I’m running down the events of 52 that eventually led to the revelation of the central mystery of the series. So far I’ve covered the disappearance of the evil geniuses and the death of Booster Gold. A slight interlude this time with a look at the wannabe Justice League from Week #24 – this is after all a JLA themed blog/website.
The real Justice League had fallen apart before the events of INFINITE CRISIS. Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman were without their costumed identities and the Martian Manhunter, the usual heart of the League, was undercover in Washington trying to eliminate the last remnant of Maxwell Lord’s Checkmate. Elsewhere in the political system, Lorraine Reilly, the superheroine Firehawk and the first Firestorm’s sometime partner, is campaigning for election to the US Senate – to the seat formerly held by her late father. She needs a boost in the polls and thinks that organizing a replacement Justice League will give her a suitable PR boost.
Her four recruits are:
Jason Rusch, the second Firestorm. Together they had been part of Donna Troy and Alan Scott’s taskforce during INFINITE CRISIS and Lorraine’s actions had allowed/caused the death of Jason’s best friend. So he’s wasn’t particularly favourable to her, but a chance to join the Justice League was too big a opportunity to pass up.
The Bulleteer is Alix Horrower. She and her scientist husband Lance appeared to be a perfectly normal couple until Lance’s superhero fetish led to a bizarre accident that killed him and cursed Alix with an indestructible metal skin. She never wanted to be a superhero, but couldn’t kill herself and became involved with the sleezer side of the cape set more by accident that designed. She turned out to be the invaluable Seventh Solider, but her brief time with the JLA can only be described as passive.
Saganwohna, the Super-Chief, is an ancestral Iroquois hero who receives his powers from a Sky Stone, a superpower bestowing meteorite that the Super-Chiefs’ believe was sent to them by the great Manitou Spirit. It was passed down from father-to-son for protection and it passed to Jon Standing Bear on the day his father died (52 Week #22). Jon smothered his grandfather in his sleep and then took the Sky Stone for himself. Like many people he wanted to be a superhero and saw the stone as a quick route to the power he needed.
The last member of Firehawk’s Justice League is Ambush Bug. A man who may or may not be called Irwin Schwab. He is either delusion or he has the best grasp of the meta-reality of anybody in the DC Universe.
Firehawk and Firestorm (Week #24)
Their first case is to investigate a seemingly random temporal anomaly that was spewing legions of bloodthursty pirates and cyborgs onto the streets of Metropolis. However, this group of C-list heroes rapidly loses control of the situation when all the D-list wannabe heroes from Lex Luthor’s Everyman project descended on the riot.
The Evil Skeets had been behind the anomaly. Following Booster Gold’s death he had been acting increasingly erratic. He had sealed Booster’s ancestor inside Rip Hunter’s lab to protect his own secrets. The Metropolis anomaly was bait in a trap to draw out Rip Hunter, but his failure to show forces Skeets to up the ante. He unleashes a surprising arsnel against the spectators and decimates the heroes. Among those his kills are the young Super-Chief.
Skeet's unleashed (Week #24)
Checkmate had just been signed out of existence by the US President – J’onn J’onzz’s final victory against them – but it is immediately resurrected by the United Nations as an international meta-human watchdog in response to the riot in Metropolis.
Firehawk’s JLA was disbanded following Skeet’s attack and never reformed. She and Firehawk would continue working together and he would eventually become a member of the proper JLA when Lex Luthor’s Injustice League included him in their list of heroes to target. Bulleteer has appeared from time-to-time in collation of heroes. Ambush Bug is still waiting for Keith Giffin to finish his mini-series.
Next time – back to the 52, Skeet’s hunt intensifies
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