Justice League International: The Later Years, Part I: Formerly Known as the Justice League / I Can’t Believe It’s Not the Justice League

So there have been a number of revivals of the JLI premise over the years. The ones I know of are:

• The original creative team of Giffen, DeMatteis, and Maguire returned for two miniseries in the 2000s.
• There was a biweekly Justice League: Generation Lost series in the 2010s, mostly using JLI characters.
• A short-lived Justice League International series ran as part of the "New 52" initiative.
• Giffen and DeMatteis teamed up for a Justice League 3000 series (later 3001) with a similar tone to their JLI run, and some cameos as well.
• The 2020s have seen a couple minis focused on JLI alums: Blue & Gold and Fire & Ice. 

But if I were to read all of these, this project—already quite long!—might never end. So I am going to focus on the ones that particularly interest me. That would be the 2000s minis, of course, but also the more recent revivals. Maybe later I'll tackle Generation Lost, the New 52 JLI, and the JL3000/01 series.

This post covers the 2000s revivals. In addition to those two minis, I've picked up a couple single issues of interest to me. 

from JLA Showcase 80-Page Giant #1

"The Flashback of Notre Dame", from JLA Showcase 80-Page Giant #1 (Feb. 2000)
written by Greg Weisman, pencilled by Christopher Jones, inked by Mark Stegbauer, colored by Gene D'Angelo, lettered by Kurt Hathaway

Mostly I have read "continuity insert" stories by when they take place, not by when they were published, but I didn't discover this one until it was too late to do so; it's not included in the JLI International Omnibus volumes, nor is it even mentioned on the Cosmic Teams timeline. I think I discovered it when I looked up the JLE on Wikipedia. It's a JLE story, set between issues #21 and 22 of that title; Blue Jay is a member (he joined after The Extremist Vector, which finished in #21) and the JLE is still based in Paris (the Paris embassy was destroyed in #22). In fact, this story has Kilowog tinkering with the teleporter systems, which he was doing at the beginning of #22, so writer Greg Weisman clearly did his homework when it came to placement.

Anyway, this is a pretty short story about Captain Atom taking his fiancée on a trip to Paris... and of course things get zany, as they always do around the JLE. Specifically, he's attacked by gargoyles come to life, but it's all a misunderstanding that could have been avoided if he just spoke French! (As was constantly bemoaned in JLE.) It's fine enough, but surprisingly it's not very friendly to someone who primary knows Captain Atom primarily from his JLI appearances. Why is he called "Cameron Stewart" here, not "Nathaniel Adam"? I didn't even know he had a fiancée—in JLE, he was always flirting with Catherine Cobert!

from Batman: Gotham Knights #41

"Rubber Soul", from Batman: Gotham Knights #41 (July 2003)
written by Scott Beatty, art by Toby Cypress, lettered by Janice Chiang, colored by Noelle Giddings

I'm certainly not going around picking up every post-JLI appearance by a JLI character, but when researching when Elongated Man and Batman originally teamed up (as referenced in The Teasdale Imperative, see item #4 in the list below), I read an article that made this later Elongated Man/Batman teamup sound quite interesting... and Elongated Man is of course my favorite DC superhero.

The premise of this story is that Sue Dibny is visiting Gotham on a tour promoting the release of her latest mystery novel, husband Ralph in tow, when they're approached by Bruce Wayne in his "Matches Malone" criminal persona, who is looking for insight into a series of grotesque deaths happening in Gotham. They're not linked to Ralph's gingold—but once Ralph smells a mystery, he's staying involved anyway... and how couldn't a bestselling mystery author be of use too? (When was Sue Dibny established as a mystery novelist, anyway? Was that Starman? Been a long time since I read that.)

The story is a fun one; I love it when Batman screws with his former JLI comrades by giving them hints of his sense of humor, and writer Scott Beatty does a great job capturing both Ralph and Sue. Ralph is fun loving but serious about his work; Sue is cleverer than either man when it counts. Lots of good gags. The art by Toby Cypress is sometimes a bit hard to decipher but overall suitably atmospheric This book was very clearly part of a Ralph-and-Sue renaissance of the 2000s... alas, cut short by the events of Identity Crisis. Well worth tracking down if you're an Elongated Man fan.

from Formerly Known as the Justice League #4

"A[nother] New Beginning" / "Déjà Vu All Over Again" / "Dead Man's Hand" / "The Wrath of Manga Khan" / "A League of Their Own", from Formerly Known as the Justice League #1-6 (Sept. 2003–Feb. 2004), reprinted in Formerly Known as the Justice League (2004)
written by Keith Giffen & J. M. DeMatteis, pencilled by Kevin Maguire, inked by Joe Rubinstein, lettered by Bob Lappan, colored by Lee Loughridge

The first JLI revival mini sees Maxwell Lord deciding to resurrect the JLI... sort of. With the high-profile, moon-based JLA in full swing, he decides what people need is a more accessible superhero team, and so recruits some of the has-beens from the old JLI team to populate his new "Super-Buddies": Blue Beetle, Booster Gold, Elongated Man, Fire, and Captain Atom, plus L-RON to once again handle administrative duties. (I don't know when L-RON stopped being house in Despero's body, as he was back in Justice League Task Force.) Captain Marvel turns down Max's offer to join up, not looking back on his JLI membership with fondness, but his sister Mary Marvel is intrigued enough to take his place.

While Giffen & DeMatteis's original run could get quite funny at times, it was also very character-based and sometimes quite serious. This reunion series isn't going for that vibe; it's all in on the comedy. There's lots of banter here, lots of back-and-forth between the characters, lots of bickering. Which is fine, because it's so very successful! I was laughing at least once per page, if not more, especially in the first couple issues, where Max and L-RON are putting the team back together. L-RON working fast food, Captain Atom's horrible new appearance, Booster's new marriage, it's all grist for the mill, and I'm sure my wife thought I was even crazier than normal given how much I was laughing. This is all enhanced by the absurd situations the new Super-Buddies end up in; I particularly liked the group of Harvard students who became incredibly dignified street hoodlums!

Reunions are always a touchy business; most of the time, you're left thinking maybe we should have just left the original. But as Max and L-RON went around reassembling the team, I felt the nostalgia wash over me. I know I read this group's original adventures just a couple months ago, but it was so delightful to see them all again just as they were in the old days!

from Formerly Known as the Justice League #6

The diversion into Roulette capturing the Super-Buddies isn't quite as funny but still entertaining; certainly it's the most interesting Routlette appearance I can ever remember reading. Things reach a suitably comic and epic climax when Lord Manga Khan of the Cluster returns to recover L-RON. Is he going to destroy the Earth... or is he just bluffing? And will the real JLA intervene when things get out of hand? Again, lots of good jokes here, especially Max's ineffectiveness, Booster and Beetle's bickering, Batman's forays into humor, Beetle reaching out to Oracle for help, J'onn's embarrassment at having led the JLI, and Plastic Man's skepticism over Elongated Man.

I think this is one of those books that totally and precisely accomplishes what it sets out to do, and thus I feel a bit churlish complaining. But I do have two nits. One, I did sometimes feel the bickering was turned up a bit too much; this people liked each other... right? In particular, I wasn't sure why Bea was so rude to Max (and vice versa), with whom I felt she had a particularly good relationship back in the day. (See, for example, Justice League Quarterly #8 in item #10 below.) The other is that the book plays continuity a little loose, kind-of-ignoring-but-not-totally things that happened to these characters after the original Giffen/DeMatteis run. For example, Max is a cyborg here (I think this comes from the Gerard Jones JLA run, which I skipped), but Wonder Woman doesn't seem to know Booster, Beetle, or Fire... even though she led the JLA when they were on it (during the Jurgens and Vado runs)! I think in both cases it comes down to the writers picking whatever they think will be funniest, and the bit when Wonder Woman doesn't get why Fire doesn't like her is funny, but it did jar to read this so shortly after the Jurgens and Vado runs.

from JLA Classified #5

I Can't Believe It's Not the Justice League, from JLA Classified #4-9 (Apr.-Late Aug. 2005), reprinted in Justice League International Omnibus, Volume 3 (2024)
written by Keith Giffen & J. M. DeMatteis, pencilled by Kevin Maguire, inked by Joe Rubinstein, lettered by Bob Lappan, colored by David Baron

This story came out after Identity Crisis, but is clearly set before it; it would be last hurrah for these characters. (Shortly after this, I suppose, Sue Dibny and Ted Kord would both be brutally murdered; the latter by Max Lord in a moment of character assassination. Oh, and then Max would be killed by Wonder Woman. Though the closing caption says they all lived happily ever after, so perhaps in Giffen & DeMatteis's minds, Identity Crisis and Countdown to Infinite Crisis just didn't happen.)

We get a second run of the reunion here; as they say, "Second verse, same as the first: a little bit louder and a little bit worse!" Which is to say, I enjoyed this just fine but not as much as its immediate precessor, which had a much better hit rate when it came to the jokes. I don't think anything here was bad per se, but I was definitely not laughing as much as I did in the first book. It has its moments: it was fun to see Guy and Kara again, in particular. The foray into the dark parallel universe felt like the weakest part, though it was nice when the characters finally pulled together at the end. Honestly, I wanted more of the Super-Buddies in the real world, which is when I think they're at their strongest.

from JLA Classified #9

Still, the story did rectify one of the problems I had with the previous one; we get some more serious character moments and references to the Vado run all in one! When the Super-Buddies end up in Hell (or is it?), they encounter the dead soul of Ice. Guy and Fire are desperate to get her out of the underworld, but in a classic Orpheus moment, Fire looks back and Ice vanishes. It's totally in character and totally devastating, a really well done moment from the whole creative team.

Reading these reunion stories made me a bit surprised that there hasn't been a more recent attempt to revive the JLI (or, perhaps, a JLI show). Surely its character-based workplace humor is totally the vibe Millennials love! Market it as a DC version of Parks and Rec, c'mon! Obviously I'd buy it.

This is the antepenultimate in a series of posts about Justice League International. The next covers Blue and Gold and Fire & Ice. 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) 
14. Justice League America #86-88 / Justice League International #58-64 / Justice League Task Force #10-12 (Nov. 1993–May 1994) 
15. Justice League America #89-92 / Justice League International #65-68 / Justice League Task Force #13-16 (June 1994–Sept. 1994)

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)

Justice League International Year Three, Part I: How Ya Gonna Keep 'Em Down on the Farm after They've Seen Paree? (JLI #22-25 / JLA #26-30 / JLE #1-6)

from Justice League America #30

Here, we hit the era where Justice League International was doing so well that it was split into two titles. In JLI #24, Max and Oberon decide to add more members to the group, but also to move half of them to the JLI's Paris embassy. Existing JLI members Captain Atom and Rocket Red are put on the new Paris team, joined by new members such as Metamorpho the Element Man, the Elongated Man, Animal Man, Power Girl, and the Flash. Thus, with issue #26, Justice League International is retitled Justice League America, in time for the debut of Justice League Europe. Like JLA, JLE has plot and breakdown by Keith Giffen with scripts by J. M. DeMatteis; Bart Sears pencils with Pablo Marcos on inks.

As I said back in installment #1 (see list below), I read JLE back when I was in college, but at the time I had not read any other JLI titles. So I got a big glow of nostalgia returning to these characters after twenty years... but also now bits of it make a lot more sense to me, like who "Queen Bee" is and why Jack O'Lantern is so mad at the JLE! 

My reading of the last third of the stories collected in the Justice League International Omnibus, Volume 1 was a lot more straightforward than those in the first two thirds, because this time I had no stories outside of the omnibus to work in. I did still tweak the order, though; the omnibus places JLE #1-6 almost at the very end, after JLA #30, but I recommend reading JLE #1-3 after JLI #25, since JLE #1-3 and JLA #26-29 occur simultaneously.

from Justice League International vol. 1 #22

"Little Murders" / "Gross Injustice" / "The Road Less Travelled" / "Hostage!" / "Across a Crowded Room..." / "Repossessions" / "How Ya Gonna Keep 'Em Down on the Farm after They've Seen Paree?" / "Somebody Up There Hates Us!" / "Another Fine Mess!" / "Slice and Dice!, or There's Something Very Wrong with the Blue Beetle!" / "Mindswap" / "A Date with Density!" / "Nabu on in My Mind" / "Teenage Biker Mega-Death!" / "Bialya Burning!" / "Stagg Party!" / "No More Teachers' Dirty Looks...?!" / "Around the World with the Justice League" / "The Men I Never Was", from Justice League International vol. 1 #22-25 (Jan.-Apr. 1989), Justice League Europe #1-3 (Apr.-June 1989), Justice League America #26-30 (May-Sept. 1989), Justice League Europe #4-6 (July-Sept. 1989), and Justice League International Annual vol. 1 #3 (1989); reprinted in Justice League International Omnibus, Volume 1 (2017)
plot & breakdowns by Keith Giffen; scripts by J. M. DeMatteis and Dave Levin; pencils by Kevin Maguire, Ty Templeton, Dean Haspiel, Mike McKone, Bart Sears, Bill Willingham, and Tim Gula; inks by Joe Rubinstein, Dean Haspiel, Pablo Marcos, Dick Giordano, Bruce Patterson, and Tim Gula

The first two issues are are tie-ins to Invasion!, where an alliance of aliens invades the Earth. Most of the JLI is summoned to help Wonder Woman on an island in the South Pacific, while Booster Gold and Oberon mind the shop back at the New York embassy. The highlight of the first issue is definitely its opening pages, where the aliens send in an miniaturized strike force that immediately knocks out Booster, meaning Oberon must save the day. The second issue is set after the invasion, when the JLI comes up against the group of largely incompetent criminals who have branded themselves the Injustice League. My favorite is their leader, Major Disaster, who goes on about how failing political science caused him to miss his destiny... becoming a borough president in New York!

from Justice League International vol. 1 #24

After this, we get issue #24, which is an oversized issue that contains three stories, and the key one that splits the team into three groups. The first two stories are fun, particularly the second, a Maxwell Lord one where he gets taken hostage, but by the end, the hostage-takers are working for him, and they've paid Booster and Beetle enough to install a nice big tv in the JLI headquarters, but the third is a hoot. In this one, a bunch of prospective heroes are invited to a soiree at the JLI embassy... at the exact same time the miniaturized strike force Oberon imprisoned in some roach motels returns to normal size. Too many heroes all in a big group try to take them down, just getting in each others' ways.

Last in this sequence is a Beetle and Booster–focused issue, where they once again undertake their repossession business (see Justice League International Annual #2). It has lots of good jokes... and then gets surprisingly serious. Well done stuff.

from Justice League Europe #1

As alluded to above, I had a warm glow of nostalgia reading the JLE issues, especially #1, which mostly focuses on the character interactions on moving day. I love these characters, and I love the way they play off each other; obviously Kevin Maguire is a great artist, but Bart Sears and Pablo Marcos are also great in their own way, a bit cartoonier, but strongly expressive. The actual story here is fine, but what makes it all work are the character moments, particularly those revolving around Ralph and Sue Dibny. So many good jokes! You can feel the writers finding their way into what works for some of these characters (e.g., Metamorpho, Power Girl), but the Elongated Man and his wife click right from the off, and Rocket Red is starting to come into his own.

The work of genius here, though, is of course the issue where both the JLE and the Injustice League end up enrolled in the night school French class and cause a diplomatic incident. 

from Justice League International Annual vol. 1 #3

In the stretch of JLA issues collected here, the Blue-Beetle-attacks-Max-Lord subplot is surprisingly dark for this series often painted as a "sitcom," but I particularly enjoyed the story about a teenage street punk getting hold of Big Barda's mega rod... and being seduced by the call of Apokolips. Again, it's pretty dark, showing a side of Barda that's easy to miss—every time she goes into battle, she's resisting the power of this horrific weapon. Also we get a couple appearances of the Helen Bertinelli Huntress, before her retooling as a Gotham scion, when she battled gangsters on the streets of New York. I liked that series, and so was glad to see her here. We also get Ice's attempt to find the nice side of Guy by going on a date with him... which ends in dismal failure. (My favorite part of this was the crook who got out of the supervillain game, but then thinks Guy is after him when it's actually a total coincidence.)

Lastly, we get JLI Annual #3, which has two stories. One is focused on the Martian Manhunter and his trauma, but I felt like this didn't quite come off even if I liked the idea. The other is good fun, though; the JLI tours their embassies around the world, while Martian Manhunter tries to catch up to them with a delegation from a tropical island. Hilarity ensues, of course, but I particularly enjoyed the jokes about how all the tropical islanders had gone to the U.S. for college.

This is the third in a series of posts about Justice League International. The next covers issues #31-36 of JLA and #7-12 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)

Justice League International Year Two: Suicide Squad vs. Justice League (JLI #13-21)

The second year of Justice League International brings the title into a crossover with Suicide Squad. This time-span also saw four issues of Secret Origins with Justice League collections published; three of these were reprinted in the third JLI omnibus, but I chose to read them by release date, in between issues of JLI. (Clearly they're more useful to me here than much later, but also experience has taught me I don't enjoy reading a bunch of origin stories in a row, so better to spread them out a little.) Plus, as with my "Year One" post, there is one story set during this period that was written later.

from Justice League International vol. 1 #14

Suicide Squad vs. Justice League / "Shop...or Die" / "Gnort and South!", from Justice League International vol. 1 #13 & Suicide Squad vol. 1 #13 (May 1988) and Justice League International vol. 1 #14-15 (June-July 1988), reprinted in Justice League International Omnibus, Volume 1 (2017)

plot & breakdowns by Keith Giffen; scripts by J. M. DeMatteis and John Ostrander; pencils by Kevin Maguire, Luke McDonnell, and Steve Leialoha; inks by Al Gordon and Bob Lewis

First we get a crossover with Suicide Squad: the Suicide Squad decides to free one of their members from a Russian prison; in order to prevent an international incident, the JLI is sent in to stop them. I enjoyed it even if I am very unfamiliar with Suicide Squad. Apparently Captain Atom is dating one of its members; the gag about how they pretended to fight but were actually tickling each other was a good one. The best part, though, was when J'onn J'onzz runs into one of his old Justice League Detroit teammates, Vixen, now a Suicide Squad member. Vixen says he must have seen her and her version of the league as a joke, but he confesses how important they were to him. It's a great moment.

Weirdly, the story ends with Batman declaring his frustrations with the JLI, calling everyone a moron, and quitting. It doesn't feel quite in character... but also in later stories, he's still a member!

After this, we have the first two parts of an eight-part story about the alien Cluster coming to Earth to trade... or compel it to trade by blowing it up. While there has been lots of character-interaction comedy so far, Lord Manga Khan and his sidekick robot, L-RON, are the first overtly comic villain characters we've seen, with lots of goofy back-and-forth and even some metatextual jokes. ("Please, L-RON--you sound like a contrived plot summary." "Sorry, m'lord.") I enjoy their interplay a lot.

In addition, Gnort returns (so far so good but I'm worried there will be a point I max out on Gnort comedy), and the Green Flame and Icemaiden, formerly of the Global Guardians (who appeared in some backups earlier in the series), finagle their way into joining the shorthanded JLI.

from JLA: Incarnations #6

"Buddies", from JLA: Incarnations #6 (Dec. 2001)

written by John Ostrander, pencilled by Val Semeiks, inked by Prentis Rollins, lettered by Ken Lopez, colored by John Kalisz

JLA: Incarnations was a seven-issue 2001-02 miniseries, where each issue contained stories from the history of the Justice League, beginning with its original incarnation and ended with the then-current "Watchtower" version. Issue #6 contains two stories, one from the JLI era, the other from the (as far as I can tell, extremely regrettable) "Extreme Justice" incarnation. Chronologically, there's no good place to fit this story in: the Green Flame and Icemaiden are League members, so it must take place after JLI #15, but Colonel Harjavti is still ruler of Bialya, so it must take place before issue #16. However, during that time, Mister Miracle was kidnapped by the Cluster, and Martian Manhunter was in space trying to rescue him, but they're both in this story. As we'll see, though, that was a problem the actual JLI series had too!

Anyway, this story is fun enough. Colonel Harjavti makes Bialya into a supervillain sanctuary so that supervillains will invest their money in his banks; Booster and Beetle decide to infiltrate the country (as some delightfully awful 1990s-style supervillains) to make the entire scheme collapse... only Colonel Harjavti expects their arrival, and they have to be rescued by the rest of the League. Writer John Ostrander decently captures the tone of this era, doing a good job with the Booster/Beetle interplay in particular. I really liked the art by Val Semeiks and Prentis Rollins which, like that of Kevin Maguire, goes for detailed and realistic, and lets the comedy emerge from that.

from Justice League International Annual vol. 1 #2

"Hit or Miss!" / "Bialya, My Bialya" / "Only the Dead Know Bialya!" / "Where No League Has Gone Before!" / "Raising the Roof!", from Justice League International Annual vol. 1 #2 (1988) and Justice League International vol. 1 #16-18 (Aug.-Oct. 1988), reprinted in Justice League International Omnibus, Volume 1 (2017)

plot & breakdowns by Keith Giffen; scripts by J. M. DeMatteis and Mark Askwith; pencils by Bill Willingham, Kevin Maguire, and James Webb; inks by Joe Rubinstein, Al Gordon, and Mark Pennington

Like "Buddies" from JLA: Incarnations #6, Justice League Annual #2 takes place in a nonexistent gap because Fire and Ice are on the team and Colonel Harjavti still rules Bialya, but Mister Miracle, Martian Manhunter, and Big Barda are not in space. The omnibus places it before issue #14, but I think it reads better after #15 since otherwise the presence of the Green Flame and Icemaiden is completely random even if there's not an actual gap for it to fit in. 

Anyway, this is a goofy story about the Joker teaming up with Colonel Harjavti while Booster and Beetle try to make extra money by doing repossessions, which leads to them running afoul of the criminal gang the Thousand; meanwhile, Big Barda and Mister Miracle are preparing to host a barbecue... and while Scott Free can rewire a mother box, a gas grill may prove beyond his ken. I enjoyed this a lot, particularly all the Booster/Beetle stuff and the Scott/Barda stuff. Mister Miracle has been part of JLI from the beginning, but I'm happy to see the increased inclusion of Big Barda, who is also a great character.

After this, we get the next three parts of the Cluster storyline, though it also incorporates a story about Colonel Harjavti and Bialya. It reads a little weirdly to have the JLI infiltrating Bialya again if you've read JLA: Incarnations, but there's nothing that says they haven't done this before. This one, again, has some fun stuff, with Batman pretending to be Bruce Wayne (!), Booster and Beetle being Wayne's hired help, and the Green Flame getting into a number of improbable escapades. It all ends, though, in the death of Colonel Harjavti, replaced by his consort "Queen Bee" as ruler of Bialya... as well as the reveal of Bialya's own super team, made up of the alien superheroes from JL #2-3 and rejects from the Global Guardians.

Meanwhile in space, Martian Manhunter and Big Barda do their best to liberate Scott; Lord Manga Khan hires Lobo to take them down. Lobo is a character who is often misused... but here he's in the hands of cocreator Keith Giffen and thus on great form, particularly in the sequence where he's accidentally sent to JLI embassy on Earth.

There's also a backup story here called "Raising the Roof"; Scott and Barda's home is accidentally blown up, so they move into the JLI embassy. Barda does housework to earn her keep but is terrible at it, so the other JLI members decide to rebuild their home to get her out... only they do a bad job of it. I have no idea where this story might fit chronologically, if at all, but I enjoyed it. Will Scott and Barda still live in the embassy in future stories? I guess I will see when we finally get there.

from Secret Origins vol. 2 #32

"All Together Now: The Secret Origin of the Justice League of America", from Secret Origins vol. 2  #32 (Nov. 1988)

story by Gardner Fox, plot by Keith Giffen, dialogue by Peter David, art by Eric Shanower, letters by Gaspar, colors by Gene D'Angelo

While issues #33-35 of Secret Origins were origins for various JLI members, #32 was an origin for the JLA overall, the first one told in the post-Crisis universe. It's not included in the JLI omnibus volumes, which makes sense, but I did want to read it. (The cover has some JLI members on it, but they're not in the actual story.) The story is fine, nothing too exciting to be honest; it does its job well, but that's about it. That said, I did really like the sequence where the various future JLA members figure out how to work together without actually talking about it. Peter David does the dialogue to a plot by Keith Giffen, but surprisingly, there's only one overtly comic bit in it. The art is by Eric Shanower, best known on this blog as the illustrator of numerous Oz books and author of quite a number of Oz comics. Shanower is an excellent storyteller, and overall he does a good job adopting a superheroic style... but I noticed he draws Black Canary's face the same way he does Princess Ozma's!

Coincidentally, I recently read JLA: Year One, and I note that that story basically picks up right from the end of this one. Maybe they should have collected Secret Origins #32 with it?

from Justice League International vol. 1 #19

"No More Mr. Nice-Guy!" / "If It's Tuesday, This Must Be-- Apokolips!" / "Apokolips... Wow!", Justice League International vol. 1 #19-21 (Nov.-Dec. 1988), reprinted in Justice League International Omnibus, Volume 1 (2017)

plot & breakdowns by Keith Giffen, scripts by J. M. DeMatteis, pencils by Kevin Maguire and Ty Templeton, inks by Joe Rubinstein

I alternated these issues with the three Secret Origins issues below, but reviewing them that way seems silly. These finally bring an end to the ongoing Cluster storyline, with Manga Khan trying to sell Scott Free to Darkseid on Apokolips, while Barda summons the whole JLI to help her battle. Lots of great stuff in this one... particularly Darkseid being above it all! Barda is awesome. Also, Guy Gardner turns into an asshole again and throws down with Lobo.

Also during this stretch of issues, the original Hawkman and Hawkgirl briefly (re)join the League. Hawkman is depicted as an obnoxious old fogey who doesn't like how thew League has become more irreverent. At one point, he complains about how their cursing shows a lack of decorum, which causes Beetle to tease him by calling him a Republican. Funny to think that thirty-five years ago it was the Republicans who were the party of public decorum! 

from Secret Origins vol. 2 #35

Secret Origins of Justice League International, from Secret Origins vol. 2  #33-35 (Dec. 1988), reprinted in Justice League International Omnibus, Volume 3 (2024)

written by Mike Carlin, Tom & Mary Bierbaum, Gerard Jones, Cary Bates with Greg Weisman, William Messner-Loebs, J. M. DeMatteis, Keith Giffen, Dan Jurgens, Mark Verheiden, and Robert Loren Fleming; pencilled by Don Heck, Chuck Austen, Valentino, Alan Weiss, Irv Novick, Stephen DeStefano, Dan Jurgens, Ken Steacy, and Eduardo Barreto; inked by Klaus Janson & Art Adams, Gary Martin, Eduardo Barreto, Joe Rubinstein, Stephen DeStefano, Tom Dzon, and Ken Steacy; lettered by Albert De Guzman, Todd Klein, Helen Vesik, Bob Lappan, and Agustin Mas; colored by Tom Ziuko, Greg Theakston, and Gene D'Angelo

These three issues of Secret Origins give us origins for Mister Miracle and Oberon, the Green Flame, Icemaiden, Captain Atom, Rocket Red, Gnort, Booster Gold, Martian Manhunter, and Maxwell Lord. 

Some are good. The Gnort one is fun (is his planet supposed to be a Dr. Seuss planet?). The Captain Atom one doesn't really give an origin for him, but ties into what I think was an idea in the character's then ongoing, that he had a superheroic career in the 1960s... that was all made up! (I think I detected a bit of a Miracleman influence here. I'll be curious to see what I think if I ever read his actual solo series.) The Rocket Red one also doesn't give much of an origin, but it does give us more of a sense of the main character that has been missing from his appearances in JLI so far. The Booster one is great—for a character so often played for comedy in JLI, he has quite a tragic life! The Martian Manhunter one is nicely atmospheric.

Some are just fine. It's good to get backstory for Green Flame and Icemaiden; my understanding is they had no origins at all until these stories. But the actual Icemaiden story is just okay, and I didn't care for the art in the Green Flame one, which I don't think quite matches what the Bierbaums were trying to do in their writing. The Maxwell Lord one is kind of pointless, because it retells something we just got a few issues ago in JLI #12... but I did find this telling more streamlined.

One is not good. I found the Mister Miracle and Oberon one a chore to read, and it felt to me like it didn't really capture key parts of the characters' origins, rushing over them, spending a lot of time on stuff that didn't matter much. The key to Mister Miracle is that need to escape, and this story doesn't really nail that at all.

This is the second in a series of posts about Justice League International. The next covers issues #22-30 of JLI/JLA and #1-6 of JLE. Previous installments are listed below:

1. Justice League #1-6 / Justice League International #7-12 (May 1987–Apr. 1988)

Faster than a DC Bullet: Project Star City, Part XXIV: Green Arrow and Black Canary: Big Game

Comic trade paperback, n.pag.
Published 2010 (contents: 2009-10)
Borrowed from the library
Read August 2010

Green Arrow and Black Canary: Big Game

Writer: Andrew Kreisberg
Pencillers: Mike Norton, Renato Guedes
Inkers: Joe Rubinstein, Bill Sienkiewicz, José Wilson Magalhães
Colorists: David Baron, David Curiel, Allen Passalaqua
Letterers: Sal Cipriano, Pat Brosseau

Enumerating everything that is wrong with Green Arrow and Black Canary at this point would take more time than I want to put into it. I'm not sure if this is better or worse than Judd Winick's run on the title.

Faster than a DC Bullet: Project Star City, Part XXII: Batman/Green Arrow: The Poison Tomorrow

Perfect-bound comic, n.pag.
Published 1992
Borrowed from the library
Read April 2010

Batman/Green Arrow: The Poison Tomorrow

Writer: Dennis O'Neil
Penciller: Michael Netzer
Inker: Josef Rubinstein
Colorist: Lovern Kindzierski
Letterer: Todd Klein

This short graphic novel unites Batman and Green Arrow to combat a new threat from Poison Ivy, who has indirectly poisoned Black Canary (lame) and will soon poison the entire planet. The story is pretty average, a lot of running around punching things while Green Arrow snipes at Batman, even though I don't think their methodologies are terribly dissimilar at this point in time. (If anything, Green Arrow is more "street-level" and brutal, given that Batman doesn't believe in killing and is in fact running around with Justice League Europe pretty publicly.) I've never found Poison Ivy a terribly interesting villain, and her co-conspirator here is even more boring. The story would get by, but it's let down slightly by Michael Netzer's art, which is exaggerated in weird ways, such as Batman's huge ears and Oliver's ridiculous handlebar mustache. Gotta love that last page, though-- pure Batman.

Faster than a DC Bullet: Project Star City, Part XVI: Green Arrow and Black Canary: Enemies List

Comic trade paperback, n.pag.
Published 2009 (contents: 2009)
Borrowed from the library
Read February 2010

Green Arrow and Black Canary: Enemies List

Writer: Andrew Kreisberg
Penciller: Mike Norton
Inker: Josef Rubinstein
Colorist: David Baron
Letterers: Steve Wands, Sal Cipriano, Pat Brosseau

I was looking forward to the replacement of Judd Winick on Green Arrow and Black Canary. Unfortunately, this is like the switch between Bill Mantlo and James Hudnall on Alpha Flight: it's still bad, it's just bad differently. There's a few big problems with the book. The first is Green Arrow's absolute obsession with bringing in Merlyn in this issue: why now? Why does this crime cause him to cross "the line"? He wasn't tempted to with Connor in the last storyline, he wasn't even tempted to when Merlyn blew up half of Star City. Merlyn taking out three technogeeks is what it takes to get him riled up? Really? The other, and much bigger, is Cupid: a woman with no training who is suddenly capable of taking out big-name villains with ease. Now, I think Merlyn and Brick are both completely lame villains... but I also know that this lone woman could not just waltz in and take them out when Green Arrow has spent years trying without success. This could be forgiven if Cupid was at all a good villain, but Kreisberg has just replaced Winick's lame antagonists with his own. Finally, there's Black Canary, who continues to be sidelined in (supposedly) her own title, needing Ollie to rescue her from a stupid thug in the very first issue here, and then accidentally deafening a man in contrived circumstances.

Add to this a perfunctory write-out of Connor and Mia (Winick was always good for giving Mia things to do) and Mike Norton's art embracing a "grittier" style that is more his own (apparently) but also more generic, and you have the third disappointing volume of this series in a row.