Justice League International #20



"If It's Tuesday, This Must Be -- APOKOLIPS!"

plot/breakdowns: Keith Giffen
script: J.M. DeMatteis
pencils: Ty Templeton
inks: Joe Rubenstein
letters: Bob Lappan
colors: Gene D'Angelo
editor: Andy Helfer
Featuring The New Gods created by Jack Kirby

grade: B-


As always, the humor is firing on all cylinders:







and DeMatteis continues to make his best contributions with strong/endearing anti-hero characterization wherever he can find the space, often in panels where Giffen didn't seem to have anything specific in mind:




But G'Nort remains the one part of the playful humor pervading the issue that just isn't working. He continues to come off even less funny and more obnoxious than Giffen and DeMatteis intend:



He needs to get off the team...now.


Kevin Maguire is absent for this and the next issue, replaced by Ty Templeton. Ty is one of those creators that I've seen pop up in just about every possible role in comicdom -- I've seen him script, edit, ink, and I think letter, but this is my first time seeing him on pencils. I guess the guy does everything.

His work here is...well...inconsistent. Sometimes it's amazing, often times it's good enough, and occasionally its downright sloppy.

As an example, here are two completely different depictions of Barda in this issue:





I'm sure Rubinstein's inking contributes to the inconsistency (he's heavy on that first image and barely present on the second), but even the basic composition of the face is drastically different in the two images, as is the level of detail. The inconsistency generally isn't jarring in the issue, but it is somewhat distracting at times.


New additions Big Barda and Hawkman provide interesting shake-ups to the team, Barda taking the lead over J'onn J'onzz, and Carter essentially becoming the obnoxious old geezer of the group:





And, incidentally, wow. That comment about Republicans would be shocking and controversial enough today. I can't imagine how it played at the tail end of the Reagan Era.

All in all, yet another fun issue with Lord Maga Kahn that manages to use Apokolips and its characters as an interesting enough backdrop, but I'd hardly call anything about this issue memorable.



Important Details:

- Rocket Red gets a new costume with more advanced tech:



How convenient that the destitute and downtrodden rebels on Apokolips had a suit of armor lying around that so closely resembled Dmitri's old look with subtle visual updates.


- Lord Manga is actually a gaseous being in a suit of armor???



L-Ron made some reference to Lord Manga not having a nose, but I wouldn't have suspected he didn't have anything else either!


- J'onn J'onzz can turn invisible. According the to the letters page, this is a very old ability of his, but we've never seen it in these pages before.



Minor Details:

- If you were looking for more interactions between Guy and Lobo in this issue, I'm sorry to disappoint. All you get are these two panels:



Even last issue, in spite of all the hype and build-up, Giffen didn't seem all that interested in telling that particular story.


- We're told in this issue that Darkseid is away right now, but no further explanation is offered. Where was he otherwise occupied in December of 1988?


- There are two requests for the return of Captain Marvel in the letters page. The reply is that it's been considered numerous times, but no plans are in place while his Action Comics Weekly feature is being planned.


Plot synopsis: Lord Manga is on Apokolips brokering a deal to get Boom Tube technology in exchange for Scott Free, but the JLI has pursued him, testing Granny Goodness' patience with the barterer, so she simply "takes" Scott, causing Lord Manga to declare war on Apokolips. Meanwhile, the JLI B Team arrives on Apokolips, meets with the Hunger Dogs, and gets their help infiltrating Granny Goodness' orphanage. Barda uses her cosmic rod to teleport back to Earth, where she rallies the A Team and brings them back to Apokolips as well, only a confused Captain Atom accidentally left behind.

Both Batman and J'onn feature prominently throughout Cosmic Odyssey, so the two stories can't be happening concurrently. Anyway, IIRC, Darkseid does eventually show up here.

I came in on this series after Katar was no longer a part of it so I can't comment on how he was used here, but I recently went on a Silver Age Hawkman binge and I really just adore Katar and Shayera. Glad to hear that Katar is used well here and not written too off-model just for a cheap laugh (I quite like the funny Justice League but they weren't against mis-characterising characters for a cheap laugh).

This was one of he comics that put Eric Shanower on my radar. I had been vaguely aware of him because of the OZ graphic novels he did (I had seen them on the shelves but hadn't read them), but this one caught my eye and made me seek out new material from him-the Aquaman Special he did with Curt Swan came soon after this and cemented my appreciation for his work and then I finally checked out his Oz stuff from First.

-M

Hawkman: "I remember the first time we came up against Felix Faust."

The ONLY time the JLA came up against Felix Faust with Hawkman on the roster was JLA #103.



Secret Origins #32, I read it in this trade that came out in 1990.



The story was fine, but the real revelation was the art by Eric Shanower.

Of course, this origin is the one that puts Black Canary into the JLA's founding instead of Wonder Woman. The plot is pretty much the same as the original origin in Justice League of America #9. The five member teamwork that saves the day is wonderfully recycled from the original story.

The editor of this story, Mark Waid, would write a sequel a few years later called JLA: Year One.

This is also the first JLA origin story not to be recounted to a present day Green Arrow.

I should count that one, but poor Felix and his defense attorney would claim it wasn't his fault.

Cosmic Odyssey has amazing art by Mike Mignola and Carlos Garzon. Even the coloring is great, really adds to the art.

As for the story... it has really great art.