60 WEEKS WITH THE JUSTICE LEAGUE: Week 5

Justice League #5
September ‘87
“Gray Life Gray Dreams”
Keith Giffen: plot & breakdowns
J.M. DeMatteis: script
Kevin Maguire: pencils
Al Gordon: inks
Bob Lappan: letters
Gene D’Angelo: colors
Andy Helfer: editor


First and foremost, this is the kind of cover I want to see from Kevin Maguire, one in which he can flex his muscles with facial expressions and also play to this League’s dysfunctional nature. Also, Terry Austin’s inks look mighty fine on Maguire’s pencils--not that Al Gordon’s interior inks are any less effective.

Speaking of the inside of the book, the JL itself doesn’t show up until page 12--well, if you want to be technical, Doctor Fate turns up on page 2, but since he’s hardly been around over the previous four issues, I don’t really think he counts. That’s not to say, though, that I’m not excited about this Gray Man story, which hinges on Doctor Fate’s relationship with the Lords of Order. Quite the contrary. I’ve long been a sucker for weird mystical shenanigans in comic books, and I was completely absorbed in DeMatteis’ lyrical--albeit expository--flashback, which reveals the sequence of events that’s turned the Gray Man into such a curmudgeon.




Once the story does make its way to the (rest of the) League, we see that the bad blood brewing between Batman and Guy Gardner throughout the first four issues has finally reached a boil, and the resultant dish is utterly delectable:





With Guy out for the count, the League tries to get down to the business at hand--namely unraveling the mysteries of Maxwell Lord--but is quickly called away when Doctor Fate takes control of the monitor screen and summons the team to Stone Ridge, Vermont, ground zero for the Gray Man’s attack on humankind. Then, just because it’s about time things take a real turn for the weird, the Creeper shows up in all his glory:



There’s also a brief side story with Jack Ryder (sort of like Glenn Beck, only nowhere near as despicable), but the most important thing to take away from that brief detour is this mullet:



This issue’s weird, wacky and mystical, and it’s got Batman clocking Gardner, which holds up well to the test of time. All in all, it’s definitely the best issue of the series so far.




The complete 60 Weeks with the Justice League on The Danger Digest:
#1, #2, #3, #4, #6, #7, #8, #9, #10, #11, #12, #13, #14, #15, #16, #17, #18, #19, #20, #21, #22, #23, #24, #25/1, #26/2, #27/3, #28/4, #29/5, #30/6, #31/7, #32/8, #33/9, #34/10, #35/11, #36/12, #37/13, #38/14, #39/15, #40/16, #41/17, #42/18, #43/19, #44/20, #45/21, #46/22, #47/23, #48/24, #49/25, #50/26, #51/27, #52/28, #53/29, #54/30, #55/31, #56/32, #57/33, #58/34, #59/35, #60/36


All images this post copyright DC Comics. Original text copyright Jon D. Witmer/The Danger Digest.