Monday, May 14, 2012

In which we see what Batman doesn't need in his trophy collection.

From 2004, Justice League Adventures #34, "Past Tense" Written by Stuart Moore, pencils by Tim Levins, inks by Mick Gray.

Batman and Superman narrate over their respective origins, but what they don't notice is a familiar bracelet-laden arm reaching through a bright light to take a shell casing from the Wayne murder scene, and a piece off of Kal-El's rocket. An ancient, bald man in a wheelchair orders Wonder Woman to place the items and her tiara in a shrine, putting his plan in motion.

Meanwhile, Batman is in Metropolis, following up on a rumor that Lex Luthor is planning revenge on Superman and himself. Bats is also dismayed to be discovered by Superman about thirty seconds in. They begin to check out the under-construction Metropolis Museum of Tomorrow, but are suddenly stricken by a mysterious energy that saps their strength. They push on to the "Ultimate Time Capsule," a lead-lined bunker within the museum; where they find Luthor. Not the Luthor they know, but one from the future, and one that's expanded his repetoire to include "Qabalah" and magic. By travelling in time, old Luthor has figured out Bruce and Clark's secret identities (in JLU continuity, I don't think Diana's ID was secret) and had his plan leaked to lure them in. The spell will suck all the life-energy out of Supes and Bats, killing them; and feed it into Wonder Woman, blowing her up. But for good measure, Luthor orders Diana to beat them to death. And seems to enjoy that a little too much...
Fighting off Luthor's control, Diana throws Supes into the "Qabalah" altar, destroying it, and with his future possibly changed, Luthor disappears. Meanwhile, in prison, the present-day Luthor has an idea:
Back at the JL Watchtower, Superman shares his newfound memento with the rest of the team, thankful for a reminder of his birth-parents, and friends to share it with. While in the dark of the Batcave, Batman drops the shell casing in a chasm: he can see his parents' death every day, and therefore needs no reminders.

This was the last issue of Justice League Adventures, although there would be another 46 of Justice League Unlimited. Adventures may have been stronger overall, though...

1 comment:

Mr. Morbid's House Of Fun said...

Not a bad story, and one that could easily have been an episode of the old JLU series. Man I miss that show!

Btw, I bought Hawk, Red Arrow, Prof. Zoom from DCUC Wave 20, and the Sinesro/Hal 2-pack. Freakin' sweet man!!!!!