In the previous issue, "the adventure of the Soul Carnival," occasional JLA member the Phantom Stranger, "opened the doorway to death" so Superman, Hawkman, and himself could return to the land of the living. OK, but they picked up a bonus member: the returning Red Tornado!
The JLA pretty quickly calls B.S. on that. Batman points out the last time they saw the Tornado, he was blown apart by Nekron; and Superman remembers the last time Reddy came back, it was a plot by T.O. Morrow to destroy the League. Reddy claims his memory isn't clear on what happened to him, or how he returned, but does admit he realizes how lame that sounds. The Phantom Stranger isn't able to tell either--androids apparently being out of his purview--so it's down to, I don't know, twenty questions maybe. Superman asks a series of questions only Red Tornado (or a JLA trivia buff) would know, but trips this Tornado up on one the Real Red Tornado wouldn't know: the real secret origin of the League, which had only been revealed to Green Arrow a few months prior.
It does occur to me that instead of smugly telling the fake Tornado that he's wrong, Supes should've just sucker-punched the fake into spare parts. Of course, Supes does seem to be having a little trouble with the Tornado's winds, so I suspect he's not bringing the A-game today. In fact, in a lot of these old JLA stories, I figure Supes is putting about as much effort into those cases, that you would a sudoku puzzle: you don't want to just plow through it, and it's a distraction, not work.
Incidentally, I've never played sudoku. No reason, just had other stuff to do. Like this, and more after the break!
With a new, angrier voice, the fake Tornado attacks the League, but his body isn't up to the strain, and goes limp, seemingly dead again. Batman and the rest of the League recognize their attacker as the Construct, explaining it to the Stranger: again, android stuff, not his thing. (In fact, a couple pages later, the Phantom Stranger would bag out of the rest of this story.)
Wonder Woman has a strange feeling at the mention of the Construct: in a recent issue, some force took her over, and they still hadn't figured out what was up with that. Stealing focus, Hawkman suggests they're going to need all hands on this one, and his wife Hawkgirl should be given official JLA membership. Perhaps not surprisingly, Superman is a dick about it: I suppose the non-duplication clause was drummed into him back in his Legion of Super-Heroes days.
Before he splits, Phantom Stranger suggests half the team look up those who have fought the Construct before, while the other half follow up with Wonder Woman. And once again, the JLA leaves Red Tornado's body lying around, saying they can give him a burial later. Just like last time you buried him...oops, never mind.
Unnoticed behind them, the Red Tornado's body stirs...
And my computer decided to go all update-happy on me, so more of this issue on Thursday. But like I said, I've done more than a few write-ups for satellite-era JLA stories, so here's some links: most recently, a brief look at Hawkman and Hawkgirl leaving the JLA. For five minutes.
Next, JLA #200, mostly for Brian Bolland's art.
Then, a couple panels from JLA #212, a bit outside, but OK.
This was my first JLA comic, #162, featuring the Shark!
We already mentioned JLA #144, featuring the secret origin of the League, that has been revised and retold multiple times, but this one has Rex the Wonder Dog!
The DC Wikia thing links to this one! JLA #158, featuring Ultraa! Yeah, that didn't deserve an exclaimation point, sorry. Hey, Poison Ivy, Chronos, and the Tattooed Man are there too! People still like them, right?
And my first oneJLA #129, versus Nekron, in "The Earth Dies Screaming!" I like that one, but the posts are back from before I knew anything about setting them up...I may have to fix that.
I love the idea of Superman just viewing it all as a pleasant diversion, as opposed to something to REALLy get worked up about.
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