Part 3 of the introduction of the new Justice League!The Story: "Rebirth: Three--Heavy Metal by Gerry Conway, Chuck Patton, and Mike Machlan. This issue opens with the JLA having an emergency meeting, as news reports show footage of Vixen breaking into the local prison, as she did at the end of last issue.
She did so to get information about where the man that killed her father, a military strongman nicknamed The Ox, currently is. What she doesn't know is that he is looking for her, as well.
As the JLA argues over what to do, we see that Gypsy is there, too. She's considering revealing her presence to them, but is put off by their bickering.
Steel quickly falls into an argument with Aquaman, who seems to be mainly concerned about the damage to the new League's public image Vixen is doing. When Steel loses his cool and smashes a nearby pillar, Aquaman shows an extraordinary new level of power, and crosses a line:
Mind-controlling Steel, snapping at the lovable Sue Dibny? Aquaman is in full-on Jerk Mode right now.
While Steel clears his head outside, Gypsy is there waiting for him. As she sort of flirts with Steel, they are attacked by one of The Cadre, a goofily-dressed baddie named Fastball. After a few well thrown explosive balls, Steel drops a slab of concrete on him, but not before Fastball is transported away to safety.
Meanwhile, Vixen arrives in New York, who drops herself off a helicopter, right into the glass window of The Ox's high-rise apartment!
The two of them fight, and when The Ox's henchmen shoot at her, one of themhits her in the shoulder, causing Vixen to fall out of the window onto the ground below.
While Steel clears his head outside, Gypsy is there waiting for him. As she sort of flirts with Steel, they are attacked by one of The Cadre, a goofily-dressed baddie named Fastball. After a few well thrown explosive balls, Steel drops a slab of concrete on him, but not before Fastball is transported away to safety.
Meanwhile, Vixen arrives in New York, who drops herself off a helicopter, right into the glass window of The Ox's high-rise apartment!
The two of them fight, and when The Ox's henchmen shoot at her, one of themhits her in the shoulder, causing Vixen to fall out of the window onto the ground below.
As the henchmen find Vixen and prepare to finish her off, they are stopped by...The Justice League! They rescue Vixen, carting her off into the JLA's shuttle (Vixen isn't hurt so bad she can't flirt with Manhunter in the process).
Before Aquaman can board, he is stopped by the local police, who want to arrest Vixen, for busting up the Detroit jail, if nothing else. Aquaman waits a moment, while the League wonders what he'll do.
Finally, he tells the League she is one of them, and "The League takes care of its own." They board the ship and take off.
While flying back to Detroit, their ship is blasted by a ball of energy, the JLAers transported away, and when they wake up, they are met by...The Cadre!:
Notable Moments: Mike Machlan inks this issue (the first of many), and his smooth lines work well with Patton's pencils. He would stay on the book the longest of all of Patton's inkers.
The JLA Mail Room runs three pages this issue, featuring letters on the second JLA Annual. Reaction seems to be split, and editor Alan Gold suggests that that was the general reaction of all the letters received.
At the time, I was shocked that Aquaman was being written this way. He dips into megalomania mode, messing with Steel's mind as he does here. It's frustrating to me to know that Gerry Conway would've eventually dealt with this, but because of events outside his control, never got the chance to. So, as far as JLA readers would ever know, Aquaman is just one big jerk.
Ummm, in yesterday's post, it looked like Zatanna had convinced Aquaman that he had gone overboard (ha-ha!) regarding Steel. Just one issue later, Art is trying out Jedi mind-tricks on Steel. How did that work, anyway? Does Steel have a fish-brain?
ReplyDeletewell, this was what was so sad about this, because clearly Gerry Conway was going somewhere with this--i mean, aquaman is practically a villain here!
ReplyDeletebut then the mini-series got approved, and Aquaman had to be pulled out of JLA post-haste, and this whole angle was never really resolved.
obviously, at some point, someone at DC should've coordinated with Conway when he could wrap this thread up vs. when the mini-series would start, but that didn't happen, so we're left with one jerk-ass Sea King.
Conway was a great writer, so I'm sure he did have something worthwhile in mind, but I have to say that I don't think Aquaman should have ever been pushed in this direction. Like I said before, this is the beginning of the end. While it IS awesome to see Aquaman do something like that (which he should DEFINITELY be ABLE to do), the hero we all know and love would never do that.
ReplyDelete