issues are roughly placed by publication order in the omnibus, but I think they read better in the gap after JLA #50 (since General Glory is in most of them) and before JLE #23 (since #23-28 make a continuous run that leads straight into Breakdowns). Note, though, that the main story of JLQ #5 probably takes place significantly earlier based on the status of Guy and Ice's relationship; I'd guess around the time of JLA #38 / JLE #21.

from Justice League Quarterly #3

"Burning Bridges" / "When You Wish..." / "The Sunnie Caper" / "Cracked Ice!" / "CATales" / "Be Careful What You Wish For!" / "Light Housekeeping" / "Jillion Dollar Legs" / "My Dinner with G'nort", from Justice League International Special #2 (1991), Justice League Quarterly #3-5 (Summer-Winter 1991), and Justice League America #51 (June 1991); reprinted in Justice League International Omnibus, Volume 3 (2024)
plots by Keith Giffen and Marshall Rogers; scripted by Joey Cavalieri, Gerard Jones, Will Jacobs, J. M. DeMatteis, Mark Waid, and Bill Loebs; pencilled by Joe Staton, Mike McKone, Jason Pearson, Darick Robertson, Marshall Rogers, Jan Duursema, Mike Parobeck, and Adam Hughes; inked by Pablo Marcos, Bob Smith, Randy Elliott, John Beatty, P. Craig Russell, Andrew Pepoy, Jan Duursema, Ty Templeton, and Joe Rubinstein; lettered by Albert De Guzman, John Costanza, Bob Pinaha, Bob Lappan, and Tim Harkins; colored by Tom Ziuko, Gene D'Angelo, Tom McCraw, Matt Hollingsworth, and Rick Taylor

This is a set of standalone stories, some of them published a bit later, set in the lull of events prior to Breakdowns. In that sense, it's sort of a last hurrah for the Giffen/DeMatteis status quo, the last time we'll get to spend time with these characters in these configurations. The first story is the second (and final) issue of JLI Special, focusing on the Huntress. I actually read this a long time ago, back when I read through the 1989-90 Huntress ongoing; this serves to cap off that series, which was cancelled. Unfortunately, even though it's branded as a Justice League story and not a Huntress one, it gives no quarter to people who have been reading Justice League but not Huntress; it's filled with characters and situations that I did not know, and I found it largely incomprehensible. But it is nice to see some Joe Staton artwork.

The stories from Justice League Quarterly are hit and miss. The story from JLQ #3 is, like the one from issue #1, a long 72-page story. This one is about the Extremists again; Kilowog and Uncle Wacky, the Walt Disney pastiche who accidentally created the Extremists, travel back into the world that he, Silver Sorceress, and Bluejay came from in an effort to reverse its destruction via time travel... only because they reconfigured Imskian tech, they end up miniaturized. The members of the JLI need to track them down and stop them. It's a good premise, but I found the story meandered a lot; in particular, the bit at the end where everyone ends up in the JLA cave HQ back when Barry Allen was alive feels tacked on. Also this was the first story when I noticed that Mike McKone for some reason draws Guy Gardner with outrageously large boots. (Also, I don't think previous stories depicted Sorceress and Bluejay's world as an alternate Earth, did they?)

from Justice League Quarterly #5

JLQ #4 features the Injustice League again, but in a story not by Giffen & DeMatteis, and I didn't find it very funny, unfortunately. Its two backup stories are, thankfully better; one advances the Guy/Tora romance, with them having their first kiss, while the other is a series of three-page strips told from the perspective of Power Girl's cat. If you don't like this stuff, you don't like life! 

Lastly, JLQ #5 establishes what will be the format of the series going forward: a thirtyish-page main story with three backups (though one of the three backups is set during Breakdowns, and thus positioned later in the omnibus). The main story is okay; Guy is very much negging Ice over her confidence (this must be set earlier than #4), but proves she has enough willpower to operate his power ring and save the day through her compassion. One of the backups is about Ice again, along with Fire, as she deals with an overenthusiastic letter writer. It was fine, and I always love some Jan Duursema art (she was surely born to draw Fire). Originally I was confused why are Fire and Ice living in a rundown apartment building, not the JLI embassy, but eventually I realized it's probably set after Breakdowns, before Justice League Spectacular, when the team has broken up. Lastly, there's a General Glory story told in the style of the Golden Age. Good jokes, sure, but the real selling point is that you know Ty Templeton was born to draw this.

Finally we get back to JLA, with a funny story about J'onn, Kilowog, and G'nort going out for a night on the town. This is the last time we get a standalone comedy story from the classic Giffen/DeMatteis team, and it's a great one to go out on. I love their characterization of the long-suffering J'onn.

from Justice League Europe #23

"Foxy Ladies" / "Worm Food" / "Nightcrawlers!", from Justice League Europe #23-25 (Feb.-Apr. 1991), reprinted in Justice League International Omnibus, Volume 2 (2020)
plot by Keith Giffen, scripts by Gerard Jones, pencils by Bart Sears, inks by Randy Elliott, letters by Bob Lappan, colors by Gene D'Angelo

These three issues are reprinted in volume 2 of the JLI Omnibus (because of their publication sequence), but they lead straight into issues #26-28 of JLE, which lead straight into Breakdowns, so I think they read better in volume 3. In these, we learn the secret of the Crimson Fox, and then there's a bunch of stuff about giant worms. It's fine, but a bit action-heavy, like a lot of recent JLE stories; I don't feel like the characters pop as much as they should.

"Stars in Your Eyes" / "The Vagabond King" / "The Man Who Wears the Star" / "The Battle of the Century! Decade! Year! Month?", from Justice League Europe #26-28 (May-July 1991) and Justice League America #52 (July 1991), reprinted in Justice League International Omnibus, Volume 3 (2024)
plot and breakdowns by Keith Giffen, dialogue by Gerard Jones and J. M. DeMatteis, pencils by Bart Sears and Trevor von Eeden, inks by Randy Elliott, letters by Bob Lappan, colors by Gene D'Angelo

from Justice League Europe #27

The last three pre-Breakdowns issues of JLE see the return of Starro. These I enjoyed a lot; there are some clever twists and turns as Starro takes over J'onn J'onnz and the JLE must figure out how to defeat the most powerful member of the League. Finally, we get a fairly ridiculous story where Blue Beetle and Guy Gardner challenge each other to a boxing match... but Ted is getting too overweight to be an effective fighter, and Guy goes too far... and even he knows it. It's another solid character-based comedy, the very last one because the issue ends with a cliffhanger that leads into Breakdowns. But more on that next time!

This is the seventh in a series of posts about Justice League International. The next covers issues #53-60 of JLA and #29-36 of JLE. Previous installments are listed below:

1. Justice League #1-6 / Justice League International #7-12 (May 1987–Apr. 1988)
2. Justice League International #13-21 (May 1988–Dec. 1988)
3. Justice League International #22-25 / Justice League America #26-30 / Justice League Europe #1-6 (Jan. 1989–Sept. 1989) 
4. Justice League America #31-36 / Justice League Europe #7-12 (Oct. 1989–Mar. 1990)
5. Justice League America #37 / Justice League Europe #13-21 (Apr. 1990–Dec. 1990)
6. Justice League America #38-50 / Justice League Europe #22 (May 1990–May 1991)

Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, Book 3: Mockingjay

Many years ago, I taught The Hunger Games in a class on apocalyptic and postapocalyptic fiction. That was my first time reading the book, and periodically since then I've picked up the sequels. Quite a while later, that finally brings me to the third and final book.

Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

Published: 2010
Acquired: September 2012
Read: August 2025

To be honest, I'm not really sure what I thought of it. Probably I'd have been more into it if I'd had more momentum carrying me into it; it's been six years since I read the second book and nine years since I read the first, and the three books originally came out across three years! To me, the interesting thing about the Hunger Games books has always been the tension between cooperation and isolation: what's the best tool for survival? Working with others or sticking on your own? Mockingjay pushes that further by putting Katniss amongst the rebels, who have to work together to survive... but in a very top-down authoritarian way. Katniss struggles under these strictures a lot.

Unfortunately, I found the novel a little tedious. Katniss's main role in the revolution—which continues one of the other big themes of the earlier books—is her image. But this is not always interesting to read about, and it seemed to me that having set up some interesting themes, the book spent a lot of time rehearsing them repetitiously rather than exploring them in a way where either Katniss or the reader is making progress.

I did like the last few chapters a lot. One Katniss joins the group storming the Capitol, and especially once the revolution wins, things get really interesting and bloody and complicated as this series has been at its best.

Star Trek Trivia!

A couple weeks ago, I was surprised to get an e-mail from a colleague—one with whom I would say I am friendly but not someone with whom I really socialize—inviting me to the regular trivia game he and some other colleagues participate in... but all became clear upon realizing it was Star Trek trivia. He was confident, my colleague said, that we would run the table if I joined in.

My wife was okay with me skipping a bedtime, so I did indeed join my colleagues at Magnanimous Brewing here in Tampa. Unfortunately, perhaps, Star Trek trivia does not have a wide popularity; my colleagues said there were many fewer teams than normal!

We did indeed crush it... though I don't think there were many super deep cuts; between my two colleagues, I think we got every question right but two, but I think there was just one question that I knew the answer to that neither of them did. (There was a question requiring one to name the captains of five different ships, and my colleague could only remember "Mariner's mom" for the captain of the USS Cerritos.) We came in first, but the small turnout meant that it was the bartender who came in second!

I haven't played trivia of any kind since I was in grad school, so it was a good time... even if it was not the deep cuts I might have really thrived at! But I think any set of Star Trek trivia questions that would have proved challenging for me would have been frustratingly unfun for most others.

Black Panther Legends by Tochi Onyebuchi, Setor Fiadzigbey, Fran Galán, Enid Balám, Ramón F. Bachs, et al.

Legends: Black Panther

Collection published: 2022
Contents originally published: 2021-22
Read: October 2025

Writer: Tochi Onyebuchi

Pencilers: Setor Fiadzigbey, Fran Galán, Enid Balám & Ramón F. Bachs
Inkers: Setor Fiadzigbey, Fran Galán, Roberto Poggi, Oren Junior & Ramón F. Bachs

Color Artists: Paris Alleyne & Ian Herring

Letterer: Joe Sabino

Legends: Black Panther (this is clearly what the cover and title page call it, but everyone calls this book Black Panther Legends for some reason) was a four-issue miniseries telling key moments from the history of the Black Panther. We get the death of T'Challa's father at the hands of Klaw, T'Challa meeting Storm for the first time, T'Challa facing down his uncle to acquire the throne, and the first visit of the Fantastic Four to Wakanda.

To be honest, I don't really get the point of this. I think when you're retelling an origin story, you need to be able to add something new or different; this is aimed at a younger audience, judging by the art style, but is still supposed to be the mainstream Marvel Universe versions of the characters (according to the League of Comic Geeks website, anyway), not an alternate continuity (like the YA-aimed Marvel Action stories are). But in that case, we'd just gotten a new version of the Black Panther's origin just three years prior! And that version, I really liked; it effectively wove a bunch of disparate elements we'd seen over the years into a coherent whole.

This version just retells some stuff we've seen before in ways I found less effective and less interesting. In particular, I found this version of how T'Chaka died at the hands of Ulysses Klaw not as well done and emotional as the Rise of the Black Panther version, and this version of how T'Challa met and fell in love with Storm boringly simple compared to the version in Eric Jerome Dickey's Storm miniseries. And devoting a whole issue to T'Challa's battle against his uncle to regain the throne (a battle which is purely ceremonial and which his uncle wants him to win, though admittedly his uncle doesn't know it's T'Challa in disguise) seemed overly drawn out and pointless; when I got to the end of that issue, I was very surprised, because so little had happened surely twenty pages hadn't gone by! I also really did not like that it wasn't T'Challa who invited the Fantastic Four to Wakanda in this telling; I think it really undermines the character.

I guess it's a meet cute?
from Legends: Black Panther #2 (art by Setor Fiadzigbey & Fran Galán)

The one thing I did like here was the focus on T'Challa's adoptive brother, Hunter, who was a major character during Priest's run on the title. He's a character we haven't seen much of since, and it's nice to see him folded into the character's origins retroactively. (I don't remember much of Hunter in Rise.) Unfortunately, this thread kind of fizzles out because Hunter plays little role in the final issue.

I feel like the last few Black Panther stories I've read have totally failed to mention the "heart-shaped herbs" that were so central to the character early on. Does he have them here? If so, how does he gain access?
from Legends: Black Panther #3 (art by Fran Galán)

So, if you're looking for a modern, accessible origin for the Black Panther, I think you're much better off sticking to the only slightly older Rise of the Black Panther version. This one has little to add. 

ACCESS AN INDEX OF ALL POSTS IN THIS SERIES HERE

Justice League International Year Four, Part II: Glory Bound (JLA #38-50 / JLE #22)

As mentioned in my previous post (see item #5 in the list below), during the fourth year of Justice League International, the two titles were largely independent of each other. My first post for year four covered a bunch of JLE issues with one JLA; here, I do the opposite. JLE #22 is best read shortly after JLA #44 because it picks up on a small plot element that had been running through JLA, but at that point jumps over to the other series.

from Justice League America #40

"Spy" / "Blow Up" / "Hell on Earth" / "Maximum Force" / "Solicitations" / "If You Play Your Cards Right..." / "Pastiche" / "Corporate Maneuvers (and leveraged buyouts)" / "Catnap", from Justice League America #38-44 (May-Nov. 1990), Justice League Quarterly #1 (Winter 1990), and Justice League Europe #22 (Jan. 1991); reprinted in Justice League International Omnibus, Volume 2 (2020)
plot & breakdowns by Keith Giffen; scripts by J. M. DeMatteis and Gerard Jones; pencils by Adam Hughes, Mike McKone, Chris Sprouse, and Marshall Rogers; inks by Joe Rubinstein, José Marzan, Jr., and B. D. Patterson; letters by Bob Lappan and Bob Pinaha; colors by Gene D'Angelo

Other than the fact that Booster Gold had left the team by this point, this might be the peak of JLA. Almost every issue is firing on all cylinders, we get hit after hit after hit. First comes a story where old-school Justice League villain Despero comes back to Earth, out for revenge after his defeat at the hands of the Detroit-era JLA. (I own the omnibus of that, but have never read it. Should I have read it before this? Oh well too late.) This means he attacks former JLA member Gypsy, murdering her entire family before the Martian Manhunter finally gets involved.

At the same time this was running in JLA, The Extremist Vector was running in JLE (indeed, I think the reason the JLA is temporarily out of contact during the early stages of that story is because that's when they're battling Despero), which just like this, was a very serious turn for an often comedic title. This story even starts with a bunch of jokes about the tabloid press getting hold of the JLA's trash! But while the turn into darkness in Extremist Vector didn't work for me, the one here did. I think the difference is that this turn into darkness feels earned, in that just like the comedy does, it springs from the characters. Specifically, the story—written as always by Keith Giffen and J. M. DeMatteis, and beautifully pencilled by Adam Hughes and—focuses on the Martian Manhunter, the alien man who found his home and his family on Earth in the Justice League, and thus responds particularly strongly to an enemy who threatens that family. The battle with Despero is brutal, but the core of the story is the way it pushes J'onn to his limits in order to protect those near and dear to him.

I was even surprised by how effective the death of Mister Miracle was. He's not really dead; this is the android double Scott for some reason deployed to cover for him back during JLI Special #1, but all of his teammates think he's really dead, and it's genuinely sad. In particular, the way that Beetle lashes out at Booster is really well done. So while I do think this subplot is one of the series's rare misfires, I did really enjoy what was done with it here.

from Justice League America #44

After this, we move back into more comedic territory, notably with a story about the JLA trying to recruit more members... and failing... except that out of respect for their fallen comrade, the JLA is joined by Orion and Lightray of the New Gods! This is, of course, hilarious. Orion and Lightray don't stay on the team for long, but Orion in particular is comedy gold. From this we go into a story about a tabloid journalist who ends up fleecing a bunch of down-on-their-luck supervillains in a poker game and ends up with all their equipment. Farce ensues, of course; these issues had a lot of fun stuff going on in them, especially the mediocre supervillains all chilling in a bar.

Two more stories complete this set. This first is the first issue of Justice League Quarterly. I assume the Justice League titles were doing really well sales-wise at this point, because now not only do we have two monthly ongoings, but also a new quarterly ongoing... but as its issues were all eighty pages long, it was like getting a whole extra monthly comic. This gives Giffen, DeMatteis, and their collaborators a broader canvas; here, they use that to tell a story about what Booster Gold has been up to since quitting the JLA. He becomes the leader of a new, corporate-backed superhero team. I found it surprisingly cute, as this group of B- and C-level players tries to navigate doing what's right in a world where that's difficult, and the end up rising above their origins. Also, we get to meet one of Maxwell Lord's ex-wives!

Finally, there's a JLE story where Power Girl's cat is kidnapped by a couple dumb young louts hoping for a payday who end in over their heads because, 1) that cat is awful (at one point it chews through a wall!), and 2) a evil consortium is attempting to kidnap the cat for their own purposes. This is the perfect set-up for comedy, and of course I loved it. 

from Justice League Quarterly #2

"Designing Humans!" / "Running Hot and Cold!", from Justice League Quarterly #2 (Spring 1991), reprinted in Justice League International Omnibus, Volume 3 (2024)
plot & breakdowns by Keith Giffen, scripts by J. M. DeMatteis, pencils by Tom Artis and Aldrin Aw, inks by Randy Elliott (with Bruce Patterson) and Macolm Jones III, letters by Bob Pinaha, colors by Gene D'Angelo

This issue of JLQ is collected in volume 3 of the JLI Omnibus, but must take place during volume 2, before issue #45 of JLA, because Oberon hasn't yet quit. Mister Nebula (a Galactus parody) comes to Earth to seek the wayward Scarlet Skier (a Silver Surfer parody). I was a bit worried this would be taking a good joke and spreading it too thin, but I needn't have worried; anything featuring the neurotic Scarlet Skier is always good stuff... especially if you toss in G'nort. It was great. I also really enjoyed the back-up, where Fire and Ice go shopping together and run into some old enemies of the Silver Age Flash, Heatwave and Captain Cold, who complain that superheroes just aren't as good as they used to be.

from Justice League America #47

"A Date with Density, Part Two: Hell on Ice!" / Glory Bound / "Ktrrogarrx!", from Justice League America #45-50 (Dec. 1990–May 1991), reprinted in Justice League International Omnibus, Volume 2 (2020)
plot & breakdowns by Keith Giffen; scripts by J. M. DeMatteis and Kyle Baker; pencils by Russell Braun, Linda Medley (with Paris Cullins), and Kyle Baker; inks by John Beatty, Jose Marzan (with Dave Elliott), and Kyle Baker; letters by Bob Lappan; colors by Gene D'Angelo

Finally, we get a one-off story about Guy Gardner and Ice going on another date, while Blue Beetle is up to some hijinks. The panel where Guy sees what's in his bed is comedy gold, perfectly timed. Beautiful stuff. This leads into a five-part storyline about Guy discovering that a WWII-era comic book character he used to read about when he was a kid, a thinly veiled Captain America pastiche named General Glory, was actually a real person. I could see that the jokes underlying General Glory could probably grow thin fast, but they are the exact kinds of jokes I love, and I really enjoyed the storyline. (The whole thing finishes out with a weird backup story about Guy Gardner visiting the DC offices to complain. I didn't really get it but sure, why not.)

This is the sixth in a series of posts about Justice League International. The next covers issues #51-52 of JLA and #23-28 of JLE. Previous installments are listed below:

1. Justice League #1-6 / Justice League International #7-12 (May 1987–Apr. 1988)
2. Justice League International #13-21 (May 1988–Dec. 1988)
3. Justice League International #22-25 / Justice League America #26-30 / Justice League Europe #1-6 (Jan. 1989–Sept. 1989) 
4. Justice League America #31-36 / Justice League Europe #7-12 (Oct. 1989–Mar. 1990)
5. Justice League America #37 / Justice League Europe #13-21 (Apr. 1990–Dec. 1990)

Neil Gaiman, American Gods (2001)

American Gods by Neil Gaiman

Published: 2001
Acquired: March 2008
Read: August 2025

Who in the year 2025 goes, Man, I'm finally going to try out some Neil Gaiman? This is the moment to do it! 

Me, apparently. As always, the issue is that I've had the book for quite a long time, since 2008, but it only just surfaced to the top of my reading list. It's funny, it was seven years old when I got it; it took me seventeen years to get around to reading it.

So how was it? Well, like a lot of Neil Gaiman that I've read, I enjoyed the premise, I liked the writing itself, there were a lot of interesting scenes, the characters were largely interesting, but a certain point I felt like the book was meandering somewhere and I didn't really know where or why. What, actually, was at stake? Once the climax came along, I got a bit lost as to why anyone was doing anything in particular. It reminded me of Stardust, in that the idea of the book ended up being more enjoyable than the actuality of it.

(For completion's sake, I should note the book won the Hugo Award for Best Novel in 2002, meaning that by reading it now, I have reduced the span of my project to read all Hugo-winning novels I haven't previously read by one year. I would have otherwise reached it in 2042!) 

Is There a Coherent Post-Crisis Blackhawk Continuity?

One of the striking things reading the post-Crisis Blackhawk comics has been that, to be honest... I don't think they all hang together.

from Blackhawk vol. 2 #1 (script & art by Howard Chaykin)

At first they do. Howard Chaykin's 1987 miniseries (see #10 in the list below) didn't give a new origin story for the Blackhawks, but it did create a new history for them. Blackhawk himself was now Janos Prohaska; most of the Blackhawk line-up we knew from the pre-Crisis comics was largely maintained, but Stanislaus died during the course of the miniseries, and Natalie Reed claimed the identity of "Lady Blackhawk" for herself, so no Zinda Blake (though Zinda didn't join the squadron until after the war in any case). The character formerly known as "Chop-Chop" was now Weng Chan.

Eventually, the continuing exploits of this version of the team would be chronicled in Action Comics Weekly (see #10 again) and then in a 1989-90 ongoing (see #11). All of these stories were period stories, set during or shortly after World War II. Pre-Crisis, after WWII the Blackhawks had fought dictators all over the world (see #2), then supercriminals and such (see #3-4), then aliens (see #5), until finally becoming superheroes themselves once the Justice League of America arrived on the scene (see #6). But post-Crisis, the Blackhawks rebranded themselves as mercenaries and a shipping concern after the war, secretly funded by (and, later, manipulated by) the CIA. The stories were kept more grounded, so (largely) no supercriminals or aliens, more complex thriller plots instead.

from Action Comics Weekly #635
(script by Mark Verheiden, art by Eduardo Barreto & John Nyberg)

So what was going on with the Blackhawks in the then-present day of the DC universe? We just got glimpses of this: a Blackhawk story in Action Comics Weekly established that by 1988, Weng Chan was in charge of Blackhawk Industries, and a couple other flash-forward stories in the Blackhawk ongoing followed up on this; there were no appearances by any of the other Blackhawks in these stories, presumably to keep things open for the ongoing. In other stories around this same time, this was maintained; Weng Chan was a recurring character in the 1990-93 Hawkworld ongoing, for example.

The pre-Crisis history of the Blackhawks seemed to be entirely eradicated. This was not an unusual move at the time; in 1989, the original Hawkworld erased the pre-Crisis Hawkman, for example, or there was  the notorious post-Crisis reboot of Wonder Woman. The history seemed pretty stable, and to be honest, removing the Blackhawks from continuity causes a lot less headaches than removing Wonder Woman or even Hawkman, since their adventures were largely self-contained. (The 1989 Blackhawk ongoing even established that the Quality Comics adventures from Military Comics were in-universe comic books, fictionalized and sanitized versions of real adventures, albeit published postwar.)

from Guy Gardner: Warrior #24 (script by Beau Smith, art by Mitch Byrd,
Phil Jimenez, Howard Porter, Mike Parobeck, Jackson Guice, & Dan Davis)

Once the Blackhawk ongoing came to an end, and once Mike Gold (editor of both Blackhawk and Hawkworld) moved on, things get a lot muddier. The first sign of this, I think, is in Guy Gardner: Warrior (see # 12), where during the Crisis in Time, Guy meets up with Zinda "Lady Blackhawk" Blake—a character who, as far as we knew up until that point, did not exist post-Crisis. Her original appearance is a one-off, so you could blame it on Extant-induced timeline fluctuations, but then in a later issue, she materializes in the present day outside Guy's bar, and takes a job there. Is she a refugee from the past? Or from an entirely nonexistent timeline? We don't really know, because the stories don't go into it at all; she's just a bit of set dressing, basically.

Possibly you might posit that—and this is what the DC wiki does—that Blackhawk continuity was changed again by the events of the Crisis in Time itself. This is backed up by JLA: Year One (see #13)... kind of. This story shows that the Blackhawks are active at the time of the JLA's founding, and in a form much closer to their pre-Crisis history. They are wearing the red-and-green uniforms they got during their time working for the UN, and the line-up includes several characters who had died in the post-Crisis, pre-Zero Hour Blackhawk stories, like Stanislaus. This would mean, though, that the Blackhawks had continually operated without aging from World War II up to the almost-present-day of the DC universe! (I think JLA: Year One is set ten years prior to the "present," so around 1988.) Not impossible, I suppose; these are comics. But there is no hint of the way the Blackhawks were depicted in the present-day stories of the Blackhawk ongoing. Indeed, this story even reintroduces the Blackhawks' brief stint as superheroes, though under different circumstances than in the original "Junk-Heap Heroes" storyline.

from JLA: Year One #2
(script by Mark Waid & Brian Augustyn, art by Barry Kitson)

The wrinkle in all of this is that Lady Blackhawk is in JLA: Year One. But how could she be if she had been plucked out of time and brought to the present? Was she plucked out of time after the events of JLA: Year One? Well, then she would have been six years out of time at the most, which hardly seems significant (as far as being plucked out of time in superhero comics goes, anyway, I'm sure it would be much more significant if I was dumped in the year 2031 by a timeline fluctuation). So I don't think we can say the Crisis in Time changed the Blackhawks' history, because it seemingly did so in two contradictory ways: the Blackhawks, including Zinda, lasted all the way up to the founding of the JLA and Zinda was pulled out of time to the present at some unspecified point in the past.

Basically, after Zero Hour, elements of both the pre- and post-Crisis Blackhawks were maintained. When Blackhawk guest-starred in a Sandman Mystery Theatre story arc published in 1996, it was the post-Crisis Howard Chaykin version. But when Zinda joins the line-up of Birds of Prey in 2004, it's the same seemingly pre-Crisis version that appeared in Guy Gardner... and she says she's the last surviving Blackhawk. So what happened to all the other Blackhawks who were alive just over a decade ago in JLA: Year One? And what happened to Weng Chan?

It all doesn't matter, of course. Continuity is a game we play when it supports storytelling. I enjoy playing the game (hence this post, and hence my previous one about the pre-Crisis continuity), but I don't let it detract from my enjoyment of the stories themselves. When reading Sandman Mystery Theatre, you're not thinking about Guy Gardner: Warrior, and when reading Guy Gardner: Warrior, you're not thinking about Sandman Mystery Theatre. It especially doesn't matter, because from this point on, DC mostly treated the Blackhawks as a retro property; they would pop up in WWII-set stories (for example, in a time travel storyline in The Brave and the Bold), but that's it. So whether Lady Blackhawk was Zinda Blake or Natalie Reed was largely immaterial. (That said, it's been a while since I read them, but I'm pretty sure some of Zinda's Birds of Prey appearances eventually claim she was a member of the Blackhawk's during the war, as opposed to after it.)

from Batman Confidential #38
(script by Royal McGraw, art by Marcos Marz & Luciana Del Negro)

I did appreciate that in the otherwise terrible Blackhawk Down arc (see #15), it was basically treated as all true. Zinda is Lady Blackhawk, but knows the Janos version of Blackhawk (I don't think the two had ever been in a story together before), and this version of the team had been through adventures that originally took place on the pre-Crisis Earth-One and the pre-Crisis Earth-Thirty-Two and in the post-Crisis timeline, even if none of those things actually fit together.

Fundamentally, the problem is that the Blackhawks are largely a concept rooted to a particular time and environment. Take them out of that time and environment, and there's a limited number of things you can actually do with them, so you're constantly going to be reinventing them, whether it makes sense or not.

This is the last in a series of posts about the Blackhawks. Previous installments are listed below:

1. The Blackhawk Archives, Volume 1 (1941-42)
2. Military Comics #18-43 / Modern Comics #44-46 / Blackhawk #9 & 50 (1943-52)
3. Showcase Presents Blackhawk, Volume One (1957-58) 
4. Blackhawk vol. 1 #151-95 (1960-64) 
5. Blackhawk vol. 1 #196-227 (1964-66)
6. Blackhawk vol. 1 #228-43 (1967-68)
7. Blackhawk vol. 1 #244-50 / The Brave and the Bold #167 (1976-80)
8. Blackhawk (1982) 
9. Blackhawk vol. 1 #251-73 / DC Comics Presents #69 (1982-84) 
• Pre-Crisis Continuity 
10. Blackhawk: Blood & Iron (1987-89)
11. Blackhawk vol. 3 (1989-92) 
12. Guy Gardner: Warrior #24, 29, 36, 38-43 / Annual #1 (1994-96)
13. JLA: Year One (1998-99) 
14. Guns of the Dragon (1998-99) 
15. Batman Confidential: Blackhawk Down (2010) 

King in Black: Black Panther / The Last Annihilation: Wakanda by Germán Peralta et al.

Between Ta-Nehisi Coates's run on Black Panther (which I just finished) and John Ridley's (which I will tackle next), there were two Black Panther–related one-shots tying into larger Marvel Comics events. In each case, I picked up the collection of the event from Hoopla, but I only read the Black Panther story in each book, plus the Hulkling and Wiccan one, since I do know those characters from Young Avengers (boy has their status quo changed a lot!), but none of the other stories in each book.

I guess this kind of scene is obligatory.
from King in Black: Black Panther #1

King in Black seems to about a bunch of Venoms attacking the universe or something. I guess they all work for a god of some kind? It didn't really matter to me; what you need to know is that Wakanda is under assault.

The story is written by Geoffrey Thorne (who got his start as a Star Trek writer, and surely his Trek fandom is the reason he knows the word "cathexis") and illustrated by Germán Peralta, but just as Jason Aaron was for Black Panther's Secret Invasion tie-in, Thorne is in full Christopher Priest mode here: T'Challa has a plan, and is ten steps ahead of everyone, including his own allies. It's not quite as good as Aaron's or Priest's take on this approach, but then, Thorne only has one issue for his canvas, so things just can't be as complicated. Peralta is a solid artist, capturing the characters and world of Wakanda well. This is a perfectly fine story on the whole—I doubt it will wow anyone, but I also think it works on its own and is enjoyable enough.

I've even less understanding of what The Last Annihilation is about, except that it seems to be about space and probably the Guardians of the Galaxy. Its Black Panther tie-in was also illustrated by Peralata; the scripting is by Evan Narcisse, who previously wrote one of the better Black Panther stories of the "Coates era," Rise of the Black Panther. One of the interesting storytelling consequences of the Intergalactic Empire of Wakanda arc is that there's now a way for Black Panther to be involved in space-based Marvel crossover events; indeed, more of Wakanda is in space than is not!

And the enormous space empire was never mentioned again...
from The Last Annihilation: Wakanda #1

I found Coates's Intergalactic Empire storyline raised lots of interesting ideas but did little of interest with them. It would be glib to say that Narcisse finds more to do with the concepts in this single issue than Coates did in twenty-five... but this is surely one of the better stories to be told using the premise. Narcisse focuses the story on M'Baku, one of T'Challa's former comrades in the resistance, who now finds himself working for the very empire he swore to destroy. How can you build trust in an institution previously used as a tool of oppression? How can you trust it yourself? It's a great concept, and Narcisse does great by it, with some effective character-based writing and, again, strong art by Peralta. My guess is that future Black Panther stories will move away from the "Intergalactic Empire" setting (indeed, the last page of this story sets up how that could come to pass), but if they did not, they could do a lot worse than to follow the template set by this issue.

"Cathexis" originally appeared in issue #1 of King in Black: Black Panther (Apr. 2021). The story was written by Geoffrey Thorne, illustrated by Germán Peralta, colored by Jesus Aburtov, lettered by Joe Sabino, and edited by Wil Moss. It was collected in King in Black: Avengers (2021), which was edited by Jennifer Grünwald.

The Last Annihilation: Wakanda originally appeared in one issue (Nov. 2021). The story was written by Evan Narcisse, illustrated by Germán Peralta, colored by Jesus Aburtov, lettered by Cory Petit, and edited by Wil Moss. It was collected in The Last Annihilation (2022), which was edited by Daniel Kirchhoffer.

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