Issue Credits

Writer

Geoff Johns

Penciller

Ivan Reis

Inker

Ivan Reis and Joe Prado

Colourist

Rod Reis

Letterer

Dave Sharpe

Assistant Editor

Kate Kubert

Editor

Brian Cunningham

Cover Penciller

Ivan Reis

Cover Inker

Joe Prado

Cover Colourist

Rod Reis

Variant Cover Artist

Lagoon Foss

Variant Cover Colourist

Jose Villarrubia

Quotes

King Orm

It is time for war. It is time to fight back.

Synopsis “Throne of Atlantis Chapter Three: Friends and Enemies” (20-pages)

Previously: An unknown saboteur caused the USS Mabus to fire upon the sunken city of Atlantis. In response, the Atlanteans have enacted their War Plans – a set of responses that Aquaman wrote before abdicating the Throne in favour of his brother Orm. King Orm’s first counterattack against the USA was a massive tidal wave which hit Metropolis, Boston, and Gotham City. Aquaman knows that the next attack will destroy whichever of those cities was most heavily damaged. He tries to talk to Orm, but the Justice League gets in his way. Aquaman then stuns his colleagues by appearing to turn on Batman.

Aquaman knows that Atlantean protocol means that all possibility of a peaceful solution will evaporate if the League lays a finger on Orm. He struggles with them, trying to maintain a show of authority to convince Orm that he is actually in control. Unfortunately, Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman refuse to help him defuse the situation. Orm had thought that Aquaman ruled the surface world, but the League’s interference removes the last misunderstanding that had stayed his hand. With a command the Atlantean army rises from the water and all hope of peace is lost.

Batman is knocked unconscious while Aquaman and Wonder Woman hold back many of the troopers. Superman’s heat vision boils the water around the army forcing them back, but King Orm retaliates with the power held in his regalia. His Trident summons storm lightning that stuns the Leaguers and his Crown creates a funnel of water that carries the Leaguers into his ship. Their unconscious bodies are encased in cocoons and then sent down into the deep ocean.

Elsewhere, Cyborg had left Vulko on the Watchtower so he could Boom Tube’s to Dr Stephen Shin’s location. Shin, the foremost surface authority on Atlantean history and biology, is being targeted by an a pair of Atlantean “Drift” assassins (another part of the War Plans). Cyborg grabs Shin and then Booms back to the Watchtower. Vulko informs Cyborg of the League’s plight so Cyborg turns to his father at STAR Labs. Cyborg tells his father that they need to install his environmental mode, at the cost of his remaining lung, as it’s the only means of reaching the stranded Leaguers.

Cyborg’s last act before undergoing the surgery is to broadcast a message to a short list of heroes temporarily drafting them as reserve members of the Justice League.

Continuity

• Atlantean Culture revolves around displays of strength. The Crown of Atlantis controls the seas, the Royal Trident controls the storms.
• The Flash does not appear in this issue.

Commentary

Sales

Opinion

My Thoughts

Second Opinions

Joshua Yehl (IGN):

This issue amounts to a whole lot of piece-moving in a war of murky motivations and superpowered beings, but it’s not so bad when the pieces are so gorgeously drawn by Ivan Reis.

Jennifer Cheng (CBR):

The biggest flaw with “Throne of Atlantis” is that for events to escalate further, the plot requires Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman to collectively behave in a bone-headed manner, with no thought of diplomacy or broader thinking about containment. While the Justice League isn’t exactly known for stealth or negotiation between warring nations, it is still disappointing to see Batman fail on subtlety and not give Aquaman his chance to talk Orm down. Likewise, Wonder Woman is annoyingly self-righteous when she urges Aquaman to turn his back on family and half his roots.

A Comic-Book Blog (ACB):

Speaking of the Reserves, I have to ask, if the League is so desperate they are calling in non-members, then why the heck is no one calling Flash? Green Lantern quit the team a while back, and Hal Jordan’s gone missing, but there hasn’t been a single reference to the Flash’s absence from this story. And sure, he’s probably just someplace else, stuck in Gorilla City or something. But if this is a situation worthy of calling in EVERYBODY, then why not insert a panel showing Cyborg failing to reach Barry? Seems odd, like they just forgot about him or something.

The Verdicts

Characters

Feature Characters

The Justice League

• Aquaman (Arthur Curry. He attacks Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman in a vain attempt to stop them starting a war with Atlantis. Captured by Orm and sentences to exile in the “Dark Waters”. Last indexed appearance is Aquaman (vol. 5) #15.)
• Batman (Attacked by Aquaman to keep him from King Orm.  Captured by Orm and sentences to exile in the “Dark Waters”. Last indexed appearance is Aquaman (vol. 5) #15.)
• Cyborg (Rescues Dr Stephen Shin from the Drift. The only Leaguer not captured. He summons the reserves. Last indexed appearance is Aquaman (vol. 5) #15.)
• Superman (Attacked by Aquaman to keep him from King Orm. Captured by Orm and sentences to exile in the “Dark Waters”. Last indexed appearance is Aquaman (vol. 5) #15.)
• Wonder woman (Attacked by Aquaman to keep her from King Orm. Captured by Orm and sentences to exile in the “Dark Waters”. Last indexed appearance is Aquaman (vol. 5) #15.)

Supporting Cast

Villains

• Atlantean Army (They final rise out of the water and attack Boston. Last indexed appearance is Aquaman (vol. 5) #15.)
• King Orm (Aquaman’s younger half-brother and the King of Atlantis. He believed Aquaman was the King of the Surface World, but still sentences him and the Justice League to the “Dark Waters” for opposing him. Last indexed appearance is Aquaman (vol. 5) #15.)
• Tula (A member of the Drift, Atlantis’ Elite guard. First and only indexed appearance.)

Other Characters

• Silas Stone (Cyborg’s dad. Cyborg asks him to install his new environmental mode. Last indexed appearance is Justice League (vol. 2) #15.)
• Stephen Shin (A marine-biologist and an expert on Atlantis. Saved from the Atlantean Drift by Cyborg. He is finally proved right in public about the existence of Atlantis. Last indexed appearance is Aquaman (vol. 5) #15.)
• Dr Thomas Morrow (He has built a weather controlling android based on technology recovered from the Monitor Machine. Last indexed appearance is Justice League (vol. 2) #6.)
• Vulko (A former adviser to Aquaman’s mother. Last indexed appearance is Aquaman (vol. 5) #15.)

Cameo Appearances

• Black Canary, Black Lightning, Element Woman, Firestorm, Goldrush, Green Arrow, Hawkman, Shazam, Vixen, and Zatanna (Contacted by Cyborg to help fill-in for the Justice League during the Atlantean assault upon Boston.)
• Post-Flashpoint) (Behind-the-scenes. Called a “misanthropic child” by Morrow. Apparently his Project: Metal Men is being shut down by the Military. Last indexed appearance is Justice League (vol. 2) #4.)

Annotations

Page 1. The statistics about the ocean match those quoted by the current NOAA (National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration) webpage, i.e. that 71% of the Earth’s surface is Ocean and that greater than 95% is unexplored.

Page 10. The female member of the Drifts is referred to as Tula. Aquaman (vol. 5) #18 establishes her as Orm’s advisor and chief lieutenant. She was the leader of the elite Drifts and was Orm’s half-sister. Tula and Arthur are both Orm’s half-siblings, Tula via his father and Arthur via his mother. In the old DCU Tula was the real name of Aquagirl, an occasional ally of Aquaman and Aqualad.

Page 13-14. In the old DCU Ocean Master obtained his Trident by selling his soul to a demon, no word of where it came from in the New 52 DCU.

Page 15. As an old JLA fan I can’t help thinking that this full-page splash is an homage to the cover of Justice League of America (vol. 1) #17 (Feb 1963) which shows the League being swept into a tornado caused by the Tornado Tyrant.

Page 18. There are a few call backs on this page to details in the STAR Labs Employee Dossier which was appended to Justice League (vol. 2) #4 (Feb 2012).

In the New DCU, Morrow was shown using the “Monitor Machine” to watch events on Earth-2 in The New 52 Special Edition #1 (June 2012). Earth 2 #7 (Feb 2013) showed Terry Sloan constructing a female version of the Red Tornado. This is presumably the technology that Morrow has been copying. In the old, DCU Dr Morrow was the creator of the android Red Tornado using technology he had copied from the future using a primitive time viewer.

The Dossier reveals that Will Magnus and Morrow were colleagues until an accident with Morrow’s experiment almost killed them both. That was five-years ago and Magnus had joined the US military to work on a “Project: Metal Men”.

Page 20. The heroes that the Justice League had been considering for membership:

• Green Arrow, Hawkman, and Firestorm all have their own titles.
• Black Canary appears in Birds of Prey and Team 7.
• Zatanna appears in Justice League Dark while Vixen had appeared in the now defunct Justice League International.
• Black Lightning appeared in an arc of DC Comics Presents along with Blue Devil.
• Element Woman is a character reintroduced during the Flashpoint event and was hinted at in New 52 publicity materials. However, this is the first time that she’s actually appeared in the New 52 DCU.
• Shazam is the star of this title’s backup feature. Interestingly his inclusion here means his origin must have happened long enough ago for him to make it onto a League watch list.
• Goldrush is a new character (I think).

Issue Credits

Writer

Geoff Johns

Penciller

Paul Pelletier

Inker

Art Thibert and Karl Kesel

Colourist

Rod Reis

Letterer

Nick J. Napolitano

Assistant Editor

Kate Kubert

Editor

Brain Cunningham and Pat McCallum

Cover Penciller

Eddy Barrows

Cover Inker

Eber Ferreira

Cover Colourist

Rod Reis

Variant Cover Penciller

Jim Lee

Variant Cover Inker

Scott Williams

Variant Cover Colourist

Alex Williams

Quotes

Harvey Bullock

Atlantis? I thought that was just a gimmick.

Aquaman

A gimmick?

Harvey Bullock

Mad Hatter ain’t from Wonderland is he?

Aquaman

They were aiming for you, not me. When I wrote those war plans I knew even before we met that you’d be a threat.

Batman

I’m flattered.

Synopsis “Throne of Atlantis Part Two” (22-pages)

Previously in Justice League (vol. 2) #15 (Feb 2013): A sabotaged missile test caused a barrage of US Navy missiles to blitz the sunken city of Atlantis. The Atlanteans believed the attack to be deliberate and counter-attacked with a massive tidal wave directed at Gotham, Boston, and Metropolis. Aquaman, who was already in Gotham conferring with Batman, recognised the tidal wave as the first phase of the Atlantean War Plans he co-wrote before he abdicated the Atlantean Throne.

Batman and Aquaman work over time to pull people from the water. Two of the last people to be rescued are Police Commissioner Gordon and Detective Bullock. Mera collapses from the strain as she uses her power to push back the water. Aquaman catches her, but she tells him that he must warn his colleagues in the League about the next phase of the War Plans. In Metropolis, Superman and Wonder Woman determine that the unconscious Vulko is an Atlantean. He throws Superman back after waking, but pauses at the point of Wonder Woman’s sword.

Batman gives Aquaman a lift in the Batplane as he quizzes him about the War Plans. Batman hits a nerve that causes Aquaman to shout “They are not my people.” However, their discussion is cut short by a long-range attack that destroys the Batplane. They escape, but Aquaman realises that the attack was directed at Batman and not him. Targeting key people was another part of the War Plans, the other man on that list was Dr Stephen Shin.

Aquaman is reunited with Vulko on the League’s Watchtower. Vulko warns Aquaman that somebody targeted Atlantis on purpose, but he doesn’t know who. Meanwhile, the creatures from the Trench, the cause of Aquaman being in Gotham in the first place, continue their ignored swarm towards the East Coast. In Boston, the first hostile Atlantean out of the water is Aquaman’s brother King Orm. Aquaman convinces the Justice League to let them talk, but Orm is under the impression that Aquaman is the King of the Surface world. Their conversation is cut short when the League moves in to arrest Orm. Aquaman then surprises them by grabbing Batman and appearing to side with Orm.

Continuity

• Aquaman’s brother loves the law to the extent that he abdicated the Throne in favour of him. Aquaman tried to be a good Atlantean, but in time the backlash against the “impure.. half-human surface dweller” forced him out.
• Atlanteans don’t have lungs in the conventional sense. It appears that they are all as strong as Aquaman.
• The Flash does not appear with the Justice League.

Commentary

Sketch Cover

This issue had two conventional covers — a normal one by Eddy Barrows, Eber Ferreira, and Rod Reis and a variant by the old art team of Jim Lee, Scott Williams, and Alex Sinclair. However, it also had a “sketch cover”. This is a cover which is white paper (except for the trade dress) and is intended for use in conventions so that fans can get a sketch from their favourite artists on their favourite comic book.

The Jim Lee variant covers for Justice League (vol. 2) #15 (Feb 2013) and this issue form a single image:

Sales

Opinion

Second Opinions

Jesse Schedeen (IGN):

With Ivan Reis jumping over to Justice league, Paul Pelletier steps up as the new Aquaman artist this month. It’s no easy feat to have to stand alongside Reis in your first issue, but Pelletier manages it. He shows a similar talent in blending big, epic action scenes with quieter character moments and dialogue-heavy scenes. [...] this is a terrific debut for an artist who looks poised for big things at DC.

Jennifer Cheng (CBR):

Aquaman’s allies fare worse in the foul weather. Superman, Wonder Woman and even Batman are annoyingly high-handed, bull-headed and two-dimensional in “Aquaman” #15. It is plain that there is a villain playing the Justice League and Atlantis like chess pieces, and with so many strategy-savvy, battle-worn heroes, it’s odd that there is only one superpowered voice of reason who can see the situation for what it is — an engineered misunderstanding between sovereign states or kingdoms.

Minhquan Nguyen (WCBR):

One thing I must call attention to in this issue is how much more comfortable Johns seems to be with these characters. Like magic, he suddenly has a grasp on the League and their dynamic in a way that he never had on any issue of Justice League, ever. Even Wonder Woman, clearly Johns’ weak point, sounds appropriately assertive, rather than wishy-washy or blithe. The best and most interesting scenes by far involve Batman and Aquaman, where they gravely discuss, not bicker, their next course of action. An unexpectedly cool combo.

The Verdicts

Characters

Feature Character

• Aquaman (Arthur Curry. Tells Batman that he co-wrote the Atlantean War Plans. He does not count himself as an Atlantean after they rejected him as their King. Darkseid and the founding of the Justice showed him that he had another place to go. Last indexed appearance is Justice League (vol. 2) #15. Next indexed appearance is Justice League (vol. 2) #16.)

Guest Stars

The Justice League

• Batman (He was included in the War Plans as a potential threat long before Aquaman ever met him. Last indexed appearance is Justice League (vol. 2) #15. Next indexed appearance is Justice League (vol. 2) #16.)
• Cyborg (Aquaman asks him to protect Stephen Shin. Last indexed appearance is Justice League (vol. 2) #15. Next indexed appearance is Justice League (vol. 2) #16.)
• Superman (Thrown back by Vulko. Last indexed appearance is Justice League (vol. 2) #15. Next indexed appearance is Justice League (vol. 2) #16.)
• Wonder woman (In Metropolis. Holds Vulko at the point of a sword. Last indexed appearance is Justice League (vol. 2) #15. Next indexed appearance is Justice League (vol. 2) #16.)

Supporting Cast

• Mera (Uses her powers to clear the water out of the Gotham streets. Last indexed appearance is Justice League (vol. 2) #15.)
• Stephen Shin (A marine-biologist. He was listed in the Atlantean War Plans as a person who needed to be dealt with early on. Aquaman asks Cyborg to find and protect him. First indexed appearance. Next indexed appearance is Justice League (vol. 2) #16.)
• Vulko (A former adviser to the previous Atlantean Queen, Aquaman’s mother. Last indexed appearance is Justice League (vol. 2) #15. Next indexed appearance is Justice League (vol. 2) #16.)

Villains

• Atlantean Naxy (Off screen. They destroy the Batplane with a long-range attack. First indexed appearance. Next indexed appearance is Justice League (vol. 2) #16.)
• King Orm (Aquaman’s younger half-brother and the King of Atlantis. Last indexed appearance is Justice League (vol. 2) #15. Next indexed appearance is Justice League (vol. 2) #16.)
• Trench (A race of aquatic flesh-eating monsters. Last indexed appearance is Justice League (vol. 2) #15.)

Other Characters

• Gotham City Police Department (Helped by Mera to recover bodies from the flooded streets. Last indexed appearance is Justice League (vol. 2) #15.)
• Harvey Bullock (Gotham City Police Detective First and only indexed appearance.)
• James Gordon (Gotham City Police Commissioner – Was at the Bat-Signal trying to alter Batman to the Scarecrow’s thugs (stopped in Justice League (vol. 2) #15 (Feb 2013)) when the wave hit. First and only indexed appearance.)
• Lois Lane (In Metropolis. Last indexed appearance is Justice League (vol. 2) #15.)

Cameo Appearances

• Barbara Gordon (James Gordon’s daughter, alias Batgirl. Unseen. Said by Batman to be clear of the Eastside at the time the tidal wave hit. Last indexed appearance is I, Vampire #7.)

Annotations

Page 1. The red-haired man who loses his glasses is Police Commissioner James Gordon; the over weight man in the trenchcoat is Detective Harvey Bullock. The Batsignal can be clearly seen. Given the usual height of the building with the signal on it, the wave that hits them must be over a hundred feet at least.

Page 3. Gordon name checks his daughter Barbara Gordon, alias Batgirl. The events surrounding Batman’s capture of the Scarecrow’s men, with Aquaman’s timely intervention, was shown in Justice League (vol. 2) #15 (Feb 2013).

Page 7. Atlanteans are shown not to have lungs in the conventional sense. They instead breathe via gills located on the sides of their necks (as show in Aquaman (vol. 5) #14 (Jan 2013)).

Page 11. Aquaman found Atlantis with Vulko’s help in Aquaman (vol. 5) #0 (Nov 2012). The battle with the Justice League and the formation of the Justice League was shown in the story arc “Justice League”.

Page 12. Dr Stephen Shin is a scientist who drives a lot of Aquaman’s backstory in the New 52. He is the leading surface expert on Atlantis even through he doesn’t know its actual location. He was was so ridiculed for his theories that he “outed” Arthur Curry as an Atlantean in an effort to prove that he was right. That set off a train of events that saw Aquaman’s father murdered, the creation of his feud with Black Manta, and his eventual flight from the surface world to Atlantis. Shin was one of the people consulted by David Graves for his book on Atlantis.

Page 13. Cyborg says that the Flash is “dealing with some kind of primal attack”. That refers to the events of “Gorilla Warfare” in Flash (vol. 5) #13-17 when the New 52 King (Gorilla) Grodd invades Central City to steal the Flash’s speed force energy. I wonder if that was a typo and it was meant to say a “primate attack”. Aquaman mentions the events of Aquaman (vol. 5) #0 (Nov 2012).

Page 16. The fishermen shown here are the same fishermen that first glimpsed the Atlantean tidal wave on page 10 of Justice League (vol. 2) #15 (Feb 2013).

Issue Credits

Writer

Geoff Johns

Penciller

Ivan Reis

Inker

Joe Prado

Colourist

Rod Reis

Letterer

Dave Sharpe

Assistant Editor

Kate Kubert

Editor

Brian Cunningham

Cover Penciller

Ivan Reis

Cover Inker

Joe Prado

Cover Colourist

Rod Reis

Variant Cover Artist

Billy Tucci (Cover B)

Variant Cover Colourist

Hi-Fi (Cover B) and Alex Williams (Cover C)

Variant Cover Penciller

Jim Lee (Cover C)

Variant Cover Inker

Scott Williams (Cover C)

Quotes

Superman

But as close as we are, Batman’s going for something different than I am. I’d rather good people trust me than bad people fear me.

Synopsis “Throne of Atlantis: Chapter One” (22-pages)

Previously in Aquaman (vol. 5) #14 (Jan 2013): Aquaman (Arthur) confronted his brother Orm, the King of Atlantis, over evidence that somebody from Atlantis had hired Black Manta to steal the Sceptre of the Dead King – a legendarily powerful artefact. Orm denied all knowledge of the theft and swore that he was not planning to attack the surface world. However, somebody has used the Sceptre to free the Trench, a hoard of flesh-eating aquatic humanoids which Aquaman had imprisoned.

The American Super Carrier USS Mabus is preparing to run a set of missile tests in the middle of the ocean. Everything appears to be going to plan until sirens tell the crew that someone gas taken control of the missiles’ countdown. The crew are bewildered as the missiles’ follow a trajectory towards the bottom of the ocean. Deep beneath the USS Mabus, Atlantean sentries look up to see the deadly barrage moments before is devastates their sunken city.

On the Watchtower, Cyborg receives a call from his father telling him that the USS Mabus has vanished. However, their conversation is cut short when an electrical surge knocks out the Watchtower’s computers. Cyborg reports the occurrence to Batman who is currently chasing the Scarecrow’s henchmen across Gotham City harbour. One of the masked gunmen almost gets the Batman in his sights, but he is shocked back as Aquaman erupts from the water. The police take the Scarecrow’s men into custody as Aquaman and Mera explain to Batman that they need his help. Fish are swimming away from the entire US North Atlantic coast, a sign that the Trench are about to attack.

Earlier in Smallville, Superman had brought Wonder Woman to the farm-house he once shared with his adoptive parents as Clark Kent. He explained how he used his secret identity to hide in plain sight. He then suggested that she gave it a go. Now in Metropolis, Clark Kent has taken the bespectacled “Diana” to an exclusive waterfront restaurant. She is amazed that nobody recognises her, but their meal is cut short by a massive tidal wave which is throwing the USS Mabus at Metropolis.

Superman and Wonder Woman catch the Super Carrier, but seem to be too late to stop Lois Lane – who is reporting on the situation with Jimmy Olsen — from being swept away by the water. Luckily Lois is pulled to safety by Vulko, an advisor to Aquaman, who leaps out of the water. He tells them that Aquaman must stop his brother and then collapses. In Gotham City, Aquaman and Mera recognise the tidal wave as the first strike in an Atlantean attack on America. Batman asks how they can be so sure. Aquaman then confesses that he was the one who wrote the invasion plans.

Continuity

• Wonder Woman can transform into her costume by twirling her lasso. The public do not recognise her when she wears glasses.
• Mera and Batman have met before.
• The Flash does not appear in this issue.

Commentary

Creator comments

Geoff Johns spoke to Comic Vine about working on an Aquaman focused Justice League story after having written Aquaman’s own title for a year:

Doing a Justice League story that focuses on Aquaman, we’re going to make it the biggest and best story we can possible can. We’re really delving into the character and what he means for the team and what the team means for him. Also how his presence on the team affects the team. The League should be tackling the biggest and most threatening things in the universe, in the world. One of those is going to be Atlantis. A threat from our own planet, a threat from a world below the ocean waters.

The team should be completely different if Aquaman is on the team. Without him they function a completely different way. Every character is vital like that. This is just the first chapter as we go into the second year of the New 52. This is the first chapter in what will hopefully be the building blocks of a really big epic run of what Ivan, Joe and I are trying to do on the book.

Comic Vine also spoke to Ivan Reis about leaving Aquaman and joining the Justice League:

CV: Overall, how do you feel about your work on AQUAMAN, and how do you feel about leaving the book?

IR: Without a doubt, Aquaman was the most gratifying work I’ve ever done. Drawing the book was my choice, and then I took it as a challenge. Then, having Geoff(Johns), Joe(Prado), Rod (Reis) and our awesome editor, Pat MacCallum, onboard was a true blessing. being able to work with such fine-tunned team, and share a passion for the job and for the challenge to make the book excel, made everyone gave their best. Leave the book really broke my heart, but we all knew it was time to move on, because we knew that our next challenge wouldn’t be so… ehr… easy, to say the least! I’m lucky that all the team followed me to Justice League!

CV: How much of a challenge is working on JUSTICE LEAGUE since you’re taking on a lot more characters, most of which are considered iconic?

IR: It’s a hell of a challenge! Take over after Jim(Lee) leaves the book! Damn! Him and Geoff kept the sales up for the book more than a year, and have to take over THAT responsibility is a LOT! to keep the same epic, iconic and energetic vibe… no easy task, I tell you! To make so many characters visually (and emotionally) different, on the same book, only makes it harder! But hey! I LOVE a challenge! Lol! I’m lucky because, I feel that I’m much more prepared and experienced now, and on top of that I have the whole crew backing me up on this!

Variant Covers

This issue featured a third cover along the usual cover and variant. The normal cover was by the new regular art team of Ivan Reis and Joe Prado while the third cover was by the old art team of Jim Lee and Scott Williams. The Reis/Prado cover was used by DC as their house advert for the “Throne of Atlantis”. It prominently features Shazam despite him not being present in the main story. The second cover was by Billy Tucci and featured the a highly stylised League trying to hold back a tsunami patterned after the woodblock print “The Great Wave off Kanagawa” by Katsushika Hokusai. The third cover formed an interlinking image with the variant cover if Aquaman (vol. 5) #15.

Sales

Opinion

My Thoughts

Other Opinions

Rob (Aquaman Shrine):

After over a year of underwhelming stories, I felt like this issue of Justice League is the first one to capitalize on the possibilities inherent in this book. Maybe I’m just biased because this storyline focuses so heavily on Aquaman–I was overjoyed to see Mera show up–but it seems to me that the art team of Reis/Prado/Reis really seems to bring something out in Johns that manifests itself in his scripts. There was no pointless posing this time around; everyone has something to do and the plot moves forward at a brisk clip.

David Pepose (Newsarama):

The art, meanwhile, is very strong, but is also missing something to really sell this concept as a whole. Ivan Reis’s Batman is a highlight, as his tiny white eyes are the only things that show from his shadowy, snarling face — it’s a surprising amount of showmanship from Reis, whose popularity comes mainly from creating a clean, platonic visual ideal for all these characters, sort of in the tradition of John Byrne or Alan Davis. He draws many of the quiet moments nicely, but does struggle with some of Wonder Woman’s emotional beats, underselling some moments that should have been particularly endearing.

Matthew Santori-Griffith (Comicosity):

Johns continues the increasing personalization of the League members since issue 12’s pivotal kiss between Superman and Wonder Woman, breathing much more complexity into every member than we had seen for most of the first year of the New 52. [...] I’m really enjoying seeing Batman and Aquaman play off each other — as they haven’t had much of a history together as a teamed-up duo even before the DC relaunch — but nothing was as amusing to me as Mera’s first words to Batman as she arrives. I literally laughed out loud at her saucy provocation. Add in Lois Lane’s first encounter with Superman’s new girlfriend and this issue is a fantastic round-up of personality and conflict, without a single punch having to be thrown.

The Verdicts

Characters

Feature Characters

The Justice League

• Aquaman (Arthur Curry. Approaches Batman about the threat of the Trench. Last indexed appearance is Aquaman (vol. 5) #14. Next indexed appearance is Aquaman (vol. 5) #15.)
• Batman (Bruce Wayne. Chasing Scarecrow’s crew. Last indexed appearance is Justice League (vol. 2) #14. Next indexed appearance is Aquaman (vol. 5) #15.)
• Cyborg (Victor Stone. Monitoring events from the Watchtower. Last indexed appearance is Justice League (vol. 2) #14. Next indexed appearance is Aquaman (vol. 5) #15.)
• Superman (Superman. Show Wonder Woman his secret identity. Last indexed appearance is Justice League (vol. 2) #14. Next indexed appearance is Aquaman (vol. 5) #15.)
• Wonder Woman (Diana. She discovers that Clark Kent’s act works for her as well. Last indexed appearance is Justice League (vol. 2) #14. Next indexed appearance is Aquaman (vol. 5) #15.)

Guest Stars

• Mera (Aquaman’s partner. Helping his against the Trench. She has met Batman before. Last appeared in Aquaman (vol. 5) #13. First indexed appearance. Next indexed appearance is Aquaman (vol. 5) #15.)

Villains

• King Orm (Aquaman’s brother, the King of Atlantis. Leading the Atlantean Army against America. Last indexed appearance is Aquaman (vol. 5) #14. Next indexed appearance is Aquaman (vol. 5) #15.)
• Trench (Humanoid flesh-eating aquatic monsters. Last indexed appearance is Aquaman (vol. 5) #14. Next indexed appearance is Aquaman (vol. 5) #15.)

Other Characters

• Atlantean Army (First and only indexed appearance.)
• Gotham PD (At the docks taking custody of Scarecrow’s men. First indexed appearance. Next indexed appearance is Aquaman (vol. 5) #15.)
• Jimmy Olsen (Daily Planet photographer. Last indexed appearance is Justice League (vol. 2) #9.)
• Lois Lane (Daily Planet reporter. See Wonder Woman and Superman together, Jimmy notes that she sound’s jealous. Last indexed appearance is Justice League (vol. 2) #9. Next indexed appearance is Aquaman (vol. 5) #15.)
• Silas Stone (Cyborg’s father. Last indexed appearance is Justice League International (vol. 3) Annual #1. Next indexed appearance is Justice League (vol. 2) #16.)
• Witness and daughter (Testifying against the Scarecrow. Rescued from his men by the Batman. First and only indexed appearance.)
• Captain and Crew of the USS Mabus (Sabotaged into firing upon Atlantis. First and only indexed appearance.)
• Vulko (An exiled Atlantean. He saves Lois Lane from the tidal wave. Last indexed appearance is Aquaman (vol. 5) #14. Next indexed appearance is Aquaman (vol. 5) #15.)

Cameo Appearances

• Admiral Corby (Behind-the-scenes. The Admiral who contacts Silas Stone. First and only indexed appearance.)
• Scarecrow (Behind-the-scenes. Batman stops his thugs from kidnapping a witness. Last appeared (was apprehended) in Batman: The Dark Knight (vol. 2) #15.  Last indexed appearance is Justice League (vol. 2) #10.)

Annotations

Page 2 – The aircraft carrier shown here is identified in dialogue on page 5 as the fictional USS Mabus. Named, one assumes, for the current (2012) US Secretary of Navy Raymond Mabus. The ship is later described as a Super Carrier, an unofficial designation that applies to the largest aircraft carriers like the Nimitz and Enterprise.

Page 3 – This set-up, a US missile test accidentally targeting Atlantis, is the same as the DCAU Superman episode “A Fish Story”.

Page 5 – Silas Stone, Cyborg’s father is contacting him on behalf of an “Admiral Corby” whose daughter is in danger. This is a reference to Eve Corby, the love interest of Fawcett Comics’ Spy Smasher, her father was an Admiral Corby.

Page 6 – The thugs work for “Professor Crane”, alias Jonathan Crane the Scarecrow. He last appeared in Batman: The Dark Knight (vol. 2) #10-15 which was writte by Greg Hurwitz and illustrated by David Finch, the artist soon to launch Justice League of America (vol. 3) with Geoff Johns. The reference to the Scarecrow is paid-off on the last page of this 5-part story when an unnamed mastermind notes that the Scarecrow will be the next recruit into a new supervillain new group.

Batman makes a point of saying that he’ll talk to Cyborg’s father. That might just be a general reference to Batman’s own father issues. However, it might also be that this story is set after Batman: Incorporated #8 which sees the death of Daiman Wayne, Batman’s own son.

Page 9 – Aquaman mentions an aquatic race of cannibalistic monsters, named the Trench after their origin in the deep ocean, who first appeared in the opening arc of his New 52 series. They were entombed by Aquaman in Aquaman (vol. 5) #4, but he discovered evidence that linked them to some form of ancient Atlantean recording device. Somebody tried to frustrate his investigation by sending Atlantean sub-soldiers to retrieve the device in Aquaman (vol. 5) #5.

Page 12 – Wonder Woman has been without a regular secret identity since the mid-1980s when it was jettisoned as part of the post-Crisis on Infinite Earths reboot. Before that time she regularly adopted the identity of Diana Prince, a Pentagon employee whose duties varied between secretarial to secret agent depending on state of feminism at time. For much of the time Diana Prince was Steve Trevor’s PA, a relationship that was used by the classic Linda Carter TV series.

Page 16 – Classic transformation sequence – Clark Kent pulling his shirt open; Wonder Woman twirling her lasso.

Page 22 – Aquaman recognises that his brother, King Orm, is using the war plans that he wrote. This parallels the plot of the animated Justice League episode “The Enemy Below Part One” which featured Orm (there a Prince) using Aquaman’s doomsday weapon to attack the surface world. That story also started the current interruption of Orm as a member of the Atlantean court before his betrayal/fall to become the Ocean Master.

The Facebook page for Young Justice: Legacy has posted the box-art for the upcoming video game (shown above). This has been the first post-Young Justice weekend after the season two finale so it’s nice to see that the (now) ironically titled Young Justice: Legacy video game is still moving forward.

Issue Credits

Writer

Geoff Johns

Penciller

Pete Woods and Pere Perez

Inker

Marlo Alquiza, Ruy Jose, Sean Parsons, Pere Perez, and Cam Smith

Colourist

Tony Avina

Letterer

Dezi Sienty

Assistant Editor

Kate Stewart

Associate Editor

Chris Conroy

Editor

Pat McCallum

Cover Penciller

Ivan Reis

Cover Inker

Joe Prado

Cover Colourist

Rod Reis

Quotes

King Orm

Arthur, I do not lie to you. I never have. You are by brother. If you suspect that I plan to attack the your surface world, just ask me.

Aquaman

Are you planning to attack the surface?

King Orm

Of course not.

Synopsis “Throne of Atlantis Prologue” (20-pages)

Previously in Aquaman (vol. 5):-

The last Queen of Atlantis had two sons – the elder Arthur (born to Thomas Curry, the surface man she truly loved) and the younger Orm (born as the result of an arranged marriage in Atlantis). Arthur discovered Atlantis through Vulko, an exile who had once served his mother and grandfather. King Orm then surrendered the Throne to his older half-brother, but Arthur could not settle in Atlantis or with the isolationist/aggressive ways of its people. He abdicated the Throne in favour of Orm and returned to the surface world.

Thomas Curry was killed by a treasure hunter that had been hired by Dr Stephen Shin, a scientist desperate to prove the existence of Atlantis. Arthur attempted to avenge himself on the treasure hunter, but unwittingly killed the man’s father. Arthur would become the superhero Aquaman while the treasure hunter’s son would become Black Manta, his most implacable foe. Arthur brought together a loose alliance of heroes called the “Others” to prevent Manta from stealing the six relics of the Dead King (the founder of Atlantis). However, it is as a member of another group — the Justice League — that he is more prominently known.

Recently, Aquaman prevented the Trench a tribe of flesh-eating deep-sea humanoids from raiding the surface world (Aquaman (vol. 5) #1-4). He entombed them in what appeared to be the remains of an ancient pre-cataclysm Atlantean craft and brought an artefact (the craft’s flight recorder) back to the surface. He then had to prevent a group of masked Atlantean sub-soldiers from stealing it (Aquaman (vol. 5) #5). Aquaman again clashed with Black Manta when the treasure hunter was hired to recover the powerful Sceptre of the Dead King (a seventh relic). Manta was captured, but the Sceptre made its way into unknown Atlantean hands (Aquaman (vol. 5) #7-12, 13). Aquaman must now discover who in Atlantis is moving against the surface world.

This Issue

In 1820, a square-sailed whaling ship called the Essex runs down and harpoons a blond-haired swimmer. The ship’s captain drags the swimmer on-board and shows the crew the man’s gills. The crew had earlier saved the swimmer’s wife, but they killed her after she refused to reward them “like a woman should”. The Captain kills the man, but the ship is suddenly surrounded by dozens of swimmers. They have unwittingly murdered the King and Queen of Atlantis.

In the present day, Black Manta has been transferred to Belle Reve Prison in Louisiana. One of the guards tries to offer him service on the Suicide Squad, but Manta attacks and kills him. Amanda Waller comes running, but he tells her “I’m not dying for you. I only die for Aquaman.” In Norway, the Atlantean exile Vulko is helping fishermen untangle their lines when a man comes running with news that the body of an Atlantean soldier has just washed up. Vulko declares “Something is very wrong” and then dives into the sea.

Aquaman – the murdered King’s great-grandson – sends a telepathic message via a group of fish requesting a meeting with Orm, his younger half-brother and the current King. Aquaman tells Orm about the sub-soldiers and Manta’s Atlantean master. Both events point to the involvement of somebody from Atlantis. The conversation between the brothers is formal, but Orm says he had no knowledge of the thefts. He also pointedly makes Aquaman ask him if he is planning an attack on the surface world just so he can reply in the negative.

Orm chose the wreck of the USS Essex as a meeting site as a reminder to Arthur of what the surface world did to their great-grandparents. He wants nothing to do with the surface world and wishes his brother “nothing but happiness”. In the deep ocean, whoever took the Sceptre of the Dead King uses its power to free the flesh-eating Tench monsters that Aquaman had fought so hard to bury.

Commentary

Sales

Opinion

My Thoughts

Other Opinions

David Pepose (Newsarama):

There are a number of other threads in this book that could be seen as superfluous, or at the very least saps this book of its energy and speed — the two qualities that, along with Johns and Ivan Reis’s star power, helped elevate Aquaman to a top slot month after month. That said, this prelude is just that — a prelude to something more. Where Johns succeeds in this book is to slowly build new histories between Aquaman and his greatest foes, and that victory, while a quiet one, may make bigger waves soon enough.

Shane Kildea (Following the Nerd):

One thing that I found quite mystifying was while Ocean Master is featured front and center on the cover in all his glory, in the issue itself any scene he was in, he was cast in the shadows. I can understand why Johns chose to do this and it was to create tension and a mystery surrounding the appearance of the character but it didn’t serve a purpose when he was portrayed so evidently on the cover, but this was a small gripe with an overall fantastic issue.

McKnight57 (Hyper Geeky):

Pete Woods and Pere Perez have replaced Ivan Reis as the interior penciller, and the change actually works rather well. The highest compliment I can pay an artist is that their work looks like it belongs on the pages. That’s exactly how I feel about Mr. Woods and Perez’ work. It looks and feels at home in the pages of Aquaman.

The Verdicts

Characters

Feature Character

• Aquaman (Arthur Curry. Questions his brother Orm on whether he was involved in the Atlantean incursions on the surface. Black Manta describes his skin as nearly bulletproof and his muscle density is ten times that of a normal person. Last indexed appearance is Justice League (vol. 2) #14. Next indexed appearance is Justice League (vol. 2) #15.)

Supporting Cast

• Vulko (A former adviser to the previous Atlantean Queen, Aquaman’s mother. Living in exile in Norway. Last indexed appearance is Justice League (vol. 2) #10. Next indexed appearance is Justice League (vol. 2) #15.)

Villains

• Black Manta (A treasure-hunter and murderer. Imprisoned in Belle Reve. Kills the guard who tries to recruit him into the Suicide Squad. Called “an alpha” by Waller. First and only indexed appearance.)
• King Orm (Aquaman’s younger half-brother and the King of Atlantis. Denied knowledge of recent Atlantean incursions on the surface. Declares his love for his brother. First indexed appearance. Next indexed appearance is Justice League (vol. 2) #15.)
• Trench (A race of aquatic flesh-eating monsters that had been entombed by Aquaman. Freed by the possessor of the Sceptre of the Dead King. First indexed appearance. Next indexed appearance is Justice League (vol. 2) #15.)

Other Characters

• Atlantean Woman (Tells Orm about Garth. First and only indexed appearance.)
• Amanda Waller (Director of the Suicide Squad. Called to Black Manta’s cell after he kills the guard who had tried to recruit him. Last indexed appearance is Justice League (vol. 2) #13.)
• Belle Reve Guard (Killed by Black Manta. First and only indexed appearance.)
• Kennit (One of the USS Essex sailors. Drowned after the Atlanteans sank the ship in 1820. First and only indexed appearance.)
• King of Atlantis (Killed by the crew of an American whaling ship in 1820. Aquaman and Ocean-Master’s great-grandfather. First and only indexed appearance.)
• Mark (A Norwegian fisherman whose knotted line is cut by Vulko. First and only indexed appearance.)
• Whaling Captain (Captain of the USS Essex. Killed the King and Queen of Atlantis in 1820. Drowned by the Atlantean guard. First and only indexed appearance.)

Cameo Appearances

• Garth (Behind-the-scenes. An Atlantean boy bullied because he has purple eyes. His case is brought to King Orm’s attention. First and only indexed appearance.)
• Queen of Atlantis (Behind-the-scenes. Killed by the crew of an American whaling ship in 1820. Aquaman and Ocean-Master’s great-grandmother. First and only indexed appearance.)

Annotations

Page 1-3. This sequence is set in 1820 and shows the murder of the King of Atlantis from that time by the captain of a Whaling ship. What is interesting is that the King is shown as blond-haired. As part of his 1990s Aquaman series Peter David had developed the concept of the Curse of Kordax – a blond haired monster from early Atlantean history. The Atlanteans were so superstitious that they left for dead any “cursed” infant born with blond-hair, like Aquaman. However, a presence of a blond ancestor here shows that the Curse doesn’t seem to exist Post-Flashpoint and that the Atlantean Royal bloodline is naturally blond-haired.

Page 4. Amnesty Bay is where the lighthouse operated by Aquaman’s father is located.

Page 5. King Orm and his attendant discuss a youth called Garth with purple eyes. This is the classic set-up of the original Aqualad who was a youth exiled from an Atlantean colony because of the people’s superstitions about his purple eyes. Aquaman found him in Adventure Comics #269 (Feb 1960) and adopted him as he sidekick.

Page 7. Black Manta uses the codeword “queimadura”, which is Portuguese for burn.

Page 10-11. The sunken ship was called the USS Esse-something. The last letter is concealed by a fish. It could be the Essen or the Essex. A USS prefix on a ship means that it’s a “United States Ship” which is a ship commissioned with the US Navy. The nearest contemporary USS Essex was captured by the British in 1814 and thereafter became the HMS Essex. However, the context would imply that this is more likely the DCU counterpart of the prefix-less Essex, a real whaling ship that was Captained by George Pollard. It sank in a famous incident in 1820 (the same year as the flashback) when the ship was hit by a sperm whale. There were survivors who told their story to a young Herman Melville who used it as the basis for his story Moby Dick.

Aquaman speaks of the events of Aquaman (vol. 5) #5 (Mar 2012) when he stopped Atlantean sub-soldiers from stealing an ancient Atlantean flight-recorder. Also of the events in “The Others”, Aquaman (vol. 5) #7-12 and #13, when Aquaman’s first team (a loose confederation of pre-Justice League adventurers) were targeted Black Manta. Years ago, they’d help Aquaman top Black Manta from stealing the artefacts of the Dead King. They each kept one of the artefacts, but Manta’s employer knew that there was a seventh relic — the Sceptre. Manta needed some of the existing relics to find the Sceptre so he attacked and killed several of the Others. That got Aquaman involved and ended with Manta’s capture.

Page 13. This is the new 52 Vulko. The original Vulko appeared in the pre-Flashpoint comics as a scientific adviser to Aquaman and an occasional politician/minister in the Atlantean court. In the post-Flashpoint comics he was an adviser to Aquaman’s mother, but fled Atlantis after her murder.

Vulko solves a problem of a complex knot by cutting it away before it causes more problems. A destructive act to pre-empt an assumed future problem. The symbolism of this will only become evident at the end of the “Throne of Atlantis” crossover.

Page 15. Orm says he went to the surface world twice, but he only describes the one time he visited Aquaman and asked him to take back the Atlantean Throne. The Atlantean throne is inherited along the direct line whether that is male or female, marriage does not seem to be an issue. Their mother was Queen in her own right so the crown passes to Aquaman in the first instance as the first-born and then to Orm as the second-born.

We haven’t seen the events of what happened when Aquaman took up the throne, but he was raised on the surface world by his father. He had no knowledge of Atlantis until he stumbled upon Vulko who led him back to Atlantis. Orm recognized his brother’s greater claim and appears to have willing relinquished the throne to him. However, Aquaman and his subjects were unhappy — we don’t yet know the details — so he abdicated and returned the crown to Orm.

Page 18. Another piece of symbolism as a smiling shark swims past as Aquaman watched Orm leave. Is Orm the shark, or is there a greater shark watching them both?

Page 19-20. The weapon in the third panel is the Dead King’s Sceptre. The creatures it releases are the flesh-eating Trench from Aquaman (vol. 5) #1-4.

Aquaman

There have been five on-going Aquaman series since his first Silver Age title plus with two solo-titled mini-series from the 1980s.

• Silver Age - 
  • Aquaman (vol. 1) – Silver/Bronze Age series. Starts 1962. Cancelled in 1971, but numbering is picked up for a 7-issue run in 1977-78.
• Post-Crisis –
  • Aquaman (1986 mini) – the one with the blue suit
  • Aquaman (1988 mini) – Mera leaves
  • Aquaman (vol. 2) – Starts 1991. Written by Shaun McLaughlin.
  • Aquaman (vol. 3) – Starts 1994. Written by Peter David, Erik Larsen, and Dan Jurgens.
  • Aquaman (vol. 4) – Starts 2003. Initially written by Rick Veitch; numbering continues into Aquaman: Sword of Atlantis written by Kurt Busiek.
• New 52 - 
  • Aquaman (vol. 5) – Starts 2011. Written by Geoff Johns.

Batman

This one is simple. (Detective Comics VOL 2. still wrankles, but seems to be set.)

• Golden/Silver Ages + Post- Crisis -
  • Detective Comics (vol. 1) and Batman (vol. 1) – Golden Age to present day. Begins 1940, ends with the pre-52 cancellation.
• New 52 -
  • Detective Comics (vol. 2) and Batman (vol. 2) – The New 52-versions. Written by Tony Daniel and Scott Synder respectively.

Flash

The Flash has several different naming conventions depending on whom is the current Flash. Jay appears in “Flash Comics”, Barry in “The Flash”, Wally is simply “Flash”. However, Wally’s title was renamed “The Flash” later in its run and subsequent titles have more or less stuck to that convention so I’m counting them as iterations.

• Golden Age -
  • Flash Comics – Golden Age Jay Garrick series. Ends in 1949.
• Silver Age -
  • The Flash (vol. 1) – Silver Age Barry Allen series. Picks up numbering from the Flash Comics series, ends with the Crisis on Infinite Earths in 1985.
• Post-Crisis -
  • The Flash (vol. 2) – The Wally West series. Runs from the Crisis until 2006. Famous for runs by Mark Waid and Geoff Johns. For much of its run there was no “The” before the Flash, but for the latter half of its run “The” was added back to the logo.
  • Flash: The Fastest Man Alive – Bart Allen series, ends with the Final Crisis.
  • The Flash (vol. 3) – Wally West and family. Continues numbering from Wally’s original series.
• Rebirth -
  • The Flash: Rebirth – 6-issue mini-series by Geoff Johns showing Barry Allen’s return to form.
  • The Flash (vol. 4) – Barry Allen, post-Final Crisis series. Runs up to Flashpoint.
• New 52 -
  • The Flash (vol. 5) – The New-52 version written by Brian Buccellato.

Green Arrow

Ollie’s been in lots of places and has often co-starred with other characters so it this gets a bit messy.

• Pre-Crisis - 
  • Green Arrow (1983 mini-series) – First solo book in nearly 50 years.
• Mike Grell era -
  • Green Arrow: The Longbow Hunters (1987 mini-series) – start of the Mike Grell era.
  • Green Arrow (vol. 1) – Begins in 1988, lasts until 1998. Sees transition to Connor Hawke.
• The “What the hell do we do with this character era”
  • Green Arrow (vol. 2) – Begins in 2001 with the Kevin Smith revamp, ends with the marriage event.
  • Green Arrow / Black Canary – Team-up series. Its numbering is carried over to…
  • Green Arrow (vol. 3) – Begins 2010, spins out of Blackest Night/Brightest Day.
• New 52 -
  • Green Arrow (vol. 4) – The New-52 version.

Green Lantern

A fairly simple run is made more confusing by name changes and team-ups.

• Golden Age -
  • Green Lantern (vol. 1) – Golden Age. Begins 1941, the adventures of Alan Scott.
• Silver Age -
  • Green Lantern (vol. 2) – Silver Age. Begins 1960, the adventures of Hal Jordan. #76-87, 89 list Green Arrow as a co-headliner. Numbering continues over to…
  • The Green Lantern Corps (vol. 1) – continues number from Green Lantern (vol. 2).
• Emerald Dawn / Kyle Rayner -
  • Green Lantern (vol. 3) – Begins 1990. Hal with the white-hair. Eventually becomes Kyle Rayner’s series.
• Rebirth Era -
  • Green Lantern: Rebirth – 2004-2005 mini-series, the resurrection of Hal Jordan. The beginning of the Geoff Johns era.
  • Green Lantern (vol. 4) – The Geoff Johns series. Leds up to Blackest Night and then resets with the New 52.
  • Green Lantern Corps (vol. 2) – Companion title to Green Lantern (vol. 4).
  • Green Lantern Emerald Warriors – Third regular GL title. Companion title to Green Lantern (vol. 4).
• The New 52 -
  • Green Lantern (vol. 5) – The New-52 version.
  • Green Lantern Corps (vol. 3) – The New-52 version. Companion title to Green Lantern (vol. 5).
  • Green Lantern New Guardians – New-52 era replacement for Emerald Warriors. Companion title to Green Lantern (vol. 5).

Justice League

The League gains and loses its suffix multiple times, but there is a fairly direct line.

• Silver Age -
  • Justice League of America (vol. 1) – The Silver Age, runs until the Legends cross-over. Replaced by Justice League (vol. 1)
• JLI Era -
  • Justice League (vol. 1) – The post-Legends League. Title changes to Justice League International (vol. 1) with issue #7
  • Justice League International (vol. 1) – Continues numbering from Justice League (vol. 1). Becomes Justice League America with issue #26. Finally cancelled to make way for JLA.
  • Justice League International (vol. 2) – Picks up numbering from Justice League Europe. Cancelled to make way for JLA.
• The Big Seven -
  • JLA – The Grant Morrison era. Cancelled with the Infinite Crisis.
• Post-Infinite Crisis -
  • Justice League of America (vol. 2) – Launches with Brad Meltzer. Then written by Dwayne McDuffie and James Robinson. Cancelled with the Flashpoint event.
• The New 52 -
  • Justice League (vol. 2) – The New-52 version of the League launched by Geoff Johns and Jim Lee.
  • Justice League International (vol. 3) – The New-52 version. Written by Dan Jurgens. Cancelled after 12-issues.
  • Justice League of America (vol. 3) – The New-52 version. Launched by Geoff Johns and David Finch.

Superman

Almost as simple as Batman.

• Golden/Silver Ages -
  • Action Comics (vol. 1) – Golden Age. Begins 1938, continues until 2011. Briefly Action Comics Weekly.
  • Superman (vol. 1) — Launched in the Golden Age renamed Adventures of Superman the 1980s. Reverts to its original name after the Infinite Crisis. Cancelled with the Flashpoint.
• Post-Crisis -
  • Superman (vol. 2) – Launched in 1986 with the John Byrne reboot. Cancelled prior to the Infinite Crisis.
• New 52 -
  • Action Comics (vol. 2) – The New-52 version, launched with Grant Morrison and Rags Morales.
  • Superman (vol. 3) – The New-52 version, launched by George Perez.

Wonder Woman

Some oddities with the number during the third run.

• Golden/Silver Ages -
  • Wonder Woman (vol. 1) – Launches in the Golden Age runs until 1986.
• Post-Crisis -
  • Wonder Woman (vol. 2) – The George Perez and co. reboot. Runs until the Infinite Crisis in 2006.
  • Wonder Woman (vol. 3) – Starts over with new numbering, but eventually reverts to a continuation of numbering from Vol 1 + Vol. 2. Cancelled with the Flashpoint.
• New 52 - 
  • Wonder Woman (vol. 4) – The New-52 version.

Ain’t It Cool’s John Ary recently posted a video to YouTube with the title “Why Christian Bale is Bad for the Justice League”. This is a response to the rumour going around Warner Brothers is trying to get Chris Nolan to godfather the drifting Justice League movie.

Nolan I can see coming aboard in some Producer level capacity, but we’ll have to see whether that includes the rest of his entourage. Attached to that rumour is that Nolan would try to get Bale back again as Batman. Ary does a good job in undercutting that idea and I can’t say I disagree with anything he says.

I’m still surprised by the amount of c**p that I’ve accumulated over the years (I’ve got enough random computer cables to rewire Norad).

I’m also coming across stuff like this:

I’ve obviously drawn it and it’s a map of some kind, but it took me ages to figure out what it was of.

It’s a map to the first level of the Ocean’s Batman: The Movie on the ZX Spectrum — the opening attack on ACE Chemicals. The red line must be the path the Batman takes. The green line is where Jack plunges into the vat of acid to become the Joker. Did anybody else ever do this as a kid, draw maps of computer game levels?

Ya know the really scary thing? That map is 24-years old. Which means that next year will be the 25th anniversary of Tim Burton and Michael Keaton’s Batman movie!  Strewth, that will be a third of the the character’s entire history. An equivalent amount of time before 1989 was 1964, the year that Julius Schwartz took over the Batman franchise and started the drive which eventually brought him back into the shadows.

If anybody needs me I’ll be in my rocking chair on the front porch.

Issue Credits

Writer

Greg Weisman

Artist

Luciano Vecchio

Colourist

Zac Atkinson

Letterer

Dezi Sienty

Editor

Sarah Gaydos

Cover Artist

Christopher Jones

Cover Colourist

Zac Atkinson

Quotes

Nightwing

Gorillas, man, those were the days… All aster, no dis. We didn’t know how good we had it.

Synopsis “Gorilla Warfare” (20-pages)

Previously in Young Justice (vol. 2) #18 (Sept 2012): Batman’s analysis of the Team’s encounter with the Brain (“Alpha Male”) led him to conclude that the mastermind also had a laboratory concealed in the African jungle. The Team was dispatched to shut it down. They discovered that the Brain was specialized in the augmentation of gorillas and had turned the local gorilla troop into his own ape militia. They were able to easily ambush and capture the all of the Team except for Miss Martian who the gorillas deliberately concealed from the Brain.

Sept 27 - Miss Martian finds herself surrounded by gorillas, the largest one them calls himself Grodd and demands that she help them. Another of the apes introduces himself as Solovar and reveals that he is the troop’s Alpha, its leader. He apologies for Grodd’s manner and begins to explain that their problems began with the arrival two years ago of an old female and a younger male human. They experimented on a gorilla called Mallah turning him into a genius and their loyal assistant. They then transplanted the woman’s brain into a gorilla body (the Ultra-Humanite) and the male’s brain into a life support jar (the Brain). The villains captured the rest of the local troop and set up a research post called “Gorilla City”.

Solovar’s group were physically augmented by the Kobra-Venom while the Brain’s experiments boosted their intelligence. However, the Brain does not know just how intelligent his gorillas have become or that his experiments have also given them telepathy. They cannot fight against him as he holds their infant children hostage. Miss Martian is appalled and readily agrees to help them lead a “Revolution”. She uses her shape shifting to incapacitate the guards and takes the babies to the female Gorillas while Grodd makes a display of turning Wolf over to the Brain. Robin’s uncoordinated escape threatens to disrupt their plans, but Solovar quickly improvises and arrives with the “captive” Miss Martian. She quickly brings the Team up to speed telepathically.

The Team then collaborates with Solovar’s gorillas to quickly rout the Brain’s forces. However, the Brain refuses to be captured and blows up Gorilla City to cover his escape. The male gorillas are finally reunited with their mates and children. The troops protector, the golden gorilla Congorilla sees that they are well and then departs to allow them to find their own destiny. Gorilla Grodd ponders that a new age is beginning for them (one he seems intent on controlling) while Solovar muses that they might even build their own peaceful Gorilla City.

Sept 27, 5 years later – Nightwing (Dick Grayson’s latter persona) looks back on the Gorilla City adventure and remembers it as a more innocent time.

Continuity

• This issue took place on the 27th of September of Team Year Zero, four days after the Team’s mission to Northern India in “Alpha Male” and six days before “Revelations”.
• Nightwing’s appearance talks place on the 27th of September of Team Year Year Five, some three months before the start of Young Justice: Invasion.

Commentary

Sales

Opinion

My Thoughts

The Verdicts

Characters

Feature Characters

The Team

• Aqualad (Kaldur’ahm.  Last indexed appearance is Young Justice (vol. 2) #18. Next indexed appearance is Young Justice 1x14 "Revelations".)
• Artemis (Artemis Crock.  Last indexed appearance is Young Justice (vol. 2) #18. Next indexed appearance is Young Justice 1x14 "Revelations".)
• Kid Flash (Wally West. Last indexed appearance is Young Justice (vol. 2) #18. Next indexed appearance is Young Justice 1x14 "Revelations".)
• Miss Martian (Megan Morse. She helps lead a gorilla revolution. Grodd comments that she is the power powerful of her troop.  Last indexed appearance is Young Justice (vol. 2) #18. Next indexed appearance is Young Justice 1x14 "Revelations".)
• Robin (Dick Grayson. Last indexed appearance is Young Justice (vol. 2) #18. Next indexed appearance is Young Justice 1x14 "Revelations".)
• Superboy (Last indexed appearance is Young Justice (vol. 2) #18. Next indexed appearance is Young Justice 1x14 "Revelations".)

Supporting Cast

• Wolf (Last indexed appearance is Young Justice (vol. 2) #18. Next indexed appearance is Young Justice 1x14 "Revelations".)

Villains

• Brain (Was a black-haired “thin man” before Mallah and the Ultra-Humanite put his brain in jar. He wanted “complete freedom from distractions of the physical”.  Last indexed appearance is Young Justice (vol. 2) #18. Next indexed appearance is Young Justice 1x14 "Revelations".)
• Monsieur Mallah (Plus a flashback to the Brain and Ultra-Humanite giving him genius intellect.  Last indexed appearance is Young Justice (vol. 2) #18. Next indexed appearance is Young Justice 1x19 "Misplaced".)
• Ultra-Humanite (Also shown in flashback as an aged Delores Winter having “his” brain transplanted into Tolifhar’s body.  Last indexed appearance is Young Justice (vol. 2) #18. Next indexed appearance is Young Justice 1x14 "Revelations".)

Other Characters

• Boka (Solovar’s mate. First and only indexed appearance.).
• Gorilla Grodd (A giant telepathic gorilla. He wants to lead the revolution violently, but Solovar tempers him. Last indexed appearance is Young Justice (vol. 2) #18.)
• Primat (Grodd’s mate. First and only indexed appearance.)
• Solovar (The Alpha, the leader, of the troop of gorillas augmented by the Brain.  Last indexed appearance is Young Justice (vol. 2) #18.)

Cameo Appearances

• Tolifhar (The albino gorilla whose body is stolen by the Ultra-Humanite. First and only indexed appearance.)
• Kamau, Nnamdi, Nzame, Simeon, Toto, and Ulgo (The baby gorillas rescued by Miss Martian.)
• Djuba and Malavar (Two gorilla’s referenced by Solovar.)

Annotations

Page 2. Gorilla Grodd is an old foe of the Flash who first appeared in the Flash #106 (April-May 1959). He was an intelligent talking gorilla, a criminal from a society of peaceful intelligent gorillas. This people lived in Gorilla City, a secret futuristic city hidden in Africa. They had been a troop of normal gorillas until the rays from a strange meteorite gave them genius intellects. The Flash (Barry Allen) fought Grodd when he came to the human world and through his adventures he discovered the location of Gorilla City. The portrayal of Grodd has waxed-and-waned over the years with him either being portrayed as a classic evil genius or a semi-intelligent cannibalistic brute.

Page 3. Three more gorillas are shown here. Solovar appeared in the same issue as Gorilla Grodd. In their first appearance, Solovar was the leader of Gorilla City until he is captured by humans who did not realize he was intelligent. They shipped him back to Central City Zoo, but Grodd – Solovar’s political rival – wanted to make sure Solovar didn’t return. So Grodd followed Solovar, but that just brought them both into contract with the Flash. Hereafter, Solovar becomes a good friend of Barry Allen while Grodd becomes one of his most dangerous opponents.

The other two apes mentioned her are Boka and Primat. Boka first appeared in Flash #127 as a female gorilla who was about to marry Solovar. Grodd also loved Boka so he created a machine to make himself paranormally charismatic – he even becomes a hit in Central City – but, ultimately he’s stopped by the Flash. The second female, Primat, is one of DC’s stranger gorillas. She first appeared in Kurt Busiek’s Trinity series, as a gorilla who was obsessed with trashy (human) romantic novels. The bad guys turned her into a romance themed thief — a gorilla in a corset — and set her against Nightwing and Robin.

Page 4. The Ultra-Humanite was one of Superman’s older foes and first appeared in Action Comics #13 (June 1939). He was the prototypical mad-scientist until he was superseded in that role by the more famous Lex Luthor. The Humanite is now most famous for how in escaped death in Action Comics #20 (Jan 1940) by having his brain transplanted into the body of a young movie starlet called Delores Winter. She’s the “old woman” shown at the top of this page. Years later, in the 1960s, the Humanite had his brain moved again, but this time into the body of a large-albino ape. On this form that he is probably best known as an enemy of the Justice Society. That operation is shown here. Here the albino gorilla is given the name Tolifhar, the same name as a white Gorilla Knight who first appeared in Wonder Woman #14 (Jan 2008).

Page 5. Here we see the origin of the Brain as Mallah and the Ultra-Humanite transplant his brain into its life-support system. The Brain first appeared in Doom Patrol #86 (May 1964) and was a rival of the Doom Patrol’s Niles Caulder (their Professor X). Caulder deliberately created an accident that resulted in the death of the Brain’s http://league.jmkprime.org/?post_type=index&p=14521&preview=truehttp://league.jmkprime.org/wp-admin/post.php?post=14521&action=edit&message=10body. Only his brain survived. The Young Justice origin changes this quite heavily — or at least we only hear part of the story — and instead we have the Brain voluntarily giving up his body so he can be a creature of pure thought.

Page 7. Grodd alludes to Miss Martian being the most powerful of her group, possibly referring to the telepathic powers that she unleashes in “Failsafe”.

Page 11. The named Gorilla babies are:

• Nnamdi is Solovar’s child. He first appeared in the Flash (vol. 2) #194 (March 2003) and took over the leadership of Gorilla City after his father was assassinated. That same plot line also introduced Ulgo (who was Nnamdi’s cousin and the one responsible for Solovar’s assassination) and Kamau (one of Nnamdi’s friends).
• Simeon is named for Sam Simeson, Grodd’s grandson who works as cartoonist in the DC Universe. He first appeared in Showcase #77 (Sept 1968) and was one half of Angel and the Ape – a strange detective strip.
• Toto was a very famous real work female gorilla who ended up in Barnum and Bailey’s Circus as the mate of Gargantua. In the comics, Toto is more famous as the original name of Titano, the King Kong like ape that fought Superman.
• Nzame was an albino baby gorilla seen in Justice League of America (vol. 2) #9 (July 2007). It was implied that Nzame would one day become the Ultra-Humanite’s next body.

Page 16. Solovar references two gorilla’s called Malavar (named for a Gorilla City scientist from James Robinson’s run on Justice League of America) and Djuba (the sidekick of B’wana Beast).

Page 19. He’s been referenced several times through this story, the Holy One is the Golden Gorilla, the Congorilla. He first appeared in Action Comics #248 (Jan 1959) when an existing adventure character called Congo Bill, whose feature had been running for almost 20-years already, found out how to exchange bodies with a mystical golden gorilla. Congorilla/Bill would eventually join the Justice League!

Best case in point is the tape I just tested. My VCR was finished so I needed a new one. I knew they’d be hard to find, but I didn’t realise how hard. I eventually found a 10 dollar second-hand one at a local cash generators. The lady behind the counter says that second-hand VCRs fly off their shelves. There is no profit margin on them, but they sell quickly. I assume that’s because, like me, people only want a cheap one to view a couple of legacy tapes.

So I got this VCR home and I plugged it in. I then rummaged for the first tape out of the cupboard. Would you believe it, it only happens to be an off air recording of the Justice League pilot from the 1990s. (I must do a post on that sometime. The VHS/PC capture gadget is on its way. )

The roulette part was the stuff around the JLA pilot. There was twenty seconds of Star Trek: The Next Generation’s “Yesterday’s Enterprise” – which it had obviously been taped over – and after it was the second half of a gangster flick (of which I remember the first half being the interesting part). There was also a complete episode of something called Disinfo Nation featuring a drunk Grant Morrison shouting at a convention. A version of that with Spanish subtitles is available on YouTube -

Then finally there was an episode of WWF Heat (I’m blaming this one on my little brother) featuring a guest appearance by Samuel L Jackson as Shaft!?! That must date this to circa 2000, which ties in with Morrison talking about the end of the Invisibles in his interview.

This is something we just won’t have with digital video recorders. They’ll give us perfect reproductions of our shows, but space is limited so we’ll never allow the backlog of random detritus to build up. I wonder how much more TV from the 1980s and 1990s will be preserved due to VHS relics than stuff from later decades.