2016-07-20 Justice League #1

Justice League #1 went on sale on July 20, 2016 with a September cover date and a $2.99 cover price; the cover art was by Tony Daniel and the cover color was by Tomeu Morey; and the variant cover art was by Yanick Paquette and the variant cover color was by Nathan Fairbairn.  The 24-page story was titled “The Extinction Machines Part One” and was credited to Bryan Hitch (writer); Tony Daniel (pencil artist); Sandu Florea (ink artist); Richard Starkings with Comicraft (lettering); Tomeu Morey (color artist); and Brian Cunningham (editor).

Before we get going on “The Extinction Machines”, just a brief bit of background information.  When the “New 52” marketing push at DC was replaced by “DC Rebirth”, DC symbolized the changing of the eras by having the New 52 Superman die off and be replaced by a Superman from the pre-New 52 storylines, who was married to his version of Lois Lane.  When Clark and Lois came to live in the New 52 continuity, which already had a Superman, they lived in secret on a farm while raising their son Jon. Clark did not emerge from secrecy until the New 52 Superman’s death. Batman was the New 52 Superman’s best friend and Wonder Woman was romantically involved with him, so neither of them nor the other Justice League members are very trusting of this replacement Man of Steel.

The story opens on a splash scene, with Wonder Woman swooping down from the sky holding a bolt of lightning as several explosions rock the skies around her as the captions read “I am Diana, Amazon Princess.  Wonder Woman. Some have called me a hero.”

Next is a double-paged splash, with Wonder Woman and the lightning bolt crashing to the ground in the middle of what appears to be a combat scene, her landing causing a shockwave that sends several soldiers and tanks flying through the air as the caption says “I am here on a mission of peace.”  Wonder Woman proceeds to defeat the soldiers even as the ground around them shudders and shakes, with buildings collapsing all around them.  Finally one soldier, holding a comrade either dead or dying, speaks in Russian to Wonder Woman and says “What have you done?  You have killed us all…”.  Wonder Woman replies “This... wasn’t me…”.

A television reporter narrates scenes of people fleeing from collapsing buildings explaining that the earthquakes are happening all over the world and that some have labeled the situation as “an extinction level event.”  Flying in to help the people of Beijing, Green Lanterns Baz and Cruz create structures to support the crumbling buildings as the locals capture them in action on their smartphones.  The Lanterns then contact Cyborg for further instructions.

Cyborg responds to the Lanterns from New York, explaining to Baz and Cruz that Flash is handling the U.S. west coast, that Cyborg hasn’t heard from Aquaman, Batman, or Wonder Woman, and that the Lanterns should proceed to Hong Kong.  As Cyborg is explaining this we see him in a subway tunnel stopping a runaway train from causing too much damage. Apparently this superhero is also more powerful than a locomotive.

Flash races through multiple collapsing buildings trying locate a woman’s young daughter.  The woman drops her water bottle, and over the next several panels we see the Flash do his thing and rescuing the girl before the water bottle hits the ground.  Flash then hands the girl off to her mother before he races off. We then see several buildings being destroyed in Atlantis. Meanwhile Aquaman assists in the evacuation of the underwater city, stating that since the oceanic earthquakes must be causing tidal waves, he hopes his friends on the surface are taking care of it.

We then see the Lanterns flying above the skies of Hong Kong attempting to create a structure to protect the city from a tsunami as the populace seems to be possessed, their eyes glowing red as they chant “Green light.  Stolen light. Our light.” Just then the power cuts out of the power rings, causing Baz and Cruz to fall through the sky as their structure dissipates, sending the giant wave hurtling towards them.

Next Wonder Woman stands in the rubble of the city when she too starts to hear the chanting of the possessed, although in her case it appears to be the dead rising from the rubble who proclaim:  “Stolen power. Our power.  ...our power…  ...guardian… ...keeper… ...watcher… ...your time is over… … stolen power….  We are coming back.  We, the Kindred…  Your time is over…”  Flash races through the rubble of San Diego hearing the chants of the possessed of that city when his super speed leaves him and he crashes into some barrels.  Cyborg in New York lifts a building as he finally is able to contact Batman. Batman is seen in his Batmobile in Gotham City stating he has not yet figured out the cause of the calamity as he wonders what the new Superman has been doing during all of this.  Cyborg replies he’s been everywhere - Metropolis, Chicago, Boston, Washington D.C. - `and asks if Batman wants him to call Superman.

Batman declines as he gets out of the car when a giant projectile - he cannot determine if it is a ship or a weapon - lands in the street in front of him.  Just then oversized alien insectoids emerge from the projectile and begin attacking the citizens of Gotham. Batman then tells Cyborg to alert the authorities to establish a quarantine.  Aquaman continues to work with the Atlanteans on getting them to safety when they too become possessed and chant: “Stolen words… The words started here… the words that make the worlds… our words, our worlds….  Give us back our words!”

Finally Wonder Woman is in Eastern Europe when the possessed soldiers on both sides of the conflict begin to attack her.  And on page 24, after fighting off dozens of soldiers, Wonder Woman says calmly “The Kindred?  Well hear me now, Kindred… I have friends.  And we’re coming for you.”

1960-03-01 The Brave and the Bold #29

https://justicetrek.podbean.com/e/jt002-menacing-machines/

The Brave and the Bold #29 was released on March 1, 1960 and had a May cover date and a ten cent cover price. The cover art was by Mike Sekowsky and Murphy Anderson.  The 26-page story was titled “Challenge of the Weapons Master!” and was written by Gardner Fox, edited by Julius Schwartz, pencilled by Mike Sekowsky and inked by Bernard Sachs (Chapters 1, 3, and 5) and Joe Giella (Chapters 2 and 4).

On the splash page we see seven Justice League members sitting paralyzed at a table, with the robot standing behind and towering over them, with Xotar in the belly control chamber.  As Xotar broadcasts his challenge, the JLA members - in order from left to right, Wonder Woman, Batman, Snapper Carr, Flash, J’onn J’onzz, Aquaman, and Green Lantern - talk about how “some strange force” is preventing them from getting up out of their chairs.  Meanwhile Snapper thinks to himself - remember this is old school comics, when they still used thought balloons - “Man, this fight looks fixed!  My Justice League pals better come up with a big stunt -- quick -- if they’re gonna beat this creep from Futuresville!”  The Roll Call lists all seven main members - so no Snapper, but including Superman - and uses the Martian spelling of J’onn J’onzz’s name.  The text box - and almost all DC splash pages had large text boxes back in those days - read:

“THE NAME AND FAME OF THE JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA HAVE SPREAD NOT ONLY TO EVERY CORNER OF THE EARTH… BUT THROUGHOUT THE AGES!

“YES, EVEN IN THE FAR DISTANT FUTURE, THE 20TH CENTURY HEROES ARE REGARDED AS THE MIGHTIEST CRIME-FIGHTING TEAM THAT EVER EXISTED!

“NOW -- FROM OUT OF THOSE UNCHARTED, UNKNOWN YEARS… APPEARS A FUTURE-MAN TO ENGAGE THE SUPER-SEVEN MEMBERS IN COMBAT -- A BATTLE THAT HISTORY WILL RECORD AS A DEFEAT FOR THE JUSTICE LEAGUE!”

“CHALLENGE OF THE WEAPONS MASTER!”

The story opens on page two in the year 11,960 - or exactly 10000 years in the story’s future - as we see our villain Xotar in the cavern he uses as a weapons cache, standing next to the aforementioned giant robot.  Just outside the sealed, thick, metal door to the cavern is the Intersolar Police who are using a heating device to melt through the door. Xotar climbs onto a lifting device which raises him the necessary height to the entrance to his robot’s control chamber as he thinks to himself that he has four weapons to use to fight the police and they have counter-weapons to three of them.  This leaves one weapon which will defeat the police, but he doesn’t know which one. Just as the police enter the chamber, he mentions that the robot is also a time machine, so he will travel 10,000 years into the past to test the four weapons against the Justice League. Whichever of the four weapons cannot be defeated by the Justice League, he deduces, must be the weapon that also cannot be countered by the Intersolar Police.

Xotar is certain of his plan as he has located an ancient book written by Wonder Woman.  Although large portions of the text are smudged to the point of illegibility, he is able to read “something something one of the four weapons used by Xotar something something to defeat the Justice League of America”.

Xotar then recounts how he discovered the weapons.  He mentions the microscopitor - without saying how he acquired it - but then says he stole his de-evolutionizer from the Interstellar Science Laboratory.  He found his third weapon in the ancient ruins of a dead Andromeda world and then found the fourth weapon  - which was made for the mad dictator of Aldebaran - floating deep in space. He then explains that the robot’s name is Ilaric and that he was the master-robot of the robot planet Illirium; Xotar was able to seize control of the robot by cutting the control wires from its neutronic brain.

Arriving in 1960, Xotar encounters Snapper Carr who is ice skating; he then commands Ilaric to grab Snapper and takes him back to the Justice League’s cavern headquarters.  En route, Snapper is able to activate the JLA “alarm belt” which the Justice League gave him in the previous issue when they made him an honorary member. Responding to the summons, Flash, Wonder Woman, the Manhunter from Mars, Aquaman, Batman, and Green Lantern race to their hidden sanctuary as the reader is asked the question “OF ALL THE JUSTICE LEAGUE MEMBERS ONLY SUPERMAN FAILS TO RESPOND TO THE ALARM!  WHY!”  Once the heroes arrive they see Snapper seated at the meeting table as he speaks in a voice not his own that says “I -- XOTAR OF THE YEAR 11,960 -- HAVE BORROWED YOUR YOUNG FRIEND IN ORDER TO SUMMON YOU HERE AND CHALLENGE YOU TO COMBAT!  YOU SHALL FIGHT ME ONE AT A TIME TO HELP ME DETERMINE WHICH WEAPON WILL OVERCOME THE INTERSOLAR POLICE!  FIRST, I SELECT FLASH!”  As the Martian Manhunter suggests that they all should go after Xotar at the same time, Ilaric shines a yellow light beam that he calls a gravitic ray on the assembled members which renders the heroes immobile.  Xotar will eventually comment to himself that the gravitic ray is not itself a weapon because it not only immobilizes it also protects its subjects from other harm. Knowing that the Flash can free himself, Xotar issues the following challenge:  “WHEN THE GHOST WALKS AT HESPERUS ON THE SECOND DAY OF THE MOONLESS MONTH, I AM WAITING TO DO BATTLE!”

As Chapter 2 opens up Flash races through the town of Middledale as he muses to himself that the phrase “when the ghost walks” is theatrical slang for payday, but he needs to find a library to find a clue to the word “Hesperus”.  At super-speed Flash uses the books in the library to learn that “Hesperus” is the name given by the ancient poet Homer in his Iliad to the planet Venus. Deducing that the reference to Venus means that Xotar will strike at a Florida missile base that is preparing to launch a rocket to Venus, the Scarlet Speedster races to the Sunshine State realizing that the moonless month means February, which at 28 days is too short for a full lunar cycle.  Arriving at the missile base and briefing the local officials, Flash then races to challenge Xotar and Ilaric who have arrived and started destroying the Venus rocket. As Flash is struck with a ray from the microscopitor, the Scarlet Speedster shrinks to six inches tall. He does still have his powers, so he tunnels underground at super-speed and then vibrates his way through Ilaric itself up to the control chamber, where he then generates enough friction-heat to melt the microscopitor.  Ejecting both tiny Flash and the now-useless weapon, Xotar then immediately flees through the time stream back to JLA HQ to return to the same moment he left.

In Chapter 3, Xotar frees Aquaman and the Martian Manhunter with the challenge “I WILL STRIKE WHERE THE SUN RISES IN THE WEST AND SETS IN THE EAST!”  Deducing that the future-man is referring to the part of the Isthmus of Panama where the land mass twists in such a way that the Atlantic (or eastern) coast is actually on the western shore while the Pacific (or western) coast is actually on the eastern shore, our heroes race to the canal where Xotar immediately uses his de-evolutionizer on J’onn J’onzz, which blasts him into nothingness.  Aquaman on the other hand has commanded a mass of giant octopi to drag Ilaric into the ocean, musing that he is actually a diversion, as the Manhunter has used his Martian powers to turn invisible to make Xotar think he was defeated. J’onn then uses his powers to fashion a mirror out of the sand on the beach, then flies towards Ilaric just as Xotar then shoots the de-evolutionizer again. However the beam reflects off J’onn’s mirror, returning back to Ilaric and destroying the weapon, so Xotar again flees back to JLA HQ.

In Chapter 4 Xotar then frees Wonder Woman, Batman, and Green Lantern and challenges them to fight him “ABOVE THE LIVING STONE OF THE RING-NECKED PHEASANT!”  As Batman races off to locate Superman, Wonder Woman and Green Lantern deduce that the riddle refers to South Dakota, which has the ring-necked pheasant as its state bird, and specifically to the presidential faces carved in Mount Rushmore.  As they arrive Xotar fires his magneto-bubble weapon at Wonder Woman, which surrounds the Amazing Amazon in her robot plane as it sends them through space to a distant sun which will destroy both woman and plane. However Green Lantern uses his power ring to create a meteor which collides with the bubble in such a way to destroy it, freeing Wonder Woman and her jet. Green Lantern then flies toward Ilaric as Wonder Woman lassos the barrel of the magneto-bubble, jamming the barrel with the clay found nearby. Defeated again, Xotar takes off as he muses that the fourth device must be the undefeatable weapon.

In Chapter 5 the heroes - minus Batman - reunite at their sanctuary as Xotar again speaks through Snapper to challenge the heroes to battle him in “THE VALLEY OF THE TEN THOUSAND SMOKES!” Racing to the Alaskan Valley in question, named such because of the natural volcanic fumaroles, the heroes are then transported by the fourth weapon to a distant planet where they are attacked by a horde of alien monsters.  The League members are unable to defeat the alien creatures, although Xotar ruminates that the fourth weapon is actually an illusion-maker which will trick the heroes into destroying each other. His plan appears to be working until Batman shows up with Superman - revealing that Superman didn’t answer Snapper’s summons because he had been traveling through time although Batman was somehow able to track him down - and then the Man of Steel promptly thrashes Ilaric and destroys the illusion-maker.  Superman then locks the time-controls to Ilaric and sends Xotar back to his cavern in the year 11,960 where he is promptly captured by the Intersolar Police. Xotar can’t believe that his book mislead him, although back in 1960 as Wonder Woman writes down the adventure it is revealed that what she actually wrote says “the Illusion-Maker was one of the four weapons used by Xotar in his unsuccessful attempt to defeat the Justice League of America”.  Thus concludes the second-ever Justice League story.

JusticeTrek Episode 001 - Space Invaders

The relaunched JusticeTrek is here! Join me as we trek through over 50 years of comic book stories of the World's Greatest Super-heroes, the Justice League of America! The inaugural episode covers the first appearance of the Justice League from The Brave and the Bold #28 AND the first story of the DC Rebirth era from Justice League: Rebirth #1.

2016-07-06 Justice League: Rebirth #1

https://justicetrek.podbean.com/e/jt001-space-invaders/

Justice League:  Rebirth #1 went on sale on July 6, 2016 with a September cover date and a $2.99 cover price; the cover art was by Tony Daniel and the cover color was by Tomeu Morey.  The 20-page story was titled “Fear the Reaper” and was credited to Bryan Hitch (writer and pencil artist); Daniel Henriques with Scott Hanna (ink artists); Richard Starkings with Comicraft (lettering); Alex Sinclair (color artist); and Brian Cunningham (editor).

The first page opens on a large American city not unlike New York as the citizens are fleeing in terror from a large - as large as Manhattan is wide - a large object that looks like a cross between a spaceship and an H.P. Lovecraft - Cthulhu type monster floating over the city.  On pages 2 and 3 we see thousands if not millions of facehugging spores raining down on the city as the captions read:

“Things from dark places, Olympians, beings that defy logic,
defy physics, come here.  Here was where Starro didn’t
conquer, where Rao’s hold over untold billions was broken.”

On page 4 we see Wonder Woman, Flash, Cyborg, Aquaman, and Batman have arrived. Those five heroes are tackling the menace in the city while at a farmhouse far from there we see Lois and Clark have a conversation about whether Clark should join the Justice League as this world’s new Superman.  In the city it is noted that the people with facehuggers attached are “infected” and compelled to head towards the spaceship monster. In order to divert the people Cyborg unleashes a series of “boom tubes” - that is to say, teleportation portals - as he notes the spaceship monster is too big to teleport.  Realizing that they can’t hurt the spaceship monster from the outside, the heroes conclude that they must attack it from the inside - specifically its brain.

Meanwhile back at the farm, Lois and Clark continue their discussion - as their 8-year-old son Jonathan plays in the background.  Clark appears reluctant to leave the farm, feeling the Justice League can handle the threat without him; however Lois is adamant that he has a place alongside the World’s Greatest Super-Heroes.  We next cut to China, where we see Simon and Jessica dealing with earthquakes when they receive their first call from the League. And then we’re back at the spaceship monster, as Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Cyborg, and Batman note how smelly it is inside.

Next we cut to a flashback on the Justice League satellite as those four heroes plus the Flash debate the pros and cons of having the “new” Superman join the team.  Wonder Woman is especially conflicted, as she had been romantically involved with the new 52’s Superman before he died and thus it is especially painful to see a slightly older doppelganger of her late love, complete with wife and child.  Ultimately Batman persuades the team that they should invite the new Superman to join, so that they can keep a close eye on him until they can figure out what is really happening.

Back in the present, being inside the spaceship monster’s brain is taking its toll on Aquaman, who is getting painful telepathic feedback from the entity which calls itself the Reaper, complete with intent to harvest humanity.  Just then hundreds of facehugger spores attack the team. Outside the Reaper, Simon and Jessica arrive, deduce that their new teammates are inside, and rush into the brain just in time to create hundreds of spikes to impale the spores.  And then the new Superman arrives and rallies the heroes, telling them to hit the brain with everything they’ve got. So we see Superman using his heat vision, Simon and Jessica using their power rings, Aquaman using his trident, Flash using Speed Force energy, Cyborg using some other energy, Wonder Woman throwing her sword, and Batman throwing a batarang.  They are successful, and the Reaper is defeated, and the humans are freed from the thrall of the facehugger spores. Aquaman creates a mental link to the creature as the League tells it to leave Earth and serve as a warning to other reapers.

As the team departs Superman tells the League he’ll be around, Cyborg compliments their new members Simon and Jessica, calling them the “Wonder Twins” in a nod to the Super Friends cartoon.  We then see a blonde, female newscaster sum up the new direction:

“Today the Justice League once again stopped something alien
and horrific from causing mass destruction.  As yet another force
sought to eradicate us, destroy us or enslave us, our world stood
firm.  These people are our first and last line of defense against
the worst that dark places can throw at us. They are our heroes.  
THE JUSTICE LEAGUE.”

The final page is a full-page splash showing all the members as if they are about to go forth and battle a menace as the caption reads:  “NEXT: THE EXTINCTION MACHINES”.