Happy Birthday, Justice!

I thought this issue was going to fall under my "three times" rule, since, um, I'd bought it twice from separate dollar bins in the last month or so; but I'm not sure I had this issue when it came out! Which is weird, since I had a subscription at some point, and I remember the cover, but that might be from the New Universe house ads. It is memorable, you have to give it that. From 1988, Justice #22, "Hide and Seek" Written by Peter David, pencils by Lee Weeks, inks by Mike Gustovich.

We mentioned some time back how the first fourteen issues of this series were retconned, because somebody decided the fantasy elements weren't in keeping with the New Universe's mission statement of "the world outside your window." Instead of being Tensen, a "justice-warrior" from a magical land; he was now John Tensen, an undercover narcotics agent and paranormal who spent the better part of a year tripping his head off, his mind warped by another paranormal, Daedalus Darquill. Oh, yeah, like that name spells world-outside-your-window...This issue, after being captured and drugged at a Live-Aid style concert for victims of "the Pitt" disaster (not that one, Timmy! Or that one either.) John was again in la-la land, seeing the world as a Dungeons & Dragons medieval hodgepodge: he takes down a police helicopter, seeing it as a dragon with mounted riders. In remembrance of his beloved "Endolina," who may or may not have existed, I don't recall; John refrains from killing, using his shields to keep the fallen "dragon" from crashing down hard.

Meanwhile, back at the police station, where John had blown a hole through the building in escaping; the cops, the army, and the National Security Council are getting into a pissing match over jurisdiction, while also not making any effort to search for the escaped "justice killer." John had killed a lot of bad guys, sure; but I'm not sure how many they would be able to pin on him: not because he was crazy at the time, but he usually disintegrated his victims, so...no habeas corpus, right? John's college age daughter Angela is there as well, as well as the psychic Playback, and the perpetually sniffly Mr. Pasko. As night falls, John gathers with some bums around a fire: their bully of a leader tries to shoot him, but John's shields bounce the bullet back, killing him. The other bums, who had been ordered to find more fuel for the fire, wonder how their boss would burn... 

Back at the station, John's lawyer had about had it with him, before realizing bricks from his escape landed on her car. Then, John shows up, thinking she was Endolina: she maces him a bit, which only makes him think she wasn't Endolina, and he takes off again, ranting at nothing. The lawyer bails, and we cut back to the bums, who receive another visitor, wearing a shirt like John did in his early issues, and carrying a flamethrower. Next issue for him! This next bit doesn't quite line up, but I see what they were trying to do: Playback sees the recent past, and the scene with John and the lawyer; but John's powers are such that he can see Playback watching him! Which isn't great for his already dubious mental state, but Playback knows what direction he took off in. Updike, the NSC man, wants to tranq John; Angela angrily points out drugs don't go well with her dad, and seemingly shouts him out of using it. The army gets there first, although John sees them as wolfmen, and their leader Col. Browning as Darquill. He tears through the soldiers, again showing mercy, although he doesn't intend to show any to Darquill...

Then, for little reason, John sees Angela as a hideous monster: I don't know if there's an in-story reason why? It could be he never wanted kids; or perhaps Darquill put that in him to make him turn on his loved ones. Trying to talk her dad down, Angela braves the danger and hugs him, snapping him back to reality, or closer to it. Updike does get to use his tranquilizer gun, though: on Col. Browning, to keep him from backshooting John, and probably Angela. (Browning may show up later, or in other New Universe titles: I think he had been Spitfire's government contact, and not a great guy.) Updike wants John for the NSC; but the story ends with the return of the bums, who gather up weapons and ammo from the downed soldiers, so they can go feed their fire? OK, that punchline didn't quite land, and the bum bits cut into Angela's monster-reveal, even if the cover sells it.

Also this issue: Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe-style entries for Justice, Playback, and baddie Seraph; the latter of whom I'm not sure had appeared yet! Also, the entries give birthdates, since another New Universe tenet would be the characters aging in real time; so Justice would be 75 today! Well, it's not like his hair's gonna go more white...wait, he would've been just shy of his 38th birthday when this issue hit the stands, but Angela's at least 18 and probably closer to 22? Not impossible, but it doesn't seem to add up! We'll close with that aforementioned house ad: the New U. was down to four regular books, and I think Star Brand was even bi-monthly. Although, Nightmask was still making guest-appearances; and the back cover has an ad for the upcoming the Draft, which would also feature him.

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So, a few years back, we took a look at an issue of the New Universe title Justice, and I spent most of the post bitching about time zones. I also advised against buying those from the quarter bins, as "They'll just hurt you in the end." Yeah, you see where this is going, but I swear I've got a good reason! Or a reason. Maybe marginally good? From 1987, Justice #10, "Hour of Corruption" Written by Gerry Conway, pencils by Keith Giffen, inks by Vince Colletta.

At this point, the book seemed to be building up for a final battle in the other-dimensional Winterland, like King's the Dark Tower by way of Kirby's New Gods. Am I overselling it? Definitely, the book would absolutely whiff any potential it had. The bad guys, including corporate evil Damon Conquest, were preparing for their massive assault on "the justice-warriors of Spring," who were disorganized and demoralized, possibly because of their name. Damon reports to a bigger bad here, his dad; and had abducted and corrupted the hero's love interest, FBI agent Rebecca Chambers. Damon also makes a phone call to one of his agents on earth, casually talking through his hand, his cold breath seeming to come out the other end...a much stronger visual than this book deserved! Back on earth, Tensen, a.k.a. Justice, was still murdering drug-dealers here and there, but was largely depressed; since Rebecca was believed dead and he was being blamed for it.

Damon transports Justice to the desert, to face Klane, Black Justice; who has a real Fist of the North Star vibe to him, as does their fight. (Fist wasn't released stateside yet, although it had been running in Japan since 1983. Could Giffen have seen it and be riffing on that...?) It's a trap, though, intended for Justice to strike him down in anger, a violation of his code. Beaten in the desert, Justice is unable to do anything when Rebecca appears, at first intending to kill him, but deciding he wasn't worth it. Harvesting dark power from Justice's corruption, Damon lists off his evil plans to his dad, as the invasion draws nearer...

Yes, yes, yes, that's all well and good; but I was actually looking for Giffen's issues of Justice, because of a joke in a better book! From 1990, Secret Origins #48, featuring "The Secret Origin of Ambush Bug: We Thought Him Up!" Plot and pencils by "Keith Van Giffen," script by "Robert Louis Loren Stevenson Fleming," inks by "Bob the Louvre Lewis." Cover by Kevin Maguire and Al Gordon! This is a banger of an issue from late in that series, featuring a bit we saw in Blue Devil Annual #1: here's a whole bunch of 'secret' origins, not a one of them even remotely close to right. "This calls for a Giffen 'big-eye' panel!" is still a fun bit of him poking fun at himself; but Giffen had done layouts for Wally Wood: if we consider Wood's 22 Panels That Always Work!! is the big-eye panel a variation on 'extreme closeup,' or its own thing?  

For good measure, this issue also includes Phil Foglio on Stanley & His Monster, a few years before that mini-series, an extended Captain America riff for the origin of Rex the Wonder Dog, and the largely-forgotten western heroes the Trigger Twins. I had to double-check, since I was thinking it would be just like me to say something like 'largely-forgotten' and then find out the Trigger Twins had a book for like 14 years and a massive following in Paraguay or something: I mean, Rex the Wonder Dog used to be huge. The Trigger Twins, not so much. They were in a bunch of All-Star Western, and the name's been repurposed since.

Anyway, all of this, and there's only one proper "big-eye panel" in Justice #10. Feel like there were more in the previous issue...or maybe the next one? Giffen only did three total here, but I still feel like there is a Fist of the North Star influence.

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This may be the most relatable any New Universe villain got. Possibly the most relatable any New Universe character got.

From 1987, Justice #13, "Drug of Choice" Written by Gerry Conway, pencils by Tom Grindberg, inks by Tom Morgan.

Ah, time zones: do I talk to anyone in mine? Some days it doesn't feel like it! And I grew up in Mountain time, and I have vivid memories of CBS ads for specials, cartoons and such, that would always say something like 9:00 Eastern, 6:00 Pacific; and I would have no goddamn idea when A Charlie Brown Christmas was on and I would get all furrow-browed and sad. So I feel this guy, here.

Is this the one panel from Justice that made an impression with me? Just about, since they kept retconning the damn book! The first issue is perfectly readable, alien warrior, stranger in a strange land jazz; the next several from Steve Englehart turn up the fantasy elements. There's an issue or three in there with Keith Giffen art too, including one where the above villain eschews using a phone and just uses his hand--and creepy, demonic-looking breath--instead. The book had like six writers in about 15 issues, and #15 is a massive retcon. (I had to try and look: have I never bitched about this? In 16 years of blogging?) The New Universe was supposed to be "the world outside your window" and not have overt fantasy elements like other worlds and mystic knights, so the whole thing was the hero, affected by a reality warping villain, tripping balls for about a year and a half. His costume also changed to an inexplicable purple number with a lightning bolt--I liked the old design--and his white hair was no longer punk rock, but aging dad. Feh. Of course, I would read later issues, because I was a fan of Peter David, but even he could only do so much. (It's also weird that Justice survived the culling of half the New Universe around the one year mark, then was asked to continue so changed.)

Anyway, if you look in the quarter bins, like at all, ever; you'll probably see some Justice issues. You may even be tempted, but resist! They'll just hurt you in the end. I was flush with cash and comics were cheap if you subscribed, and I was getting Psi-Force, Justice, and D.P.7 in the mail, maybe ten issues before they were all finally put down. D.P.7 may still hold up, but the rest, doubtful. This is why I have almost an allergic reaction every time somebody tries to bring back the Star Brand in Avengers: I was OK with Gruenwald doing it once in Quasar, and that was it.

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