The Brave and the Bold: Help Wanted by Sholly Fisch, Rick Burchett, Dan Davis, et al.

The All New! Batman: The Brave and the Bold: Help Wanted

Collection published: 2012
Contents originally published: 2011
Read: February 2026

Writer: Sholly Fisch
Artists: Rick Burchett, Dan Davis, Dario Brizuela, Ethen Beavers

Colorists: Gabe Eltaeb, Guy Major 
Letterers: Dezi Sienty, Sal Cipriano

Back when my now-seven-year-old was getting into graphic novels, I got them this for Christmas with the intention of directing their interest toward DC Comics. It's based on the Brave and the Bold tv show than ran from 2008 to 2011, but my suspicion was that it would work just fine for someone who hadn't seen the show as a source of kid-friendly DC superhero adventures. And indeed, it worked out; my kid has become a big DC stan. This was Christmas 2024 and at a certain point it occurred to me there was a DC trade paperback in my house that I had never read! Certainly this could not be permitted.

The book features six stories: team-ups with the original Green Lantern (Alan Scott), Aquaman, Hawkman, Jonah Hex, and Zatanna, plus a more offbeat one I'll get to later. Writer Sholly Fisch, as any DC reader with discerning taste knows, is the king of fun superhero comics, and these stories are all solid adventures; in most, he's teamed with Rick Burchett and Dan Davis on art, two kings themselves. (Burchett is one of those artists who is impressively adaptable: he's done very adult stuff like the 1980s Blackhawk revival, classic superhero stuff like Justice Society and Justice League America in the 1990s, and kid-focused stuff like this; Dan Davis has done a lot of good work as well, most relevant is probably is run as inker on Stargirl.)

Of those five stories, my favorite was the first one, which is actually a flashback story to the early days of Batman's career: a retired Alan Scott takes an interest in this new superhero who's appeared in his home turf of Gotham. Fisch gets some good dynamics out of this team-up, with Batman seeking Green Lantern's approval, but Green Lantern disapproving of Batman's propensity for terror. An excellent done-in-one story of Batman's early days, and if you're willing to squint, I think it would fit just fine into the post-Crisis/pre-Flashpoint iteration of the DC universe. My other favorite was the Zatanna team-up, which makes good use of the classic House of Mystery characters Abel and Cain. The art is by Ethen Beavers; back in the day he illustrated a few installments of Dark Horse's Clone Wars Adventures, but my favorite stuff by him are his truly excellent illustrations for Little Golden Books' Star Trek tie-ins.

This bit made me laugh; my seven-year-old didn't get it.
from The All New! Batman: The Brave and the Bold #7 (art by Rick Burchett & Dan Davis)

The oddball story is the title story, "Help Wanted." This is told from the perspective of a perpetual henchman: he works for the Toyman, then the Clock King, then Ocean Master, and so on; each time, the supervillain he works for is defeated by a superhero teaming up with Batman. How can this guy get back on his feet? Does he deserve another chance? A really charming look at the flipside of superheroics, and my favorite story in the book. 

She is the world's most patient wife.
from Batman: The Brave and the Bold vol. 2 #10 (art by Rick Burchett & Dan Davis)

If you like DC not for its complicated continuity and endless events, but for its fun characters and interesting histories, this book is a perfect little slice of it. Highly recommended.

Justice League International Year Seven, Part II: The Trouble with Guys (JLA #78-83 / JLI #51-52 / JLTF #4-8)

As I said in my previous post (see below), we're now in an era where the Justice League line of titles is juggling three ongoing monthly titles. My write-ups here are not aiming for strict chronology, but rather rotating through the series in a way that makes for the smoothest reading experience. It isn't totally possible to avoid any hiccups, though; for example, Hal Jordan turns up in JLA #83, a story that must take place before Bloodlines, with his arm in a sling, indicating that the story follows the destruction of Coast City in The Return of Superman. But Hal doesn't have his arm in a sling in any JLI stories until issue #61, which definitely takes place after Bloodlines. None of his JLI stories even mention the destruction of Coast City! 

Anyway, I've done my best to balance things out; I doubt, for example, that all five of the below JLTF  issues take place exactly where I've placed them, but you can read them there with no problems as JLTF doesn't intersect with either JLA or JLI until issue #9.

from Justice League International vol. 2 #51

"The New World" / "All Is Maya", from Justice League International vol. 2 #51-52 (June-July 1993)
written by Gerard Jones & Will Jacobs, pencilled by Ron Randall, inked by Randy Elliott, lettered by Willie Schubert, colored by Gene D'Angelo

Following the events of JLE #50 (see item #10 in the list below), the Justice League's London branch is now Justice League International, and as a result, is on an international goodwill tour; these two issues take the team to Mexico and India. We also have a slightly adjusted lineup, with Aquaman gone, but Tasmanian Devil and new hero Chandi joining the team. Each is a done-in-one story hinting at a larger plotline. I don't think these two stories are quite as good as the Jones/Randall/Elliott run on JLE #37-50, but they're decent enough. Jones has a good grasp on the characters (especially Ralph and Sue, though I'm not really sure where the Kara-is-pregnant plotline was intended to go), and he's always trying to do something more interesting than a generic superhero punchup.

from Justice League Task Force #8

"The Arsenal of Souls" / Knightquest: The Search / "Valley of the Daals!" / "How Green Was My Daalie?", from Justice League Task Force #4-8 (Sept. 1993–Jan. 1994), reprinted in Justice League Task Force, Volume 1: The Purification Plague (2018)
written by Chuck Dixon, Dennis O'Neil, and Peter David; pencilled by Gabriel Morrissette and Sal Velluto; inked by Dick Giordano and Jeff Albrecht (with Aaron McClellan); colored by Glenn Whitmore; lettered by Albert De Guzman, Clem Robins, and Bob Pinaha

Here we have three stories: a one-parter and two two-parters. Each of the stories has a different writer; all five of the issues but the first is drawn by Sal Velluto and Jeff Albrecht. The first is a Gypsy spotlight putting her up against regular Batman villain Lady Shiva, written by Chuck Dixon, regular Batman writer. I do like Lady Shiva, and in theory it's nice to get something focused on Shiva, but I didn't find the story very memorable.

Batman tie-ins continue to dominate the series with the next two issues, which are part of the Batman event Knightquest: The Search; Bruce Wayne (during the era where his back is broken and Azrael is Batman) asks the JLTF to help find Tim Drake's dad and Dr. Leslie Thompkins on the Caribbean island of Santa Prisca. (So many Caribbean islands in this era of Justice League comics.) For this mission, J'onn and Gypsy are joined by the Green Arrow (in his Mike Grell phase) and the Bronze Tiger (a character I do not remember ever encountering before or even hearing about). There's a lot of running around; I didn't find it very interesting, and of course it ultimately doesn't even go anywhere because a key plot point from a Batman event isn't going to be resolved in a second-tier Justice League tie-in.

Lastly, there's a two-part story by Peter David about the Justice League Task Force being sent into a hidden matriarchal society to retrieve a crashed UN operative. Only women can enter this society, meaning the team consists of Gypsy, Wonder Woman, Maxima, Dolphin, Vixen... and J'onn!? Because, of course, the Martian Manhunter can shapeshift into a female form. I read a lot of Peter David Star Trek when I was in high school and usually found it funny; I haven't reread any of that work recently, so I don't know if it this just isn't as funny, or if my tastes have changed, or it what worked in the 1990s does not work in the 2020s. I'd like to think there could be a funny story in the Martian Manhunter becoming a woman and this not being a big deal. Why should American constructions of gender matter to an immortal shapeshifting Martian alien? Or, even, a funny story in the fact that they somehow do? But what we get here is just hyuk hyuk hyuk lesbians. I mostly did not enjoy this, and it definitely verges into trans panic vibes at points. I'm not sure Sal Velluto is the right artist to pair with Peter David even on one of PAD's good days, in any case. 

The bit about Paradise Island was funny, though.

One thing in general about Justice League Task Force that bugs me is that Sal Velluto likes two-page spreads too much. This is definitely a "him" thing, not a writing thing, because it's consistent across the series's myriad writers. They're not the kind with one big image across two pages, but a full set of dozen panels like you might normally see on two pages, except instead of reading left-to-right-and-down across the lefthand page and then the right, you have to read left-to-right across the page gutter. Almost every time I initially read the lefthand page on its own, struggled with how incoherent it seemed, and then belatedly realized the righthand page should have been part of my sequence. Velluto isn't that great about clearly breaking the central panel in the first row in such a way that your eye follows it across so you know how to read the whole spread. (Admittedly, it must be tricky to do! I remember Lee Sullivan discussing how to do it in the commentary essay for the comic strip for Doctor Who Magazine #598.)

from Justice League America #81

"Lives in the Balance" / "Extreme Measures" / "Running from Justice" / "Do the Right Thing" / "Guilty as Sin" / The Trouble with Guys, from Justice League America #78-82 (Early Aug.-Nov. 1993) and Justice League America #83 & Guy Gardner #15 (Dec. 1993), reprinted in Wonder Woman and Justice League America, Volume 1 (2017)
written by Dan Vado and Chuck Dixon; pencils by Mike Collins, Kevin West, and Chris Hunter; finished art by Carlos Garzón & Romeo Tanghal, Rick Burchett, and Terry Beatty; letters by Willie Schubert, Tim Harkins, and Albert De Guzman; colors by Gene D'Angelo, Gina Going, and Anthony Tollin

Lastly, we have a pretty continuous run of stories from Justice League America. Issues #78 and 79 make a two-part story, then issues #80 through 83 make another story that's finished in an issue of Guy Gardner (and then, actually issues #84-85 make another two-part story that picks up right from Guy Gardner #15, but I'll cover that next time). All of the JLA issues are written by Dan Vado, who succeeded Dan Jurgens as writer; Mike Collins pencils the initial two-parter, and then Kevin West becomes the regular penciller. (Chuck Dixon writes the GG issue.)

Like Justice League Task Force, this run of JLA dials up the "character conflict" by having everyone constantly snarl at each other; on top of this, like JLTF, there's a lot of hamhandedly boring stuff about interventionist geopolitics. And then some new Extremists debuted. I found the Extremists of the weaker parts of the original Giffen/DeMatteis run, so the last thing they need is to be reinvented for the "extreme" 1990s. And also Jay Garrick there for some reason? Not even the usually reliable Mike Collins can save this.

All of these tendencies get even worse in the long story about alien refugees crash-landing on the Earth. The U.S government (we get a Bill Clinton appearance! Regan appeared a couple times in the late 1980s stories, but I feel like we totally skipped over Bush I) wants them handed over to another group of aliens, but Wonder Woman doesn't want to do that, so Captain Atom (who is back from the dead for reasons no one ever gives) is sent in to fight the JLA. Again, the characterization is about as subtle as being hit with a brick, and I don't get why Wonder Woman is constantly being shown up and/or undermined as team leader. I would say this is all the worst tendencies of 1990s comics, except I've already read volume 2, and I know it goes downhill even more.

The crossover with Guy Gardner at the end spins out of an incident in JLA #82, where Guy—who has been acting increasingly deranged—kills someone. We eventually find out he's been replaced by an alien clone, and the real Guy turns up to defeat him. Guy is slowly descending into his insufferable period here; I can't stand it. I did appreciate finding out where the Guy clone in Birds of Prey originated.

Other than quietly forgetting um... those two guys Jurgens added to the team, you know who I mean, Vado keeps the same line-up, and even gets Fire and Booster back into action. I guess I appreciate that intellectually, but they don't really do much that I enjoyed. Booster in particular is now wearing a particularly 1990s Imagetastic ugly suit of armor.

Anyway, uh, this is a great era for the Justice League. 

This is the twelfth in a series of posts about Justice League International. The next covers issues #84-85 of JLA, #53-57 of JLI, and #9 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) 

Justice League International Year Seven, Part I: Destiny's Hand (JLA #70-77 / JLTF #1-3)

This series of posts took a bit of a breather. Partially because I have to track down out-of-print trade paperbacks, but partially also because trying to read the stories in any kind of reasonable or accurate sequence gets much harder around this point! I had been using the Cosmic Teams timeline, but it has lots of placements that very obviously do not make sense if you read the actual stories, making me think it was done from someone's vague memories of the series. So I kept on reading, but put my writeups on pause while I tried to work out the best order.

Now, finally, I am back in action. It is interesting; this era gives you some signs that the Justice League family of titles was in trouble, in that approaches are constantly being jerked around and creative teams switching. But it also gives you indications things were going quite well, because a third ongoing monthly title was added to the lineup. Has there ever been any other era in the history of DC where there were four ongoing Justice League titles? (America, International, and Task Force all as monthlies, but also Quarterly keeps going, with three issues' worth of content every quarter, so essentially another monthly.)

This post covers the end of Dan Jurgens's run on Justice League America (collected in a book called Superman and Justice League America, Volume 2... even though Superman is dead for every single one of these issues!) and the first three issues of Justice League Task Force. Based on chronological considerations, it will be a bit before we get back to JLE, now retitled Justice League International. Plus, a single issue of JLQ!

from Justice League America #76

"Grieving" / "A New Look" / Destiny's Hand / Blood Secrets, from Justice League America #70-77 (Jan.-Late July 1993), reprinted in Superman and Justice League America, Volume 2 (2016)
words/layouts by Dan Jurgens (guest pencils by Sal Velluto), finishes by Rick Burchett and Romeo Tanghal & Bob Smith, letters by Willie Schubert, colors by Gene D'Angelo

So, JLA #69 ended with Superman showing up to battle Doomsday. JLA #70 begins with him dead, having been killed off in Superman #75 as part of the Death of Superman story. The issue first focuses on the reactions of the various League members to the events of the battle with Doomsday: Ice, who had a crush on Superman, is devastated; Blue Beetle is in a coma; Booster is beside himself at both the injury of his best friend and the destruction of his suit. It then takes a broader approach, as other characters show up to grieve, like the Flash and Aquaman and Hawkman and Green Arrow. Even Guy Gardner is sad! It's fine, it does exactly what it should, I suppose. Dan Jurgens's art lifts his story; he's very good at classical heroic heroes emoting, which is exactly what this needs.

The next issue is one of those dull transitional issues, establishing the new status quo for the League: who quits, who joins, &c. Wonder Woman takes over as team leader. Ice quits. Booster and Fire are still around but neither has powers. A bunch of new members join, including the Ray (who lasts for quite a while) and two other characters who I honestly forget were even in the title until I went to write these issues up just now! These are Condor and Agent Liberty. Jurgens never really establishes their deals in an interesting way during his run, and they just vanish after it's over; I am pretty sure they are not written out, they just stop appearing after issue #75! I would say that's typical of the post-Giffen/DeMatteis JLA, which very much struggles to create a compelling mix of characters no matter who's writing.

At this point, Jurgens's run fizzles out. First we get a really boring four-part story about Doctor Dee dreaming a harsher Justice League into existence, which begins to bleed into the real world. It's just not a very interesting idea and it goes on far too long. The whole thing wraps up with a two-part story finally explaining what's been going on with Bloodwynd: he's the Martian Manhunter in the form of Bloodwynd. This is a great twist but not a great story because it turns out J'onn J'onnz thinks he's Bloodwynd so he's acting exactly how Bloodwynd would act. It tells us nothing about either Bloodwynd or J'onn as a character, so what's the point? I do like how Jurgens writes Blue Beetle, though, never forgetting that in addition to being a goofball he's also an obsessive genius.

from Justice League Quarterly #11

"Beautiful, Wonderful, Perfect" / "Heat Wave" / "The Damnation Agenda, Part 1 of 5: The Hiding Kind", from Justice League Quarterly #11 (Summer 1993)
writes by William Messner-Loebs, Pat McGreal & Dave Rawson, and Michael Jan Friedman; pencils by Mike Wieringo & Lee Moder, Dave Cockrum, and Mike Mayhew; inks by Richard Space, Peter Gross, and Dan Davis; letters by Bob Pinaha and Tim Harkins; colors by Gene D'Angelo, Steve Mattsson, and Glenn Whitmore

The lead story in this issue is said to "take place before current issues of Justice League," but there's pretty much nowhere it could go, as it features both Wonder Woman and Ice in the JLA, and Ice quit the same issue Wonder Woman joined (JLA #71). Additionally, Beetle is unseen but mentioned as active, yet he was comatose from JLA #69 to 75. But it can't go later, once Ice rejoins (JLA #85), because by then, Crimson Fox has quit the League!

Anyway, the lead story here has potential but, like all of William Messner-Loebs's contributions to JLQ, is not very well done. The League is asked to protect the wife of a conservative Muslim prince, so only female members can be used. The main characters have to be pretty dumb and gullible for the whole thing to work. There are some decent character moments among the leads, but also I feel like Mike Wieringo and Lee Moder's art wasn't quite ready for prime time. (But then, I guess JLQ isn't exactly prime time.) There's also a flashback story about the Martian Manhunter in the 1960s, battling racism in the South. I wouldn't say it's great comics, but I thought it was solid, and surprisingly nuanced for the early 1990s. It's cowritten by Pat McGreal, who overall did some solid stuff for JLQ; I'd've liked to have seen more work from him. And the art is by the great Dave Cockrum; nice to see him get to cut loose with something other than standard superhero fare.

Lastly, this issue sees the debut of JLQ's first-ever ongoing feature. This stars Praxis... and if you're going, "Who?", I don't blame you. Praxis has a very flimsy JL connection; way back in JLQ #1 he was a member of Conglomerate. It would be quite easy to not remember him! (I see from DCUGuide that he actually debuted in a 1989 Spectre story arc, but I don't think that's ever mentioned in any of his JLQ appearances.) Why would he be picked up for a return appearance? Well, if you remember the 1990s, it's not too surprising: he wears a leather jacket and sunglasses and mostly goes around angsting. So totally of his time it almost reads as parody. Praxis was a cop who failed to save his niece from a serial killer and got superpowers; after Conglomerate fell apart, he returned to police work. The story here, told from the perspective of his female partner, focuses on them trying to stop a new serial killer with a grisly MO. It's by Michael Jan Friedman and Mike Mayhew, both solid comics creators, but I found there was a bit too much narration. Let the story breathe!

from Justice League Task Force #1

"The Tyranny Gun!" / "Split Hit" / "Twisted Glass!", from Justice League Task Force #1-3 (June-Aug. 1993), reprinted in Justice League Task Force, Volume 1: The Purification Plague (2018)
written by David Michelinie, pencils by Sal Velluto, inks by Jeff Albrecht, letters by Bob Pinaha, colors by Glenn Whitmore

Justice League Task Force is a new ongoing. It only has two consistent lead characters, Martian Manhunter and Gypsy; other than the two of them, each story arc sees a new team assembled every issue, from a broad mix of DC superheroes. Interestingly, this grabbag approach also extends to the series's writing: David Michelinie gets first author on the collection cover, but actually only writes three of the twelve issues it collects... but no one writes more than three. While ongoing comics with rotating creators aren't unusual, I can't remember another comic I've read where the writer is constantly changing, but the artist is not; Sal Velluto pencilled all but two of the series's first fifteen issues.

In the first story, the UN uses the newly formed Task Force to take down rebels in a Caribbean nation. In this one, in addition to Manhunter and Gypsy, there's the Flash, Aquaman, and Nightwing. I don't really care for it. Sal Velluto has done good work elsewhere but this isn't his best, leaning too much into the early 1990s grim-and-gritty style; the writing is like that, too, with the characters always barking and snarling at each other. I don't find attempts to insert mainstream superhero characters into "realistic" geopolitics very interesting. This must go shortly after JLA #77 for J'onn, but the trauma he went through there is never mentioned, and weirdly, the actual JLA series never mentions why J'onn suddenly never appears again after his return!

I feel like David Michelinie was probably meant to write more of this title than he did. He gets cover credit on the fourth issue even though it was written by someone else (more on that next time), and the ending of #3 seems to set up a recurring villain who never recurs.

This is the eleventh in a series of posts about Justice League International. The next covers issues #78-83 of JLA, #51-52 of JLI, and #4-8 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) 

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) 

Power Girl Uncovered

Over the last three years, DC Comics has released a number of "Uncovered" one-shots, where they collect a selection of covers featuring a certain character (or group of characters) along with some kind of frame story: Catwoman Uncovered, Birds of Prey Uncovered, Wonder Woman Uncovered, and so on. I was intrigued by these; though I'm not a big "collect covers" guy, I can occasionally be enticed by a really solid cover. Looking through the collected covers on League of Comic Geeks, however, turned me off some of them, because most of these collections primarily seem to consist of covers from the last five years or so, when these characters have massive histories. Like, there have been lots of great Birds of Prey covers, but most of the covers in their one-shot seemed to come from the most recent incarnation of the team.

But one of the exceptions to this was the Power Girl Uncovered, which, though definitely tilted toward the most recent incarnation of the character, contained covers going back to her original solo feature in Showcase (see item #6 in the list below), some covers from Amanda Conner's run (see #47 below), and even a cover from Justice League Europe. So I went ahead and picked it up.

The conceit here is that Power Girl has "recently become aware of a bunch of unauthorized 'photos' that have been released to the public." She suggests to the reader that we "check them out together to see if any of them are worth signing"; there are five pages of frame, mostly featuring Power Girl talking to the reader, but also her cat pops up for a few pages and her roommate Omen (see #50 below). I'm guessing this was a contractual necessity or something, but mostly it served to remind me of how lame her current set-up is ("Paige" sucks, and you know it will get undone someday), though I did like Meghan Hetrick's art.

As you might imagine, there are some great covers and some mediocre ones; I particularly liked Otto Schmidt's Power Girl vol. 3 #1 (which shows off many if not all of her costumes over the years), Jae Lee's Batman/Superman #8 (even if Power Girl isn't very central to the composition), David Nakayama's Power Girl Special #1 (featuring Fire and Ice! I don't know why but I won't complain), Alex Ross's Justice Society of America vol. 3 #9, Amanda Conner's Power Girl vol. 2 #1, Sami Basri's Power Girl vol. 2 #13, Warren Louw's Power Girl vol. 2 #27, Will Jack's Action Comics vol. 1 #1053, Guillem March's Power Girl vol. 3 #3, Babs Tarr's Power Girl vol. 3 #3, and Dani Bonvillain's Power Girl vol. 3 #5. For all that the collection has a bit of recency bias, a lot of the recent covers are very good! Power Girl is one of my favorite superheroes (going back to my early days as a comics fan reading JLE), and these covers capture what makes female superheroes work: beauty and strength in equal measure.

I could have done without the comment over the Justice League Europe #49 cover by Ron Randall and Rick Burchett, which I think is legitimately great; I do like Power Girl's early 1990s outfit even if it is very of its time. (Maybe I'm biased because, again, JLE was one of the first comics I ever read.) There are some covers I legit didn't like, but I accept this is a matter of taste, and some of them are fairly iconic and/or well-regarded despite my personal preferences: Jim Lee and Sandra Hope's Infinite Crisis #2, Adam Hughes's JSA Classified #1, and George Pérez's Worlds' Finest #1 (alas, not even Pérez can make Power Girl's terrible New 52 costume work... and I think he even designed it himself?). And in terms of exclusions, surely it's a crime that we only get two Amanda Conner covers! I'm guessing this was on purpose (I think she's the only artist to even have multiple covers), but Conner and Power Girl are inseparable.

As for the issue's own cover, it had six variants; I liked the Dan Mora one a lot but ended up going for the Pete Woods one, which you can see above. 

Power Girl Uncovered originally appeared in one issue (Mar. 2024). It had dialogue by Brittany Holzherr, editing by Jillian Grant, art by Meghan Hetrick, and lettering & design by Darran Robinson.

This post is the fifty-fourth in an improbably long series about the Justice Society and Earth-Two. The next installment covers Wesley Dodds: The Sandman. Previous installments are listed below: