Hey, sort your trash! Some of that has gotta be recyclable.

Kurt Busiek has written a ton of great books--Astro City should be on everybody's reading list, but the latter half of his Avengers run is my favorite--and today we've got an early one from him, that probably should've got him the regular gig for the title! From 1984, Justice League of America #224, "The Supremacy Factor!" Written by Kurt Busiek, pencils by Chuck Patton, inks by Dick Giordano. And the cover is, of course, a homage to that page in Amazing Spider-Man #50!

Clark, Hal, and Ollie are enjoying a rare get-together out of costume; with a waitress thrilled to have three hot guys at her table, maybe just a hint of the civilian angle Busiek would take much later with Astro City. The guys are waiting for Dinah, who has been delayed by three guys mugging another--and getting the tar beat out of them! Black Canary has to step in to stop the masked figure from killing the muggers, but then he turns out to be a far more adept fighter than she expected, setting her up for a bad throw. Worse, he shrugs off her Canary cry, but that is heard by Superman, who arrives in time to save her. (I think other JLA stories from this time indicated Supes had a soft spot for her and might've been even more protective of her than Hal and Ollie were.) Somehow, the masked man is able to slug Superman so hard he hits the outer atmosphere; then he escapes at super-speed. Still, Superman had snagged the man's trenchcoat pocket, which contained some notes.

At the JLA satellite, neither Superman nor Red Tornado are able to get much out of the equations on the notes; so Green Arrow is surprised Firestorm wanted a look. But, we know there was more to him than met the eye: Professor Stein recognizes them as relating to RNA coding. Green Lantern then searches the database for recent scientific journals on the subject, finding Dr. Joel Cochin, a very smug looking three-time Nobel prize winner. Presumably, from back when the Nobel prize meant something; but the only three-time recipient is the Red Cross! Although Wonder Woman advises caution, even suggesting maybe the Atom should investigate, Ollie isn't one to let hitting Dinah slide, and Dinah isn't either: they head to Cochin's lab with Firestorm. The lab seems unusually closed off, with no windows; and Ollie is about to have Firestorm blow a hole in the wall, when someone else does: Cochin, now in costume as Paragon, with Firestorm's powers! Smugly, he explains he possesses the mental and physical powers of anyone within a certain range, only better, so nyah. The Leaguers are thumped and captured.

Paragon doesn't depose of them, possibly because he wanted Firestorm's powers, to use to make components for his machine. (He also mentions Ollie's engineering skills, which I'm pretty sure have long since fallen by the wayside.) Born with the mental portion of his powers, Paragon had long ago become sick of "hostile inferiority" from those he considered his lessers, namely everybody; so he was going to wipe out 90% of the population, figuring the rest would then acknowledge him as their superior. The rest of the League then arrives, giving him a ton of powers; but when Firestorm gets knocked out of his range, Canary realizes the trick to beating him: Paragon couldn't copy Red Tornado or Green Lantern's powers, and they were able to keep him off-balance. Canary lands the finishing blow, but Firestorm wonders, how were they going to keep him locked up...? 

I had to look it up: Paragon would return, sort-of, post-New 52, in Grayson of all places. I think he might have done a bit better, with maybe one more pass on the costume: the underwear-over-tights look is super-traditional, sure, but it made Paragon look like he was wearing tighty-whities on the outside of his clothes. And Firestorm could rock those sleeves, but they aren't for everybody.

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I really expected more garter belts in Howard Chaykin's Justice League.

Well, they're all business in these issues, so maybe not. From 2006, JLA: Classified #26, "Secret History, Sacred Trust, part one" Written by Howard Chaykin, pencils by Kilian Plunkett, inks by Tom Nguyen.  

I think this was pretty concurrent with the JLA book at the time, with the Grant Morrison core team: the most seasoned of professionals, if a bit detached. They were like an encounter with a really good paramedic: if you need them, you're probably confused, helpless, and having the worst day of your life; but for them it's just Tuesday. They'll take care of you, but won't get all worked up about it.

Plotwise, this is both pretty solid and almost specifically what you would expect from Chaykin: two South American countries were on the verge of war, but both sides seem to somehow have put metahuman soldiers into the field. The JLA has to thread the needle between doing the right thing, and not overly imposing their will on foreign nations, while maybe also figuring out where the metahumans came from and not seeming too pro-America. Despite having two aliens and two monarchs on the team, they still work more closely with the U.S. government than you would probably expect; which feels real post-911 but also hopefully isn't rushing back. It's also completely not-surprising that the President is concerned about any other countries "using metahumans for international terrorism" yet being A-OK with America having them.

From Joe Kelly's run, Faith makes an appearance here, returning from the warring countries "on a mission I can't discuss for an agency that doesn't officially exist." (I honestly forget what her powers were, and I think she was traded to the Byrne-era Doom Patrol, which really feels like getting sent to the minors.) While in the field they might have been a unified front, the League seems a little back-bitey here: Kyle and Wally are seen by some of the others as a bit like children, American simpletons who don't really understand the rest of the world, no matter how many times they've saved it. (...fair.) Later, playing the king card, Aquaman throws a wrench in things, by insisting the President and the JLA make their case to the United Nations; where things get dragged to a halt by the objections of the Dutch ambassador. (Are her complaints legitimate, or somehow sinister? Maybe both, really.) While the JLA is officially ordered to stay out of the conflict, Faith takes Bruce, Clark, Kyle, Wally, and Diana undercover; on Mission: Impossible rules: if you're caught, no one's ever heard of you... 

This storyline would run through JLA Classified #31, and while I was able to get the whole thing from the dollar bins recently, I don't think it's been collected. Later in the story, J'onn plays one-man JLA to make it look like the others were where the world expected them to be; Kyle is effective undercover at a comic-con while Wally seems really bad at clandestine stuff; and the JLA honestly seems to get along pretty well regardless of if they're sometimes irritated or annoyed by each other.

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I thought this was a one-shot, but more confusion would follow.

The GCD mentions this was collecting stories that were originally published digitally; but the cover doesn't mention that, or that this was a seven-issue mini! From 2021, Justice League: Last Ride #1, "If People Are In Danger" Written by Chip Zdarsky, art by Miguel Mendonça.

I'm behind on my DC continuity, but I'm not sure this one is in-continuity: the Justice League's Watchtower was largely abandoned, as the League was mostly disbanded. I say 'mostly,' as there's the sense the members would still come together for a big emergency, but only grudgingly; as they do here. Green Lanterns John Stewart, Kilowog, and Jessica Cruz had captured the murderer of the New Gods--Lobo? I really doubt Lobo had the juice for that, but the GL's want to bring him in for trial. Hal shows up, in a big shoulder-padded number: it's fancier than the usual uniforms, especially since the other GL's are plainclothes, with Kilowog in a hoodie! Still, Hal's look kind of reminds me of Parallax, which you'd think he would try to avoid. Hal gets called out by Batman: if the GL's couldn't contain Lobo, why was that the Justice League's job and not the United Planets' military? Hal was hoping to use partnership with earth, as a bargaining chip in his efforts to rebuild the Green Lantern Corps (every time the GLC needs rebuilding, drink!) with the moon as the new Oa, center of the Corps! Superman appears to be considering it, as Hal describes the League as no longer being needed if the GLC was there; but Bats blows it off as "cosmic politics" while he had Gotham to take care of.

After Mr. Freeze claims to have planted ice bombs all over the city, he is shut down cold--ha, ha--by Superman, who had wanted to talk things through with Batman. While Batman isn't "sure earth needs space cops," something had to take the place of the fragmented League. Frustrated, Superman finally goes off on Bats, accusing him of getting J'onn killed, and slugging his colossal penny. He admits to being tired; of the never-ending battle, fighting everyone, including his friends. Batman seemingly relents, although he would never say so; but he has the perfect place to hide Lobo: on Apokolips. 

The League broken up, the GLC in a rebuilding year, J'onn dead, the New Gods dead...all of those feel like things that occur relatively frequently in DC continuity, although maybe not all at the same time? Also, I seem to recall multiple stories where assorted alien races are a little cheesed that earth had so many Green Lanterns, and those were back when they only had like three or four! And why were the other GL's plainclothes? Either they were using all of their willpower to hold Lobo and couldn't spare any to suit up, or maybe Kilowog and Jessica had other things they needed to do that day. 

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I feel like she should have glasses, can't put my finger on why...

We've seen him on the blog a few times (mostly as a crowd filler in Serpent Society strips!) but I've always felt DC should do more with him. Even if modern readers would doubtless assume it was a riff on G.I. Joe. From 2003, Justice League Adventures #23, "Venomous Agenda" Written by Christopher Sequeira, pencils by Min S. Ku, inks by Rob Leigh. 

Of course, you have to somehow establish Kobra as a threat capable of not immediately getting crushed by the Justice League; something Kobra himself almost seems aware of. He usually spent two weeks a year disguised as one of his followers--like a more evil Undercover Boss, which would just be Undercover Boss--but has to call it early this time, as he's heard doubts in the rank-and-file, and needs to let them, and the world, know the score. A couple weeks later, Flash stops a basic bank robbery in Central City, then gets shivved by the bank manager! It's Kobra in disguise, hitting Flash with "electrified nano-particles" designed to keep him out of action for days. He then challenges the rest of the League on TV, reveals his Ark ship, and poisons a bunch of people with nerve gas. Batman and Superman investigate, and find a holographic message, with Kobra calling out Green Lantern and Hawkgirl, to face him and his second, the Baroness--er, Lady Eve, at the Grand Canyon, or he'll blow up a cannister of nerve gas already planted in a schoolyard somewhere.

Regular TV reporter Snapper Carr is already on the scene; and Lady Eve wonders if Kobra should be revealing his organization, but he claims "the media-hungry world needsss a lessson." While GL and Hawkgirl are able to wrap up the pair, Kobra still gets them with a blast of nerve gas, then teleports out, with the reporters as prisoners, and claiming the heroes would die in 24 hours. Superman and Wonder Woman had found the schoolyard gas cannister, but it was empty: they still didn't have a sample to try and make an antidote. Kobra then confronts the team in their own Watchtower headquarters, able to disable the Martian Manhunter with his own mental discipline, and the Ark hacked the Watchtower's systems. His next challenge: Wonder Woman and Superman, versus Kobra's elite troops, at the Colosseum in Rome! Or, he'll launch two separate missiles full of nerve gas. Still, Batman has realized Kobra's error: he saw the League as stereotypes, only taking into account their most surface powers.

Superman and Wonder Woman fight well, but eventually go down under a high-tech blaster barrage. Batman then challenges Kobra himself, one-on-one, no weapons, casually dropping his utility belt as he taunted him. Lady Eve advises against it--he had everything to lose, and nothing to gain--but Kobra's ego won't let that go. After a solid fight, Batman has him, and Eve has to intervene for her boss, trying to spin it as "the ways of the snake lead to victory!" Batman is down, but not beat, and tells Kobra so: even if he did fall, the Flash and the Manhunter would be back, or regular people would stand against him. "No one believes in you."

Furious, Kobra launches his missiles, which Batman had been waiting for: he had Superman and Wonder Woman playing possum, and WW plays to the camera as she smashes the Ark up. Flash had been tracking the missiles through dozens of weather and surveillance satellites, and could feed the trajectories to the Manhunter, to telepathically update Supes, who takes both missiles out. He saves the nerve gas, though, to make an antidote. Even wrapped up in Wonder Woman's magic lasso, Kobra still orders his troops to attack, but Lady Eve declines, refusing to sacrifice any for him; planning on bringing the cult back under her leadership. Kobra ends up in maximum security, although without his trademark hood he looks like Lex Luthor! 

I still don't have all of this series, which is mildly disappointing, but just means there's still some out there yet to be read. Previously, we've seen the last issue, #6, and #30; although we probably saw some of the later Justice League Unlimited as well.

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It's gonna be hilarious when the adaptation of this has more cultural impact than Black Adam.

Like most of DC's books in 2022, this one's got an ad for Black Adam on the cover; but it's maybe getting an adaptation soon: from 2022, Jurassic League #6, cover and script by Daniel Warren Johnson, script and art by Juan Gedeon.

I only picked up a dollar bin copy of the last issue, but yeah, this is pretty much "What If the Justice League were dinosaurs?" and this is the dramatic conclusion, as "Batsaur" has a final face-off with "Jokerzard" before the big confrontation with "Darkyloseid." "Supersaur" sacrifices himself, maybe, to take out Darkyloseid; and Batsaur and the rest of the League learn to work together with the primitive humans; which seems like a point in recent American Godzilla/Kong movies and probably dates back to Mothra or earlier, but always reminds me of the Primal Rage arcade game.

This is fluff, but harmless; unlike Black Adam: I'm pissed at the Rock, for being a candyass and complaining about his endorsement of Biden in 2020. Read more!

I'm sure New Yorkers would be thrilled Superman and Wonder Woman ceded jurisdiction to a jock and Professor McFloatyhead.

90% sure this isn't a rule when Batman's on the JLA. Ever. From 1982, Fury of Firestorm #4, "The Icy Heart of Killer Frost!" Written by Gerry Conway, pencils by Pat Broderick, inks by Rodin Rodriguez.

Killer Frost has sucked the heat out of most of New York, freezing everyone except Firestorm in their tracks: in the best comic tradition, instead of being corpsecicles, everyone could be revived, maybe, if the Nuclear Man can stop her. But, she knows she's got him over a barrel, and starts making demands: namely, for Firestorm to bring her Burt Reynolds Curt Holland from Hollywood. Before Firestorm can run that little errand, he just has to maybe fight his way past the Justice League, who arrive to take over the situation. But, Firestorm worries they would only make things worse, pointing out Superman himself got beat by Frost before, and he was fighting to save his friends and family.

A short fight, before the distraught hero realizes that wasn't helping. Despite describing themselves as the "pros," the Leaguers are pretty understanding, too; with Zatanna pointing out an "unspoken rule" of the team: "The hero on the spot has primary responsibility." In the JLA satellite, Firestorm catches them up on the situation, and reveals what had been a secret to most of them: his true identities, Ronnie Raymond and Professor Martin Stein. While Stein works on a portable refridgeration unit to stop Frost (despite being able to do stuff like launch icicles, she didn't have traditional ice powers; she drained heat, so if she herself was frozen she was powerless) Ronnie and Red Tornado try to recruit Curt Holland, who declines. Still, Ronnie has a plan, and Firestorm brings "Holland" to Frost, who immediately tries to murder him with a kiss. It was really a disguised Red Tornado, who had the freezer implanted in his android body; and he and Firestorm are able to draw enough heat from her to knock her out. The pair are then able to gradually heat up New York and save the citizens, glossing over what would be a ton of flooding and water damage; yay, happy ending!

I'm fairly certain the cover for this one was on a DC house ad at the time, but I first read it this week! Read more!

40% of this comic is probably respectfully staring at Wonder Woman; which sounds reasonable enough.

From 2006, Justice League Unlimited #19, "The Justice Rangers Ride Again" Written by Adam Beechen, pencils by Gordon Purcell, inks by Bob Petrecca.

In the Justice League's trophy room, Vigilante accidentally breaks the Time Commander's hourglass, sending him, Wonder Woman, and Elongated Man back to the old west. There they find the usual crew--Jonah Hex, Bat Lash, and El Diablo--defending a young card sharp from a posse of cowboys with ray guns. Bat had conned his pals into pursuing the sharp, since he had cheated him out of his daddy's lucky rabbit foot; but the cowboys had been after Jud Saunders to try and erase his descendant Greg from the timeline. Wonder Woman realizes the shattered hourglass had taken them to when a version of it had been in use, and they should be able to find the Time Commander, get the hourglass, and get home.

This was more cartoony than Purcell's usual style, but he nails the animated look quite well. I feel like I've seen other stories from Beechen with Elongated Man; I wonder if he was a favorite. Read more!

Maybe I'm just drawing a blank right now, but I was trying to think of time-travelling DC villains--basically, their Kang. Speedsters don't count! I remember the Time Commander, if no one else does; but Chronos might be the best known of the lot, and he's not way up there; but ahead of today's bad guy, anyway. From 1982, Justice League of America #198, "Once Upon a Time in the Wild Wild West..." Written by Gerry Conway, pencils by Don Heck, inks by Brett Breeding.

A bit of setting-up this month, as four Justice Leaguers wake up in the year 1878, without their memories. They are fairly quickly paired up with western heroes of the time: Green Lantern with Jonah Hex, Elongated Man with Scalphunter, Zatanna with Cinnamon, and Flash with Bat Lash. But none of them have yet noticed, each pair is being watched by an unseen rider...

Meanwhile, in 1981, Superman is trying to find out where his teammates have disappeared to. Using a new satellite positioning system set up by Hawkman--that sounds very similiar to GPS, which would have been super-new at the time! Supes heads to their last known location, the Grand Canyon, and is promptly attacked by a good-sized robot. He defeats the robot easily--too easily, since it was a lead-lined trap, filled with Kryptonite! Future Kryptonite, gathered by the Lord of Time from the year 3786; which I mention because I wonder if that's going to come into play in the conclusion: what's the half-life of Kryptonite? Enh, if it knocked Supes out, it's probably still within its shelf life. The LoT had of course sent the other Leaguers back in time, as part of a plan to capture an anti-matter bubble due to pop over the Grand Canyon in 1878. With Superman dying, he had time to see how it played out...

Man, the Lord of Time is bland. None of Chronos's visual flair; even the Time Commander had a better outfit. Still, I'll have to find the next issue, to see how his plan went south. Read more!

The JLA has to have a class or seminar on alien courtroom etiquette.

Who among us hasn't gone into space and found a weird cult based on them?

There's maybe two or three here, but that number could be going down; in a book I had wanted to try for a bit: from 2019, Justice League Odyssey #5, "Ghost Sector, part 5" Written by Joshua Williamson, art by Carmine di Giandomenico, colors by Ivan Plascencia.

This little League was Starfire, Cyborg, Green Lantern Jessica Cruz, and Azrael; having space adventures in the so-called "Ghost Sector," a bunch of worlds that had been recently re-enlarged after being shrunk and kept on Colu. (Think Brainiac!) Today, on the Machine Worlds, the Programmer was trying to convince Cyborg to use their homemade Mother Box to help everyone "ascend" to a higher level, of Cyborg-ism, whether they wanted to or not. Azrael had encountered an apparent disciple to him, Rapture; who turns out to maybe be a little much, as Rapture had killed a bunch of Tamaraneans that had been following Starfire.

Meanwhile, on Tamaran, a surprisingly hands-on Darkseid is wrapping up his fetch-quest with Blackfire, who's cut a deal to keep Darkseid off her world. He won't need it anymore; as Cyborg uses the homemade Box is discover Darkseid's plan: the Coluans may have shrunk all those worlds for a reason, other than scientific observation and dickery. The pieces of Darkseid's plan were spread across the worlds of the Ghost Sector, but he now had the "Other Box" to find them. And Rapture appears to be a Coluan, and presumably so is his Order of Azrael, now on a quest to kill the Old Gods...

Jessica appears to be the only one so far not have a cult or followers; at least not so far. Maybe they were agoraphobic too and couldn't make it? The "Other Box" is kind of a groaner, but it would be kind of neat if this stuck and Blackfire got the W: the Tamereans hail their queen for saving them, even as Starfire testily points out she sold the rest of the sector down the river. Read more!

We've seen Ultraa on the blog a couple times, but this is definitely a comedown from the 200th issue. (By the way, does anyone else do this, go through the boxes at the comic shop and get frustrated when they have #199 then #201, even if they're the one that bought #200 already?) From 1982, Justice League of America #201, "A Hero For All Seasons" Written by Gerry Conway, pencils by Don Heck, inks by Bob Smith.

I don't think I've ever read anything about anyone ever having a good time in Atlantic City: I've never been, but is it just depressing? This fellow is, anyway: two-time loser Joe Perry, who found an alien "wishing machine" some years back; ended up fighting the JLA on Hawkman's first case with the team, and got sent up the river for robbing a bank. Out on parole, Joe was still kicking himself for his missed opportunity, when he notices the prodigious strength of a janitor...you'd think he would notice Ultraa was also like nine feet tall, since I think he was in his previous appearances?

Green Arrow had returned to the JLA, and was kicking himself for doing so: it's pretty obvious Black Canary was like 90% of why, the other 10% being the usual rants about rich people, helping the man on the street, etc. When the team gets sent the video of Ultraa and Joe rather brazenly robbing a bank, Flash runs to get Hawkman: not only because he had worked the case with Joe, but because Hawkgirl was currently MIA, which maybe puts this around World's Finest #275 or so? He's not doing well on his own, but still suits up. Black Canary recounts Ultraa's semi-tragic story to the Atom: Ultraa had an origin not unlike Superman's, and had been the first super-powered person on Earth-Prime. But, it was believed his presence would lead to more super-powered villains and heroes, an inevitable escalation that Ultraa immigrates to Earth-1 to avoid bringing upon his adopted home.

GA knocks out Joe by shooting a concussion arrow into his apartment--that's a little excessive, Ollie. But Ultraa punches Superman out of the building, and three Leaguers with him: while Supes saves them, Ultraa starts tearing up a casino with the usual giant props. Superman throws him like a Yahtzee roll with giant dice; but Ultraa then knocks out Hawkman, Superman, and the Flash in no time; before collapsing in despair. That wasn't what he wanted, at all: Ultraa had just wanted a friend, and had been betrayed. In the end, Joe was facing another stiff sentence, while on probation, Ultraa moves to Australia: he had been raised by the Aboriginal Australians of Earth-Prime, and finds a second home there. Which he probably should've in the first place, instead of doing dishes in Atlantic City. 

This one has a little more characterization than usual, but it needs it, since the League doesn't accomplish much?

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The old adage says kissing a smoker is like kissing an ashtray, but that really has to be like kissing an ashtray.

From 2021, Justice League Infinity #4, "The Mirror Crack'd, part 4" Story by J. M. DeMatteis and James Tucker, art by Ethen Beavers. 

 

This series was a sequel to the Justice League/Justice League Unlimited cartoon; but the cover is actually a throwback to that season of Super Friends where Darkseid was about more than getting the Anti-Life Equation; he also wanted Wonder Woman real bad. And just to show you anything is possible, in this particular universe he got her! Which may or may not have led to the destruction of said universe: Darkseid had eventually found the Anti-Life Equation, but when his Diana convinced him to stop, the Equation broke from his control and destroyed just about all the life in the universe in short order, leaving only Darkseid to torment. 

Alone for thousands of years, Darkseid had been trying to keep his sanity and discover a "life equation" to counter Anti-Life; but the traditional Wonder Woman doesn't want to hear it.

In the ruins of Apokolips, Diana is confronted by her possible father, Hades; really the Anti-Life Equation manifesting as her doubts and fears. Confronted with the idea of being a weapon for suffering, Diana proclaims she'd rather die, and seems to give up; until Darkseid charges in to save her, and is mortally wounded. Diana slams her bracelets together, seemingly dispersing the Equation, then comforts Darkseid as he passes. No time to mourn, though; as she's then visited by Superman--Supermen--and the Justice Alliance! Time to save the multiverse... 

I had picked up the first couple issues of this mini-series, but I don't think I had read them yet when I saw the cover for this one. It kind of got me back on board! I didn't read it until I had all seven issues, and tried to watch some old episodes while I did, but either my old DVD players or my old DVD's did not want to co-operate! Ugh, may have to spring for Blu-ray.

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I keep forgetting there's a Blue & Gold book finally coming out next month, but I have to say I need to try an issue or two before I'm all in, since occasionally those two can test my saintlike patience. Like today's book! From 2008, Justice League Unlimited #43, "Wannabes" Written by Keith Giffen, pencils by Christopher Jones, inks by Dan Davis.

Booster Gold and Blue Beetle have a line on extortionist super-villains the Demolition Team, which they think they could then leverage into Justice League membership. Because they have to discuss this to hype themselves up, the actual League shows up, and Booster and Beetle of course get in their way, letting the bad guys escape. John Stewart and Wonder Woman are immediately rubbed the wrong way by them, thinking they're only in it for the fame, the money, and the girls. Which they kind of are, sure: Booster and Beetle only get serious if one of them gets seriously hurt, of if there's a crying little kid or something.

After wrapping up the Demolition Team, Batman points out the League could have taken care of the situation without their interference: "Do it right or don't do it at all." That is Bats being charitable, though: he tells Wonder Woman, even they were new to this once, and he admits he never had to worry about money.

I actually thought the last page of this story was part of the Mad Kids sneak peak; that's not super encouraging. Giffen often wrote Booster and Beetle as dumb as hell in the Justice League glory days, and the tradition continues! That's probably why I hadn't blogged this before, which of course led to buying it again; great system I've got going here. Read more!

Like trying to herd cats, except if the cats had their own editors and writers taking them away from you.

There's a lettering mistake on the first page, as what appears to be the old JLA satellite burns up entering the atmosphere; but three pages later Black Canary coldcocks Green Arrow one, so that makes up for it. From 2009, Justice League of America #31, "Welcome to Sundown Town, interlude: Crisis of Confidence" Written by Dwayne McDuffie, pencils by Shane Davis, inks by Sandra Hope.

Dinah could be the author's surrogate in this issue, and probably just as steamed as McDuffie, as after the deaths of the Martian Manhunter and Batman (in other comics...) six Leaguers quit the team by editorial fiat um, I mean, for personal reasons! Ollie gets slugged since he and Hal had gone off and created their own team--remember Cry for Justice? Ugh. Later, probably after venting a bit, Oracle calls that a lack of respect on Ollie and Hal's part: they wouldn't have pulled that with Clark or Bruce. But, Dinah admits that was "barely the tip of the iceberg."

Arsenal leaves the team--I forget what terrible thing had happened to him at this point, besides possibly breaking up with Hawkgirl, and while it seems like he's grieving well enough here, I'm pretty sure he had a relapse coming. Black Lightning had left to take over the Outsiders, one of Batman's final requests--why they had to be separate from the JLA, who knows? Wally confesses, while he promised Wonder Woman he would be more available for the team, that wasn't realistic with problems in Central City and his family. Superman and Wonder Woman have a private remembrance of Batman while sparring in the Fortress of Solitude, then both tell Dinah they will try to be there for the team, but...maybe don't count on it. (WW had "obligations to Themyscira," although I couldn't say what in particular then; while Supes was going to be mired in the dismal New Krypton arc.) When Dinah complains she just lost all the founding members, Supes suggests maybe she should patch things up with Hal; and Dinah contains herself enough not to scream until the Fortress caved in.

Red Tornado hadn't answered her call, Atom was joining Hal's team, and Hawkgirl was somewhere with Hawkman and neither back yet, so Dinah's JLA was down to John Stewart, Vixen, Zatanna, and Dr. Light; who are supportive of her but all snippy with either each other or regarding their former teammates. Perhaps not unreasonably, Dinah throws in the towel, telling them she was disbanding this branch... 

My god, did McDuffie get all the toys taken away from him at once? "Welcome to Sundown Town" would continue until his last issue, JLA #34--without Dinah, but with Milestone's Icon and Hardware! Also, I try to refrain from swearing here, so you'd have to ask me somewhere else what I think of Rich Johnston and Bleeding Cool: "hot garbage" would be the most polite thing I could say. After his work on the Justice League cartoon, McDuffie's run on the comic should've been a can't-miss classic for the ages, but he was never given the tools or the freedom for it to take off. I'm furious at this comic...and just noticed the editor, so now I'm even madder.

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