60 WEEKS WITH THE JUSTICE LEAGUE: Week 21

Justice League International #21
“Apokolips…Wow!”
Keith Giffen, plot & breakdowns
J.M. DeMatteis, script
Ty Templeton, pencils
Joe Rubinstein, inks
Bob Lappan, letters
Gene D’Angelo, colors
Andrew Helfer, who cares?


This issue’s a whirlwind for the Leaguers, most of whom don’t have a clue what’s shaking when they suddenly find themselves boomed to Apokolips. What’s there to do except punch the apparent bad guys in the face?


After 19 pages of such goings on, Darkseid himself intervenes to settle the whole kerfuffle. He sends Manga Khan on his way (without a trade agreement, natch'), and returns Mr. Miracle to Barda and the League. Basically, the big guy can’t be bothered with any hijinks he didn’t start himself.


I had something of a revelation while reading this issue. I started this whole “60 Weeks” business because I’d enjoyed the issue or two of this series I read a handful of years ago, and I’d long wanted to read Giffen and DeMatteis’ entire run. However, beneath the surface, I expected this series to turn into some meta-critique of the comics medium itself in the way Peter Milligan and Mike Allred’s X-Force/X-Statix did. And when I discovered that that wasn’t really happening, I started to get a bit down on the entire enterprise. Somewhere in the middle of all the punches and unconscious Para-Demons in this issue, though, I finally got it: The point here is just to have fun with comics. Period. And word up, I had a hoot reading this issue, starting with the cover, which might be my favorite of the series so far. Also, the sound effects (the onomatopoeia themselves, if not their lettering) are nothing short of brilliant.



The complete 60 Weeks with the Justice League on The Danger Digest:
#1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6, #7, #8, #9, #10, #11, #12, #13, #14, #15, #16, #17, #18, #19, #20, #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.