So the last several 80-pagers have been a bit disappointing, but I have a good feeling about today's: several brand name creators and the return of an obscure villain, in 1992's Justice League Quarterly #9, featuring stories by Mark Waid, Kevin Dooley, Paul Kupperberg, and Elliot S! Maggin; and art by Rod Whigham, Andy Smith, Dusty Abel, Dave Cockrum, and more.
The lead story, "Frenzy," features the return of mad scientist Ira Quimby, a.k.a. I.Q. We've checked out multiple comics with him over the years...yet I'm not sure we've ever bothered to scan him. Which is fine: he usually looks like a somewhat manic stringbean in goggles and jodhpurs, but today he looks like a South American man in an environmental suit. And the suit is for good reason: as the Justice League raids his secret lab in Central America, they are exposed to his newest invention, a toxin that after an hour, turns 1 in 6 people into an uncontrollable homicidal maniac! The team grates on each other as the clock ticks, and not just the usual instigators like Guy or Wally. Waid may cheat just a smidge in the end, but there's also a clever reversal.
Also this issue: a Crimson Fox story, that's about as good as any of her other stories; yet another Power Girl story where she's written as cartoonishly angry; and a Booster Gold story where he recognizes a young girl who would go on to basically save the 21st century with the power of 'capitalism unleashed.' Urg...there's also some leering at an underage girl in that one, and Booster may have destroyed his own timeline, but Dave Cockrum art!
Still, so much better than the last couple of these...and probably better than the next couple we'll get to sometime.
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