Legion World Forums LEGION COMPANION Dr. Gym'll's Cultural Rarities JLA: still pretty good. WORLD WITHOUT A JUSTICE LEAGUE

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The lacklustre Austen/Busiek/Garney run had me on the verge of dropping this book but then walks in Geoff Johns (and Allan Heinberg, whoever he is) with LEGION aluminus Chris Batista, and, well... JLA # 115 rocked!

She's back... YAY! STAR SAPPHIRE... *dreamy sigh* No, not the crappy Carol Ferris Star Sapphire, but the hella-kewl one from the old SECRET SOCIETY OF SUPER-VILLAINS... oh how wonderful it was to see her again! Not to mention the Wizard in his old green and orange get-up (which I really liked back then!) and the Floronic Man!

The villains have somehow regained their memories of the JLA's identities... and only Batman, Catwoman and Martian Manhunter are left to face Star Sapphire, Felix Faust, the Wizard, Floronic Man, Chronos and some old dude with funky glasses and a stick!

Jillikers!! This is already shaping up to be the best JLA arc in YEARS after only 1 issue!

Isn't Allan Heinberg the guy who's writing Young Avengers?

I dunno, but I **love** Young Avengers too!

I'm pretty sure the "old dude with funky glasses and a stick," is Matter Master. A Silver Age Hawkman baddie with an updated look.

huh? I thought that the Wizard was consigned to the eternity inside Ragman's wrath?? and Matter Master's arm was cut off? Floro Man was reformed? what happened? Chronos's still alive? geezz....continunity mess again. *sigh*

Floronic Man's alleged "reformation" is easily explainable considering the current storyline. I would guess that Matter Master has the power/discovered the power to regrow his limb. A time-theif like Chronos might have had an "out" in place in the event of his untimely death.

Had no idea the Wizard was inside Ragman's cape, I never read any Ragman stories (until DAY OF VENGEANCE, and *now* I know how awesome Ragman is!!). Maybe he mojod his way out somehow... or was released by Felix Faust...?

Or maybe Geoff & Allan have better explanations for all of the above and we will learn them as the story progresses...

Allan Heinberg = writer of Young Avengers and creator/writer of the TV series "The OC".


Edit- oh, and someone who Cobalt Kid enjoys immensely!

I agree with your comments wholeheartedly! I was really disappointed with Busiek's last story arc with the Crime Syndicate (major blah!), but this first-of-five-part JLA issue was my pick for "book of the week"! And Bautista's work is as awesome as ever!!!

Despite not liking many things about "Identity Crisis", this inevitable followup is pretty interesting so far. First of all, we get something we only saw in a flashback narration before - the Justice League actually debating the merits of what they did. I couldn't help but think that this kind of foundation-shaking thing is usually relegated to Elseworlds type stories, but the reason for those is to usually tell ground-shaking stories without having to upset the status quo, so I guess I can appreciate DC actually using the real iconic characters to tell this story.

The biggest draw for me is that it features Hal Jordan back with the League and since this is written by Johns, there's no danger that Hal will come off too badly here. To some degree he's depicted as the most "heroic" - he gets a semi-splashy entrance, upholds the notion of coming clean, doesn't get overheated (but then that's the role of Hawkman/Green Arrow any time they're in a room together isn't it?) and tries to counsel Zatanna. I also like that Hal and Wally are on the same page. Like GA and Hawkman always being at odds, it's nice to see GL and Flash as a united front.

The big splash of Hal with Ollie and Dinah really warms my heart. This is one of the main reasons I wanted to see Hal back in current continuity - to see him participate in stories like this with his old teammates.

Also nice to see Batista again. The inking here is heavier than when he was with the Legion, but this is a darker story anyway. He does a great job here ("Legion" alumni are doing pretty well these days aren't they?).

i really really enjoyed this first issue [ don't normally buy JLA ] but i had to get this with all the people involved and as it's the follow up to "IDENTITY CRISIS" !!

looking forward to the following parts, have you seen the ZATANNA cover ?? wonder what she's gonna do in that issue ??

Matthew.

I'm actually worried for Zee.

Her line a couple issues back in FLASH-- "I never meant to hurt anyone"-- so simple but it touched my heart, I could "hear" her dripping with remorse as I read it.

and yet --Zatanna is gaining her momentum during this summer by making more appearances in her mini-series, S7V, Superman, JLA, cartoon show, etc....I hope that Zatanna will be making a big comeback by being a permanent member of JLA after the Crisis done. *finger crossing*

I'm just hoping they don't off her in some heroic attempt to atone for her actions. Zee rawks!

hi superboy,

I hope they revamp Zatanna somehow so she doesnt look like a magician's assistant (even if the gear was in honour of her father, Zatara). The purple outfit which debuted in JUSTICE LEAGUE 187 (1981) suited her far better than the top hat and fishnets.

I liked the blue and white outfit with the cape myself (the one she had during Crisis on Infinite Earths), but the top hat look has grown on me too.

And I agree, I want Zee back in the League!

Nah, the original is a classic.

FISHNETS fer pete's sake.

Nmmmmmm...gotta go find a pair for my wife...

I have to admit after the very long very boring Busiek/Garney run I loved this issue. Man Busiek went all Claremont/Byrne on us and wrote a novel.

Anyways I actually hate Carol Ferris/Sapphire but it's a cool story.

#116's out...

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...with a real shocker of an appearance on the last page! I thought that character had been 'reformed'? Hmmm... guess it didn't 'take'. Or did the last story he appeared in end with him returning to 'villainy'?

Nice handling of all the characters, I thought. Hard to reconcile Hawkman's appearance here with the happenings in his own book-- but that's the sort of thing that a reader often has to squint at when reading JLA. I bet Hawks felt more pain at the fact that it was Green Arrow that helped him than at his injury.

I wanted more space for the face-off with the SSOSV... but there *are* more issues in the storyline.

I enjoy seeing Star Sapphire again. Wizard vs. Zatanna hinted at how fun a duel that could be. When exactly did Fluronic Man go bad again? I know he appeared in that SON OF VULCAN book as a villain, but I haven't bought it. Had he recently terrorized some other DC heroes before that appearance?

I'm not a fan of Felix Faust. Nothing here changed that. Matter Master seemed pretty loopy.

Batista's art was nice-- good to see him penciling a high-profile book. Hope he's appreciated.

Have to agree with ya there, this arc is light years better than anything I've read since Morrison left.
It's a kick to see the Satellite era together again...even if they don't all want to be in the same room.
My take on the Floronic Man is that he must have been mind wiped before he showed up in Swamp Thing for "The Anatomy Lesson". All that stuff with the New Guardians, the grovelling to Swampy later in the run of that book, can now be chalked up to the mind wipe.
I don't think he's been shown as anything but a psycho for quite a while now, I think this is the first we see of him back to "normal".

My question is: when did this bunch ever all work together? Wizard, Floronic man, Star, Reverse Flash and Blockbuster were the group I remember facing the League and swapping bodies, is this a retcon kinda story? I assume so.

It's also sort of strange to see Wizard in this outfit as he's showing up in Villians in the top hat and tails.

Is Carol Ferris still plagued by the Star Sapphire entity in the current DC Universe? what happened to the other SS who appeared in the SECRET SOCIETY OF SUPER-VILLAINS? Her real identity had been revealed in a JUSTICE LEAGUE.

Could anybody put me straight and confirm this?

as much as I am starting to get "huh" baffled as I am seeing too many characters appearing at the same time - Floronic Man in Son of Vulcan and JLA, Wizard in JLA and Villain United, Hawkman in Hawkman JLA and Rann-Thanagar War, Zatanna in Zatanna Superman and JLA, etc etc....YELP! Do anyone ever keep track of those characters?!? Geoff? Steve Wacker?? who is responsible?? *mind boggling*

I believe Carol Ferris was rid of Star Sapphire shortly before Hal Jordan went berserk in Emerald Twilight. Since his death Carol has moved on and remarried. But now he's back.

The Star Sapphire in SSOV (she went out with Captain Comet right? a little before my time) was comatose until this current story line in JLA when she was revived.

I don't know when he reverted to villainy, but it wasn't here. I think the last time he appeared it was in the "JLA/JSA: Virtue & Vice" graphic novel and he was evil in that.

It's interesting in the story that Green Arrow takes credit for saving Hawkman. From where I sat it looked like Black Canary that saved him. Is Ollie just thinking of the two of them as a single entity? Are they even a couple right now? I thought they had ended things fairly bitterly in his title - or am I wrong?

If memory serves, even before CRISIS, wasnt there some antagonism between Green Arrow and Hawkman? It must have been all under the surface because GA was genuinely upset when the Hawks went back to Thanagar in a JUSTICE LEAGUE story