It's that time again! It's time to rejoin the Justice League as they engage in their greatest battle against the Legion of Doom. Last time, the heroes started to recover from their assaults on the Legion of Doom. So, how will they fight back? Let's find out in Justice #9!
The cover is an Alex Ross piece, and it's pretty good. It depicts Black Adam and the Marvel Family beating up on Captain Marvel. The angle and the usage of the clouds and lightning give a mythic quality, almost like we're glancing into a battle of gods.
"Chapter Nine"
Writers: Jim Krueger, Alex Ross
Penciler: Doug Braithwaite
Inker: Alex Ross
Colorist: Alex Ross
Letterer: Todd Klein
Editors: Joey Cavalieri, Michael Wright
Executive Editor: Dan DiDio
The story begins with Captain Marvel contemplating at the Fortress of Solitude. He thinks about the power. The power...of words. Words are magical. They can inform, they can conceal. Words can also be like keys. He says a word, and he can access the power of the Gods. Names are also words. And the power of words is how the Legion of Doom unlocked the secret identities of their long-time enemies, the Justice League of America.
Hal Jordan points out nobody tried to kill him, but that was because of how his ring works. If he died, the ring would go to someone else. So, Brainiac had to get the ring itself far away from Earth, hence his being Boom-Tubed across the universe. His ring detected Brainiac's mind-controlling nanites in Captain Cold. Metamorpho is understandably confused. Why would Brainiac use the nanites on him? Aren't they allies?
Captain Marvel points out that super-villains can't form and maintain alliances like the Justice League. Presumably because they are too obsessive and selfish in nature. This highlights a massive problem: How can the Justice League fight back if Brainiac can just infect them with his little worms? Will Magnus has a solution.
Yup. Armor. Some nice tough armor. Ray Palmer, Niles Caulder, Will Magnus, and the Metal Men get to work making some. Hal uses his ring to trace the transmissions of the worms in Captain Cold. It's a location in Africa, hidden using the same technology Gorilla City uses to hide from humanity's detection. The League will bait the Legion here. However, Grodd has figured they'd do that.
He appears to the heroes using a duplicate of Sinestro's power ring. Black Adam tricks Captain Marvel into an ambush. And a fight breaks out.
Mary Marvel and Captain Marvel Jr. fight Captain Marvel in the air. Black Adam orders Mary to say her magic word, and she does. As plain ol' Mary, she plummets to the ground...and Billy is forced to watch, being held back by Black Adam and Marvel Jr.
Back in Gotham, Bruce Wayne takes Clark Kent to meet a woman: Leslie Thompkins.
Leslie takes them to meet some of the children in her clinic. Some of them were healed by Brainiac. Clark uses his vision powers to examine the child and realizes that Brainiac is turning the people being "healed" into organic machinery. Kind of like Dr. Robotnik's robotization devices from the Sonic the Hedgehog cartoons.
We get a brief aside of Luthor examining Brainiac's robots, and then back to the Marvel Brawl. Captain Marvel manages to catch Mary, but it was a trick.
She transforms back into Mary Marvel and tosses Billy into the ground. Captain Marvel rises from the ground, the narration implying he's now under Brainiac's control.
We get a brief aside of Batman, Atom, and Doc Magnus discussing the League's armors, then back to the battle in the Arctic. Members of the League are able to beat Grodd, but he gets rescued by Sinestro. However, Metamorpho was able to get Grodd's duplicate ring.
Captain Marvel tries to bust his way into the Fortress of Solitude, but Superman intercepts him, and Green Lantern is able to get the nanites out of him. After he recovers, he joins Green Lantern on a trip to Arkham Asylum. It's here that the Big Red Cheese finds his greatest enemy.
Meet Dr. Thaddeus Bodog Sivana, the World's Wickedest Scientist. Sivana appears to be in pain. Realizing he's got the nanites inside him, Captain Marvel tearfully asks Green Lantern to remove them. Hal does so. Captain Marvel asks him what Brainiac has planned. Sivana explains it has to do with something the mad scientist invented...and Brainiac had envied. You see, Sivana had created the nanites, which he called "Mr. Mind". Brainiac took the device, mass produced them, and shrunk them to microscopic level. Presumably with the same tech he used to shrink cities, as per his Silver Age/Bronze Age gimmick.
These nanites cannot just manipulate minds, they can also manipulate bodies. They can make you have dreams (explaining the mutual dream the Legion of Doom had) and affect the way you think and act (explaining why they're suddenly helping people and working together, despite their villainous natures). And it was all controlled by Brainiac. And it's all Brainiac. Luthor would have hated the idea of Brainiac turning half of humanity into machines and killing the rest. Which makes sense. Luthor is an egomaniac. He sees himself as the greatest man in the world, and everyone should be subservient to him. As such, the plan was that instead of half of humanity being destroyed, it would go to Luthor. For him to rule.
The Justice League armors up, and heads into action.
The story ends with Luthor teleporting in to pick up Captain Cold and commenting that everything is going very well...
This was a fine issue. The ending was awesome, seeing the League in their suits of armor, and Lex at the end made for some nice foreboding vibes. Make me wonder what he could be up to, considering there's only three issues left. What I liked about this issue was there was a little bit of everything here. We got some action scenes and we got some character stuff. Captain Marvel is the main focus of this issue, as a lot of stuff centers around him here. It's pretty clear the creators not only are very fond of Captain Marvel, but clearly understand his character. It's nice to see.
I don't know what else I can say about Doug Braithwaite's art that I haven't already. It's fantastic stuff.
If you want to read this for yourself (and you should), I recommend checking out the 2011 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 your vaccination/booster! See you next time!
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