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”.