60 WEEKS WITH THE JUSTICE LEAGUE: Week 22

Justice League International #22
“Little Murders”
Keith Giffen: plot & breakdowns
J.M. DeMatteis: woids
Kevin Maguire: pencils
Joe Rubinstein: inks
Bob Lappan: letters
Gene D’Angelo: colors
Andrew Helfer: rocket physicist


The only disappointment in this entire issue is that Oberon doesn’t actually sport the duds he’s wearing on the cover. Otherwise, even though this is a tie-in with yet another crossover event that I didn’t read, it was a hoot. Also--and maybe this is just because the issue comes on the heels of two Templeton-penciled issues--Maguire’s pencils seem to be getting better and better all the time--and I loved ‘em back at issue #1. (Of course, any praise for the art would be remiss if it didn’t acknowledge Rubinstein’s inks, which went a long way toward synthesizing Templeton’s work with Maguire’s.)

In addition to acknowledging a terrific (albeit truly bizarre) picture starring the great Elliott Gould, the title references the battle Oberon must wage against a force of diminutive aliens that invades the League’s New York Embassy. The invaders quickly overcome Booster Gold, leaving Oberon to save the day, which he ably does within the first 10 pages.


The second half of the book then finds the rest of the League on Fiji, where they’re helping the military stave off the larger-scale Khund aliens. Essentially, the League needs to keep the alien’s distracted while Wonder Woman extracts operative Etta Candy from the Fijian jungle. Wonder Woman’s presence serves two real purposes here: answering longtime fan demand (expressed in the letters pages) to see her in the book, and giving Blue Beetle and Rocket Red an excuse to trip over themselves while trying to impress her.


Nevertheless, the League gives the Khund aliens hell--in fact, even Ice makes a notable contribution, erecting an ice mountain that takes down an enemy ship. Not all is fun and games, though, as the issue ends with J’onn mourning the loss of so many Khund lives. Here at The D.D., we’ll take it back a few pages so we can end on a brighter note.



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, #21, #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.