It's that time again! It's time to once again join the Justice League of America in their greatest battle against the Legion of Doom! Last time, the JLA were dealing with various attacks and ambushes by the members of the Legion, but a ray of hope just may have arrived in the form of the World's Mightiest Mortal, Captain Marvel. Can the Big Red Cheese help turn the tide? Let's find out in Justice #6!
The cover is an Alex Ross piece, and it's pretty awesome. It depicts the Atom about to punch a giant eye with Poison Ivy appearing in the eye. The cover is awesome, but it does make me ask some questions. Is Ivy inside the eye? Because eye can reflect, and it should be reflecting the Atom. And Ivy being inside the eye would make sense, as the Atom is clearly in a standing position. Yeah, I think we're just going to have to let this go by Rule of Cool.
"Chapter Six"
Writers: Alex Ross, Jim Krueger
Pencilers: Alex Ross, Doug Braithwaite
Inker: Alex Ross
Colorist: Alex Ross
Letterer: Todd Klein
Editor: Joey Cavalieri, Michael Wright
Executive Editor: Dan DiDio
The story begins with Superman and Captain Marvel flying towards the sun.
If you remember last issue, Superman discovered that he has been infected with microscopic Mr. Mind-like worms that will take over his mind, like they did with Alfred Pennyworth. The Big Red Cheese is understandably worried about tossing the Man of Steel into the sun. After all, it may burn the worms out of the Kryptonian powerhouse, but also keep in mind this.
Superman was badly weakened and took a horrendous beating from Bizarro, Solomon Grundy, Parasite, and Metallo. There's no guarantee that he would even survive this. Understandably, Captain Marvel doesn't want to be known as the man who ended up killing Superman. Despite this, the Big Red Cheese agrees to toss the Man of Steel into the sun.
At a hospital, Ray Palmer is recovering from getting shot. He's convalescing with Jean Loring when a nurse comes into his room, telling them it's time for Ray to get some rest. Jean agrees, and says she'll visit in the morning. The nurse offers another pillow to Ray, but he's good. She insists.
The nurse is actually Giganta in disguise, out to finish the sizeshifter off. But Ray has his belt, and he uses it to shrink down and beat Giganta by hitting her in the eye and making her fall to the ground. Out in space, Hal Jordan learns his ring has seven hours of charge left. If that ring dies, then Hal is a dead man. But there is one option left. His ring can convert his body into a series of electronic impulses. In that state, Hal can be kept alive indefinitely. But if someone else takes his ring, he's lost forever...for some reason.
Elsewhere, Martian Manhunter meets up with Hawkman and Hawkwoman. In his civilian identity of detective John Jones, J'onn has learned from some of his underworld contacts that the Toyman has defenses at the location he's sending the Hawks to, so they should be careful. Then they'll rendezvous at the Fortress of Solitude.
Thanks to his reading Grodd's mind, J'onn believes there's a dark conspiracy at work here. At another unknown location, Brainiac points out that Captain Marvel's arrival was unexpected, but not much of a problem. After all, organic life is chaotic by nature. Luthor isn't happy about this, as he got involved with this to rid the world of super-powered beings. Brainiac is like, "Don't worry about this, Lex. I'll take them out of here." But since Captain Marvel's involvement means that likely the League will recover from their incapacitation, they'll have to expand their own ranks. Grodd plans to send the apocalyptic dream to Black Adam.
The Scarecrow seemingly heals a young boy's eyes. As Vicki Vale reports on the Legion of Doom suddenly going philantrophic and the disappearance of the JLA, a disguised figure heads towards one of the artificial cities, saying he has to go there as he's never been well.
Yeah, count on the Joker to be somewhere he's not wanted.
Superman bursts his way out of the sun. Wonder Woman heads towards what look like an alternate entrance to the Batcave, her face and body still bearing the scars from her fighting Cheetah. She finds the Batcave covered in vegetation, like nature has reclaimed it.
She frees Batman and Alfred, but Ivy tries to ambush her with vines, thorns, and an angry mutant Venus fly trap. The Hawks arrive at a warehouse, where true to J'onn's warning, they find the Toyman and an army of angry-looking toys waiting for them. But in the process of fighting the toys, they make a discovery.
Back at the Batcave, Wonder Woman is attacked by Batman. The Dark Knight presumably has fallen victim to the mind control worms that were in Alfred. The Amazing Amazon seemingly falls unconscious, but not before she's able to get her lasso around the Caped Crusader. This allows the Dark Knight to sucker-punch Ivy. Grodd spews out some threats through Alfred, but Batman tells him to shut up.
At Ferris Aircraft, John Stewart comes by to ask where Hal Jordan went off to. Neither Carol Ferris nor Tom Kalmaku have any idea where he is. Tom suggests he's in the sky, the flyboy that Hal is. Meanwhile, Hal is inside his power ring. The ring has him in what is presumably a construct of his hometown of Coast City. It's has left Hal a lot of time to think. Think about Abin Sur, the Green Lantern who passed his ring to him. He asks the ring how to create constructs of people with a will of their own. The ring has no idea.
In his lab, Dr. Will Magnus is trying to repair Red Tornado with a little help from Zatanna. They are being observed by the Metal Men. Zee was able to use her magics to rescue the wrecked android from the Satellite before it exploded. Magnus notices the wounds that the Red Tornado suffered are self-inflicted. Which is kind of...odd for a robot. He's able to repair the Tornado enough that the robotic air manipulator is able to reveal where the missing Aquaman is: Argentina. And the story ends with the Flash still running, unable to stop.
I liked this issue. There's plenty of action, and the story is pushed a little further. One of my favorite little moments is the Joker trying to make his way into one of the artificial cities. I think it rather fits his character. The Clown Prince of Crime has a tremendous ego, and it makes sense that if the Legion don't want him involved in their little scheme, he'll force them to involve him. The big issue of this comic is that in my opinion, this comic is best read as part of a larger story. That does not mean it's bad. It just means it's best enjoyed if you're reading Justice as a whole story, not just one issue at a time. It's a necessary evil for mini-series like this.
I don't know what else I can say about Ross and Braithwaite's art here. I think it's spectacular. They manage to make these characters with their fantastic appearances and costumes look perfectly plausible and realistic without losing any of their "comic book-ness", for lack of a better term.
If you want to read this for yourself, I recommend tracking down the 2007 trade paperback Justice. Thanks for reading this blog entry! If you liked it, show it off! Take care of yourselves, and each other! Stay safe, stay healthy, stay home, wash your hands often, wear a mask, and get vaccinated and boosted! See you next time!
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