After the comedic adventures of Justice League Antarctica, Kooey Kooey Kooey, and Furballs, the Giffen/DeMatteis duo provide something very different. What makes the JLI run one of the most outstanding periods in comic book history is that while it may be utterly hilarious and light-hearted with lovable characters, on occasions the dark cloud of sudden shock and complete disaster can rain its might upon the JLA and JLE. Here, this is perhaps the darkest period in the JLI run. For Justice League America, they face in their most deadly foe yet – Despero, who seeks revenge after the league beat him in the final issues of Justice League of America (vol 1). As for Justice League Europe, they are thrown into a gritty story focusing on the possibility of nuclear annihilation against the villainous Extremists. These are two tales where the stakes are high but will Giffen and DeMatteis (and co) write serious and shocking as well as amusing and ridiculous.
While Justice League America 38-40 was published from May to July 1990, Justice
League Europe 15-19 was released from June to October. All stories are by Keith Giffen, with J.M. DeMatteis present for JLA and Gerard Jones for JLE. I’ve read these stories in their original issues.
Spy/Blow Up/Hell on Earth --- Written by Keith Giffen and J.M. DeMatteis with art by Adam Hughes, Joe Rubinstein, and Jose Marzan. Jr
When Despero first appeared in Justice League of America (vol 1) 1 way back in 1960 as a rubbery-looking pink fish-headed alien with sharp intellect, who would have thought that writers would later make him into one of the teams most powerful and dangerous adversaries. Justice League America 38 begins somewhat tediously with pages of Spy magazine. It’s obviously Giffen and DeMatteis’s attempt to parody gossip magazines as there are several good lines in there about the characters of the JLI, but it honestly doesn’t make for great reading. With that out of the way, the story really gets going when Despero, angered and vengeful, arrives on Earth to destroy the Justice League. However, since he has been absent for so long, he goes after members of Justice League Detroit, most of whom are either forgotten, dead, or damaged. The latter of those is met with a cruel and genuinely shocking fate. While Steel was never one of the more interesting or even better characters in the final years of Justice League of America (vol 1), the way Despero rips his android body from his life-support system and tears it apart, screaming, just sets up a fantastic story. Immediately, Despero is the biggest threat to ever face the JLI, and the way he brutally murders a hero is shocking. But things get much worse from there. In the pleasant and peaceful suburbs, the life of former JLA member Gypsy is destroyed. Conveyed effectively by Hughes’s storytelling and the lack of much dialogue, the family of this once laughed-at character is murdered by Despero, and she is forced to run and escape, but the villain is always coming. The unrelenting chaos that Despero brings adds flawless drama, and there is real tension here. But when Martian Manhunter arrives at the end of the issue to take on Despero once and for all, you know the following issue is going to continue down this great path.
Justice League America 39 is essentially a bloodbath. While a lengthy fight between Martian Manhunter and Despero, with neither character seen to win by the end of the issue, may be dull, there are many reasons why this part works just as well as the first. For starters, Justice League America 38 set up the story flawlessly and since Despero is a mighty villain, the response from Martian Manhunter will be grand. Therefore, the fight is tense. Secondly, the internal dialogue within Gypsy is surprisingly sound and Giffen and DeMatteis do well to construct her into a realistic and highly sympathetic character. Thirdly, other JLIers appear in this issue and while some may shine, like Guy Gardner, there is one astounding moment that really makes this story effective. Those who would have read Justice League International Special 1 featuring Mister Miracle would have known that the star character is in fact replaced by a robot of himself to help the league out. Somehow, the JLI haven’t worked this out yet. Therefore, when Despero kills Mister Miracle shockingly, it’s a huge moment for the characters. Blue Beetle’s terrified and shocked reaction makes Justice League America 39 a fantastic and quick read that, perhaps, may set up a finale that will be disappointing compared to the previous two issues.
Justice League America 40 is the finale, and the beginning is the most devasting in the run. In effect, Despero kills every JLI member. No, that is not a joke. With the JLI gone, he takes over the world and obliterates it into smithereens. This incredible introduction is, obviously, revealed to be fake. It turns out that Martian Manhunter used one of his most powerful Martian skills to trick Despero into thinking he was living the life he wanted. In short, Despero wants to see the world and the JLI destroyed, and that is what Martian Manhunter gave him. To say that Giffen and DeMatteis effectively ripped off an idea from Alan Moore’s Superman (vol 1) Annual 11 is the understatement of the century. Despero was defeated the same way as Mongul was in Moore’s story. While the lack of originality may not be ideal, it isn’t that offensive to me. It makes sense as the JLI can’t stay dead. However, I just think that after two issues of bloodshed and fighting, it’s just hugely anti-climactic. Leaving Despero as a foetus of sorts does raise the possibility of his return, but I wished the conclusion could have been better. As for the rest of the issue, it ties up some loose ends and develops the JLA backstory. Mister Miracle is given a funeral and the whole JLI attend, including Booster Gold. He left the league in the previous issue but is now assembling his own team. This is great because of the distance it creates in the once-solid friendship between Booster Gold and Blue Beetle. Giffen and DeMatteis can write the scenes of friendship and humour just as well as those moments of distance and
division.
The funeral is touching and all, but since Mister Miracle really is alive, it doesn’t matter. Barring that however, Justice League America 38-40 succeeds in putting the JLI back into reality. While I love many of the stories before this, often the humour gets too much or is too dominating. The writers put the league up against their biggest threat yet and the carnage and bloodshed present here just prove that Giffen and DeMatteis are versatile plotters. The tone is excellent, and the characterisation of Gypsy is excellent, even if she does disappear during the third issue. Overall, this isn’t a story the JLI or us readers will forget anytime soon.
With such a dominating threat here, the artwork primarily by Adam Hughes is excellent. With its sense of drama, action, and tension, Hughes conveys every panel with shock and brilliant detail. His sense of storytelling is hugely dramatic despite a fairly regular and standard visual appearance. Both inkers also work greatly with the penciller’s art style, especially Joe Rubinstein.
Story: 9.5/10
Art: 9/10
The Extremist Vector --- Written by Gerard Jones and Keith Giffen with art by Bart Sears, Pablo Marcos, and Randy Elliot
Ignoring The Teasdale Imperative crossover, Justice League Europe 15-19 is the first major serious multi-part JLE story. They’ve always been the slightly more comedic and chaotic team of the two, but this story presents them with something darker. Throughout some of the previous issues, readers would have seen Blue Jay and Silver Sorceress escape from Russian captivity for their anti-nuclear attacks way back in Justice League (vol 1) 2-3. The background of both themselves and their destroyed world was often vague, but here, we finally get some answers.
Immediately, Justice League Europe 15 starts off apocalyptically. On her home world, Silver Sorceress wanders through the carnage and wasteland of a destroyed city. Depressingly, she came home to die with her world, unlike Blue Jay who has aimed to join the JLI. Unlike in previous issues, Silver Sorceress is not a dull weightless character, and her world is expanded upon greatly. Somewhere in this world lies the villains, the so-called Extremists. Think of Despero from the previous issue but multiplied. The team is home to several members, most of whom may be somewhat forgettable, but all deeply threatening and scary. Threat is imposed in this story almost instantly as the Extremists, bored after not having any humans to kill after the nuclear holocaust, detect Silver Sorceress. Through torture and mind-reading, the Extremists learn of Earth; it becomes their next target. Meanwhile on the seemingly doomed planet, Blue Jay contacts Justice League Europe for help (after contacting the American branch who failed to come back to him). All seems normal for the JLE until suddenly, Russia is invaded by the Extremists and Metamorpho, who is usually good in a fight, is beaten to near-death by them. The first part ends with a strong conclusion and despite the Extremists being fairly lightweight in terms of unique character, they are threatening and therefore that makes for a more dramatic story.
Justice League Europe 16 continues to build up the threat of the Extremists and, as in the Despero story, makes the JLE appear weak and useless. After Metamorpho’s defeat, the rest of the team is frightened of using the teleportation tube to Russia in case the Extremists are waiting for them. Therefore, they fly to Russia while Blue Jay provides some much-needed background to the story and its foes. Once upon a time, in this alternate Earth, Blue Jay and Silver Sorceress were part of a superhero team who protected the Earth against all kinds of villains. To cut a long story short, they united to become the Extremists and they threatened the governments of the planet with nuclear oblivion. The heroes therefore went to Earth to seek the JLA’s help, but they were unsuccessful. When they arrived home, their world was a wasteland ruled by the Extremists. Therefore, Blue Jay and Silver Sorceress saw it as their duty to save other planets from a similar fate. This backstory really should have been explained slightly more, or hinted at, in the first story that appeared in at the start of the run. It’s good because it finally gives the characters a purpose and a strong backstory. Aside from that however, the rest of the issue is a futile fight between the JLE and the Extremists. With three more issues to go, guess who loses?
Justice League Europe 17 is the high noon of The Extremist Vector. The JLE are basically forced to watch as the Extremists threaten the world with nuclear destruction. There’s quite a bit of dialogue with only a small amount of plot, but the mood of tension and apprehension that facilitates the middle of the overall story makes it a great read. The Extremists also continue to be strong villains, especially when they kill people at a moment’s notice without warning. My least favourite villains are those who are all-talk and no action. The Extremists may be short on character, but especially strong on threat and power. That said, their overall goal does become much clouded and often laughably simple. At first, it seems that they want to use Earth’s resources and knowledge for something, but it quickly devolves into a “let’s blow everything up” plan. Sure, the Extremists are renowned for being planet-destroyers, but something more detailed would have been nice. Either way, while all superheroes are banned by governments to ensure that a peace settlement between the Earth and the Extremists can be agreed (making for some hilarious dialogue on page 12 of the issue), the JLE fight back and manage to temporarily stop the Extremists plans for nuclear destruction. However, as revenge, the JLE are transported to the alternative world, stranded on in the desolate and destroyed ruins of a city.
After three solid issues, Justice League Europe 18 is where things to start all fall apart.
While the Extremists do literally nothing on Earth, the heroes are sent to the other world and stumble upon a clean and brand-new funfair. There, the heroes are forced to enjoy rides and other games while Silver Sorceress is held at the mercy of a fat jester-like character. Yes, this is the same story. The purpose of this carnival is never really quite clear, but in the end all the inhabitants of it are robots created by an old man who is considered a genius. He stored his dying body cryogenically. And he suddenly returns when the carnival spectacularly explodes after the JLE fight back against the robots. When the plot become as nonsensical and random as this, I find it difficult to see how this issue was even relevant or needed. With one issue left, it does feel like the carnival interlude could have been removed. Sure, it may introduce a character who is important in the plot’s ending, but there must be a better way of introducing him than twenty-odd pages of awful filler. Overall, this feels like a terrible interlude without any of the drama or interest that the previous three issues had.
For the finale, Justice League Europe 19 has both the drama from the first three issues and the random annoying backstory from the previous issue. This old genius turns out to be called Mitch Wacky, referred to as ‘uncle’ by Silver Sorceress. Slightly confused that the world has been destroyed by nuclear weapons since he began his prolonged sleep, Mitch is brought up to speed before presenting the JLE with robots he had been building. From there, it becomes obvious that the Extremists are all robots created by Mitch for some reason. Therefore, the JLE use his robotics to defeat the Extremists on Earth. This seems to work, but it turns out that one is still human, and he manages to kill Mitch. However, the League take out the remaining Extremist and it all ends very suddenly. The last few pages attempt to tie up some loose ends, but not to much avail as we leave the story even more confused than when it started. Mitch’s link to the Extremists and the whole of that alternative world feels underdeveloped and unexplored to me. Surely, if he creates androids of the Extremists, he is indirectly responsible for the nuclear oblivion. He also gets badly written out of the story and is introduced far too late. The first three parts of The Extremist Vector are good and, once again like the Despero story, there is a real sense of urgency, threat, and drama. Even characters like Blue Jay and Silver Sorceress, once dull and boring, now have much more interesting backstories to tell. However, it all goes wrong in the final two parts as the carnival story comes across as bland filler and the conclusion to the story is hugely nonsensical and anti-climactic. In short, it has some great ideas, but the finale was poorly executed.
With very jagged and sharp designs, the Extremists strangely benefit from Bart Sears’s ugly art style. They look bizarrely appealing as villains from another world and appear radically different from the usual foes the JLI fight. Aside from the Extremists however, the rest of the art is the usual mess that Bart Sears produces. Once again, Pablo Marcos clears some of it up and Randy Elliot isn’t too bad an inker.
Story: 6.5/10
Art: 4/10
VERDICT
Overall, these two major JLI stories are quite similar. They both pair an entertaining and often silly JLI team with their biggest threats yet. The villains do shine here undeniably, even if they are slightly two-dimensional at times. The Despero story is excellent, and, despite an anti-climactic ending, it is highly memorable and even shocking. The Extremist Vector, devised as a five-part epic, starts off strongly but suddenly devolves into a jovial and unimportant story. Any potential is ruined by pointless plot developments. However, both creative teams excel at making the JLA and JLE into serious fighting forces again as they go up against the deadliest villains they can face. As much as I adore the humour of JLI, more of this would be great.
Stories: 7.5/10
Art: 6.5/10
Next Week: Kid Eternity by Grant Morrison (Kid Eternity (vol 2) 1-3). Written by Grant Morrison with art by Duncan Fegredo.
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