Let's Get Caught Up: Justice League

Welcome back to the mini sessions of Let’s Get Comical! This time we’ll be reviewing the backlog of issues from Justice League, so let’s get right to it!

Justice League #6

It’s the epic conclusion to the Darkseid saga! So basically the yet-to-be-named Justice League winds up working together as a team and beats the crud out of Darkseid. There are still various portals opening up in the sky and only Cyborg can close them. But he lacks confidence, leading to Batman providing a motivational speech. So Superman pushes Cyborg into one of the portals just as Cyborg shuts them all down, and suddenly the fight is over, and the costumed heroes are finally recognized as such by the general public they have saved. So the heroes get their own parade and celebration outside the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington with President Bush (remember that this story arch takes place in 2006) commemorating them. Suddenly some FBI agents run up and inform Bush that there is a problem, but the Flash informs him that it’s a job for the SUPER SEVEN~! But they’ll work on the name. The issue ends with someone writing a book called “Justice League: Gods Among Men,” thus giving the group their name. Then we get a mini-comic featuring Pandora fighting some guy and talking about the Spectre. Meh. The first story is finished, and it started off awful, then got really good, then kind of ended with a whimper, but let’s see how the following issues compare!

Justice League #7

This issue finally takes us to the year 2012 as a city is being overrun with weird creatures being controlled telepathically. A.R.G.U.S., a government agency created to assist the Justice League and led by Colonel Steve Trevor, is once again in over its head until the Justice League arrives to save the day, much to the delight of the general public. In a cool flashback to an earlier issue, they declare that “They Got This.” The Justice League easily disposes of the creatures and then is briefed on their mission: Dr. Samuel Street was delivering a “Spore” virus to A.R.G.U.S. when he was mysteriously “interrupted” and exposed to the virus, transforming into Spore and going to assault his ex-wife. So the Justice League quickly runs to her rescue, and an hour later Colonel Trevor is forced to take questions about the events, and he becomes angry when everybody asks why the Justice League can’t fix the government’s problems and basically replace him. Trevor is brought before a committee that demands that he basically ruin his relationship with the Justice League by infiltrating their base orbiting Earth. Trevor then video chats with the League who give him their instructions, and we get a little information on Trevor’s relationship with Wonder Woman. The main comic ends with an unseen person writing that the key to destroying the League is Trevor himself. We also get the first mini comic in the Shazam series, featuring people vanishing and appearing before an old, bearded man in a castle. Meanwhile, Billy Batson is an evil orphan conning his way into adoption when suddenly he becomes Shazam. The mini comic was weird, and the main story with the League was basically setting things up.

Justice League #8

It’s the debut of Green Arrow! Congress is hell bent on obtaining more information on the Justice League and tells Colonel Trevor that they want to appoint someone into the League, despite Trevor insisting that the League has no plans on expanding. Their choice is the Green Arrow, who follows the Justice League around like that annoying little brother, “helping” them fight enemies in sneaky crossovers with Batman and Justice League Dark comics. Finally, the Justice League decides to discuss expansion, and wind up dropping the Arrow off in the middle of nowhere. The League finally sends Colonel Trevor to deal with Green Arrow and convince him to be the “moral conscience” of another group, which is left unnamed for now. The League’s main concern is that the last time they tried expansion, it was with Martian Manhunter, who nearly destroyed them, but is gone for good. Or so they think. This month’s Shazam comic focuses on Billy Batson being introduced to his new foster family, which he manages to piss off in the first five minutes. We get hints at his backstory and then he sees some lightning out the window with a dark cloud with a face in it. Fun issue this month.

Justice League #9

This one was kind of weird. We start off with the introduction of a new villain, Graves, who was the author of the “Justice League: Gods Among Men” book seen at the end of Issue 6. Apparently he can jump from body to body or something weird like that. The Justice League, meanwhile, splits into two sub groups to solve two problems. The first being a villain called The Key breaking into Arkham Asylum. Batman, Superman, and Cyborg are sent to investigate while Green Lantern, The Flash and Wonder Woman look into havoc and destruction being caused by The Weapons Maker. Both groups find their targets scared to death and frightened, mentioning the terrible things that “he” did to them. At the same time, Steve Trevor is having problems with the media following him around and pestering him about Wonder Woman and the Justice League. After a dinner at his sister’s house, he is abducted by Graves, who threatens to harm both him AND his sister if he doesn’t reveal information about the Justice League. Trevor fights for as long as he can but ultimately decides to give in when he realizes that sacrificing himself will save his sister, and we end on a cliffhanger. This month’s Shazam comic focuses on Billy Batson beating up bullies in school who threaten his foster siblings. Why does he do it? He just doesn’t like bullies. Too bad that said bullies are the sons of some rich dude. Honestly, although I find the Shazam segments to be worthless and only there to verify DC charging $4 an issue for JL comics, it was better than the main story this month. Hopefully things are a little less disjointed next month.

OVERALL, an odd cluster. The intro storyline was concluded and a new storyline was started, but the one-shots in between were just... there, specifically the Green Arrow issue. What was the point when he wasn’t ever mentioned again? Well if it was a ploy to get people to read Green Arrow, they failed with me, because I ain’t reading it, no sir, not one issue.