Justice League International Year Eight, Part I: The Purification Plague (JLA #86-88 / JLI #58-64 / JLTF #10-12)

Here, the three Justice League ongoings get back into sync in order to lead into the Judgment Day crossover that spanned all three titles. (This is what my next post will cover.) JLTF #10-12, JLA #86-88, and JLI #63-64 all take place simultaneously as a series of natural disasters begins springing up around the world; I recommend reading them in that order, because a couple characters (T. O. Morrow and Desaad) cross between the titles, and that's the order the stories happen for them. All three of those story arcs end on a cliffhanger leading into JLA #89. Moreover, JLI #58-62 is a continuous story where its final issue also overlaps with JLA #86.

Because of this, even though they came out in 1994, I recommend reading the two Elseworlds annuals earlier, so as to not disrupt the continuous story that goes from JLI #58 up to Zero Hour.

from Justice League America Annual #8

"The Once and Future League" / "Attack of the 'O' Squad!!! or: What If They Staged an Invasion and Nobody Came?" / "No Rules to Follow", from Justice League America Annual #8 and Justice League International Annual vol. 2 #5 (1994)
written by Dan Vado and Gerard Jones; pencils by Norman Felchile, Evan Dorkin, and Kiki Chansamone; inks by John Stokes & Rich Rankin, Paul Guinan, and Rich Rankin, John Stokes, Frank Percy, & Don Hillsman; colors by Gene D'Angelo and Rick Taylor; letters by Kevin Cunningham, Gaspar Saladino, and Clem Robins

These two annuals present stories from alternate continuities: I think DC has done some great "Elseworlds" stories but my impression of the 1994 Elseworlds annuals I have read is that having every series do one all at once was probably stretching the concept too thin. These ones are... pretty okay. The JLA annual actually contains two; the first posits that during the early days of the Justice League, Felix Faust lured them into a trap and destroyed them all, allowing him to rule the world; the bulk of the story takes place a century later, where people finally begins rising up against Faust—including a new set of Justice Leaguers. I probably spent too much time thinking about the mechanics of this. At this point in DC continuity, Batman didn't work with the League in its early days, and Wonder Woman wasn't even around back then, so how could they have been killed by Faust? Similarly, why are a bunch of familiar characters (e.g., Jimmy Olsen, Ted Kord, Snapper Carr) around a whole century later? I mean, I know it's an alternate continuity, so these could all just be points of divergence, but the story goes to some pains to establish what its main point of divergence is, so it feels weird to add extra ones on top of that. Outside of that, it's an okay story; I feel like it's very similar to other Elseworlds or even "Legends of the Dead Earth" stories I've read. Who the new Leaguers are is barely explained, which definitely undermined it.

JLA Annual #8 also contains a humorous short where every supervillain with a name ending in "O" teams up: Amazo, Chemo, Sinestro, Starro, Kanjar Ro, Destro, and so on. They are not very good at cooperation. Meanwhile, the Justice League is trying to find something to watch on tv. It's not great stuff, but it is probably the single best Justice League story written by Dan Vado. I liked the last-page joke the best.

The JLI Annual is set in a world where superheroes didn't emerge until the 1990s, and people are reacting to them with fear and suspicion, especially Bruce Wayne, who has channeled his anguish over his parents' death into quashing crime via the Wayne Foundation. Wayne and the government attempt to crack down on these heroes, who fracture over what the best way to respond is. The lineup of the new heroes is mostly JLI characters (the Wally West Flash, Power Girl, Tasmanian Devil, Metamorpho, Fire) but with some random others ones thrown in (Beast Boy of the Titans, Poison Ivy), plus Booster and Blue Beetle appear as part of the group sent to stop the new heroes. (And also Ralph Dibny appears as a powerless writer who wonders if he might have been inspired to obtain powers if history had gone differently.) It's okay; there are too many characters, and the art is not great, but I did like the ending.

from Justice League International vol. 2 #61

"Nocturne" / "Ordinary People" / "Out of the Future" / "Born of Man and Woman" / "The Sacrifice", from Justice League International vol. 2 #58-62 (Nov. 1993–Mar. 1994)
written by Gerard Jones & Will Jacobs; pencilled by Ron Randall and Chuck Wojtiekiewicz; inked by Roy Richardson, Craig Gilmore, and Michael Oeming, Rich Rankin, & Don Hillsman; lettered by Clem Robins; colored by Gene D'Angelo

Here we have another set of totally mediocre JLI stories that jerk from concept to concept. I feel like Gerard Jones and Will Jacobs are struggling to both maintain threads they set up early on but also lean into the storytelling trends of the early 1990s, and pretty much failing at both as a result. Lots of time is given over to a really boring storyline about people from the future, but also there's this whole thing about the JLI waking up in a timeline where someone averted their heroic origins: Guy is Earth's only Green Lantern, Rex never got his powers, Kara was never woken up, and so on. I liked the bit about how Guy was a great guy in this timeline, but it's boring otherwise, and it feels like a diversion from the book's core premise. Rex gets a new "battle form"... like, why? So many dumb things in this run. 

You can also see them struggling to accommodate what's going on in other titles, specially Green Lantern, which previously the book was good at. For example, there's been no mention of the destruction of Coast City in JLI even though Hal is a lead here. In issue #61, Hal suddenly has his arm in a sling, which happened in the Coast City fight with Mongul, even though the opening scene of #61 directly continues from the closing scene of #60, where his arm is not in a sling. Certainly the destruction of Coast City didn't happen between those issues!

I found the notes from assistant editor Ruben Diaz in the letter column annoying. In issue #59, for example, he opines that other comics (I think he's dissing Marvel's X-Men line here) "have offered multiple crossovers, with big surprises, big changes, big star talent—big deal! Most of what they deliver is layers of convoluted storylines, inconsequential endings with little personal change in the characters, clichés, and less than 100% effort on the part of creators who step on each other's toes trying to outdo each other." But if that's so awful, then why do I feel like all the Justice League titles are just trying to imitate that storytelling style, instead of leaning into what they were actually good at? You can't diss the 1990s Marvel/Image style and copy it! There's another one (somewhere in the #53-57 range, I think) where Ruben apologizes for how bad the book has been since Breakdowns. Like, ouch! Why would I want to told as a reader that I've been getting substandard product? Why would you throw the writers and artists under bus like that?? And what if I liked some of that run???

from Justice League Task Force #11
(panels not contiguous in the original)

The Purification Plague, from Justice League Task Force #10-12 (Mar.-May 1994), reprinted in Justice League Task Force, Volume 1: The Purification Plague (2018)
written by Michael Jan Friedman, pencilled by Sal Velluto, inked by Jeff Albrecht (with Robert Jones), lettered by Bob Pinaha, colored by Glenn Whitmore

In this final story from the first (and, I guess, only, given it's been eight years) JLTF trade, J'onn and Gypsy assemble a team to go undercover among white supremacists in rural Nebraska: they are joined by Black Canary, Elongated Man, the original Hourman, and Thunderbolt. I had actually read this story in single issues before, when I read through a bunch of uncollected stories featuring the original Birds of Prey lineup.

It's about as okay as every JLTF storyline. Nothing will rock your world here; it's depressing to see the evil Aryans using what reads like MAGA rhetoric. The ending is a bit pat. I found it weird that Ralph somehow didn't know Gypsy's codename didn't reflect her heritage given they served in the League together during the Detroit era. Like, surely someone would ask at some point?

from Justice League America #88

Cult of the Machine / "Rage against the Machine", from Justice League America #86-88 (Mar.-May 1994), reprinted in Wonder Woman and Justice League America, Volume 2 (2017)
written by Dan Vado, pencils by Mark Campos, inks by Ken Branch & Kevin Conrad, letters by Clem Robins, colors by Gene D'Angelo

Oh God make it stop.

I really struggled with this one. Ice is mopey and emotional; Marc Campos's art is incapable of nuance, so everyone is shouting at each other all the time. Captain Atom is a stupid jarhead who gets into argument with an ineffectual Wonder Woman; he's nothing like the guy who lead the JLE back in their Paris days. The story is about some cultists who build a transmitter tower or something that somehow brings back Dreamslayer of the Extremists; the resulting story is as unappealing as every Extremists story. Wait, no, moreso. How all this hangs together is left as an exercise for the reader, because neither art nor story are doing the work. At one point you have to turn the book sideways to read a page; this strikes me as the kind of power move that only works if your art is good enough to justify the effort. Campos's is not.

Bad bad bad. I hated every page of it, every panel.

from Justice League International vol. 2 #64

"Visions of Death" / "Immortal Truth", from Justice League International vol. 2 #63-64 (Apr.-May 1994)
written by Gerard Jones (with Will Jacobs), pencilled by Chuck Wojtiekiewicz, inked by Bob Dvorak & Rich Rankin and Craig Gilmore, letters by Clem Robins, colors by Gene D'Angelo

As I said at the top of this post, these issues take place in parallel with the contemporary issues of JLTF and JLA. While the growing natural disasters are a background element in the other two series, it's the main focus of these issues, which have the JLI on the ground in India trying to deal with them; meanwhile, Doctor Light is dealing with the disembodied consciousness Erewhon with which she's somehow fallen in love. This latter plotline could be interesting, I think, but at this point makes this overstuffed book feel even more unfocused. At the same time these issues are trying to lead into Judgment Day, they're also trying to pay off the ongoing JLI plot (since issue #51) about ancient cults rising up; it turns out (I think) that whatever's causing the disasters is also empowering the Cadre of the Immortal, with representatives from a bunch of different ancient civilizations. The JLI has to go to Africa and fight Prester John, and meanwhile Power Girl is pregnant and her baby can magically generate forcefields, and Chandi has temporarily been turned evil.

It's all another uninteresting action-focused story that's pulled in ten different directions. I feel like Gerard Jones has lost control of this book and, more significantly, completely lost what made it appeal so much to me just thirteen issues ago. 

This is the fourteenth in a series of posts about Justice League International. The next covers issues #89-92 of JLA, #65-68 of JLI, and #13-16 of JLTF. 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) 
8. Justice League America #53-60 / Justice League Europe #29-36 (Aug. 1991–Mar. 1992) 
9. Justice League America #61-65 / Justice League Europe #37-42 (Apr. 1992–Sept. 1992)
10. Justice League America #66-69 / Justice League Europe #43-50 (Sept. 1992–May 1993) 
11. Justice League America #70-77 / Justice League Task Force #1-3 (Jan. 1993–Aug. 1993) 
12. Justice League America #78-83 / Justice League International #51-52 / Justice League Task Force #4-8 (June 1993–Jan. 1994)
13. Justice League America #84-85 / Justice League International #53-57 / Justice League Task Force #9 (Aug. 1993–Feb. 1994) 

Justice League International Year Seven, Part III: Bloodlines (JLA #84-85 / JLI #53-57 / JLTF #9)

We have just eight regular issues in this set, but that's counterbalanced by there being two annuals and a whopping four issues of Justice League Quarterly. Note that chronological order and publication order are very out of sync between JLA and JLE during this stretch, thanks to the Bloodlines event. In JLA, Bloodlines follows issue #85, cover dated Feb. 1994 (due to the status of Booster Gold and Ice), while for JLE, it must precede issue #53, cover dated Aug. 1993 (due to the status of Elongated Man). This puts the two titles a whole six months off of each other!

from Justice League America #85

"Absolute Power" / "They Might Be Giants", from Justice League America #84-85 (Jan.-Feb. 1994), reprinted in Wonder Woman and Justice League America, Volume 1 (2017)
written by Dan Vado, pencilled by Kevin West, inked by Ken Branch, letters by Tim Harkins, colors by Gene D'Angelo

Ice was written out during Dan Jurgens's JLA run; following the death of Superman, she left the team. During Dan Vado's run, he began periodically checking in on her as she returned to her people... only to discover that her brother had gone mad with power and was deposing her father and imposing a dictatorship. She sent her mother for help, and her mother arrived during the "evil Guy" story arc, so following its conclusion, the JLA finally goes to help Ice in this two-part story.

Let's say you were a fan of Ice. Unfortunately, nothing that makes Ice a fun character can be found in this story that supposedly focuses on her, which is all ridiculous posturing and snarling and big fights. And while it's not the fault of Dan Vado and artists Kevin West and Ken Branch, the trade paperback reprints the pages of issue #85 almost entirely out of order. With a more interesting story, I'd be willing to put in the work to figure out how to read it... but this story just isn't worth it. (I can't find anyone else on the Internet complaining about this, so I don't know if my copy has a unique issue, or if no one else has ever bothered to read their copy of Wonder Woman and Justice League America, Volume 1!)

from Justice League Quarterly #12

"Negative Feedback" / "On the Road" / "A Man of Parts" / "Love Is War" / "Grandpas and Other Strangers" / "The Unkindest Cut" / "Havoc Unleashed!" / "Scent of Fear" / "Flight" / "Ascent into the Abyss" / "A Hole in the World!" / "Galway Girls" / "The Devil You Know!", from Justice League Quarterly #12-15 (Autumn 1993–Summer 1994)
written by Mark Waid, Kim Fryer, Michael Jan Friedman, Kevin Dooley, Paul Kupperberg, Pat McGreal, Steven T. Seagle, and David De Vries; pencilled by Dan Rodriguez & Antonio Daniel, Mike Wieringo, Mike Mayhew, Greg LaRocque, Michael Collins, Mike Vosburg, Frank Squillace, Mark Tenney, and Eddy Spurlock; inked by Ken Branch, Frank Percy, Mike Christian, Dan Davis, Aaron McClellan, Terry Beatty, Eduardo Barreto, Mike Vosburg, Bam, Bob Smith, Ray Kryssing, and Don Hillsman; colored by Buzz Setzer, Tom McCraw, Glenn Whitmore, Matt Webb, David Grape, Gene D'Angelo, Phil Allen, and Mia Wolf; lettered by Willie Schubert & John Workman, Albert De Guzman, Bob Pinaha, Clem Robins, Ken Bruzenak, and Agnes Pinaha

These four issues of Justice League Quarterly all seem to fit in this general time period: in JLA-centric stories, Captain Atom is back, for example, while in JLI-centric stories, Crimson Fox, Elongated Man, and Hal Jordan are all still around. They also feature parts two through five of the ongoing Praxis story, "The Damnation Agenda." I'll go issue by issue here, except I'll save my comments on the Praxis story for the end.

Issue #12 launches with a Conglomerate lead story. This is, if I'm counting correctly, the third Conglomerate story from JLQ, and the third version of the team. Like the first (see item #6 below), it's about the tension between corporate interests and altruism; like the first, the team is a mix of returning characters (I recognized the JSA's Jesse Quick and Infinity, Inc.'s Nuklon) and new ones (I think so, anyway; I didn't recognize them). The art is all 1990s in what I would say is the worst possible way (except I've read Marc Campos's JLA run, so I know even worse is possible) and the new characters are pretty ridiculous. Worst of all, though, is that even though this is by Mark Waid and thus has some nice moments... we've read it all before, because this is just the original Conglomerate story over again! I'm guessing this was an attempt to set the team up for future adventures, but I'm not aware of any. This issue's non-Praxis backup is a flashback story about Ice and Doctor Light going on a road trip together; you've read better but you've read worse. A couple cute moments, but it doesn't always ring true.

from Justice League Quarterly #13

Issue #13's lead story focuses on Maxima and Captain Atom. Maxima's old consort, Ultraa, comes to Earth to take on Superman and resume his relationship with Maxima; however, at the same time, Maxima has decided to pursue Captain Atom instead. Captain Atom is dealing with his own issues, though, and doesn't think he can love again. There's probably a good story to be told with these ingredients, and this isn't the worst, but it wasn't very great either. I don't think Greg LaRocque has the character chops to pull this off, but he does draw a pretty Maxima.

One of the recurring features of JLQ has been getting Paul Kupperberg, who wrote the 1980s miniseries that reestablished Power Girl as an Atlantean, to write stories focused on Kara, continuing threads begun in that mini. Issue #13 contains the last of those, but it also seems to be dealing with threads for Kupperberg's Arion ongoing. I've read neither of these series, and I very much struggled to care about all this. Kupperberg also performs cleanup duties on issue #14's lead story, which seems to be focused on loose threads from the cancelled Peter Cannon, Thunderbolt ongoing, as Thunderbolt, along with Captain Atom, Nightshade, and Blue Beetle work together to take down a Thunderbolt villain. Again, it gets too much into the weeds with concepts from a series I haven't actually read, so not even some solid Mike Collins art can save it. The last page made me realize why this seemingly random collection of characters: they were all originally published by Quality Comics. Cute gag, I guess, but why build a story around it? The JL connection here seems slight. (Of the four, only Beetle is currently a member.)

#14 has two backups, one about the Crimson Fox, one about a new new Jack O'Lantern. The Fox one is by the usually dependable Pat McGreal, but like too many Crimson Fox stories, focuses on a man manipulating her sexuality. The Jack O'Lantern one is, surprisingly, a pro-choice story where he has to defend a woman fleeing her Irish Catholic community for England so she can get an abortion; the anti-abortion activists go to ridiculous lengths to stop her. O'Lantern spends the whole story going on about how he doesn't think abortion is moral but the girl has a right to do it anyway, which feels like a very 1990s take on the debate. Super heavy handed, and I'm kind of surprised it was even published.

There's another Jack O'Lantern backup in #15, which was so boring I never figured out what was going on. The fun story here is the Tasmanian Devil one, who joined the JLI in issue #50, but never got a lot of focus. Despite some confusing art, I enjoyed this one. Similarly, there's a Ray backup with ugly art but some good jokes. (I did not know Ray was a Star Trek fan.)

from Justice League Quarterly #15

So parts two through four of the Praxis story, "The Damnation Agenda," are backups in issues #12-14; then the longer concluding installment is the lead story in issue #15. It's fine. I think there are occasional flashes of something interesting, pulled down by the need to conform to a lot of clichés of the genre, like the fact that Praxis's female partner has to fall in love with him but he has to angst about it. Also, Praxis's power is to manipulate electricity, but this gets broadened to manipulating anything with electrons in it. 1) This is not the same thing at all, and 2) leads to a lot of dumb moments where people say things like, "I forget air was matter too!" In the last installment, some random members of the JLI show up (I guess to justify why this whole story appeared in a JLI-focused ongoing) but the story needs to make sure they're not essential to the resolution. I honestly got pretty lost in the thaumababble of the climax. On the whole, I would say the whole Praxis story wasn't as bad as I feared but probably not worth devoting five issues of JLQ to either.

Back when I wrote up issues #8-10 of JLQ (see #10 below) I said this series was probably my favorite of the then-three Justice League ongoings. Unfortunately, it seems to have plummetted off a cliff fairly quickly; we've gone from cute fleshing out of the characters of the JLI to desperate chasing of the worst trends of 1990s comics.

from Justice League International Annual vol. 2 #4

"Bloody London", from Justice League International Annual vol. 2 #4 (1993)
written by Gerard Jones, pencilled by Mike Parobeck, inked by Luke McDonnell, lettered by Clem Robins, colored by Gene D'Angelo

Bloodlines was the big crossover through DC's 1993 annuals; alien parasites fell to Earth, taking over people and turning them into monsters, but also creating the "New Bloods," heroes with powers to counter the parasites. To be honest, I'm a bit murky on the details; while I've systematically collected some of the themed annuals of the 1980s and '90s, what I have read of Bloodlines has demonstrated it to be everything that made the early 1990s a bad time for comics.

This isn't the worst. Gerard Jones's story focuses on Elongated Man, Tasmanian Devil, and Metamorpho hunting a serial killer in London, which is a good concept; Jones always does great by Ralph, and the premise is well-suited to him. Unfortunately, we also get a lot about Lionheart, the kind of angsty 1990s superhero who's torn between a government master and doing the right thing, with a dollop of English working-class resentment thrown in. I do in general think that Mike Parobeck is a really good artist, but a story about disgusting alien superkillers is not really a match for his cartoony sensibilities (though I do always like seeing him draw Elongated Man).

"Only the Lucky Ones Die", from Justice League America Annual #7 (1993), reprinted in Wonder Woman and Justice League America, Volume 1 (2017)
written by Bill Loebs, pencilled by Greg LaRocque, inked by Robert Jones, Mark Stegbauer, & Bob Downs, letters by Ken Bruzenak, colors by Gene D'Angelo

Now this one is bad. It's written by William Messner-Loebs, not Dan Vado, but unfortunately Loebs does a good job of imitating the Vado style on JLA, where everyone snarls and argues all the time. Lots of gratuitous darkness and violence. Somehow this run on JLA keeps sinking to new lows.

from Justice League International vol. 2 #54

"Deadly Liasions" / "Impostors" / "Lest Darkness Fall" / "Ambush" / "Inferno!", from Justice League International vol. 2 #53-57 (Aug.-Late Oct. 1993)
written by Gerard Jones & Will Jacobs; pencilled by Ron Randall and Mike Collins; inked by Randy Elliott, Aaron McClellan, Roy Richardson, and Romeo Tanghal; letters by Willie Schubert and Clem Robins; colors by Gene D'Angelo

Gerard Jones's run from JLE #37 to JLI #52 or so wasn't Great Art, but it was very much Solid Superhero Team Comics. Interesting characters, fun interactions, interesting villains, clever resolutions. Suddenly that goes away here. The first issue here is okayish, about Metamorpho following Crimson Fox to Paris. Fox's old boyfriend who she thought was dead turns out to be alive; he convinces her to fake her death to be with him. And she does. But why? I thought this was going somewhere, but it never does, she's just gone. What a weird way to write her out. But it's fun seeing Metamorpho kick up a storm in Paris; I love it when Jones makes up doofy European superheroes.

After this, though, things get very bad very quick. Lots of ideas that feel underbaked or dropped. Like, issue #54 is about everyone acting weirdly: Doctor Light puts on sexy lingerie to seduce Taz, for example. It turns out everyone has been replaced by robots, and they guy who did this is messing with their programming, and then he takes them to the future to fight in a war for him? Why? There's some attempt to make the conflict in the future philosophically interesting but the JLI just picks a side and fights people and none of the philosophy matters to that. Then the characters are back in the present day punching cultists?? And then it's over??? Kind of, anyway, all of these concepts will come back in future issues even thought they weren't worth devoting much time to to begin with.

Ralph and Sue (and, randomly, the ghost of Duke Donald) are written out at the end of issue #57. On the one hand, I'm grumpy because Ralph is literally my favorite; on the other hand, I'm glad my favorite character isn't around for the even worse issues to come. 

What was the problem? Was Gerard Jones losing steam? Or was editorial jerking him around? Probably both.

from Justice League Task Force #9

"Saturday Night's All Right for Fightin'!", from Justice League Task Force #9 (Feb. 1994), reprinted in Justice League Task Force, Volume 1: The Purification Plague (2018)
written by Jeph Loeb, pencilled by Greg LaRocque, inked by Kevin Conrad, lettered by Bob Pinaha, colored by Glenn Whitmore

This one-off JLTF issue is a followup to Bloodlines; Martian Manhunter is trying to enjoy an evening alone in the League's New York embassy (I think this is the first indication we get that he still resides there now that he leads the JLTF, actually) when some "New Bloods" turning up wanting training. He ends up working with them to defeat some parasites, and shenanigans ensue. It's mildly funny, but writer Jeph Loeb dedicating the issue to Keith Giffen was probably just dooming himself to being an also-ran when it comes to funny League stories. You can never make me care about the New Bloods, sorry guys.

This is the thirteenth in a series of posts about Justice League International. The next covers issues #86-88 of JLA, #58-64 of JLI, and #10-12 of JLTF. 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) 
8. Justice League America #53-60 / Justice League Europe #29-36 (Aug. 1991–Mar. 1992) 
9. Justice League America #61-65 / Justice League Europe #37-42 (Apr. 1992–Sept. 1992)
10. Justice League America #66-69 / Justice League Europe #43-50 (Sept. 1992–May 1993) 
11. Justice League America #70-77 / Justice League Task Force #1-3 (Jan. 1993–Aug. 1993) 
12. Justice League America #78-83 / Justice League International #51-52 / Justice League Task Force #4-8 (June 1993–Jan. 1994)

Justice League International Year Six, Part II: Red Winter (JLA #66-69 / JLE #43-50)

One of the defining comics events of the 1990s was of course The Death of Superman. Here we have the run of JLA and JLE stories that lead up to and overlapped with it. There are also a lot of Justice League Quarterly issues set during this span, presumably because they wanted to avoiding overlapping with the more complicated events of Death and its immediate aftermath.

from Justice League Europe #43

"'Round and 'Round and 'Round It Goes..." / "With a Little Bit of Luck", from Justice League Europe #43-44 (Oct.-Nov. 1992)
written by Gerard Jones, drawn by Ron Randall, inked by Randy Elliott, lettered by Willie Schubert, colored by Matt Hollingsworth and Gene D'Angelo

These two issues of JLE have the JLE checking into a hotel, as the events of the Deconstructo storyline saw them kicked out of their previous HQ; in this story, Sue finds them a castle to use as a headquarters. While the castle is made ready, though, they investigate a series of improbable disaster near gambling site. As in many stories in both JLI titles recently, the villain turns out to be an old League foe, though one unfamiliar to me other than this story: Amos Fortune, who can manipulate probabilities. When he makes good luck for himself, bad luck results for everyone else.

This isn't a great story, but it is another strong installment of a good run for JLE. Gerard Jones, Ron Randall, and Randy Elliott have really made the title work at this point. Fun, offbeat concepts and good character interactions elevate what could easily be an also-ran title into an enjoyable one. If you include the upcoming Red Winter storyline, this fourteen-issue run of JLE is the most consistent the title has been since its birth. I enjoyed a lot of the Giffen/DeMatteis/Sears run of course, but it's really clicked with this team.

from Justice League America Annual #6

"Maximum Eclipse", from Justice League America Annual #6 (1992), reprinted in Superman and Justice League America, Volume 2 (2016)
plot by Dan Jurgens, written by Dan Mishkin, penciled by Dave Cockrum, inked by José Marzan, Jr., lettered by Clem Robins, colored by Gene D'Angelo

Eclipso: The Darkness Within was a big crossover where the villain Eclipso began taking over superheroes from a fortress on the Moon. I actually collected and read all of its installments many years ago, so this was a reread for me. The JLA installment is collected in volume 2 of Superman and Justice League America, but the status of Guy Gardner means it clearly belongs with the stories in volume 1.

What I learned from collecting all those Darkness Within installments is that I actually don't enjoy Eclipso stories very much. Oh no, a hero has turned evil! It doesn't really generate much of interest. To the extent that this one works, it's the story's focus on Blue Beetle, who must outwit Eclipso with technical wizardry and sleight of hand; I have mixed thoughts on Dan Jurgens's JLA run, but he typically does well by Blue Beetle. 

"Eclipso over London" / "Brilliant Men", from Justice League Europe Annual #3 (1992) and Eclipso: The Darkness Within #2 (Oct. 1992)
plots by Gerard Jones and Keith Giffen & Robert Loren Fleming; breakdowns by Keith Giffen; dialogue by Will Jacobs and Robert Loren Fleming; pencils by Tim Hamilton and Bart Sears; inks by Romeo Tanghal and Mark Pennington, Randy Elliott & Raymond Kryssing; colors by Gene D'Angelo and Tom McCraw; letters by Ken Holewczynski and Gaspar

The Darkness Within continues with a JLE installment; it's fine but mostly forgettable. For completion's sake, I did actually reread the last part of the whole storyline, since it features a number of JLA and JLE characters, but I needn't have bothered, since they mostly just fill out crowd scenes. The whole thing is surprisingly jumpy at times considering Keith Giffen did breakdowns.

"Double Trouble!" / "It's...It's...a Ballroom Blitz! (or, The Rook's a Crook!)" / "Yesterday's News" / "The Real Return of... The Global Guardians!", from Justice League Quarterly #8 (Autumn 1992)
stories by Mark Waid, Mike Collins, Elliot S! Maggin, and Kevin Dooley; pencils by Rod Whigham, Mike Collins, Tim Hamilton, and Andy Smith; inks by Romeo Tanghal, Jose Marzan Jr., Trevor Scott, and Smitty; letters by Bob Pinaha, Albert DeGuzman, and Clem Robins; colors by Gene D'Angelo, Matt Hollingsworth, John Cebollero, and Tom McCraw

from Justice League Quarterly #8

This installment of JLQ's lead story is about Max and his ex-wife Claire setting up a rematch between the JLI and Conglomerate; Max uses his business connections to get all of Conglomerate's members to quit for better gigs, sabotaging her. In desperation, Claire ends up using heroes from another universe... not realizing they are members of the Crime Syndicate from the antimatter universe! The League must work together to overcome evil alternates of themselves. It's okay; the best part is probably all the lame heroes who audition for Conglomerate. There's also a story about Power Girl and Wally West stopping a robbery, which is obviously an excuse for them to meet Peter Cannon, Thunderbolt, star of a then-forthcoming new series (Thunderbolt also cameoed in JLE #41, so DC was definitely trying to hype this guy)... but I do of course like getting to seem some Mike Collins artwork. Plus there's a good joke about what "Wally" means in the UK.

The best story in the issue surprised me by being the one by Elliot S. Maggin, who though I enjoy a lot, I feel is a bit of an old-fashioned writer. But his low-key story about the JLA discovering the identity of Max Lord's first ex-wife is surprisingly moving and charmingly contemplative and very character driven. The JLA (especially Fire) investigating in the present is paralleled against short scenes from Max and Sylvia's relationship. It's very well done, and one of my favorite stories about this incarnation of the League.

Once again, but thankfully for the last time, there's a Global Guardians story. 

from Justice League America #68

"Together Again" / "Transitions, Transmissions and Transactions" / "Actions, Admissions & Acquisitions", from Justice League America #66-68 (Sept.-Nov. 1992), reprinted in Superman and Justice League America, Volume 1 (2016)
story and layouts by Dan Jurgens, finishes by Rick Burchett and Jose Marzan, Jr., letters by Willie Schubert, colors by Gene D'Angelo and John Cebollero

The last three pre-Death of Superman issues of JLA have a lot of Guy Gardner in them. In the first, Superman battles Guy—freshly tossed out of the Green Lantern Corps—for leadership, and wins through his refusal to fight; meanwhile, the Atom turns up just to shit on the new League. To be honest, I feel like Jurgens is always shitting on the League in this incarnation; the characters are constantly being show as inferior power-wise and bad at working together. If he's trying to hit some kind of "underdogs make good" vibe, it's not coming off; you more feel like the writer doesn't like the group of character's he's been stuck with... even when he is good at writing them!

The other two issues make a story about an alien coming to the Earth because he thinks he owns it; as normal for Jurgens, it's very action-heavy and thus not very interesting to me... except for the ending, which is a good trick and has a great joke. Fire getting a new new costume so quickly is surely an admission that Dan Jurgens screwed up.

from Justice League Quarterly #10

"Frenzy" / "Cherchez L'Homme" / "You Bet Your Life" / "Tomorrow Belongs to Geralyn" / "Time and Chance!" / "Half an Inch" / "Contested Friendship" / "When Titans Date", from Justice League Quarterly #9-10 (Winter 1992–Spring 1993)
stories by Mark Waid, Kevin Dooley, Paul Kupperberg, Elliot S! Maggin, and William Messner-Loebs; pencils by Rod Whigham, Andy Smith, Dusty Abel, Dave Cockrum, Patrick Zircher, Scott Benefiel, and Ty Templeton; inks by Mike DeCarlo, Bob Wiacek, Jose Marzan Jr., John Lowe, Mike Sellers, and Karl Kesel; letters by Bob Pinaha, Albert De Guzman, Todd Klein, Clem Robins, Tim Harkins, and Bob Lappan; colors by Gene D'Angelo, Dan Jerome, Tom McCraw, Matt Hollingsworth, Jordan B. Gorfinkel, and Steve Mattsson

I wouldn't have guessed it to be honest, but I actually think that of the three post-Breakdowns JLI ongoings... JLQ might be my favorite!? These are two really strong issues on the whole, with just one misstep, and lots of stories that focus on a group of characters I've come to be quite fond of.

Standouts include "Frenzy", where six member of the JLI are exposed to a virus with a one-sixth chance of turning you into a homicidal maniac. Tensions rise as they try to figure out who it will be and if they can protect themselves; again, Mark Waid does well by the personalities of this version of the League, and Blue Beetle gets to show off his skill. I also enjoyed "You Bet Your Life," where Wally bets Karen that she can't keep her calm for an entire day... the same day Battlecat--protector of the environment begins prowling the streets of London. Fun stuff.

Elliot Maggin pops up again with another really well done story, "Tomorrow Belongs to Geralyn," this one about Booster meeting a young girl he knows will go on to be famous and help make the world a better place... but who also has a tragedy in her life. I think it's easy to write Booster as a shallow gloryhound, so I like these stories that delve into his earnest side. Like I said, I wouldn't have guessed Maggin would be such a good fit for the JLI; I hope there's more from him in future JLQ issues.

We get more good Booster in "Time and Chance!", which delves into Booster's dark past with gambling when he gets a chance to take down the crime family that ruined his life centuries before it happened. There's a really great scene between Booster and Beetle about what a good hero Booster actually is.

My favorite in these two issues, though, is "When Titans Date," a slice-of-life story about Fire, Wally, and Booster spying on Ted while he goes on a really terrible blind date. It's fun, it's cozy, it's everything I love about this group of characters. It's such a shame most of these JLQ stories have never been reprinted, because they really maintain what worked about this team so well in the Giffen/DeMatteis run, but in a slightly different way.

The only real misfire in these two issues is the kind of stupid one about Fire and Ice. It has its moments, but you sort of have the feeling that William Messner-Loebs thought that because it was "funny" he could just do whatever, whether it made sense or not. I don't think Fire and Ice act very believably at key points. But the bit about world peace was great! 

from Justice League America #69

"Down for the Count", from Justice League America #69 (Dec. 1992), reprinted in Superman and Justice League America, Volume 2 (2016)
story and art by Dan Jurgens, finished art by Rick Burchett, letters by Willie Schubert, colors by Gene D'Angelo

Oddly, Superman is only in one regular issue collected in Superman and Justice League America, Volume 2. This issue is part of The Death of Superman; while Superman gives an interview in Metropolis, Doomsday (named by Booster Gold, fact fans!) beats up on the rest of the JLA. It's an all-action issue again, but I think it works better than most thanks to the level of desperation here. Still, I think it would have worked even more if so many of the preceding issues of the title weren't also action-heavy ones about the JLA being outclassed by superior opponents.

(I just reread my review of when I originally read this issue some eighteen years ago: "These aren't exactly heavy hitters. Guy, as much as I love him, is in one of the periods where he's been kicked out of the Green Lantern Corps, so he's dressed even worse than usual, and I'm pretty sure I could take out Blue Beetle. And I've never even heard of Bloodwynd or Maxima. This comic doesn't exactly inspire me to want to know more about them, either. I'm pretty sure Maxima's power is being stupid. And having an invincible midriff." God, I sucked.)

from Justice League Europe #50

Red Winter, from Justice League Europe #45-50 (Dec. 1992–May 1993)
written by Gerard Jones, pencilled by Ron Randall & Mike Parobeck, inked by Randy Elliott, lettered by Willie Schubert, colored by Gene D'Angelo

The last story of this very long chuck of comics (twelve regular issues, three double-sized issues, three quadruple-sized issues!) is the six-issue Red Winter, where the Rocket Red Brigade takes over post-Soviet Russia... and Elongated Man foe Sonar has taken over the Rocket Reds... and soon, all of Europe!

I remembered this as being epic, and I was, thankfully, right. Jones is just a master of this kind of thing at this point; these six issues cover a lot of ground, with characters splitting off into a bunch of different configurations throughout, and with everyone getting a good moment: everyone contributes to the resolution of the problem at some point. Once again, there's great moments between Ralph and Sue, and some good stuff with the Crimson Fox, and an excellent ending. Is it great art? I guess not, but it is exactly what I want out of a superhero team book.

The only thing to not like, in my opinion, is that the appearances of the JSA and the JLI reserves seems kind of random, as do the huge crowd of villains Sonar dredges up. (Why are the Global Guardians and Injustice League working for him?) But we get a new character, Chandi the incarnation of Shiva, and also the stuff with the ghost in the JLE's castle is amazing. As I said above, Jones and Randall's JLE run from post-Breakdowns to here is exactly what I want from superhero team comics.

(If you're trying to read precisely chronologically, that's not easy with Red Winter, as its events overlap those in The Death of Superman, and the stories aren't very clear on how that might work; no matter what you choose, there are going to be some inconsistencies. In these posts, I've rendered it how I actually did it as I read, but in retrospect, I would have chosen a different sequence I'll describe later.)

This is the tenth in a series of posts about Justice League International. The next covers issues #70-77 of JLA and #1-3 of JLTF. 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) 
8. Justice League America #53-60 / Justice League Europe #29-36 (Aug. 1991–Mar. 1992) 
9. Justice League America #61-65 / Justice League Europe #37-42 (Apr. 1992–Sept. 1992)

Justice League International Year Six, Part I: Born Once Again (JLA #61-65 / JLE #37-42)

from Justice League Europe #38

So here I move beyond (mostly) the stories collected in the Justice League International Omnibus hardcovers. But when I was in college, my Justice League Europe collection ended with #50, and I remembered enjoying that material even though the creative team had changed a lot. So I decided to continue reading JLA and JLE (later renamed JLI) up to the point where the latter came to an end, just before Zero Hour. 

The JLA material from this era is mostly collected in a series of four trade paperbacks: two Superman and Justice League America collections, and two Wonder Woman and Justice League America ones. But no post-Giffen/DeMatteis issues of Justice League Quarterly have been collected, and Gerard Jones's run on JLE/I probably never will be, following his conviction for possession of child pornography. It seems as though DC will collect his work when its ancillary to a collection of someone else's (such as in volume 3 of the JLI Omnibus, or a couple issues contained in the Superman/Wonder Woman and JLA trades), but they will not make any collections where his work is featured. I understand the reasoning, but I really did want to read these stories, so I had to track down the single issues. It's a shame, because I think his work is underrated, and largely better than the parallel JLA issues that have been collected.

from Justice League Quarterly #6

"Take My Wife-- Please!" / "Fighting Trim" / "Who's Been Sleeping in My Bed?" / "Never Less Alone...", from Justice League Quarterly #6 (Spring 1992)
written by Mark Waid, John Ostrander, Paul Kupperberg, and Kevin Dooley; pencilled by Eduardo Barreto, Barry Horne, John Calimee, and Andy Smith; inked by Eduardo Barreto, Scott Hanna, Pablo Marcos, and Andy Smith; lettered by Bob Pinaha, Willie Schubert, and John Costanza; colored by Gene D'Angelo, Matt Hollingsworth, Juliana Ferriter, and Tom McCraw

This contains four stories. The lead story, about Elongated Man, must take place shortly before Breakdowns, presumably in the gap between JLE #22 and 23 that I've placed so much other stuff in. Of the other three, the Blue Beetle and Global Guardians stories definitely follow Breakdowns; the Blue Beetle one presumably goes in the gap of months between when the team broke up in JLE #36 and came back together in JL Spectacular #1. The placement clues for the Power Girl one are a lot vaguer, but it could fit there as well.

The Elongated Man one is, of course, good fun. Ralph and Sue are on vacation when Sue is kidnapped, and Ralph must solve the mystery; he calls in some of his available buddies from the League to help. The mystery isn't a solvable one for the reader in any real sense, it's more of a series of weird encounters based on a Monopoly-like board game, and the foes seem a bit out of even this group of Leaguers' power levels. But there's a great double twist in the ending, and it shows off both Ralph and Sue to good effect. How could I not love it? Plus Eduardo Barreto debuts as the lead penciller on JLQ, and I really like his work.

Of the other ones, the Blue Beetle stories shows how he loses the weight gain that was pestering him during the previous year or so of JLA; I thought this one was funny, particularly 1) his conversation with Booster, 2) his interactions with General Glory, and 3) how he eventually loses the weight. The Power Girl one is fine, kind of a belabored joke; I feel like it was primarily written to explain how Karen could be living in Europe but also be a successful corporate exec in the states. I appreciated that she's shown as having a friendship with follow corporate exec the Crimson Fox. (Although this story, now that I think about, seems to contradict the claim in JLE: Red Winter that no one had ever seen Crimson Fox's face.)

Plus there's a Global Guardians story. I guess every issue has to have one. 

from Elongated Man #4

Europe '92, from Elongated Man #1-4 (Jan.-Apr. 1992)
written by Gerard Jones, pencilled by Mike Parobeck, inked by Ty Templeton, lettered by Bob Pinaha, colored by Rick Taylor

I mostly have not picked up solo stories featuring JLI members... but how could I skip over this? Like JLE itself, I picked this up when I was in college, and I have nostalgic memories of it. Plus, its events are decently well integrated into the main JLE series, as the following Red Winter is a direct sequel to it.

It's funny, Elongated Man is one of my favorite DC characters on the basis of JLE, but I was surprised to learn when rereading the series that he's not a big player during Keith Giffen's run. Oh, he's there a lot, but aside from the opening five-issue story arc (see item #3 in the list below), he rarely plays a big role in any stories. My memories of the character's greatness mostly come from Gerard Jones's solo work as writer, in JLE #37-50.

This isn't quite Ralph and Sue at their best, but it's very close. Sue's heard about a series of mysterious incidents at the European Unity conference, and so uses her father's connections to swing an invitation for her and Ralph so he can investigate... but soon Sue is being charmed much more by the mysterious Bito than her own husband. I think the temporary split of the two characters didn't quite work for me; I could buy some of the reasoning (Sue wonders if she married Ralph as a way to stick it to her family) but it seemed a bit ham-handed in execution. 

But other than that, this is great. Lots of good jokes, of course; I particularly liked Gerard Jones's endless parade of mediocre European-themed supervillains. Twenty years later, and I still get the giggles over the Wurstwaffe, a group of Germans who all dress up as sausages. Each has a personality following on from his name: Knockwurst likes to punch people, Bratwurst whines a lot, and so on. Comic genius! I can't believe these guys were never used in comics again. But in addition, Jones's story shows off how clever Ralph is, and how versatile his powers really is. The sequence where he flies in to save the day single-handedly is amazing. I also like Sonar as a villain for Ralph (though I could have done without the retcon that the down-on-his-luck Sonar from JLA's Guy Tortolini arc wasn't actually him). Mike Parobeck (of JSA fame) and Ty Templeton provide art, and their somewhat cartoony but still emotionally expressive work is perfectly suited to this story. It's a real shame this will never be reprinted... though to be honest, I bet that would be the case even if it wasn't for Gerard Jones!

from Justice League America #62

"Team Work" / "Born Once Again" / "Pawns", from Justice League Spectacular #1 (1992) and Justice League America #61-62 (Apr.-May 1992), reprinted in Superman and Justice League America, Volume 1 (2016)
written by Dan Jurgens and Gerry Jones; art by Dan Jurgens and Ron Randall; finished/inked by Rick Burchett, Randy Elliot, and Jackson Guice; lettered by Bob Pinaha and Willie Schubert; colored by Gene D'Angelo

These issues finally bring the JLA and the JLE back into action. Maxwell Lord is pulling the strings, again sending a villain out to unite the League and public sentiment; I could have done without repeating that plot beat yet again. Hasn't Max learned yet? The Royal Flush gang attacks diplomats at Disney expy in Florida, which causes the former Leaguers to dive into action, along with Superman and Hal Jordan. It does what it needs to, I guess, which is by the end, the groups are reactivated with slightly adjusted lineups, but with Superman leading the JLA. In their first story arc, the JLA faces a villain called the Weapons Master, who is working for a Dominator; I thought this was fine, but what I liked a lot about it was that Blue Beetle saves the day through his cleverness. Maxima is a fun new member for the JLA as well. Dan Jurgens both writes and pencils, and though I don't love everything he does, he's one of comics' greats for a reason. Strong sense of composition and layout.

from Justice League Quarterly #7

"Klaarsh Reunion!" / "If This Be My Destiny...?" / "Homeward Bound" / "Time to Enjoy the Light", from Justice League Quarterly #7 (Summer 1992)
written by Michael Jan Friedman, Paul Kupperberg, Pat McGreal, and Kevin Dooley; pencilled by Eduardo Barreto, Don Heck, Mike Vosburg, and Andy Smith; inked by Carlos Garzon, Mike DeCarlo, Mike Vosburg, and Brad Vancata; lettered by Bob Pinaha, Tim Harkins, and Clem Robins; colored by Gene D'Angelo, Linda Kachelhofer, and Tom McCraw

As has become routine for JLQ, this issue features a lead story of over thirty pages and three shorter backups. The lead story can go at basically any time when Beetle, Booster, Fire, Ice, and Guy are all members of the League, and when the JLE is also active, so either sometime between JLA #30 and 37, or between #62 and 63. Of the backups, the Rocket Red one is set after Breakdowns, and the Doctor Light one is set after JL Spectacular, so on balance, the issue fits best here.

The lead is good fun; Booster, Fire, Ice, and Guy accompany Beetle to his high school reunion. (It was sobering to realize that I must be seven years older than Ted Kord.) Only it turns out that everyone in Ted's hometown except his family was an alien on the run from their home planet, and their former masters have come looking for them. Good jokes of course, particularly the one where none of Ted's former classmates have even heard of Blue Beetle, and also Ted gets to save the day with his cleverness. Once again, excellent art from Eduardo Barreto. It's not an A-plus story, but it is basically what I read JLI for.

Though I always find JLQ issues more enjoyable than not, this one might have one of the best hit rates, because all four backups are solid too. The General Glory one is a silly pastiche of Silver Age Captain America comics, complete with footnotes citing fake comic books; Don Heck is a great choice to illustrate it. The Rocket Red one was surprisingly great; I had never heard of writer Pat McGreal before, but he has an amazing command of the medium, with really interesting ways of layering in action and moving between panels. I see his mostly done Donald Duck comics, but he has at least one more JLQ story. The Doctor Light story was surprisingly good, too, giving her some needed depth.

from Justice League America #63

"Almerac or Bust!" / "The Revenge of Starbreaker" / "Of Ashes and Justice", from Justice League America #63-65 (June-Aug. 1992), reprinted in Superman and Justice League America, Volume 1 (2016)
written by Dan Jurgens, art by Dan Jurgens, finished/inked by Rick Burchett, lettered by Willie Schubert, colored by Gene D'Angelo

In these JLA stories, Maxima returns to her home planet, only to find out she was deposed in her absence... by a Silver Age JLA villain. Good art from Dan Jurgens, of course, but very action-heavy, and not very much to my taste. I want more character stuff in my team comics, but mostly here that's Ice pining over Superman.

(Note to comics creators: if you are going to put a character into a new costume because the old one supposedly looked terrible... make sure the new one actually is better. Fire's new costume sucks.)

"Changing" / "Dissolving" / "Returning" / "The Coming of... Chthon!" / "Welcome to the Dark" / "Mother of Monsters", from Justice League Europe #37-42 (Apr.-Sept. 1992)
written by Gerard Jones; pencilled by Ron Randall; inked by Randy Elliott, Carlos Garzon, and Romeo Tanghal; lettered by Willie Schubert; colored by Gene D'Angelo

Lastly, we get a continuous eight-issue run of JLE stories (I'll cover the last two next time). The first three focus on the slightly rearranged League battling a villain named Deconstructo, who is a deconstructionist using an alien weapon to transform London as he "deconstructs" it to prove all meaning is constructed, while they also bicker over who their new leader will be. (Mostly they want it to be Batman, but he doesn't want the job.) I thought it was great fun, weird and unusual. Gerard Jones has a great command over this team of characters, and I really enjoy reading their interactions. The way they bicker but ultimately come together is perfect. The interplay between Batman and Elongated Man is well done, and there's some arresting imagery from Jones and penciller Ron Randall. (Plus, I think there's a Marvelman/Miracleman cameo in one issue.)

At the end of JLE #39, Hal Jordan turns up to take over the JLE, and the next three issues cover his first mission as leader, along with appearances by Wonder Woman and former member Metamorpho the Element Man. The team must battle the feminine energies of chaos sublimated by masculine order! Again, you can tell Jones is trying to do some heady, interesting stuff, different from your usual superhero punchup. I didn't like this as much as the previous story, but I appreciate it a lot, particularly the interesting way it all resolves.

This is the ninth in a series of posts about Justice League International. The next covers issues #66-69 of JLA and #43-50 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) 
8. Justice League America #53-60 / Justice League Europe #29-36 (Aug. 1991–Mar. 1992)