The Story: "Grand Canyon Showdown" by Gerry Conway, Don Heck, and Brett Breeding. Continued from last issue, we open with the Lord of Time having subdued Superman, and having trapped four Justice Leaguers in the Old West, who are being trailed by his posse of robot cowboys!
While The Lord of Time is watching events unfold in the past, Superman wakes up from his Kryptonite-induced coma, and uses his X-ray vision to find the Lord of Time's chamber, which is currently invisible to the naked eye.
Meanwhile, back in the past, all four sets of superheroes and western heroes find their way to town. First up is The Scalphunter and The Elongated Man, who head into a saloon and meet Cinnamon and a woman that The Elongated Man just knows he knows:
At the same time, Jonah Hex and Green Lantern finally noticed they're being followed by the Lord of Time's robot cowboys(!), and they make quick work of them.
Then our other heroes come out to see what the noise is, and they compare notes. Scalphunter spots three more of these strange cowpokes riding off in the distance, and The Flash catches up to them. He destroys them as easily as GL did, and the group of heroes start to think this is some sort of trap.
They find their way to the Grand Canyon, where Lantern's ring alerts them to the anti-matte bubble that is approaching Earth, and headed right for them! Zatanna, Flash, and GL manage to destroy the bubble, and then the heroes suddenly vanish.
As Jonah Hex, Scalphunter, Cinnamon, and Bat Lash wonder what the heck that was about, we see the four JLAers return to their normal time and find Superman with an unconscious Lord of Time!
Turns out Superman used his heat vision to create an offshoot of the Colorado River, washing the Kryptonite away, giving Supes the opportunity to box the Lord of Time's ears.
Roll Call: Superman, Flash, Green Lantern, Elongated Man, Zatanna
Notable Moments: A truly great George Perez cover--I just love how villainous The Lord of Time looks--he'd twirl his mustache if he had one.
The story's ending seems a bit rushed--everything basically wraps up in the last two pages, but let's not be too critical. After all, tomorrow is JLA #200!
I've never read this issue. So there was no callback to the brief flirtation between Flash and Zatanna from the previous year? "I'm pretty sure I know you from somewhere -- maybe we're lovers! Let's have a makeout session...to, um, refresh our memory!"
ReplyDeleteThey shoulda got Gil Kane to draw this storyline!
ReplyDeleteNo makeout sessions between Flash and Zee, but they do stare at each other. One might call it ogling.
ReplyDelete