And I’m just tired to death of those storylines, and I never wanted to do another one of them. Dark Phoenix, dark this, Dark Green Lantern who destroys an entire town on a tantrum one day, and now he’s a good guy again, and Dark Obsidian, which I guess is a redundancy. It’s just too many dark, dark versions and evil versions of these characters.

So I talked it over with the “Great Carlini,” [editor] Mike Carlin, and he said, “you know, I can understand that. Twelve issues is a good run, so if this is the time to wrap it up, wrap it up.” And so I did. We mutually decided that it was an appropriate moment to leave and that’s the way it felt.

It’s a real pity as this looks like a case of two books and two writers that had very long-term story plans – which starting at about the same time – but those plans just didn’t synchronise. It’s a pity that editorial couldn’t apply some of that synchronisation they are focusing on the Green Lantern and Flash franchises on the JLA/JSA franchise.

Gog I (Hypertime duplicate of Earth-22)

The disastrous events on Earth-22 were felt throughout the Multiverse. One potential future of Earth-22, beyond even the events of Kingdom Come, saw one of the few survivors of the Kansas Holocaust grow up to become Superman’s most devoted disciple. Minister William worshipped Superman as a saviour. He helped people in hospital, schooled them, and took on the duties of any good pastor. His faith was driven by the belief that Superman was a god who had sent the Kansas tragedy to test the world and to redeem it. William believed he was special because Superman had “spared him” from the tragedy. In a manner it was William’s way of dealing with the horrors he had seen and to try to give a meaning to the senseless deaths around him.

Eventually Clark Kent (who had left behind the Superman costume) was forced to explain to William that he wasn’t a god and that he really should do something else with his life. Matthew’s philosophy was shattered. He torched his church and stumbled through the streets asking people, begging people “Tell me what to  believe!” He was found by the Phantom Stranger who delivered a scroll from a council of cosmic beings called the Quintessence (Ganthet, Zeus, Shazam, and Highfather). The Quintessence gave him power and knowledge of time travel so that he could precipitate the Kansas Holocaust early thus allowing them to manipulate the course of history on Earth-22.

The power unhinged Matthew’s  mind and transformed him into the a demigod monster called Gog. He  murdered the Clark Kent that had just spoken to him and then travelled back in time to the previous day and killed him all over again. He repeat the process day and after day as he slowly worked his way back through time killing Supermen as he went (New Years Evil: Gog #1). Gog’s actions of killing younger and younger versions of Clark Kent should have ripped the time-line apart, but it exposed the existence of something previously unknown to the Linear Men (the guardians of Linear Time). A phenomena called Hypertime that allowed for the existence of multiple, contradictory realities. In essence Gog was jumping between a ladder of universes that were almost identical to Earth-22.

Gog rampaged across Hypertime killing consecutively earlier and earlier Supermen until he reached the Kingdom Come era of Earth-22 and discovered that this Superman had a child by Wonder Woman. Gog kidnapped the child and journeyed to Earth-0 where he hoped to recreate the Kansas Holocaust by killing Captain Atom. It took the joint efforts of the Supermen, Wonder Women and Batmen from both Earth-0 and Earth-22 with the help of Rip Hunter and the grown Jonathan Kent II (the kidnapped child) to stop Gog (The Kingdom #1-2).  Today the events of Gog’s rampage, and even his existence, appears to have been forgotten. The Infinite Crisis reordered the Multiverse and while Earth-22 still exists the Crisis did erased the duplicate Earth-22s whose Supermen Gog had killed.

Gog II (Earth-0, pre-Infinite Crisis)

A second Gog, this time one native to Earth-0 (the foundation Earth), was also the survivor of a tragedy in Kansas. But, this Gog was one of the survivors of the destruction of Topeka during the opening stages of the Imperiex War. He was saved by Superman who said he’d find the boy’s parents, but they were already dead. In the chaos and confusion it was the boy who found their bodies. The knowledge of his saviour and his inability to save his parents would haunt the boy for the rest of his life (Action Comics #813). As an adult he devoted his life to the study of time travel with the intention of saving the rest of his family who had been killed during the Imperiex War. It took him over thirty years, but he eventually discovered a method of time travel.

Cruelly he found that his method would only take him back a short distance in time, not even far enough back to save his parents. He made thousands of attempts over the next two hundred years, but all resulted in failure. Eventually his motivation changed from idolisation of Superman into hatred for his inability to save his parents. In search of revenge he rewrote his own history, imprinting on his child self a new compulsion – kill Superman! (Action Comics #825).

This Gog, or another version of him, appeared in Smallville to ambush Superboy (Conner Kent, a teenage clone of Superman) and his Teen Titan friends in a feint to draw Superman’s attention. Their battle tore through the historic centre of the town with Superman and Superboy drawing Gog’s fire while Kid Flash and Wonder Girl got the civilians to safety. Gog’s teleporting kept Superman and Superboy off-balance and they both took a pounding. Gog cut Superman with his trident and injected liquefied kryptonite into the wound. He then beat Superman until he believed he was dead and then vanished (Action Comics #815-816).

Next Gog recruited a mild-mannered repo-man called Jesse and turned him into a monster which fought the slowly weakening Superman (Action Comics #822-823). The Kryptonite poison caused Superman to become weaker and weaker. After fighting the Kandorian zealot Preus (another of Gog’s lieutenants) Superman was exhausted, but he was confronted by a legion of duplicated Gogs. The future Gog had used his time travel expertise to duplicate himself into an army (Action Comics #824).

Superman’s saviour that day came in the unlikely form of the monster that had once saved him. Doomsday, newly sentient, refused to allow anybody else to kill Superman and waded into Gog’s legions. Even after Gog appeared to capture Superman Doomsday remained in the field. It was inspired by Superman’s courage to mend its ways and to adopt Superman’s colours. Doomsday’s League of Superman battled the Army of Gogs in a single battle that ranged for a century. The prime Gog eventually grew weary and withdrew from the battle to amused himself by torturing his captive Superman. However, even that grew tiresome after two centuries.

Superman and Gog grew old together. For five hundred years the two white-haired enemies were locked in a seemingly eternal game of resolve – the shackled Superman and the inquisitional Gog. With his last breadth Superman shamed Gog and dispelled his hatred. A moment later Doomsday breached Gog’s defences. He could have killed Gog, but the old man convinced him that together they could undo the future they had created. They travelled back in time and undid the actions of their past selves, nullifying their own existence as history was over written (Action Comics #825).

Gog III (William Matthews, Earth-0, post-Infinite Crisis)

The history of Earth-0 healed itself and erased the multiple paradoxes created by the many Gog and Doomsday time duplicates. A Gog still existed, but he only had fractured memories of what had gone before.

The new Gog was William Matthews, an American missionary to Zaire who disappeared for several years after discovering an ancient temple buried deep in the Congo. Inside it he found the remains of the true Gog (a dormant Old God from the Third World which had come before New Gods’ Fourth World) Matthew’s took Gog’s name and staff and sought to kill the false gods who claimed to protect the Earth. Through Gog’s power Matthews glimpsed the Kansas Tragedy of Earth-22 and believed that only Gog could prevent it.  He claimed “I believe that the unification of good and evil will lead to the future. ” and sought to pave the way for the true Gog’s emergence. He used his new superpowers to attacked Superman before vanishing again (a retcon of the Action Comics plotline)

After being driven away by Superman Matthews began hunting super criminals who claimed to be gods or demigods. His murder of the Teen Titan’s villain Goth caught the attention of the new JSA. Starman tried to put out the fire caused by Goth’s death by creating a miniature black hole. In doing so he accidentally created a wormhole between Brooklyn on Earth-0 and the instability created by the explosion on Earth-22 that had killed the majority of its superhumans. The Superman of Earth-22 was pulled through the wormhole and arrived on Earth-0 without any knowledge of how the war on his Earth had ended (Justice Society of America (vol. 2) #9).

The Earth-22 Superman saw the JSA’s world as a Heaven where their efforts to reach out to the younger superheroes was in stark contrast to his own actions on Earth-22. He believed his world had been destroyed and tried to make a place for himself with the JSA (Justice Society of America (vol. 2) #10). Mister America was brought in by the FBI to investigate Gog’s murders. The media had called him the “Heartbreak Slayer”, but Mister America eventually discovered the name of the real killer. The Earth-22 Superman instantly recognised the similarity of the name with his own Magog. His suspicions were confirmed when he and the Earth-0 Superman saved Hercules from Gog’s attack (Justice Society of America (vol. 2) #13).

The Earth-22 Superman and the JSA tracked Matthews/Gog to the Congo, but he attacked them in their headquarters before they could mobilise. The JSA fought the crazed Matthews back to the Gog Temple in the Congo. They watched as Matthews dissolved into energy and was absorbed by a giant Gog head.

Seconds later the head came to life and ripped itself and its body out of the ground. The now awake golden giant told the stunned JSA “People of Earth. I come in pease.” (Justice Society of America vol. 2 #10-15, “Thy Kindgom Come”).

Each of the three human Gogs were driven to an almost insane hatred of Superman by the power they possessed. Yet none of them except Matthew Williams even suspected the true origins of the their name or knew of the entity that had inspired them.

Next: The true Gog.

Quotes

Miss Martian: I don’t think I’ll live much longer. But I’ll keep speaking to you until I die.

Starman speaking through Miss Martian: I see a room within a room. Floor, ceiling, four walls… and five sides. Five sides. I see a deadly dancing French girl. I hear the roar of canons, but what I see is dogs on fire. It’s autumn in Geneva. Funny little men with fierce eyes. Light dances before me, shades of malice. Butterfly lock and key. Tick, tock.

Power Girl: Was I like that? Man.Congorilla: You were less eloquent. But oodles more fun.

Synopsis “The Dark Things Part Two”

Previously in Justice League of America #46: An emerald shadow has descended across the Earth. The Starheart – the relic into which the Guardians of the Universe bound the remnants of chaotic energy/magic left over from the early universe – has come to Earth. It has possessed Alan Scott (the original Green Lantern) and his son Todd Rice (Obsidian) and its baneful influence is causing temporary insanity to magic users, elementals, and those with power over light or shadow. The JLA and JSA have teamed up to rescue Alan and Todd and to stop the Starheart.

Faust has led the JSA’s Flash, Wildcat and Doctor Mid-Nite to the home of the Shade – the shadow casting immortal whose powers closely resemble Obsidian’s own – in the hope that he might be able to lead them to Obsidian, but they find the front door ajar. Upon investigating further they discover Obsidian and Doctor Fate who have just attacked the Shade. Fate had been missing, but it is now obvious that he too is under the Starheart’s control. Fate and Obsidian capture their former allies and leave through a shadow portal. Dr Mid-Nite had been outside advising on the treatment of the meta-humans affected by the Starheart. He arrives to see the closing shadow portal and dives through it after them.

Meanwhile, Mister Terrific is working on a device to nullify the Starheart’s vibrations. Hourman and the JSA-All Stars (Judomaster, Cyclone, Wildcat III, Citizen Steel, Stargirl, and Sand) have joined the battle against the heroes and villains who have been overcome by the Starheart’s chaotic power. When checking up on the Shadow Thief Lightning and Mister America are called upon to capture a prison guard called Larry Burke. He was a latent meta-human until he went insane and suddenly started controlling gravity. Batman worries about the magnitude of their problem if the Starheart is now magnifying people’s latent powers.

Batman had sent Starman to investigate the Starheart’s citadel on the dark side of the Moon as he was only one of them who could survive in space and was not vulnerable to the Starheart’s energies. Starman was to allow himself to be captured and then telepathically relay information about the citadel’s defenses to Miss Martian of the Teen Titans. His message is cryptic and overwhelms Miss Martian, turning her temporarily insane. The Starheart injured Starman by ripping his crystal off of his chest and Batman decides to stage a rescue attempt. He orders Power Girl, Supergirl, Lightning, and Congorilla back to Earth least they also fall under the Starheart’s power. He, Donna, Jade, Mister America, Jesse Quick, and Hourman will press forward to the Starheart’s citadel. They will be joined by Mister Miracle (Shilo Norman) who Batman has brought in to help them pass the Starheart’s defenses.

Continuity

• Jay Garrick cannot run faster than the speed of light.
• Larry Burke is a guard at Alcatraz Federal Prison who rates 0.002 on the Hoshi Scale.

Opinion

The second part of the “Dark Things” sees this story switch to the JSA and to the Golden Age material that made James Robinson such a popular writer. I don’t know if it is because of that, or whether the creative team are being careful to look after somebody else’s book, but this issue does feel like a bit of a step up from the usual JLA run. Doug @ CBR, who always has a nice turn of phrase, puts it down to a good dose of nostalgia,

Those appearances are moments that call back to the summers of my childhood laying in front of a box fan poring over thirty-five-cent or half-dollar gems like “Marvel Team-Up” and, well, “Justice League of America.” Each page turned revealed a surprise, or a new favorite, or a character that made my imagination soar.

The issue opens with a change of pace JSA segment as the Society’s core team is abducted during their visit to the Shade’s home. I’m curious to the Wildcat’s defeatist attitude. I always remember him as having a bit more spark, but he is consistent with the insensitive Wildcat from the first part of this cross-over (the one who questioned Jade’s identity).

I was surprised that Obsidian could take out Jay Garrick with just his first attack – you’d have thought that a speedster whose enemies included the Shade would have learnt a thing or two about fighting shadows. As to the shadow casting immortal himself, one presumes he will be okay as Robinson has hinted that he’d like to do another Shade project or mini-series. The appearance of Shilo Norman was a genuine and welcome surprise. He’s become an interesting character under Grant Morrison’s reins. It can’t be a coincidence that he’s shown up in a title that has already shown us evil parallels to the New Gods. I wouldn’t mind if the character stayed around, but part of me would like him to join the reformed JLI group (for old time’s sake).

There is a reason I write annotations for some of these stories and I think this issue shows why. Some of us spend far too much time reading comic books and we’re up on the various JLA/JSA/All-Star members. Robinson is careful to name check new characters as and when they pop-up. New readers then don’t have much problem just accepting that they’re another bunch of heroes, but the specifics for most of them aren’t important. As an aside, what this story could do with is one of those old-fashioned mug shot galleries on the first splash page – the type that shows each team and lists the name under each character.

The specifics of which character is which could confuse people with a slightly deeper knowledge of the JSA. As Shawn at Comic Bulletin observes…

They regroup in the “mainly demolished” moonbase of the League, and as there is no score card and I’m not a regular reader of the title, I’m not sure which Thunderbolt we’re dealing with, whether Jesse Quick was recently Liberty Belle, et cetera.

People who are familiar with the JSA from a few years back (say pre-Infinite Crisis when it was actually really good), but haven’t been keeping up have grounds for being confused. Using Shawn’s example, a large spikey figure in the JSA would logically seem to be Johnny or Jakeem’s pet Thunderbolt, but she’s Lightning, a completely unrelated character. If we still had any of Brad Meltzer’s League around they could name check her as Black Lightning’s daughter, but there isn’t, so they don’t. As for Jesse Quick – I don’t know that one. She turned from Liberty Belle to Jesse Quick in Flash: Rebirth, but has been running around in her Liberty Belle costume for a while in the JSA All-Stars backup feature.

A number of reviewers have picked up on one thing about this issue. As Mart @ Too Dangerous For A Girl puts it the “big revelation this issue is the artwork”. Mark Bagley is fast and is perfectly able to cope with the JLA’s normal 30-pages per issue, but for this crossover he’s dialed it down to 20-pages so he can handle the art on both titles. That means that it’s now possible for a single inker, in this case Norm Rapmund, to handle an entire issue. That combination really seems to be appreciated by reviewers. I don’t know whether it’s Norm and Mark in particular, or whether it’s just a single artist team on an entire issue, but this issue looks great.

The Verdict

	Site	Reviewer	Original Score	%
Reviews Portal	Comic Book Resources	Doug Zawisza	4/5	80
Reviews Portal	Comics Bulletin	Shawn Hill	3/5	60
Community Reviews	Comics Vine User Reviews	Ave of 4 review/s	3.75/5	75
Community Reviews	iFanboy	299 pulls	3.4/5	68
Character Site	Supergirl Comic Book Commentary	Anj	B/B+	65
Reviews Blog	Comic Book Bin	Herve St-Louis	7/10	70
Reviews Blog	Comics Per Day Reviews	Timbotron	Fair	60
This Site	Captain’s JLA Blog	Jason Kirk		60%
		Grand Average		67%

Characters

Featured Characters

The Justice Society of America

• Doctor Fate (Kent Nelson)
• Doctor Mid-Nite (Pieter Cross, appeared last in JLA #46)
• Flash (Jay Garrick, appeared last in JLA #46)
• Green Lantern (Alan Scott, possessed by the Starheart, behind-the-scenes)
• Jesse Quick (Jesse Chambers, appeared last in JLA #46)
• Lightning (Jennifer Pierce, appeared last in JLA #46)
• Obsidian (Todd Rice, possessed by the Starheart, appeared last in JLA #46)
• Mister America (Jeffery Graves, appeared last in JLA #46)
• Mister Terrific (Michael Holt, appeared last in JLA #46)
• Wildcat (Ted Grant, appeared last in JLA #46)

Guest Stars

The Justice League of America

• Batman (Dick Grayson, appeared last in JLA #46)
• Congorilla (Congo Bill, appeared last in JLA #46)
• Donna Troy (appeared last in JLA #46)
• Jade (Jennifer Lynn Hayden, appeared last in JLA #46)
• Starman (Mikaal Tomas, appeared last in JLA #46)
• Supergirl (Linda Lang/Kara Zor-El, appeared last in JLA #46)

The JSA All-Stars

• Citizen Steel (Nathan Heywood)
• Cyclone (Maxine Huckle)
• Hourman (Rick Tyler)
• Judomaster (Sonia Sato)
• Power Girl (Kar Zor-El, appeared last in JLA #46)
• Sandman (Sandy Hawkins)
• Stargirl (Courtney Whitmore)
• Wildcat (Tom Bronson)

Villains

• The Starheart (has possessed Alan Scott, off-scene except for one panel, appeared last in JLA #46)
• Devastation (Deva)
• Livewire (Leslie Willis)
• Man wrestling Citizen Steel
• Yellow Peri (Loretta York)

Other Characters

• Larry Burke (guard at Alcatraz with low level meta-human abilities, first appearance)
• Sebastian Faust (sorcerer, appeared last in JLA #46)
• Miss Martian (M’gann M’orzz, last appeared in Teen Titans #zz)
• Mister Miracle (Shilo Norman, last appeared in Final Crisis #7)
• Shade (Richard Swift, unconcious, last appeared in Starman v2 #81)

Annotations

1.1 The inclusion of Miss Martian so prominently on the first page of this issue is an interesting choice. She is M’gann M’orzz, a White Martian girl who shapeshifts to look like a green Martian Manhunter. This is the issue that was on the stands when it was announced that M’gann would be part of the starting line-up for the Young Justice cartoon.

Also, and chillingly, the cliff hanger to Brightest Day #6 shows the Martian Manhunter discovering Megan’s unconscious (possibly dead) and bloodied body (as shown above). So her line “I don’t think I’ll live much longer” seems to have two meanings.

2.1 The narrator of this particular section is the Wildcat. Ted Grant, one of the trio of original JSA members who are still active (the others are the original Flash and Green Lantern). He was originally a boxer, a world heavyweight champ in the DC Universe, with no superpowers. This is the guy that taught Bruce Wayne and Selina Kyle how to box so he’s no push over.

2.1 The Shade’s home. The Shade was one of Jay Garrick’s old foes during the Golden Age of comics, but he was revealed to be much more than that during James Robinson’s run on Starman. The Shade is an amoral immortal. He’s more than happy to play the role of villain as long as it entertains him and its outside of his adopted home of Opal City.

The Shade is rather protective of Opal and has of late spent more time helping heroes than villains. Although, he can be contrary where both are involved. In Cry For Justice he warned Jay Garrick about Prometheus’s attacks on cities (including Opal). He also provided the means for Green Arrow to reach Prometheus extra-dimensional headquarters. Then in Rise and Fall he gave up the evidence to Hal Jordan and Barry Allen that showed that Green Arrow had murdered Prometheus.

2.1 Jamie Reyes is the Blue Beetle. He’s currently starring in Justice League: Generation Lost.

4.1 Obsidian and Doctor Fate. This Doctor Fate is Kent Nelson, a relative of the original Doctor Fate’s Kent Nelson. He hasn’t been Fate for very long and was pretty green when he began. However, he’s rapidly progressed in experience and is now in full-blown Doctor Fate mode.

6-7.3 Capsule version: Nabu was a Lord of Order, an alien sorcerer/entity that came to Earth during the Egyptian age. He eventually poured his power and intelligence into the Helmet of Doctor Fate passing on his power and resources to whoever wears it (provided they are worthy).

8-9.7 “Let’s see how good my vision is in this kind of darkness.” A medical accident means that Doctor Mid-Nite’s superhuman vision is very sensitive. He can see in almost total darkness, but requires heavily fogged goggles in order not to be blinded by daylight.

10.1 The JSA-ALL Stars are a breakaway group from the main Justice Society. The JSA had grown steadily larger by embracing more and more young legacy heroes and it eventually reached a critical mass. A generational gap opened between with the older more established heroes(the JSA) and the younger heroes (the JSA All-Stars). Power Girl and Hourman work with the younger group. Hourman is the husband of Jesse Quick.

10.2 Cyclone is the grand-daughter of Ma Huckle – the original, non-android Red Tornado. She is sometimes described as a weather witch. The woman in yellow and red is the current Judomaster. They are fighting Devastation, a Wonder Woman foe who was created by Kronos (Zeus’s father) of the Green Titans (the gods not the teen superheroes) to be an evil, reverse Wonder Woman.

10.3 Another All-Star, Wildcat, the son of the original. Unlike his father this one is a werecat and has the ability to turn into superstrong and fast human/big-cat hybrid. He is fighting Livewire. She is a Superman foe, a former radio shock jock who gained electrical powers. Like Harly Quinn, she first appeared in the DCAU cartoons and was later introduced into the comics.

11.1 Citizen Steel, Nathan Haywood, is a member of the All-Stars. He is the cousin of the Steel (Hank Heywood) who was a member of the Detroit JLA and who recently appeared as Black Lantern Steel in the Blackest Night JLA issues. He is wrestling a figure I’m having a hard time placing. The tattered trousers and skin tone made he think it was Joshua Power (he appeared briefly in JLA #42), but I’d have thought he’d be in his rock form. The swirls are a bit like Shift (a Metamorpho clone), but the colouring is off.

11.2 Stargirl is Countney Whitmore, she uses the modified version of Ted Knight’s Cosmic Rod which was originally used by Jack Knight (the Starman from James Robinson’s Starman series). She is fighting Yellow Peri, a very obscure Superboy villain, she found a magic book that she used to plague Superboy.

11.3 This is Sanderson Hawkins alias Sand, alias the Sandman – the former Golden Age sidekick of the original Sandman (Wesley Dodds). The framing sequence of Kingdom Come had Dodds suffering from dreams that foretold the war between the different generations of heroes. He passed those dreams on to a Priest who then served as the point-of-view character for the series. In the DC Universe proper, Dodds still had prophetic dreams and upon his death they were passed on to the still youthful Sandy. I assume that is why is babbling about dreams becoming nightmares. Sandy has the ability to turn himself into sand and it looks like the Starheart’s power is causing him to fall apart.

12.1 Two Islands are visible. On the left is Alcatraz Island and in right is Titans Tower (the headquarters of the Teen Titans). Alcatraz, colloquially known as “The Rock”, is one of the most famous prisons in the world and housed criminals like Al Capone before it was shutdown in 1963. In the DC Universe it was reopened as a maximum security prison for superhumans.

12.3 The Shadow Thief (Carl Sandy) used a Thanagarian shadow generator to become a supervillain. He can merge with shadows and was last a threat to the League when he teamed up with the stellar vampire Starbreaker to seize control of the Shadowslide – a teleportation gateway used by Milestone’s Shadow Cabinet in Dwayne McDuffie’s last JLA arc (there are a lot of shadows in comics).

12.4 Mister America is Jeffery Graves. Lightning is Jennifer Pierce, the eldest daughter of the former Outsider and Justice Leaguer Black Lightning and the sister of Thunder.

12.5 “I’m all ears.” You’d never heard Bruce Wayne cracking a joke like that.

13.3 The Hoshi Scale of Meta Ability has to be named after the secret identity of Doctor Light (Dr Kimiyo Hoshi). She is on leave from the League and has returned to her say job at STAR Labs Metropolis (as shown in recent issues of Supergirl). I believe there is also a Palmer Scale.

13.5 “…our problems just quadrupled.” — implication is that 75% of all metahumans only have latent powers which in the DC Universe would include spoon benders, psychic grannys, and most fortune tellers.

16.4 A new romance?

17.1 This it the Justice League’s second Watchtower. The first was destroyed by Lex Luthor’s Injustice Gang and was rebuilt in a second configuration while the League were split from their alter egos by the Id. That in turn was destroyed by Superboy Prime in the run up  to Infinite Crisis when he kidnapped the Martian Manhunter for Alexander Luthor. The last time this Watchtower was visited was probably when Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman met here in Infinite Crisis #1. The lunar Watchtowers were superseded by the current satellite Watchtower.

17.4 This is the cliff hanger to JLA #46.

18.1 This is where we came in.

18.4 Cryptic. We’ll wait to see what this means as I haven’t a clue.

19.2 As mentioned, Miss Martian is a White Martian. This is what her people usually look like – you can understand why she thinks people won’t accept her on Earth looking like this. Humans have accepted the stern Pale Martian form of J’onz J’onzz so that is who she emulates to fit in.

20.2 Congorilla is a danger because Congo Bill’s power to originally switch minds with the Golden Gorilla was magical. Supergirl and Power Girl are both a threat because their powers derive from the sun and the Starheart is affecting powers of light and dark. Lightning is a threat because of the “light” part of Lightning. Erm, whatever Batman says.

20.3 There are six of them. Count them. It’ll make the quip on the next page make sense.

21.1 Shilo Norman. The third Mister Miracle. The original was Thaddeus Brown, the human circus escape artist from whom Scott Free of New Genesis inherited his persona. Scott Free was one of the New Gods, but Shilo Norman – his apprentice – is human. Shilo has become the active Mister Miracle following Scott Free’s disappearance/death/resurrection as part of the fall/resurrection of the New Gods during the Final Crisis. He was one of Grant Morrison’s Seven Soldiers.

To coincide with the start of the crossover Newsarama has interviewed Mark Bagley, the JLA artist who is pulling double duty on the JLA and JSA chapters. He talks about meeting Alan Scott’s original aritst,

Green Lantern is fun to draw because I knew Marty Nodell [the character's co-creator], and hung out with him and his wife a lot over the years. They both passed recently, and it was fun to know them. I can see me doing that in 10 or 15 years, just doing convention after convention and just hanging out with fans and doing sketches and stuff.

and about the differences in his inkers styles,

I’ve got two inkers anyway. JLA is 30 pages a month. I think we might be going back to 22 in the future, but for now, we’re splitting it up between Rob Hunter and Norm Rapmund. Norm is doing 10 pages out of 30, and Rob is doing 20. Rob didn’t think he could do 30 and do a quality job. He likes to have a life, whereas, I don’t have a life, so that works out well. I think during the crossover, Norm is inking the JSA issues and Rob is inking the JLA issues.

They have similar styles. Norm’s a little more controlled than Rob is. And Rob’s a little more expressive with his inks. It actually doesn’t look bad next to each other. Aside from that, they have similar sensibilities when inking a page. So I don’t mind having two inkers as much as I normally would.

It’s harder to ink than you’d think. Inking isn’t tracing. And when you bring as much to the book as these guys do… especially Rob, who I recently talked to about even pulling back on some of the detail, some of the really strong inking that he does. Sometimes less is more. He’s really working hard at it and it looks amazing. I think he’s becoming an even better inker.

It’s a nice interview and Mark scotches earlier rumours by saying he’s having a blast on JLA and is on the book for the foreseeable future.

I did ask to have her come back. I’ve always liked Jade. I’ve always been quite a fan. [...]  When she was killed during the Rann-Thanagar War, I felt that it was a waste of the character. And when the idea came about of me having my own kind of “7″ characters and doing my own thing with them, her name came up and it just felt like the right person to add to that team.

In a change to DC’s original plans Robinson will be staying on Justice Society for another issue to give them some post-crossover wrap-up.

This storyline is part of a much bigger picture that I have worked out with Mark Bagley and my editor Eddie Berganza that we’ll unfold over the next couple of years. So the Starheart and everything about it is just part of what will become a much bigger story as things go down the line. This is just the start. But it’s a finite series that has a beginning and an ending to the story.

I was originally staying on “JSA” for #41 and #42, but now – just to give the Justice Society a bit more of a coda – I’m staying for #43 too. At the start, the ending was all in “Justice League of America” #48, and it just felt like the Justice Society didn’t get their fair shake at the end.

And then there is a single-issue I’m really excited to write, “Justice League of America” #49, and then we go to #50, which is where another big arc will start. It’s another big, epic story involving everything people will want to see in a Justice League story.

The entire interview can be found at CBR.

Issue Credits

Synopsis “Prelude to the Dark Things”

Previously in the Justice League of America #44: The four remaining members of the Justice League (Batman, Donna Troy, Starman, and Congorilla) are responding to an unusual emerald meteorite that has crashed into the German Black Forest. The League  had to fight Etrigan for possession of the meteorite before they could rid him of its baneful influence. Inside the meteorite they discover the unconscious body of Jade. Meanwhile her father, Alan Scott the Golden Age Green Lantern, has fallen into a coma and his skin is radiating an unearthly green light. Sebastian Faust warns the JSA that Alan’s condition and the meteorite’s arrival are both portents of a chaotic and dangerous future.

The emerald light intensifies around Alan Scott and he begins levitating. An angry Obsidian (Alan’s son and Jade’s brother) orders Faust to tell them what is going on, but this new development confounds him. Jade, having regained consciousness, is angry that the German Rakete-Auslese’s Commander wants to take her in for questioning about the injuries to his men and the damage to the Black Forest caused by her arrival. Things have just about calmed down by the time that Alan Scott and the JSA appear over the horizon. However, their arrival is preempted by Power Girl who smashes through the JSA’s Star Rocket Racer aircraft. Jesse Quick and the Flash manage to save the other JSA heroes, but Obsidian has fallen into the same glowing zombie state as his father.

Supergirl intercepts Power Girl as she arcs around for another pass. Congo Bill contacted Supergirl as the League were leaving the JLA Watchtower, but she didn’t arrive until moments after Power Girl and the JSA . Power Girl throws off Supergirl and scatters the JLA, JSA, and Rakete-Auslese before she recovers. Their fight’s violence shakes the ground below. Dick Grayson realises that both women are vulnerable to magic and has Donna pull Supergirl free while Jade blasts Power Girl unconscious. Jade creates an energy bubble around the JLA and JSA to stop the Rakete-Auslese arresting them. Supergirl is also trapped inside so she accepts Batman’s offer to join the team.

Jade recites what she knows about the events that have occurred. The Starheart was a vessel created by the Guardians of the Universe to contain all the wild and chaotic elements of the universe. A fragment of it became the green railway lantern that Alan Scott derives his powers from. Batman picks up reports of other heroes and villains acting chaotically. The common elements are magic and elemental. Faust says that the same thing happened to his father and that the League’s earlier fights with Etrigan (JLA #44) and Atlas (JLA #42) are related. Mister Terrific also notes that weather systems are swing chaotically around the world. Jade theorizes that her resurrection “shook” the larger bulk of the Starheart that had remained out in space. It overtook her and absorbed her wish to return to Earth.

The comatose Alan Scott suddenly addresses Jade. She is ecstatic that Scott appears to have recovered, but it is actually the Starheart addressing her. The light around Scott suddenly solidifies into a suit of green armour.

Continuity

• Die Rakete-Auslese gets an official translation by the Batman as The Rocket Elite. They are German equals to the Russian Rocket Red Brigade and even share some of the same technology. Their “Uber-Komandant” is Karl Zorn.
• The JSA’s transport is the Star Rocket Rider Mark 8. It would seem they now need a Mark 9.
• Congo Bill’s summons of Supergirl led to Batman offering her JLA membership – all very informal.
• The Guardian’s tamed the Starheart by imprinting on it the desire to be controlled.

Opinion

This issue is ramping into the JLA/JSA crossover with the arrival of both teams in the German Black Forest. There is a lot to like here if you like the JSA (given that it’s a plot-line that derives from one of the core JSA members). But if, like Robert at Comic Bulletin, you “couldn’t give two squats about” the JSA you’ll probably hate this issue. And for that matter you’ll probably hate the preceding one and the next three. If, however, you like the JSA you’ll like this issue… probably. It’s a pity that Black Lightning is no longer in the Justice League as I’d have enjoyed him interacting with his daughter, the JSA’s Lightning, during this crossover.

While we’re on the subject of the JSA: I’m all for the them fighting Nazis – it’s what they formed to do and they are good at it – but, I’m rather uncomfortable with the JLA/JSA acting like dicks around the German Rocket Elite. Okay, they’re rather authoritarian, but they the good guys here and its their jurisdiction. It’s the JSA and JLA who have invaded their country and are refusing to cooperate.

The art continues to be strong, if at times slightly odd. I certainly agree with Superman Homepage’s Ralph Silver about Power Girl’s smash through the Star Rocket Racer Mk 8. However, Jade’s costume doesn’t seem quite right. The pattern on her chest is a star made from radiating triangles that symbolise the Starheart, but the art makes them look like rectangles. And as CBR’s Doug Zawisza observes Jade’s aura looks “more like a skunk stench wafting off of poor Jade.” The Supergirl variant cover by David Mack is beautiful and differs starkly from the normal cover with its strange “let’s stare at each other’s chests” moment (lets not mention what the Flash is looking at). It’s these odd little artistic choices that I find distracting.

A continuing element that people seem to like is James Robinson’s use of the Brad Meltzer style narration boxes. I don’t think its something I’ve remarked on before. CBR’s Doug describes it as,

Robinson’s narrational character of choice this issue is Batman, but it is pretty clear that one of Robinson’s favorites among this cast is Congorilla. Robinson does of good job of sharing the thoughts of several characters in this book, and spreads the spotlight around rather than locking in any one specific character.

They are a nice touch with just the small group of characters, but the boxes can get a little hectic with a larger group. The colouring works to a degree, but I constantly find Congorilla’s yellow boxes hard to read. I guess I’m just old-fashioned in preferring thought bubbles.

One thing that I had forgotten about until I saw the user Darman mention it on the DC Comics Message Boards was the Green Lantern: Heart of Darkness mini-series. This featured an evil version of the Starheart trying to over come Alan Scott, Jade, and Kyle Rayner. The Starheart is a great fantasy concept, but its been reused several times. Robinson is taking a very straight forward approach to it at the moment and is only really introducing what is necessary for this story. Exactly what Alan’s current relationship is to the Starheart, whether it’s part of him wholly or partially, isn’t entirely clear.

I’ve added a ranking from Comic Vine’s Babs to the table below. She loved this issue and gave it 5/5 which biases the ranking upwards to 70%. Without the new reviews the average rating of other people’s reviews would be 64%, only slightly up from 60% last issue – near enough to be equal given the lower number of reviews and the scatter in ratings. I’m inclined to agree with that mark. This was an enjoyable issue, but my concern from last issue about this being a 20-page story stretched out over 30-pages continues. I’d even go further and say that these last two 30-pages issues (JLA #44 and #45) have given us a 60-page short that could have been told more entertainingly and tightly in 20-pages.

The Verdict

	Site	Reviewer	Original Score	%
Reviews Portal	Comic Book Resources	Doug Zawisza	3/5	60
Reviews Portal	IGN	Robert Tacopina	2/5	40
Community Reviews	Comics Vine User Reviews	Ave of 3 review/s	4.5/5	90
Community Reviews	iFanboy	403 pulls	3.5/5	70
Character Site	Supergirl Comic Book Commentary	Anj	B+	70
Character Site	Superman Homepage	Ralph Silver	4 (story) & 4 (art)/5	80
Reviews Blog	Comic Book Bin	Herve St-Louis	7/10	70
Reviews Blog	A Comic Book Blog	Wayland	70/100	70
Reviews Blog	Comics Per Day Reviews	Timbotron	Fair	60
This Site	Captain’s JLA Blog	Jason Kirk		60%
		Grand Average		67%

Characters

Featuring

• The Justice League
  • Batman (Dick Grayson, appeared last issue)
  • Donna Troy (appeared last issue)
  • Congorilla (Congo Bill, appeared last issue)
  • Supergirl (Kara Zor-El, joins this issue)
  • Starman (Mikaal Tomas, appeared last issue)

Villains

• Starheart (possessing Alan Scott)

Guest Stars

• Jade (Jennifer Lynn-Hayden, appeared last issue)
• Power Girl (Karen Starr)
• The Justice Society
  • Doctor Mid-Nite (Pieter Cross, appeared last issue)
  • Flash (Jay Garrick, appeared last issue)
  • Green Lantern (Alan Scott, appeared last issue)
  • Jesse Quick (Jesse Chambers, appeared last issue)
  • Lightning (Jennifer Pierce)
  • Obsidian (Todd Rice, appeared last issue)
  • Mister America (Jeffery Graves)
  • Mister Terrific (Michael Holt, appeared last issue)
  • Wildcat (Ted Grant, appeared last issue)

Other Characters

• Sebastian Faust (sorcerer, appeared last issue)
• The Rocket Elite (German armoured battle corps, appeared last issue)
• Karl Zorn (“Uber-Komandant of the Rocker Elite, first appearance)

Flashback/Cameo

• Atlas (flashback to JLA #42)
• Felix Faust (attacked Los Aldama, Mexico, influenced by the Starheart)
• Firehawk (attacking St Petersburg, influenced by the Starheart)
• Green Lantern Hal Jordan (flashback to JLA #42)
• Guardians of the Universe (during Jade’s recap about Starheart/Alan Scott)
• Jason Woodrue (attacking Ivy Town, influenced by the Starheart, simultaneous with Titans: Villains For Hire)
• Shango (African Thunder God, influenced by the Starheart)
• Solomon Grundy (during Jade’s recap about Starheart/Alan Scott)
• Starfire (flashback to JLA #42)
• Zachary Zatara (comatose, influenced by the Starheart, last appeared in Action Comics #889)

Annotations

• 1.1 The JSA, who seem to be gathering in increasing numbers over the last few issues to watch Alan Scott’s night-light act. Shown are Mister Terrific, Mister America, Jesse Quick, Lightning, Flash, Obsidian, and Wildcat. Also shown with them is Faust – the son of the JLA villain Felix Faust. I hadn’t considered it before, but seeing him standing there reminds me slightly of Jack Knight – James Robinson’s character from his Starman series.
• 4-5.1 A fairly accurate description of Jade’s history. She, Obsidian, and Power Girl (who will show up later) were originally members of a team called Infinity Inc – they were the sons and daughters of the original Justice Society members and were comparable to an Earth-Two version of the Teen Titans (albeit older). Since then the JSA has relaunched with a more multi-generational brief and a lot of Infinity Inc members have joined the JSA.
• 4-5.6 “Grun-Gehautetes Mis-” translates roughly as green-skinned girl. “Green skinned girl” would literally translate as “grüne gehäutet Mädchen”
• 6-7.4 The Star Rocket Racer was originally the souped-up convertible used by the 1940s Star-Spangled Kid and Stripesy in their crime fighting days. The original Kid is dead and the current Kid is Stripesy’s step-daughter. Stripesy, now as S.T.R.I.P.E.S. assisted the new Kid for a while, but he has since taken a backseat role as the JSA’s mechanic. He was responsible for building one of their earlier transports called the Steel Eagle. It would seem that the Star Rocket Racer is an evolution of that design.
• 6-7.10 Doctor Terry Thirteen is the DCU’s arch-skeptic. He refuses to believe in the paranormal and instead searches for explanations in physics, biology and rational science. He is the father of Traci Thirteen (the current Blue Beetle’s girlfriend).
• 8-9.1 Power Girl is a version of Supergirl from a defunct parallel universe. The JSA has recently split into two teams. The original JSAers and their older allies stayed as the Justice Society of America and moved into the JLA’s old cave headquarters. The younger, edgier JSAers created a new team called the JSA All-Stars led by Magog and Power Girl.
• 10-11.3 Jesse is shown in several at places once indicating that she is moving at superspeed. Flash Fact: The visual motif of using these after-images to show where a speedster has been wasn’t invented by the artists on the Flash comics, they were a feature of his Golden Age rival Johnny Quick – Jesse’s father.
• 12.1 Supergirl (Kara Zor-El) shouldn’t really need much introduction. She is Superman’s younger-cousin (their fathers were brothers). Recent events in the Superman comics haven’t been easy on Kara. She discovered that her mother and father were still alive in Kandor only for them to be killed in separate incidents by agents working for General Lane (Lois Lane’s father).
• 13.3 In Cry For Justice it was Supergirl and Congo Bill who discovered Roy Harper after Prometheus had torn his arm off and it was Supergirl who first deduced Prometheus’s disguise as Freddy Freeman. Supergirl could be talking about that incident.
• 15.3 After Infinite Crisis Power Girl recruited Supergirl to help her infiltrate the non-Kryptonian version of Kandor (there are two Kandors, only the second is from Krypton, but both were/are bottle cities). They were hunting a version of Ultraman who was posing as Superman, but the two women didn’t really get along very well. Supergirl was going through a rebellious streak and it ended messily.
• 16.1 Two Kryptonian level superhumans  flying full speed at each other has to be an allusion to the clash between Superman and Captain Marvel from the classic JLA/JSA crossover in Justice League of America vol 1. #135 (Dec 1976).

• 19.4 Jade mentions going to Oa. This occurred in Brightest Day #0.
• 21.4 Wildcat: “The Train. The Bridge collapse. Him and the Lantern”.  A version of Alan Scott’s origin. He was a railway engineer when he first came into possession of his magic lantern. At the time he knew nothing about it except that it appeared to be a normal railwayman’s green lantern. He was holding the Lantern when a bridge collapsed beneath his train. It was only because of the Lantern that he survived. It then spoke to him and commanded him to make a ring from its metal. He used the Lantern and the new ring to become a superhero called the Green Lantern. Lightning makes a good point here. Alan Scott may be called Green Lantern, but he is not part of the Guardian’s Green Lantern Corps.
• 22-23.2 “They’re little blue immortals with supreme power and intelligence, Ted. Hello.” – I bet it never occurred to Star Trek to dispense technobabble with cheerleader sarcasm.
• 22-23.3 That fragment that fell to Earth originally arrived in ancient China and was forged into a lamp. The metal of the magic lamp has been remade several times with its final form being the railway lantern that Alan Scott happened to be holding when he first became Green Lantern.
• 22-23.6 Alan Scott is shown battling Solomon Grundy, an undead swamp zombie.
• 24.3 “Shango, the African `Thunder God` is destroying Nairobi”. Shango is a member of a pantheon of African Gods called the Orishnia who first appeared in John Ostrander’s run on Firestorm. He is based on a god from West African mythology, a storm god whose totem is a double-bladed axe. The obvious parallel would be to call him an African Thor. Shango last appeared in James Robinson’s Captain Atom backup in Action Comics #886.
• 24.4 Zachary Zatara is Zatanna’s cousin. He appeared in several Superman comics until he was kidnapped by a sorceress working for General Lane. She took him to Sorcerer’s World and kept him as a pet/slave. Zachary was freed in Action Comics #889 when Captain Atom and the rebel leader overthrew the sorceress.
• 25.2 Jason Woodrue is a plant controlling enemy of the Atom. This particular sequence, Woodrue in Ivy Town, is the opening scene to Titans: Villains for Hire which features Atom Ryan Choi fighting Woodrue just before he is attacked by Deathstroke’s Titans.
• 25.3 Firehawk is Lorraine Reilly. She was Ronnie Raymond’s girlfriend back when he was originally Firestorm, but she’s matured since then and has succeed her father as a US Senator. Her inclusion here is based on the elemental part of the Firestorm matrix.

Go to the CGS Forums for better, larger pictures.

At the centre of it all of this is a Kingdom Come-like Alan Scott who appears to fighting the JLA and JSA. Eagle-eyed readers may spot Jesse Quick in a Johnny Quick homage costume in the first panel and Jade, Alan Scott’s deceased daughter, in the central panel. Jade’s name was mentioned at a recent convention panel so it looks like she could be heading for a post-Blackest Night resurrection.

The cover to JLA #46 – the first panel – was just released by DC Comics as part of their latest previews solicitation;

[via: Bleeding Cool]

Episode Credits

Synopsis

Previously in Part One: An accident has thrown Hawkgirl, the Flash, J’onn J’onzz and Green Lantern into a parallel world, another Earth, that appears to be stuck in the 1950s. The heroes of this world, the Justice Guild (the Streak, Catman, Black Siren, the Green Guardsman, and Tom Turbine), team-up with the Justice Leaguers to battle a group of local villains called the Injustice Guild. However, not everything is as wholesome as it seems. J’onn has been racked with painful visions of a nuclear war and Hawkgirl has just discovered a row of gravestones that seem to mark the graves of the Justice Guild – the same heroes they are allied with.

Green Lantern refuses to believe Hawkgirl’s discovery of the Justice Guild’s graves and flies off. Hawkgirl goes after him leaving J’onn to watch the living “Justice Guild”. At the Injustice Guild’s headquarters Sir Swami, Sportsman, and the Music Master gloat over their successful robberies, but they are no closer to resolving which of them will get to devise a scheme to destroy the Justice Guild. The stalemate is broken when Doctor Blizzard arrives with the Black Siren and the Flash imprisoned in a block of ice. He tells the Flash that he has “much bigger plans” than just killing them.

Hawkgirl finds Green Lantern kneeling by the graves. Seeing them with his own eyes convinces him, but his grief turns to anger and he returns to the city, determined to find out who the Guild really are. They stop ice cream vendor they saw driving around when they first arrived. He avoids Lantern’s questions even when it’s pointed out that he doesn’t actually sell any ice creams and is just driving around aimlessly. He pleads “Please no more questions, he might hear you!” and drives away.

The Justice Guild are concerned about their colleagues disappearance, but are distracted when they receive a telephone call from the police chief telling them that the Injustice Guild has just robbed the Seaboard City Mint. The Justice Guild catches up with the Injustice Guild’s escaping blimp, but they find that the Injustice Guild had tied the Flash and Siren to the outside of the balloon as human shields. The heroes cannot approach the blimp from the air while the villains are on guard (J’onn, Tom Turbine, and the Green Guardsman are individually knocked back). The Catman takes his motorcycle to the roof top of a nearby building and launches himself on to the top of the blimp. He then rappels into the cabin beneath and starts brawling with the villains.

Green Lantern and Hawkgirl’s investigations take them to the city library where they find that all the books are blank. They then try the newspaper archives in the basement, but the step down just lead to a blank wall. Hawkgirl knocks through the wall and they find themselves in a subway station. There is wreckage and rubble everywhere, the trains are torn off their rails, and everything is riddled with bullet holes. They find a discarded newspaper with headlines “Peace talks break down” and “War Near.” The date on the newspaper is forty years ago, the same day as the last Justice Guild comic in Green Lantern’s universe.

Back at the fight with the Injustice Guild, the Flash uses the points on his ear pieces to puncture the blimp and it begins deflating. The cabin beneath the blimp rocks violently throwing Sir Swami out of the door to the waiting J’onn J’onzz. Tom Turbine pulls the Flash and Black Siren free and Catman bundles the rest of the helpless villains out of the door into a platform created by the Green Guardsman. Seconds later the blimp crashes to the ground. The criminals are handed over to the police.

The victorious Justice Guild, Flash, and J’onn return to the mansion with Ray Thompson, the Guild’s sidekick who is enthusiastically retelling every part of the adventure, to find a very serious Green Lantern and Hawkgirl waiting for them. Lantern demands to know who they are and shows them another old newspaper with the headline “JGA Killed In Battle.” The Guild are surprised by the accusations, but don’t immediately deny it. They suddenly get another hotline call from the police telling them there is a giant robot attacking the city, but Green Lantern stops them from leaving. He details the evidence to them and then concludes “your world is an illusion, a living memory of a civilisation destroyed 40-years ago when the Justice Guild gave their lives for this Earth.”

Any time that somebody has questioned the illusion a convenient distraction appears – e.g. the phone call from the police. J’onn finally pieces it together and suggests that they ask Ray what is going on. He forces Ray to drop his disguise and reveals that Ray is a powerful mutant created by the radioactive fallout from the nuclear war. He used his powers to recreate the world as it had been in the comics of his youth. He accuses the Justice League of ruining everything and then summons the robot monster to attack the mansion. The Guild instinctively attack the robot leaving the League to right off Ray’s attacks. Ray has the League at his mercy when the Green Guardsman notices their predicament.

The Justice Guild realise that defeating Ray will dispel their existence, but they refuse to leave the League to his mercy – as the Streak says “We died once for this world and we can do it again.” Ray throws them aside with his power, but the Guild persist and relentlessly pound on his force shield. The onslaught is too much for him and Ray’s domination over the world is erased. The bright, clean city is replaced by bombed out ruins. The Streak salutes to Green Lantern as the Guild fades away. Even the decoder rings that the Guild gave the League turn to dust. But to the League’s surprise not all the inhabitants of Seaboard City are illusions. Some, like the Ice Cream seller, the Mayor, and Police Chief, were real people who were trapped in Ray’s illusion for forty-years. They are shell-shocked, but thank the Justice League for saving them from their waking nightmare.

When the Justice League first arrived Tom Turbine mentioned that he had built an inter-dimensional gateway, but he had never found a power source. Luckily for the League, Tom had constructed the gateway before he was killed so it is still standing in the ruins of the Justice Guild’s mansion. Green Lantern manages to briefly power it using his power ring and the Leaguers to return to their own Earth. Later, Hawkgirl comforts Green Lantern who grieves for the heroes he had never known were real.

Commentary

Dedication

This episode closes with the dedication “this story is respectfully dedicated to the memory of Gardner F. Fox”. Gardner Fox was the original writer of the Justice League’s adventures and of their predecessors the Justice Society (who the Justice Guild are based on).

Producers Commentary

This episode has a producers commentary by producers Bruce Timm, James Tucker, Glen Murakami, Rich Fogal, and director Dan Riba. The start by noting that this was one of their favourite episodes.

• Bruce Timm and James Tucker had the idea for this episode during their first meeting with the Korean animation company Koko (who animate this episode). They were on a tour of a historical town, but spent the entire trip talking about this story. The had a pretty clear idea of the Justice Society and the twist about the Society’s world being destroyed in a nuclear war. They started with the scene of the Justice Society vanishing and then worked backwards.
• It was initially thought that idea behind his episode too dark for their first season. They handed the basic idea of a Justice Society episode to writer Andrew Kreisberg to take a pass at and he independently suggested the same twist.
• DC had their reservations about using the real JSA for this story so the characters were changed to a new group called the Justice Guild (see the notes from the last episode).
• Bringing in the Justice Guild wasn’t so much about lampooning the old comics, which they’re actually pretty true too, as it was about bringing into sharp relief the differences between their modern Justice League and what had gone before.
• Everytime that DC has stopped the animators using a character its forced them to become more inventive and had generally worked out pretty well. They cite the example of adding Ray to this story – a character who didn’t originally have an analogue in the JSA comics.
• This is one of first episodes where Hawkgirl softens up, particularly towards Green Lantern.
• The giant robot is copied from an old Doom Patrol comic. It contrast nicely with Luthor’s robot from the first episode tag.
• When they started this first season the producers deliberately avoided using Green Lantern constructs because they considered them too old school and wanted to avoid anything that might tie them to the Super Friends. However, bringing the Green Guardsman in allowed them to cut loose with all sorts of power ring constructs.
• Original the sky of the wasted Earth was a mustard-yellow, but it was changed to bright blue to signify an upbeat ending, to show that this world actually had a bright future.

Ray Thompson – Ray Bradbury and Roy Thomas

In the producer’s commentary Bruce Timm notes that Ray Thompson is a combination of Ray Bradbury and Roy Thomas, two old comics fans. Fandom was a different affair before the internet, back in the day when communication by fans was predominantly through the comic book’s letter column or their own independently produced fanzines. There are people who later became famous, but first became recognisable to comic book fans because of their presence in the fanzines and letters pages, people like Professor Jerry Bails, comic book writer/editor Roy Thomas, American author Ray Bradbury, DJ and music journalist Paul Gambaccini.

In term of DC’s Multiverse of parallel worlds, all these real people were said to live on Earth Prime. This is supposedly our Earth, the Earth of the readers, where the adventures of the superheroes are only available as comic books. It was explained that comic book writers on Earth Prime were telepathically channeling the events on Earth One, the Justice League’s Earth, when they wrote their stories. Barry Allen, the Flash of Earth One, grew up reading the adventures of the Jay Garrick, the Flash of Earth Two so the same telepathic channelling must also have been present between their worlds. This is referenced in this story by John Stewart’s memories of the Justice Guild comics from his Uncle Jimmy’s comic book collection.

There were a couple of stories which featured the Justice League visiting Earth Prime and meeting, in the stories, the writers who were chronicling their adventures. As mentioned above, the villain in this story is named after two real comic book/science fiction fans/writers. There may be a hint of a story from Justice League of America vol 1. #123 (Oct 1975) wherein the Earth Prime Cary Bates crossed over into Earth One and became a super villain who then had to be defeated by the Earth Prime Elliot S! Maggin. Maggin and Bates are real people so you had an example of the real writers writing themselves into the story as a protagonist. Years later Grant Morrison did the same thing when he allowed Animal Man to become aware that he was a comic book character.

As well as being the inspiration for Ray Thompson, Roy Thomas has also wrote a precursor to  this story while he was at Marvel Comics. This was the Kree-Skrull War, and according to the producers commentary it was an idea that Thomas got from Gardner Fox – the writer of the classic JLA and JSA comics to whom this episode is dedicated. In the Kree-Skrull War the Avenger’s sidekick gains the ability to summon Marvel’s Golden Age characters to aid the Avengers against two alien empires.

Notes

• Superman and Batman are shown on the Watchtower, but neither speak.
• A red-hotline to the Justice Guild headquarters is an homage to Commissioner Gordon’s hotline to the Batcave in the Batman TV show.
• The Black Siren’s grave shows the name “Donna Nance”, it wasn’t clearly shown in the first part.
• Hawkgirl’s line of “Curiouser and curiouser” comes from Lewis Carols’ Alice in Wonderland. It would certainly fit the League’s adventures in his topsy-turvy world.
• The special effect for the Music Master’s accordion changes between Part One and Part Two. In the first part its a yellow crackle effect, in the second part its a transparent ripple like effect.

Opinion

Highlights

The Streak’s salute to Green Lantern.

Oddities

The ending is pretty dark when you think about it. That world doesn’t look like there is any vegetation, sanitation, fresh water, or food for the inhabitants. They’ll be dead in a matter of days without of the Justice League’s help.

My Thoughts

The second part of this story is possibly stronger than the first. Part one had a lot of sight-seeing going on that, while great fun, is surpassed by the pathos that this episode brings. The mystery behind the Justice Guild’s Earth plays out nicely and is surprisingly dark for a first season story. There is an argument that DC should have allowed the producers to use the original Justice Society, but I don’t think that would have improved the story. Having completely different characters gives a cleaner break between the League and the Guild.

You can really feel for Phil LaMarr’s Green Lantern, he’s already confessed that he’s an old comic book fan so he’s our way into this world. I also like how Hawkgirl takes the Green Guardsman’s recommendation from the first part to heart. She starts Green Lantern’s investigation and works with him to find the solution – not unlike their partnership in “War World”.

Episode Credits

Synopsis

The Justice League battle a 8-story tall, green-and-purple robot in the heart of the city, but they are unaware that it is being remotely controlled by Lex Luthor – revenge for his earlier defeat at their hands (“Injustice For All“). The League manage to dent the robot’s armour, but Hawkgirl, GL, and J’onn J’onzz are knocked unconscious in the battle. Superman breeches the robot’s armour giving Batman the opening he needs to destroy its engine with a well placed batarang. The failing robot topples towards the unconscious Leaguers, but it is momentarily held aloft by the Flash’s whirlwind. The robot and everything in a sphere surrounding it – including Hawkgirl, GL, J’onzz and the Flash – vanishes in a blinding flash of light.

When Flash and co. awake they find themselves in an unfamiliar alleyway with the smoking remains of Lex Luthor’s robot. However, they cannot contact either Batman or Superman. J’onn tries reaching out to them telepathically, but he collapses after he’s overwhelmed by a vision of a nuclear Armageddon. They spread out to look for their friends and it quickly becomes clear that they are no longer in Metropolis. People, buildings, and vehicles seem to be from the 1950s, but the local newspaper (the “Seaboard City Time-Picayune”) confirms that the date hasn’t changes. The Flash doesn’t recognise the name Seaboard, but they do recognise the sound of a burger-alarm and race to stop a nearby robbery.

A flamboyant local criminal, the Music Master, is stealing a Stradivarius violin from a music shop. Green Lantern blocks his escape, but he’s surprised when the Music Master refers to him as the Green Guardsman. The Music Master escapes, but not before Lantern manages to snatch the violin from him. Seaboard City’s resident superheroes then arrive. The don’t ask questions and assume that Lantern and the Flash are criminals as they are still holding the stolen violin. Hawkgirl and J’onn arrive with two new local heroes. Green Lantern is stunned when he recognises one of them. The brawl between the two groups intensifies much to the delight of a watching blond-boy. However, it is only when the Flash saves the child from falling debris that his speedster counterpart realises that they’re fighting fellow superheroes and not supervillains.

The two teams retire to the local heroes mansion headquarters where they introduce themselves as the Justice Guild of America (Catman, Black Siren, Green Guardsman, Tom Turbine, and the Streak). The boy who the Flash saved was Ray Thompson, a junior justice guardsman – their sidekick of-sorts. However, the jollities of the introductions are cut short when J’onn has another painful vision. The attitudes of the Justice Guild are a little old-fashioned for some of the League to understand. Black Siren wants Hawkgirl’s to help prepare snacks for the men, but Green Lantern asks her to play along in trying to gather more information. He then explains to the Flash that he recognises the Justice Guild from the comics he use to read as a child. Their adventures taught him how to be a hero, but he is at a loss to explain why they have now come face-to-face with people he believed were fictious.

Tom Turbine explains that there is a continuum of parallel worlds, each vibrating at a different speed. When the Flash absorbed the energy from the exploding robot he accidentally created a rift in the dimensional barrier that transposed the Justice League into the Justice Guild’s Earth. J’onn explains that the comic book writers on their own Earth must have had a psychic connection to events on the Guild’s Earth and that they were unwittingly recording the Guild’s adventures. Tom explains that he’s been tinkering with a transdimensional gateway that should be able to send the Justice League home, but he hasn’t yet been able to find a suitable energy source.

The Justice Guild’s enemies, the Injustice Guild, have also noticed the Justice League’s arrival. The Music Master, Sportsman, Doctor Blizzard and Sir Swami argue about who will defeat these new heroes. Sir Swami proposes a wager. Whoever stages the most extravagant crime will have the honour of devising a plan to destroy the Guild and League. The local police arrive at the Justice Guild’s headquarters to deliver a letter from the villains – the Injustice Guild challenges the Justice Guild to expect a crime spree based on the four classical elements (earth, fire, wind, and water). The League are preplexed as to why criminals would tip off the authorities, but they happily agree to help the Guild. The Streak then gives them Justice Guild decoder rings making them honorary members of the Justice Guild.

The two teams of heroes then pair up, one hero from each team.

• Green Lantern and the Streak find the Sir Swami stealing a ruby (fire element). His magical blasts keep them at arm’s length until he dives into a phone box. They run to pull the door open, but by then he has vanished in a puff of smoke.
• Hawkgirl and the Green Guardsman find the Music Master stealing a priceless antique flyer from the Museum of Flight (an air based crime). However, the Guardsman prevents Hawkgirl from simply knocking it out of the sky. He tells her that the flyer is irreplaceable and that they’ll have to use their wits not violence. Two window-cleaners in an aluminum cradle are knocked from a building by the passing Music Master. The Guardsman’s powers have no effect on the aluminum cradle so Hawkgirl has to save them on her own. She then goes after the Music Master alone, but he knocks her unconscious with a blast from his accordion.
• Seaboard City’s Mayor is about to unveil a new fountain (water element) when Doctor Blizzard attacks. The Flash and Black Siren trade cold based quips with Blizzard, but even they are hard pressed to avoid his razor sharp icicles and chilling blasts. They think they have him defeated, but the Flash is distracted when he has to save a bus full of nuns from hitting a TNT truck. Blizzard freezes the Flash and Siren in a solid block of ice.
• The Sportsman makes off with the Seaboard City Clay (earth element) Tennis Court Championship trophy as his crime. But, he’s pursued by Catman and Ray in the Catcycle and from the air by J’onn J’onzz. The Catman leaps on the truck driven by the Sportsman and is hanging on to the front grille until saved by J’onn. Suddenly, J’onn’s debilitating headaches return and he drops to the ground. He sees an image of a ruined and bombed out Seaboard City before passing out. Catman is forced to break off the chase to turn back to help J’onn.

When Hawkgirl recovers from the Music Master’s attack she finds herself in a peaceful graveyard on a hill overlooking Seaboard City. There is a line of five graves that are over grown with vines. Hawkgirl feels compelled to look closer and is horrified to find that they are actually the graves of the Justice Guild, the same heroes that are currently helping them save the city!

Commentary

The Justice Society of America

The Justice Guild are a pastiche of a group called the Justice Society of America. The Society are the original comic-book superhero team. I’ve mentioned them several times in these recaps so I’ll try to be brief. Superheroes started appearing in comics during the late 1930s, but each hero – for the most part – occupied his own little world and never met or interacted with characters from other titles. That was until All-Star Comics #3 (Winter 1940-41). All-Star was an anthology title and featured the stories of 8-different characters. For the first two-issues these stories were separate, but the third issue introduced a framing sequence. The heroes were sitting around a table telling stories (their individual adventures) to each other. The name of this club of heroes was “the Justice Society of America” (JSA).

There was a gradual evolution in the JSA’s adventures. At first they just related their own separate adventures to each other, but they soon started have linked adventures with each hero fighting some fragment of a large villain’s scheme. War time pressures on paper forced the number of chapters to drop so the heroes started fighting in pairs or small groups rather than on their own. By degrees the JSA went from being a Gentlemen’s Club for superheroes to a true crime-fighting unit. Their adventures lasted through the 1940s – even after many of their individual comics had been cancelled – until the early 1950s when All-Star Comics #57 (Feb-March 1951) was finally turned into a Western title (All-Star Western) and the superheroes were replaced by cowboys.

In the late 1950s DC Comics started reviving and updating some of their old superhero concepts and this led to the creation of an updated, second generation superhero team called the Justice League. It was later revealed that the League and Society actually co-existed with each other on separate parallel Earths. The Society lived on Earth-Two while the League lived on Earth-One. However, it was the Society’s adventures that set the mold for almost all subsequent superheroes teams. Even their pattern of splitting-up into small groups, originally due to paper shortages, was carried over into the League. It’s referenced in this episode when the League and Guild split-up to fight the Injustice Guild.

Society to Guild

The League and Society originally met in Justice League of America #21-22 when they teamed-up to fight a collation of villains from both Earths. Thereafter, once a year, the League and Society would crossover to each others world to have adventures. When the producers of the Justice League started working on this episode when intended for it to actually include the Society and to be an homage to those crossovers.

Bruce Timm described their original intention on Toonzone:

We wanted to use the golden age JSA, rather than the more recent incarnation, to contrast the “old school” superheroes with a more contemporary take on the characters. [...] Now, taking this course with the story meant that we ended up gently (but affectionately!) spoofing the Golden Age guys, with their old-fashioned primary-colored costumes, their roll call, their teen mascot, their too-good-to-be-true personalities, etc.

The fun in the story comes from seeing how the Justice League react not only to the the golden age heroes, but also to the wild Golden Age villains and the whole Golden Age-styled world they live in, like an incredibly romanticised version of the late 1940′s. All well and good, we thought we were on to something. The script turned out well, exciting, funny, charming, and oddly moving in its own way.

However, DC Comics Publisher Paul Levitz had some concerns with the story. He felt the story as written disrespected the JSA, and was overall an inappropriate use of the characters. We pleaded our case, but we could clearly see his point, too – the DC guys have spent a lot of time and effort in revitalising the JSA recently, to the point here it’s now one of their most popular titles. We certainly didn’t want it to seem as if we were saying the JSA was a joke. No disrespect was intended on our end–quite the opposite! We wanted the story to be a love letter to the original JSA, and a bittersweet nod to simpler times. Paul saw OUR point and quickly agreed to a compromise: we’d change the names and designs JUST ENOUGH to make them NOT QUITE the JSA, but still get the point across.

[...]

It DID give us a few hairy moments, as all this stuff was happening at literally the eleventh hour. We were actually on the phone with the legal department, awaiting clearances on our new JGA characters’ names, AT the voice-recording session. We started recording not knowing what some of the characters names were going to be!

It’s funny how things work out. At first, we were still kinda disappointed that we couldn’t use the “real” JSA, but we’ve come to realize that the story actually works BETTER this way. The “GL”, “Flash”, and “Black Canary” doppelgangers are fairly close to the originals, but the “Wildcat” clone is almost a Batman/Wildcat hybrid, and the “Atom” character has quite a bit of classic Superman in him as well. So, in effect, we’re not just spoofing/paying homage to the the JSA, but also to the Fox-era Silver Age JLA, too…sweet!

The Justice Guild

The Black Siren -  is a direct copy of the original Black Canary. The Siren’s name is shown on her gravestone as Donna Nance. The original Black Canary was Dinah Drake, the daughter of the police man. She became a costumed crime fighter after the chauvinistic police department wouldn’t let her follow in her father’s footsteps. Her daughter, Dinah Lance, was a member of the Justice League using the same costume and codename. It is the second Black Canary who joins Justice League Unlimited and attracts Green Arrows attention in “Initiation”.

The Siren is voiced by Jennifer Hale. Hale has provided a few voices for Justice League including Giganta, Inza Kent, and Zatanna from future episodes. She even voiced the Black Canary, the character the Siren is based on, in the Justice League Heroes video game.

Catman is an amalgam of an Adam West-era Batman and a JSA hero called the Wildcat. Wildcat was Ted Grant, a heavyweight boxer, who uses his pugilistic skills to keep the streets safe. In later years Wildcat has become famous for training a new generation of heroes, including the second Black Canary and Catwoman. The 1960s Batman TV show needs little introduction, its Batman was inspired by the 1950s Batman. The Catman’s alter ego is partially obscured on his tombstone, but it could be “T. Blake”. The name Catman comes from the Cat of Wildcat and the man of Batman, but it is also the name of a relatively obscure Batman villain and his alter ego is Thomas Blake. Catman is voiced by Stephen Root

The Green Guardsman – he is a direct copy of the original Green Lantern, Alan Scott. The science fiction Green Lantern Corps was a latter addition, the original Green Lantern got his magic ring from a lantern which had once been an Aladdin-like lamp. At a key moment the Green Guardsman reveals that his ring has no effect on aluminium. This is a reprise of Alan Scott’s ring not effecting wood. The Guardsman’s alter ego is Scott Mason. Scott is obviously from Alan Scott. Mason could be a nod to Hollis Mason, the older Owlman from Watchmen.

The Green Guardsman is voiced by William Katt. Katt voiced Hawkman of the Justice Society when they appeared on Batman: Brave and the Bold. He actually owns his own comics company.

The Streak – a direct copy of the first Flash, Jay Garrick. Jay was a college football-star who gained superpowers after inhaling fumes from heavy-water. The original Flash wore a World-War One style helmet, but the Streak wears a football helmet instead – possibly a nod to Jay’s college days. The Streak’s name is not clearly shown on his gravestone, but his name looks some like Ja.. ..r.. so it’s probably something like Jason Gorrick or some other play on Jay Garrick. The Streak is shown as the leader of the Justice Guild, the Flash was the Society’s first chairman. The Streak is voiced by David Naughton.

Tom Turbine - is an amalgam of features from several different heroes – in RPG terms he’s the “brick.” . His strength and the way his face is drawn, with no whites to his eyes, matches the art style of Joe Shuster – the co-creator of Superman. It’s also the style they use for the DCAU Superman. Turbine is a superstrong puncher so there is a parallel with the later Atom. Unlike the 1960s Atom, the 1940s Atom didn’t shrink, and was only called the Atom because of his short stature – more like a boxing nickname than a superhero codename. The need to activate his powers is a parallel to Hourman, he had an “hour of power” each time he took a miraco pill. Tom Turbine describes himself as an expert in nuclear physics and he is the one to explains how the League arrived on the Guild’s Earth. From his gravestone it seems that Tom Turbine is his real name. Tom Turbine is voiced by Ted McGinley.

The Injustice Guild

The Music Master – This is a music themed villain who tries to steal a Stradivarius, makes a getaway in a flute styled car, and uses an accordion as an offensive weapon. He is based on a villain called the Fiddler. The Music Master is voiced by Udo Kier.

The Sportsman – This sports themed villain is based on a character called the Sportsmaster. It’s a fairly uncomplicated concept – sports obsessed villain uses sporting equipment to stage crimes. The Sportsman is voiced by Michael McKean. McKean played Perry White in Smallville. He played a classic style villain when he voiced the 50s Joker in the “Legends of the Dark Night” episode of Batman TAS.

Doctor Blizzard - There is a later Flash villain called Captain Cold and Batman has a foe called Mister Freeze, but this particular chilly bane is based on a character called the Icicle. Doctor Blizzard is voiced by Corey Burton who played Brainiac in his appearances in Superman TAS, Justice League, and Legion of Superheroes.

Sir Swami - This character is based on a villain called the Wizard. Sir Swami is voiced by Jeffrey Jones.

Misc

• The figure on the yacht controlling the rampaging robot doesn’t speak and we aren’t shown his full face, but its pretty obvious from his battlesuit and lower face that it’s Lex Luthor.
• John Stewart’s uncle Jimmy had the largest comic book collection he’d ever seen. That’d be his uncle Jimmy Stewart.
• A painting in the villain’s cave headquarters shows a bearded man touching a globe. This is an homage to Vandal Savage, an old Justice Society foe, who lead a group called the Injustice Society. He will he the Justice League’s opponent in the first season finale.
• The Streak: “You’re a credit to your people son.” Ouch, the Streak shows the causal racism that was endemic at the time. Its a sly line, but underlines a lot of the less wholesome attitudes that are often glossed over in 1940s and 1950s romanticism.
• Getting frozen in a solid block of ice is an occupational hazard for the Flash. The same thing happened to him and Superman in his first DCAU appearance, Superman TAS “Speed Demons“.
• Seaboard City takes its name from a comic book company. Seaboard Periodicals was a company that published a line of comics called Atlas Comics in the 1970s.
• The Seaboard City Police Chief is an homage to Chief O’Hara from the Adam West Batman TV show.
• Superman and Batman appear in the episode tag, but only George Newbern’s Superman speaks.

Opinion

Highlights

Nuns on a bus heading for a TNT truck.

Oddities

The Green Guardsman’s ring doesn’t work against aluminium so he can’t catch the cradle, but he could have caught the window cleaners themselves far sooner than Hawkgirl.

My Thoughts

I don’t know how people who have never heard of the Justice Society feel about this episode, but I think its one of the best. We never really saw the differences between the Eart’s played up in the comics. In the comics, the Society were usually depicted as being older than the League – their parent’s generation – rather than their contemporaries. By changing that, by making the Guild and the League contemporaries, the cartoon is able to show us the Guild as they appear in their prime.

The 1950s Earth reminds me of the film Pleasantville (which I must admit if one of my favourite films) and I like the way they didn’t totally gloss over the difference in attitudes between then and now (the accepted sexism in the Guild and the Streak’s line to Lantern). Those really did exist in the JSA’s stories. Wonder Woman, the first female member, was often listed as just the team’s secretary.

Not bad at all. You can tell that they’ve had input from Geoff Johns. Just the appearances of Sandman and Doctor Fate would be enough, but they’ve already released/leaked pictures of Hawkman (Michael Shanks, Daniel Jackson from Stargate) and FIRC Johns has alluded to the addition of Stargirl. The appearance of the Green Lantern ring was a surprise. I wonder how many of these appearances are just easter eggs – teasers for the fans to recognise, but no real plot presence.