60 WEEKS WITH THE JUSTICE LEAGUE: Week 34

Justice League America #34
Jan. '90
"Club JLI"
Yes, they're at it again ... Keith Giffen, J.M. DeMatteis, Adam Hughes, Art Nichols, Bob Lappan, Gene D'Angelo, Kevin Dooley and that fun-lovin' kid from Brooklyn, Andy Helfer, have once more joined forces to hurdle the boundaries of good taste and bad jokes!

Justice League Europe #10
Jan. '90
"After the Fox!"
Another Giffen/Loebs/Sears/Marcos/Lappan/D'Angelo/Dooley/Helfer piece o' work!


The fun train keeps on rolling right into the 1990s, and what better way to welcome the new decade than with a relaxing jaunt to Club JLI? Advertised (mostly falsely) as being "fully sanctioned by Maxwell Lord" and "a wholly owned subsidiary of the Blue and Gold Entertainment Group," Beetle and Booster funded the project by emptying the League's coffers right under Max's nose; Kilowog then built the island facilities in a mere three days.

Desperate for a break, the Injustice League's very own Major Disaster and Big Sir arrive at Kooey Kooey Kooey to exploit the latter's knack for counting cards. And quite a knack it is, as the duo breaks the bank overnight.

However, as the aptly named Major Disaster is about to leave with the winnings, the island "wakes up," destroying Club JLI--and scattering Disaster and Big Sir's money--with a violent series of Earthquakes. What's more, the destruction wipes out the teleport tubes, leaving everyone still on the island stranded--at least until next month.

Meanwhile, in Paris, Bruce Wayne's bat-sense is a-tingling, but not because of the casino's plight. Instead, he's distracted by the theft of a globe full of cash during a charity auction co-hosted by Vivian D'Aramis, who just so happens to be the Crimson Fox.

Slipping out of the event and into her crimefighting duds, the Crimson Fox ably wrestles the thieves' helicopter down, crash-landing it in Captain Atom's room at the JLE's Paris embassy. The Captain's not exactly enthusiastic about this turn of events, but despite his misgivings, it looks like Crimson Fox will be a regular in these pages.

It's a solid start to 1990, with good writing, mostly great art (there are a handful of dicey panels in JLE, I won't lie, but overall both books look swell) and one of the best covers of JLA's run.  Speaking of covers, the credits from "Justice Log" go like this: "This issue's cover was pencilled and inked by Adam with coloring by the unquenchable Bob Le Rose." And from "Europinion": "Bart pencilled and inked the cover all by his widdle self. Bobby Le Rose colored it."

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, #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.

60 WEEKS WITH THE JUSTICE LEAGUE: Week 33

Justice League America #33
Dec. '89
"Nitwits, Knuckleheads & Poozers!"
Keith Giffen: Ideaman
J.M. DeMatteis: Wordman
Adam Hughes: Pencilman
Art Nichols: Inkman
Bob Lappan: Letterman
Gene D'Angelo: Colorman
Kevin Dooley: Boy/Man
Andy Helfer: Man?
(All men copyright DC Comics, Inc.)

Justice League Europe #9
Dec. '89
"Under the Skin"
Keith Giffen: plot
Bill Loebs: dialogue
Art Nichols: pencils
Bart Sears: inks
Bob Lappan: letters
Gene D'Angelo: colors
Kevin Dooley: frick
Andy Helfer: frack


It's a bit of a slow week, affording readers a chance to catch their breaths after the raucous ride of "The Teasdale Imperative." First out of the gate, JLA balances two simple stories that remain entertaining for the character insights they offer. In one, Blue Beetle and Booster Gold travel to the recently annexed (by the JLI--in Annual #3) island of Kooey Kooey Kooey, where they implore the native inhabitants to enter into an ill-conceived capital-raising venture.

These plans--and indeed the League's presence on the island in general--seem to be a concern to Aquaman, but his warning glare near the book's end is only a setup for what promises to be a bigger role next issue. JLA's second storyline finds Guy Gardner and former Green Lantern Kilowog (I say former because, at this point in '89, the Corps had been dismantled, leaving the lovable alien effectively unemployed) in a real bruiser of a brawl--but all in the name of good, wholesome fun, naturally.

By the end of the issue, Kilowog's been invited to stay with the JLA, although Guy's given him a bit of misinformation that'll need to be cleared up, at least for Maxwell Lord's sake.

Kilowog joins up just in the nick of time so far as the JLE--and Power Girl in particular--is concerned. When doctors find they can't operate on the hero's super-hard skin, Kilowog builds a device that basically stabilizes Superman's head so he can use his heat vision as a scalpel and conduct the operation himself.

The surgery is a success, although Power Girl's left with the ominous prognosis that her powers will henceforth be diminished to some yet-to-be-determined degree.

JLE also offers a handful of "team-ups", so to speak, including Captain Atom and Sue Dibney; the former is seriously T.O.'d at the latter for calling in Supes without proper authorization ...

... Metamorpho and Batman; the Dark Knight feels the Element Man might be unstable and therefore a threat to the JLE, while Metamorpho feels betrayed by his former teammate on The Outsiders ...

... and Flash and Elongated Man, who finally hug it out over the loss of former Flash Barry Allen.

Finally, in both books' letter columns, Dooley alludes to the Spectre now being a part-time member of the JLI--I'm not entirely sure the Spectre knows this, but it was nice seeing him in the Teasdale crossover thingy. "Europinion" also gives a lot of ink to the Red Fox, a.k.a. "Le Renarde Rousse" (according to Dooley and Helfer; I'm not positive about that translation myself, although my high school French is admittedly quite rusty), who was briefly introduced back in JLE #6, and who promises to become a bigger player with the less confusing moniker Crimson Fox. Also from "Europinion," cover credits: "This issue's cover was pencilled by Art Nichols and inked by Bart Sears. Art is now doing the inking honors on the JLA book." And speaking of Nichols, his pencils aren't bad, although I look forward to Sears reclaiming those duties next issue.


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, #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.