60 WEEKS WITH THE JUSTICE LEAGUE: Week 50

Justice League America #50
May '91
At last! The concluding chapter in the seemingly endless saga of General Glory
"A Blaze of Glory!"
Four years ago, Keith Giffen, J.M. DeMatteis, and Andrew Helfer launched the brand-new Justice League, and--heaven help us--fifty issues later, they're still at it!
Now, aided by Linda Medley, John Beatty, Paris Cullins, Dave Elliott, Gene D'Angelo, Bob "Does this make me an accomplice to an aesthetic crime?" Lappan, and that crazy kid from California, Kevin Dooley--the inanity continues!
Special thanks to Kevin, Terry, Al, Ty, Joe, Mike, and Adam--for helping make this book the great success (or miserable failure, depending on who you talk to) that it is!

Justice League Europe #26
May '91
"Stars in Your Eyes"
Giffen - plot
Jones - dialogue
Sears - pencils
Elliott - inks
Lappan - letters
D'Angelo - colors
Dooley - this
Helfer - that


And suddenly we find ourselves in the home stretch, with Week 60 not so far off anymore. Clearly, though, the action hasn't abated. The General Glory saga concludes in epic fashion, replete with WWII-era flashbacks, the clearing of General Glory's name and yet another membership shake-up, this one seeing Orion and Lightray bidding adieu while General Glory and the "new" Mister Miracle are invited in. Also, the whole shebang ends with Guy Gardner calling up Andy Helfer at DC Comics and demanding that Glory's artist, Joe Mason, be made the penciler for the League's comic book.

Guy's phone call offers the springboard into a wonderful--and completely nuts--15-page backup story written and illustrated by Kyle Baker, in which Guy storms the DC offices with Mr. Mason in tow, offering a raw portrait of JLA's creative team, including (clockwise from left) Helfer, Giffen and DeMatteis...

...and even Linda Medley.

Across the pond, Starro conquers the latest iteration of the famous JLI cover shot, while inside the book he plays helpless and penitent, duping the League into helping repair his spacecraft so that he might die peacefully back on his homeworld. As Inspector Camus moves into an office in the JLE's embassy (an office, by the way, he has to share with the cat's litter box), Kilowog leads the League through the repairs on Starro's ship, but when the spacecraft lifts off, it explodes in the atmosphere. For a moment it seems Starro's lost and gone forever, but the final pages reveal his face-hugging stars raining down over London, whose inhabitants are quickly taken up in the conqueror's thrall. It's an excellent beginning to what will hopefully be a solid chapter in Starro's history, and while the art doesn't sing to me quite like it did last issue, Sears and Elliott nevertheless deliver grade-A work that's always great to look at.

There are some good nuggets in both books' letters pages. Beginning with "Justice Log," we learn: 1) "Glorious Cover by Adam Hughes, Karl Story, and Gene D'Angelo"; 2) "J'onn twists the Oreos apart when he meditates, and makes decisions by how much cream remains on one side, then he dips each half in milk"; and 3) Jacob Gilbert of Troy, NY alerts us to a mysterious "Special" and writes, "Farewell, Huntress. We hardly knew ya, luv. We'll definitely miss you." (So, I guess we won't be seeing her in these pages anymore.) And in "Europinion," we read: 1) "Mr. Bart styled the cover with haircolor by Mr. Bob"; 2) Tasmanian Devil "is a member of the JL ... in Australia"; and 3) Mister Miracle's book is ending with issue 28--I never read it, but the preview summaries in these letters pages have sounded entertaining.

And finally--for this week, anyway--let's take some time to appreciate two ads that meant a lot to me back in '91:

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, #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, #51/27, #52/28, #53/29, #54/30, #55/31, #56/32, #57/33, #58/34, #59/35, #60/36


Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Cereal ad copyright Ralston Purina Company and Mirage Studios. Rocketeer ad copyright Disney. All other images this post copyright DC Comics. Original text copyright Jon D. Witmer/The Danger Digest.

60 WEEKS WITH THE JUSTICE LEAGUE: Week 37

Justice League America #37
Apr. '90
"Furballs!"
Keith Giffen, plot
J.M. DeMatteis, script
Adam Hughes, pencils
Art Nichols, inks
Albert De Guzman, letters
Gene D'Angelo, colors
Kevin Dooley, still thinks he's editing "Amazing Heroes"
Andy Helfer ... well, the less said about him, the better
Special thanks to Joe Rubinstein & Jack Torrance for invaluable inking assists

Justice League Europe #13
Apr. '90
"Furballs II"
Keith Giffen, plot + breakdowns
J.M. DeMatteis, guest scripter
Chris Sprouse, guest penciller
K.S. Wilson, inker
Bob Lappan, letterist
Gene D'Angelo, colorist
Kevin Dooley, dances divinely
Andy Helfer, always leads

As you've no doubt inferred from the titles above, this week brings us a two-part crossover event, although I use the word "event" loosely. After the serious tone JLE adopted for the Metamorpho & Son story, DeMatteis returns for a lighthearted romp that finds a group of schoolchildren on a field trip to the Paris embassy. At the same time, would-be super-thief Jean-Jean de Jean infiltrates the embassy in a doomed attempt to relieve the building of its art collection, generously donated by the French government. Everything comes to a boil when the JLA arrives in Paris, summoned there by an alleycat who took a nap on the JLE's priority-one alert button.

Three Stooges references strengthen the bridge between the two titles that's built on the cat that lives in the alley behind the New York embassy. The "Furballs" adventure begins when Guy absent-mindedly leaves the back door ajar and the cat slips inside. After the cat frightens Fire and gives Guy a run for his money, Guy tosses the cat into the teleporter, making it the JLE's problem. That's teamwork for you.

JLE's guest penciller, Chris Sprouse--very early in his career at this point--does a passable job, although I wish he would have laid his panels out to a tighter grid. Meanwhile, despite the feline funnies, JLA sets up a number of important threads that'll come to fruition over the next handful of issues, beginning with the return of a mysterious alien ...

... continuing through a reporter for Spy magazine absconding with the League's refuse ...

... and winding up with Booster--who's gone all A.J. Simon with his look--meeting with one Claire Montgomery, which in turn leads us to the issue's surprise finale:

Finally, let's remember that in April of 1990, we were seeing ads for what remains one of the most significant events to ever hit pop culture--and here I use "event" with all the import the word can bear.

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, #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, #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


TMNT ad copyright Golden Harvest, New Line Cinema and Mirage Studios. A.J. Simon frame grab from Simon & Simon, copyright Universal TV. All other images this post copyright DC Comics. Original text copyright Jon D. Witmer/The Danger Digest.

60 WEEKS WITH THE JUSTICE LEAGUE: Week 32

Justice League America #32
Nov. '89
The Teasdale Imperative Part Three
"Breaking Point!"
More confusion and chaos, courtesy of:
Keith Giffen, plot and layouts
J.M. DeMatteis, script
Adam Hughes, pencils
Art Nichols, inks
Bob Lappan, letters
Gene D'Angelo, colors
Kevin Dooley, an officer
Andy Helfer, a gentleman

Justice League Europe #8
Nov. '89
The Teasdale Imperative Part Four
"Showdown..."
At last--!--The conclusion of our JLA-JLE crossover, courtesy of:
Keith Giffen, plot and breakdowns
J.M. DeMatteis, script and hasty departure
Bart Sears, pencils
Bob Smith, inks
Bob Lappan, letters
Gene G'Angelo, colors
Kevin Dooley, shreds all the evidence
Andy Helfer, takes the fall


First, a point of clarification: While the Gray Man was formerly known as just that, it seems that here in "The Teasdale Imperative," DeMatteis is going with Grey Man instead. So there you go. Apologies for not getting that right last week.

This issue of JLA focuses most prominently on the eponymous Teasdale, offering a three-page backstory that reveals he created the vampirism-inducing chemical for Simon Stagg, who in turn kept the formula and then tried to have Teasdale killed. And indeed, Stagg's plan would have succeeded if not for the Grey Man stepping in to save Teasdale's life, seeing in the scientist's chemical weapon a ticket to all the soulstuff he could ever hope to devour. In other words, this really is all Stagg's fault.

With JLE offering the story's last act, the proverbial shit gets very real indeed. The zombie horde stands at the gates of Stagg's factory, where Stagg has brought the combined JLI for protection. The Leaguers don't particularly care for helping Stagg, but it seems the lesser of two evils considering the alternative is watching six billion people turn into vampires and die; the disease, it seems, is mortal, and as those already vampirified start to die, the Grey Man's power increases--as does his size.

Clumsy as his size makes him, it's perhaps no surprise the Grey Man steps on Teasdale, eliminating half this crossover's villains. As for the Grey Man himself, his defeat is perhaps a bit of a cheat, since the Lords of Order and Chaos unite to put a stop to his antics, which apparently got so out of hand their own livelihoods were threatened.

Despite the deus ex machina, and although Power-Girl would no doubt disagree--she was backhanded by the giant Grey Man and ends the issue hospitalized and comatose--I've gotta say this whole crossover shindig was a terrific idea very well executed, and the oversized cast of characters was expertly handled.

Lots of news to report from the letters pages this time. First from JLA's "Justice Log," we've got cover credits: "Last issue's and this issue's covers were done by Adam Hughes on pencils, Joe Rubinstein on inks, Bob Le Rose on colors, and Sal Mineo on drums." JLE's "Europinion" shares that title's cover credits, as well: "This issue's cover was pencilled by Mr. Sears and inked by Art Nichols (on whom more below), who is also taking over the inking honors on JLA!" As for that reference to "more below," check out the surprise info dropped in JLE's "Next Issue" blurb:

When J.M. told us he had to relinquish his duties on JLE, we wondered who we could get. Well, starting next issue, our new writer will be WILLIAM MESSNER-LOEBS! (Now try telling us Wally isn't portrayed right.) J.M. will stay on JLA and DR. FATE, but next month Bill Loebs and guest artist Art Nichols bring you THE FATE OF POWER GIRL! Guest-starring Kilowog and Superman!

Finally, let's all reminisce about the nutritional merits of "crunchy ninja nets":

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, #22, #23, #24, #25/1, #26/2, #27/3, #28/4, #29/5, #30/6, #31/7, #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


Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Cereal ad copyright Ralston Purina Company and Mirage Studios. All other images this post copyright DC Comics. Original text copyright Jon D. Witmer/The Danger Digest.

BAG IT AND BOARD IT: Turtle Power!

Jon D. W. throws down a good bit of his hard-earned cash on comics. Here, he spills the beans on whether or not it was worth it. But to paraphrase LeVar Burton, don't just take his word for it--you should read comics, too.


TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES: THE COLLECTED BOOK VOLUME TWO
Book Twelve: lettering, Steve Lavigne; everything else, Peter Laird
Book Thirteen: "The People's Choice"; art and story by Michael Dooney; letters by Lavigne
Book Fourteen: "The Unmentionables," by Eastman, Talbot & Lavigne

After loving every page of the TMNT's Collected Book Volume One, I decided to throw still more affection in the direction of Mirage Licensing and pick up the next four books in the series. For anyone who loves the Turtles, it's a good play that I'd highly recommend. That said, however, not everything collected across volumes 2-5 is gold. The stories in Book Two are more or less throwaways, although in a way that makes each reminiscent of the Fred Wolf cartoon, where no one episode has much bearing on any other. Michael Dooney's art in the #13 is an absolute delight, but #14 is the real standout of this batch--even if the plot does hinge on a completely absurd MacGuffin. 


TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES: THE COLLECTED BOOK VOLUME THREE
Book Fifteen: "Dome Doom"; story and pencils by Laird; inks by Lawson; letters by Lavigne; t-shirt designs by Ryan Brown; thanks to Mike Dooney for his figure assistance
Book Seventeen: "Distractions"; story, Eric Talbot & Kevin Eastman; art, Eric Talbot; scripting, Kevin Eastman & Eric Talbot; letters, Steve Lavigne
Book Eighteen: "The Shell of the Dragon," by Kevin Eastman and Mark Bode

Book Three is yet more filler before the series takes a serious turn with the next volume, but once again I maintain it's all good fun. #15 finds the Turtles teaming with the Justice Force first to defend a comics shop and ultimately to appeal to the heart that still beats within the seemingly evil Dr. Dome. #17 is more or less an extended dream sequence, but Eric Talbot's art makes it well worth the read, and even if it has no "real-world" (for the Turtles) repercussions, it's an exciting story nevertheless. The black sheep of this bunch is undoubtedly #18, which inexplicably finds all four Turtles back in the "Old Country," where they take on the local underground in order to defend the best takeout in town. 


TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES: THE COLLECTED BOOK VOLUME FOUR
Book Nineteen: "Return to New York"; story, Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird; layouts, Kevin Eastman; pencils, Jim Lawson; inks, Peter Laird; letters, Steve Lavigne
Book Twenty: "Return to New York"; story, Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird; layouts, Peter Laird; pencils, Jim Lawson; inks, Eric Talbot; letters, Steve Lavigne
Book Twenty-One: "Return to New York"; story, Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird; layouts, Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird; pencils, Jim Lawson; inks, Kevin Eastman; letters, Steve Lavigne

This was the book I was really looking forward to. It takes the Turtles back off the farm in Massachusetts and puts them back in the NYC sewers, where of course they clash with the Foot and the resurrected Shredder (already revealed back in Collected Book Volume One). Hell, it's such a part of Turtle canon, this story even made its way into the 4Kids animated series. With expectations so high, could I possibly be satisfied? Well, mostly I was. The first part is great, with Leo and Raph duking it out over whether or not they should all go back, but once in NYC, the story gets more than a little muddled, with the reintroduction of a Triceraton (again, see the first Collected Book), the presence of three bizarrely mutated Shredder clones, and the presupposition that the Foot Clan could somehow have erected a false front over an entire city block and nobody was the wiser. All the same, the final showdown between Leo and the Shredder is pretty fantastic.


TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES: THE COLLECTED BOOK VOLUME FIVE
Book Sixteen: "A Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Story" by Mark Martin
Book Twenty-Two: "Do Not Adjust Your Comic Book We Are Experiencing Technical Problems The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Will Return"* by Mark Martin
Book Twenty-Three: "Totally Hacked"* by Mark Martin
 
Perhaps that last bit sounded too harsh. I did indeed enjoy the "Return to New York" storyline, and was eager for more half-shell hijinks in a similar vein. Unfortunately for my own expectations, Book Five collects three issues of TMNT that were handed over in toto to Mark Martin. Don't get me wrong: The creator of Gnatrat--who is arguably the main character of issue 23--draws a terrific Turtle, and his trippy tale of time travel is a good fun romp, just not what I was itching for after the high-stakes storyline of Book Four. At the end of the day, I'd have to say this book is for completists only--which, alas, I am definitely becoming.

*I think in fact #s 22 and 23 are untitled, but what I've got here in quotes looks like it could be the titles, and since this is my blog, I decided to roll with it.


TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES: CHALLENGES
Michael Dooney

While visiting the Mirage website--which features a very handy checkout process--I discovered this hardcover collection of Turtles stories in minicomics form by the terrific Dooney. Split into six chapters--"Origin," "Splinter," "Raphael," "Michaelangelo," "Leonardo" and "Donatello"--the book as a whole offers a precis on who these characters are, exploring the traits that make them different from one another, but also the common characteristics and shared experiences that keep them all together as friends and family. The brief stories certainly have no direct impact on the overarching Turtles narrative, but they provide a great read all the same, cutting to the core of who the Turtles are, and it's sure to bring a smile to any fan's face.


All images this post copyright Mirage Licensing. Text copyright Jon D. Witmer/The Danger Digest.

BAG IT AND BOARD IT

Jon D. W. throws down a good bit of his hard-earned cash on comics. (And sometimes, as in the case of Planetary, he borrows the comics from friends.) Here, he spills the beans on whether or not it was worth it. But to paraphrase LeVar Burton, don’t just take his word for it--you should read comics too.


ASTONISHING X-MEN VOL. 4: UNSTOPPABLE
Writer: Joss Whedon
Artist: John Cassaday
Colorist: Laura Martin
Letterers: Chris Eliopoulos with Joe Caramagna

In general, I’m not crazy about the X-Men flying off into space and bebopping around other planets. However, I’m an unabashed fan of Whedon and Cassaday’s take on this cast of characters, and I was more than happy to go along for the ride. (It’s a testament to Whedon’s abilities as a storyteller that I so readily accepted there being a planet named “Breakworld.”) Cassaday’s propensity for drawing panels that bleed off the edge of the page makes the reader feel the connecting pieces of the puzzle are just out of view--the same feeling that weighs heavily on the X-Men in all four volumes. Unfortunately, the binding in this paperback makes it hard at times to tell if the panel does indeed bleed off the page; oftentimes you can’t quite open the book wide enough to see the border, and two-page splashes really suffer. Nevertheless, the story is a triumph, and it’s a thrill to see the last page emblazoned with “WHEDON, CASSADAY, MARTIN.” Those three crafted what for me stands as a definitive X-story.


PLANETARY BOOK 1: ALL OVER THE WORLD AND OTHER STORIES
Warren Ellis – Writer
John Cassaday – Artist
Laura Depuy – Colorist with David Baron and WildStorm FX
Ali Fuchs and Bill O’Neil – Letterers

I know I’m late coming to this book, but what a brilliant idea: A team of three super-powered beings circle the globe uncovering the supernatural events of the 20th century--the events us readers know from 100 years of comic books, movies, pulps and still more comic books. The meta aspects of the series are a thrill without ever becoming arch: Monster Island, here rebranded Island Zero; the Incredible Hulk, who here uses the advanced mathematics stored in his own brain to save himself from a terrible explosion, only to be captured and starved to death over 20 years; and my favorite of all, the Fantastic Four, who here spearheaded a beyond-top-secret space program and returned to Earth with even darker intentions than they left with. The questions are many that this book posits, but that’s half the point: Not only is it important to ask questions, it’s important to ask whether the questions you’re asking are really the ones you want--or need--answered.


PLANETARY BOOK 2: THE FOURTH MAN
Warren Ellis – Writer
John Cassaday – Artist
Laura DePuy and David Baron – Colorists
Ryan Cline, Bill O’Neil and Mike Heisler – Letterers

The through line of the issues here collected is the gradual break in the cloud front that has been obfuscating Elijah Snow’s memories. Among his retrieved memories: what the Four have done to him, and just who exactly Planetary’s wizard behind the curtain, the Fourth Man, actually is. Cassaday’s art is top notch, especially in his use of light and shadow, and although it’s great fun to watch Ellis and Cassaday riff on giant ants and James Bond (here named John Stone, agent of S.T.O.R.M.), my favorite story upends the Superman, Green Lantern and Wonder Woman mythos. Planetary, it seems, just might be the Watchmen of the 21st century.


PLANETARY BOOK 3: LEAVING THE 20TH CENTURY
Warren Ellis & John Cassaday: Writer/Co-Creators/Artist
Laura Martin: Colorist
Bill O’Neil (issues 13-15), Richard Starkings (issues 16-18): Letters

Classic monsters, Sherlock Holmes, mighty Mjolnir and creation itself. This list only scratches the surface of the ideas Ellis and Cassaday tackle, tear apart and put back together in wild new forms throughout this volume. For my money, the final issue of this book provides the most fun, with Planetary directly attacking the Four while uncovering a program for manned spaceflight dating back to 1851. I’m thrilled that issue 27 has finally hit the stands, and I can’t wait for the fourth (yes, the number four is important indeed) volume to finally be collected in 2010.


TMNT COLLECTED BOOK VOLUME ONE
By Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird
With Steve Lavigne, Jim Lawson, Michael Dooney, Ryan Brown, Dave Sim, Gerhard and Stephen Bissette

Collecting the first 11 issues of Eastman and Laird’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles--plus additional issues dedicated to each of the four turtles and their extraterrestrial robotic companion, the Fugitoid--this book is pure fun and a must-have for any Turtles fan. After the first issue, which riffs heavily on Frank Miller’s Ronin, the story takes the turtles on a galaxy-spanning adventure before bringing them back down to Earth and refocusing them on their martial-arts roots. As someone who grew up with the old cartoon, it’s great to see what changed and what stayed (relatively) the same, and it’s especially noteworthy just how closely the first live-action feature hewed to this material. The final four chapters are perhaps the best, though all are a joy to behold in their black, white and gray (courtesy of Duo-Shade board) glory. And, lest I forget to mention him, Casey Jones!


All images copyright their respective publishers. Text copyright Jon D. Witmer/The Danger Digest.