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| from Justice League Europe #38 |
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.
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| from Justice League Quarterly #6 |
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.
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| from Elongated Man #4 |
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!
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| from Justice League America #62 |
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.
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| from Justice League Quarterly #7 |
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.
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| from Justice League America #63 |
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:
- Justice League #1-6 / Justice League International #7-12 (May 1987–Apr. 1988)
- Justice League International #13-21 (May 1988–Dec. 1988)
- Justice League International #22-25 / Justice League America #26-30 / Justice League Europe #1-6 (Jan. 1989–Sept. 1989)
- Justice League America #31-36 / Justice League Europe #7-12 (Oct. 1989–Mar. 1990)
- Justice League America #37 / Justice League Europe #13-21 (Apr. 1990–Dec. 1990)
- Justice League America #38-50 / Justice League Europe #22 (May 1990–May 1991)
- Justice League America #51-52 / Justice League Europe #23-28 (Feb. 1991–July 1991)
- Justice League America #53-60 / Justice League Europe #29-36 (Aug. 1991–Mar. 1992)
