Part 2 of the JLA versus the new Royal Flush Gang!The Story: "The Cut of the Cards!" by Gerry Conway, Don Heck, and Romeo Tanghal. This issue opens with Superman entertaining some kids at a local circus by juggling...elephants!
Afterwards, he is met by Lois Lane, who grabs him and plants one on him, much more passionately than usual. Before he realizes what's up, "Lois" reveals herself to be Queen, who blasts him with some sort of sceptre.
Up at the JLA satellite, Elongated Man is trying to keep track of all these attacks on his fellow teammates, and soon Green Arrow and Black Canary arrive.
Ralph and Canary head down to Earth and find an unconscious Wonder Woman, and they take her to the same hospital where Aquaman and Firestorm are. They are all in comas, with very little brain activity showing up on scans.
Green Arrow, still up on the satellite, is shocked when he sees a strangely-dressed woman outside in space! He goes to investigate, and she blasts her way in, chasing him:
Anyway, Ten catches up to Arrow, and blasts him the way the others were.
Meanwhile, Canary and Ralph are investigating the manufacturer behind the trading card components found near each of the scenes. The trail leads to Megaform Industries, and they have to bluff their way into the company's compound. Luckily, Black Canary is one the doing the persuading to the guard:
The two sneak around, grab some normal clothes, and find their way to the company's president, Derek Reston.
Once they enter the room, Reston goes insane and attacks the two of them, raving about how they are "two of the hated Justice League!"
They manage to subdue him, and after he wakes up, he is totally calm, and has no memory of what just happened! What's going on here?
It's here we see the ghostly image of Hector Hammond, bragging about how this is all his plan, and that Reston is only doing his bidding!
To be continued!
Roll Call: Superman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Green Arrow, Black Canary, Elongated Man, Firestorm
Notable Moments: Great, insanely-detailed cover by George Perez (I'll be saying that a lot in the next few weeks). And even though nothing like this happens in the issue, who cares? Its still way cool to look at.
I don't know if the Royal Flush Gang sent Ten specifically to take on Green Arrow, figuring he'd be thinking with his arrows instead of his head. If they did, that's just good supervillain planning.
That whole sequence of Ten vs. Green Arrow is just wonderful tour-de-force storytelling from Conway & Heck. I also love that Black Canary was able to distract the guard just by flirting with him - logical move by the hot blonde in fishnets riding a motorcycle.
ReplyDeleteI'm still not sure how much sense the whole Hector Hammond twist makes, though.
John, after all these years, I'm STILL not sure what Hammond's beef was against the entire JLA,or why he would go after them in a story that didn't even include Green Lantern, but it made for an entertaining story!
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