JLA (1997) 65

JLA (1997) 65

Jun 2002

Bouncing Baby Boy

by Joe Kelly, Doug Mahnke, Tom Nguyen, David Baron, Ken Lopez, Dan Raspler

Plastic Man asks Batman to help him track down Luke McDunnagh, a boy who has, despite being only 10 years old, joined a gang of criminals. The two superheroes begin their search with a visit to Angel McDunnagh, the boy’s mother. Batman quickly figures out that Plastic Man is the boy’s father.

Plas is too chicken to confront his son so Batman does the job for him. Plastic Man tags along with the Dark Knight, disguised as a piece of Batman’s uniform. 

JLA (1997) 64

JLA (1997) 64

May 2002

The Golden Perfect - Part 3 of 3

by Joe Kelly, Doug Mahnke, Tom Nguyen, David Baron, Ken Lopez, Dan Raspler

Batman joins Superman, Flash, Green Lantern, Plastic Man and Martian Manhunter in dealing with the crises that have erupted worldwide. Wonder Woman turns to Rama Khan for help. She tries to explain to him why the world outside Jarhanpur has gone crazy but he tires quickly of her words. 

JLA (1997) 63

JLA (1997) 63

Apr 2002

The Golden Perfect - Part 2 of 3

by Joe Kelly, Doug Mahnke, Tom Nguyen, David Baron, Ken Lopez, Dan Raspler

Wonder Woman goes on a quest to find the Moira, the three goddesses of destiny (Clotho, Lachesis, Atropos). It is her hope that they can repair the Golden Perfect or possibly tell her what to do to effect the repair. The other members of JLA don’t know it at first but her quest affects them all, the whole Earth, and all of reality.

The others (Superman, Martian Manhunter, Green Lantern, Plastic Man, Flash, the Atom) fight to save people, hold things together while Wonder Woman is gone. Even Rama Khan becomes aware of the threat to the world. It all goes back to the moment when Diana used the Lasso to compel Rama Khan to tell the truth and two conflicting truths were revealed to exist. 

JLA (1997) 62

JLA (1997) 62

Mar 2002

The Golden Perfect - Part 1 of 3

by Joe Kelly, Doug Mahnke, Tom Nguyen, David Baron, Ken Lopez, Dan Raspler

Two Amazons fight a creature made of living rock. They put up a valiant effort but are overwhelmed as they battle to defend a third woman.

Wonder Woman spars with Martian Manhunter in the Watch Tower. He is still anguished over releasing the White Martians.

JLA (1997) 61

JLA (1997) 61

Feb 2002

Two-Minute Warning 

by Joe Kelly, Doug Mahnke, Tom Nguyen, David Baron, Ken Lopez

Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern (Kyle Rayner), Flash (Wally West), Martian Manhunter, and Plastic Man deal with an infestation of kaiju that seem intent on battling one another in the North Atlantic Ocean.

They find that Abra Kadabra is the one controlling the giant monsters but something doesn’t read right about that to Batman. He calls in Plastic Man and has him retrieve the living creature of unknown origin or classification that is controlling the supervillain.

JLA: The Secret Society of Super-Heroes 2

Book Two
By Howard Chaykin, David Tischman, Mike McKone, Jimmy Palmiotti, David Stewart
2000

Lane and Wayne sneak into the Kryptic Order's headquarters. They witness Bart being inducted into the Order. How they aren't spotted I don't know but they don't go completely undetected. Superman doesn't see them but he smells Lois' perfume. They spend a little bit of time in the trophy room where they find Bruce's father's bat suit. Bruce also palms a couple of the devices they find lying around. He later visits Alfred and gets some confirmation about the costume and his father.

Green Lantern starts pressuring Bart to join his side, the side that wants the Order to go public. He doesn't come across as entirely honest. He manipulated the Hong Kong markets for his own personal gain or maybe it was for the Order but either way it doesn't seem like the ethical thing to do, especially for a so-called superhero. Even Plastic Man (a reformed criminal) casts doubts on Green Lanterns actions.

The Phantom Zone in this story is nothing like the Silver Age version. It seems like it is a pocket dimension from which the few hundred people living there can't escape. Among those he meets is Joe Chill, who once upon a time was known for killing Thomas and Martha Wayne. Ted Pelecanos, the most recent arrival, describes the community he finds there as hippie heaven.

Things get tense among the members of the Order. Bart is pressed to decide which group he sides with. He runs off instead of making a decision. It's a lot of pressure to put on one person's shoulders, especially a teenager who has just joined a group like the Kryptic Order.

Bart eventually comes clean and tells his father, a policeman, about his powers, what he's been up to, and about the Order. They head to Metropolis when they see that there's something big going on there.

The something is a fight between the two factions within the Kryptic Order. It begins as a fight between Superman and Green Lantern but soon the other six members of the team join their respective leader. At first everyone is invisible but the fight is happening in the middle of a busy street. Wayne shows up wearing his father's bat suit. Using one of the devices he took he deactivates the invisibility cloaks. The fight continues. Flash dies defending Bart from Green Lantern. The Atom gets stepped on and killed by Hawkgirl. Batman takes down Green Lantern. The fight peters out at that point.

Clark had a crush on Lois all along. That was the connection. He was too shy to say anything just like Clark Kent is often portrayed in the Silver and Bronze Age. Superman saves the day but dies in the end. Wonder Woman expresses regrets that she never told him how about her feelings for him.

The last few pages are both epilogue and a possible look forward. Catwoman makes a brief appearance. The story ends with Bruce and Bart about to release the prisoners in the Phantom Zone.

On the whole I really enjoyed this story, both issues. There's a lot of loose ends that leave me wanting more. I wish this had been a longer series and that some of the characters could have been fleshed out more. The main characters of the book are Clark, Bruce, Lois, and Bart. I wonder if Chaykin had plans for more? If there had been more what role would Ted Pelecanos, who spent most of the story in the Phantom Zone have played in them? I'm really torn because I feel like on the one hand the story should have more focused and yet on the other hand the creative team on this book worked some real magic here.

JLA: The Secret Society of Super-Heroes 1

Book One
By Howard Chaykin, David Tischman, Mike McKone, Jimmy Palmiotti, David Stewart
2000

This is an Elseworlds story. In this version of the DC Universe the JLA is an organization that operates in secrecy. Officially the world knows nothing of them. They are funded by the Amazons and use cloaks of invisibility to conceal themselves from the public.

The team consists of Superman, Wonder Woman, the Atom, Metamorpho, the Flash (Wally West), Hawkgirl, Green Lantern (Kyle Rayner), and Plastic Man. Green Lantern has been pushing for the group to go public but when they last voted on the issue it was a 4-4 tie. GL is joined by Flash, Plastic Man, and the Atom in wanting to end their shadowy approach to maintaining law and order.

Clark Kent's hair is starting to turn gray. He has just been prescribed reading glasses and his powers are starting to fade. He is the Editor-in-Chief of the Daily Planet.

Across town Lois Lane works for Perry White at another publication, Stranger Than Fiction. There is no indication that there is any connection between them other than a shared line of business. She is investigating a story about a man who uses a green ray to abduct people.

While she is working on this story she runs into FBI Agent Bruce Wayne who is investigating the same story from a slightly different angle. For Wayne it is both personal and professional. When he was a child his parents were murdered. Now he investigates a string of disappearances of suspected murderers.

The Kryptic Order, the name that the JLA have taken in this reality, are the ones behind the disappearance of criminals. They have been judging them and sentencing them to imprisonment in the Phantom Zone. Among those they have already sentenced is J'onn J'onzz.

Bart Allen isn't already a member of the Kryptic Order but in this issue Wally West reaches out to him. Bart is still a teenage. His parents don't know anything about his superpower, his ability to move super fast. Wally recruits Bart to join the team in the hopes that he will break the deadlocked vote. The only flaws I see in this part of the story are that the notion that the Kryptic Order would (1) allow a teenager to join the team and (2) allow a new team member to cast the deciding vote on the issue of whether they should go public or not.

Lucius Fox is a 60-year-old Congressman who is about to have his name hit the news for having an affair with a 30-year-old white woman. I know a little bit about him in regular DC continuity but I'm not sure how it fits in with the rest of this story just yet. His one and only appearance in this story is just a single page and I just summarized most of the information from that page.

The book ends with Wayne telling Lane about his father's old ring, which looks identical to the ones worn by members of the Kryptic Order. According to Bruce his father was murdered because he wouldn't give it up. Did Superman murder Thomas Wane aka Batman? The issue ends with Lois and Bruce finding the secret entrance to the Kryptic Order's hideout.

I really like the look of this book. There is one panel on page 12 where Bart Allen's face looks really bizarre but other than that no real complaints. The coloring by Dave Stewart is beautiful.

A bit on the long side for a single issue. The two issues combined probably could have been printed as a 96 page graphic novel.

The pace of the story feels choppy. It is worth reading and rereading, similar to some of Chaykin's other stories. There are so many little nuggets of information thrown out. Not all of them connected with me on the first read through because I was trying to figure out what I was dealing with. As I got a better grasp of what the story was about I was able to pickup some of the bits that I had missed the first time I read it. This might turn off some people but I felt that it was totally worth my time. I'm looking forward to reading the conclusion and hope that it doesn't disappoint although I don't expect everything to be tied up neatly.