Justice League (vol. 2) #3

Issue Credits

Writer

Geoff Johns

Penciller, Cover Penciller

Jim Lee

Inker, Cover Inker

Scott Williams

Colourist

Alex Sinclair, Hi-Fi, Gabe Eltaeb

Letterer

Patrick Brosseau

Cover Colourist

Alex Sinclair

Variant Cover Penciller

Greg Capullo

Variant Cover Inker

Jonathan Glapion

Variant Cover Colourist

Fco Plascenia

Assistant Editor

Darren Shan

Editor

Brian Cunningham

Quotes

Wonder Woman: CREATURES OF EVIL! BACK TO HADES!Flash: Uh… wow.Green Lantern: Dibs.

Synopsis “Justice League Part Three” (22-pages)

Previously: It is five years ago and Earth’s newly emerged superheroes are feared by a populice who cannot yet tell them apart from the supervillains. Matters begin when Gotham City’s Batman and Coast City’s Green Lantern find themselves fighting the same winged mechanical-demon. Together they follow-up the possibility that it is an alien creature by questioning the alien Superman in Metropolis. A misunderstanding leads to a brawl and Green Lantern calls in the Flash to back them-up. The four heroes have only just got their personal misunderstandings sorted when a box they seized from the first monster starts “pinging”. A massive teleportation portal suddenly opens and a hoard of identical creatures poor through. A second portal simultaneously opens in Detroit’s STAR Labs severely injuring Victor Stone, the son of Silas Stone, the scientist who had been studying another of the alien boxes.

Diana, the Wonder Woman from a society of immortal Amazons, had decided to stay in Man’s World after escorting USAF pilot Colonel Steve Trevor safely back from his crash-landing on Paradise Island. Her arrival and her eagerness to battle monsters has played into the general hysteria surrounding the emerging super-humans. She had been a guest of Trevor’s military superiors at the Pentagon, but Diana goes AWOL to investigate sighting of a flying monster. Along the way, she discovers the delights of “ice cream” from a young child. However, their conversation is cut short, first by Steve Trevor, and then by a third portal that opens up over Washington. Diana yells “But this is a fight. Excellent! Leave them to me.”

Other portals have opened across the world. In Detroit, the monsters have flown off with most of the occupants of STAR Labs. Dr Silas Stone and his colleagues, Sarah Charles and Thomas Morrow, are left behind to try and save the life of Silas’s son. Victor’s body is still smouldering with some unknown energy as the scientists get him into STAR Lab’s Red Room – the store house where Silas keeps the alien and superhuman technology that he has recovered from around the world. They hurriedly replace Victor’s damaged body parts with promethium skin grafts, motors, and nanite regulated biology in a desperate bid to rebuild him before his entire biology is consumed by the alien energy. Victor’s mind races as he makes contact with the technology that is becoming part of his body. Through the chaos and pain he sees the nightmarish face of the demons’ master.

In Metropolis, Batman, Green Lantern, the Flash, and Superman are still battling against the invading hoard. They also notice that the demons are carrying away rather than killing their foes. Wonder Woman’s arrives to join them after followed her hoard from Washington to Metropolis. The growing band of heroes continues to follow the demons to the edge of the ocean, but a booming sound signals that another gateway has opened. A massive alien fortress appears in Metropolis harbour. The onlookers barely have time to contemplate its arrival, before a green-and-orange clad Aquaman climbs out of the harbour and tells them “They were in the water too.”

Text piece: The Secret History of Atlantis by David Graves.

Continuity

• Steve Trevor is Wonder Woman’s Pentagon Liaison.
• Thomas Morrow and Anthony Ivo worked for STAR Labs in Detroit at the time the Justice League formed. Morrow participated in the creation of Cyborg.

Commentary

• Editorial Changes: Darren Shan replaces Rex Ogle as the Assistant Editor (who has left for DC for a job with Harry Potter publisher Scholastic) and Brain Cunningham replaces Eddie Berganza as Editor.
• Final coloured cover: Alex (*sinccolor) Sinclair’s Deviant Art page

Opinion

The third instalment of the new Justice League sees the introduction of the post-Flashpoint Wonder Woman and Aquaman. This series feels like it’s really getting into its stride. Mart Gray says this issue provides a “solid mix of story advancement, characterisation and action”, while the Heretic calls it “pretty hefty”, and Erik Norris (IGN) says it delivers on the promise of being “DC’s blockbuster action title”. Even CBR, which called last issue “weak”, says that the creative team have “found their groove” with this third issue.

I find the Wonder Woman’s first meeting of the other heroes rather telling. Back during the 1980s reboot she popped-up to punch a robotic dog (another Darkseid plot) in Legends, but vanished before Superman could ask who she was. This Wonder Woman smashes straight into the middle of the combat, and for that matter the banter, and doesn’t feel the need to demurely runaway afterwards. She is also younger than we’ve seen her portrayed in the past and Diana still has a chip on her shoulder about being treated as a child by the other Amazons. She is in wonder of some aspects of Steve Trevor’s world, but she’s not naive about evil or about the possibility of monsters. This Diana has the enthusiasm for the fight that her older, normal DCU version has tempered with experience and the knowledge that a peaceful approach is usually the better choice (if available).

DC have been hunting for a persona for Wonder Woman for years and this one fits as well as any other they’ve tried. The Perez version was very regal, but over time had evolved into something almost untouchable and perfect. Gail Simone’s post-Infinite Crisis version brought a greater breadth to the character and actually showed a woman who was able to enjoy her work at times. The version presented here extrapolates that version further and shows an inexperienced Wonder Woman who is as eager to wade into battle as Hercules ever was. She isn’t unrecognisable, but there is certainly a long road between this character the more mature version we’re use to.

Minhquan Nguyen picks up on the apparent youthfulness of the character’s dialogue:

…it should come as no surprise how the interaction among the “Leaguers” (since officially, they’re not a League of anything just yet) feels almost like the banter you’d expect more from the Teen Titans or Young Justice.

The comparison works well as these guys (except for the Batman) don’t yet have that focus which experience beings. However… I’m sorry, but this Hal Jordan is such a jerk. Desite Andy Hunsaker saying Hal’s “douchebaggery is at a minimum” Hal’s comment about Wonder Woman (“Dibs”) is undeniably crass (even by the low stands he’s set himself in this series). I didn’t mind the jerk version of Hal (and even defended it in the first two issues), but the joke is starting to wear rather thin. I’m beginning to wonder if they haven’t swapped Hal out of Guy Gardner.

Jim Lee’s art is great as ever. The opening Wonder Woman sequence reminded me a lot of John Byrne’s style and his run on the character – particularly the camera angle on the second page. However, there are a number of inconsistencies in the way Wonder Woman is drawn. Her face changes quite a bit from panel-to-panel and she goes from wearing heals on page three to wearing flats on page four. I’m not sure why this issue need three different colourists, but the final work isn’t discernible from Alex Sinclair’s usual high-standards.

This is really comes down to the group of four male heroes treading water with even Superman’s stunts had beginning to feel routine. Its Wonder Woman’s scenes that carry the issue and give a boost away from the all-boy-club we’d had so far.

The Verdict

Characters

Feature Characters

The individuals soon to be known as the Justice League

• Aquaman (Arthur Curry. First appearance in this series. )
• Batman (Bruce Wayne. Billionaire playboy turned costumed vigilantie. Last appeared in Justice League (vol. 2) #2. )
• Flash (Barry Allen. A CSI in Central City. Last appeared in Justice League (vol. 2) #2. )
• Green Lantern (Hal Jordan. Test pilot and interstellar lawman. Last appeared in Justice League (vol. 2) #2.)
• Superman (Clark Kent. Reporter turned alien superhero. Last appeared in Justice League (vol. 2) #2. )
• Victor Stone (High-school football player. Heavily injured by energy from the Detroit Boom Tube. His father, T.O. Morrow, and Sarah Charles try to save his life with cybernetic devices from STAR Labs’ “Red Room”. Last appeared in Justice League (vol. 2) #2. )
• Wonder Woman (Diana of Paradise Island. An Amazon warrior. First appearance in this series. )

Villains

• Darkseid (Behind-the-scenes. First post-Flashpoint visuals in Cyborg’s vision. )
• Para-Demons (lots of them) (Appear in Boom Tubes across the world to abduct people. Last appeared in Justice League (vol. 2) #2. )

Other Characters

• Orr and his men (Security team at the Pentagon assigned to watch Wonder Woman)
• Raquel (a young girl who introduces Wonder Woman to ice-cream)
• Sarah Charles (Intern at STAR Labs, Detroit. Last appeared in Justice League (vol. 2) #2. )
• Silas Stone (Head of STAR Labs’ superhuman research programme. The father of Victor Stone. Had to watch his wife die. Last appeared in Justice League (vol. 2) #2. )
• Steve Trevor (Colonel in the USAF. Assigned to Wonder Woman as her Pentagon liaison.)
• Thomas Morrow (Robotocist at STAR Labs, Detroit. First post-Flashpoint appearance.)

Cameos

• Anthony Ivo (Scientist at STAR Labs, Detroit. Mentioned as one of those abducted by the Para-Demons. )

Annotations

Page 1. It looks like the West-borough Baptist Church are protesting at Wonder Woman in the DC Universe.

Colonel Steve Trevor is Wonder Woman’s Lois Lane. He first appeared alongside Wonder Woman in All-Star Comics #8 (Dec 1941). His exact purpose in her stories has changed over the years, but he is generally her excuse to become a superhero. In most tellings he’s a US pilot who crash lands on the Amazon’s mythical island home and has to be escorted back to Man’s World. Wonder Woman accompanies him and uses her Amazonian powers and skills to fight evil.

Mister Orr, first name unrevealed, is the man in charge of the troops who Steve Trevor is talking to. He is a mysterious black-ops mercenary who appeared in Jim Lee’s run on Superman and in the Lex Luthor: Man of Steel mini-series working for Lex Luthor. He was responsible for the creation of a couple of generations of OMAC prototype and general nastiness.

Page 2. Wonder Woman was created by psychologist William Moulton Marston All-Star Comics #8 (Dec 1941) in response to the apparent lack of female role models in the nascent comic book industry. Marston is famous as the inventor of the lie-detector – an invention that he invoked by giving Wonder Woman a Lasso of Truth which compels people to tell no lies. The Lasso also drew on Marston’s more colourful theories about how it was women’s place to pacify men via the bonds of love. Those pacifying bonds are made manifest by the Lasso, but were played up to such a degree that early Wonder Woman comics are known for having a certain bondage/domination subtext. The flavour of those early stories didn’t survive past Marston’s death and DC’s desperate attempts to make Wonder Woman appear as non-threatening (to men) as possible.

The character languished for decades until George Perez completely restarted her history with Wonder Woman (vol. 2) #1 (Feb 1987). The latest relaunch by Brian Azzarello and Chiff Chiang is part of the New 52 and stays pretty true to the Perez version of the character,. It nevertheless draws on a more Earthy and horror based version of the Greek myth than the toga-wearing academic version used in the 1980s. A subtle development since the 1980s has been the evolution of Wonder Woman’s approach to lethal force as compared to that of her equals in the DC Universe. Her mythological origin gives her a parallel as a monster killer like Hercules. She sees nothing wrong in beheading monsters like Medusa or even humans like Maxwell Lord when she considers them to be monsters. Its not something she does casually or even frequently, but her willingness to cross that line puts her diametrically at odds with Batman.

Diana is asking about a Harpy. In Greek mythology a harpy was a monster who had the torso and head of a woman and the limbs of a eagle.

Page 4. Wonder Woman’s mother would be Queen Hippolyta. Steve Trevor is Wonder Woman’s Pentagon Liaison.

Page 5.

Wonder Woman’s moral willing to use lethal force is externalised here by her carrying of a sword. This particular shape is, in keeping with the origin’s of Diana’s society, an ancient Greek design as used by Hoplite infantry. It is similar to the fantastic replicas created by Windlass Steelcrafts.

Page 6. Two long-standing DC scientist super-villains are revealed to have been working at STAR Labs, Detroit at the time of Darkseid’s attack. The first is Professor Ivo, the inventor of Amazo, who is carried away by the Para-Demons. The other is T.O. Morrow who is the creator of the Red Tornado and his siblings.

Page 10-11. A little bit of an oddity here. Superman is shown using the truck as a weapon as he dismembers the Para-Demons. Its fairly graphic and obvious that Superman is killing these things left-right-and-centre. However, it isn’t entirely clear whether they are alive. They have teeth and spew a blood-like liquid when mangled, but they also show machine-like interface surfaces when parts are hacked off (e.g. the one at Wonder Woman’s feet on page 16).

Page 12. The question is posed: if Morrow and Stone shouldn’t be in the Red Room, who should? I can’t help but question the link between Morrow in the Red Room and the eventually emergence of the Red Tornado.

Page 18. The transformation of Victor Stone into Cyborg. Promethium is a metal from the original run of Marv Wolfman and George Perez’s New Teen Titans. It was a metal which had miraculous abilities to absorb energy. Nanites are tiny machines which operate inside individual cells. They are an important part in the mythology of Star Trek’s Borg and somewhere along the line made the jump into DC’s Cyborg. Grafting cybernetic parts, even if they really existed, onto a real person would take hundreds of hours of delicate surgical procedures, but we’re shown here that Cyborg’s creation was as much battlefield expedience as it was a deliberate plan by his father.

Page 19. The first glimpse of the New 52 Darkseid:

Page 22. The first appearance of the New 52 Aquaman and they appear to have recruited him from the 1970s (nice sideburns).

Page 24. The Secret History of Atlantis text-piece. Its author David Graves was mentioned in last issue’s text piece where Amanda Waller asks if Steve Trevor has ever heard of Graves. In the week of this issues publication DC’s official Twitter channel post the tweet:

@DCComics Signing of THE JUSTICE LEAGUE: GODS AMONG US by superstar author David #Graves is canceled.

Page 25. “South Orange” is in New Jersey. The first lending date of this book, Dec 2006, is five years ago and is contemporary with this story. However, the copyright date at the bottom shows this book was actually first “published” ten years ago.

Page 26. Graves other books allude to “real” world paranormal cases. “The Yonaguni Pyramid” is in the waters off of Japan. Kaliasa is a temple to Shiva cut into rock in India. The Belmez Faces appeared in a house in Spain.

Page 28. The Graves Foreword name checks two other specialists: Dr Stephen Shin and Dane Dorrance. Dorrance is the leader of a team of divers and explorers called the Sea Devils. Shin is a new character who is mentioned here first and appeared several weeks later in Aquaman #3. Aquaman reluctantly consults Shin about a newly appeared subaquatic race, but he also tells Mera that Shin has become obsessed with finding Atlantis. Shin’s obsession started after he was consulted on the young Arthur Curry’s developing aquatic powers.