In which JLI starts bitchslapping me
Things are happening in Justice League International - well they were in 1990. Some of it I don't like, which is a pretty new experience to me when it comes to my beloved JLI.
So hey, you've probably gotten the impression that I'm all about Booster Gold and Blue Beetle, right? Well they are my favourite members of the league, but not my only ones.
See, I used to regard Mister Miracle, Scott Free, as "the guy with the really garish costume who spawned from Kirby's Fourth World saga, a story so daunting I'm not sure I'll ever dare to read it". But in JLI, Scott's slightly shy and hesitant nature works great as a contrast to the more immature members of the group. Plus, what other superheroes work part-time as a world-famous escape artist, anyway?
Besides, recently I've realized that I fucking LOVE married superheroes. Screw Joe Quesada who says married characters aren't relatable, I always get more interested when I learn that this or that cape-clad crusader is in a long-term, steady relationship.
Scott just happens to be in the most adorable comic book marriage I've ever come across.
Scott and Barda Free: SO SWEET IT HURTS. (Their complete disregard of traditional gender roles makes my heart sing!)
And just as an aside: Even though I've seen the following panels countless times on the internet, actually coming across them in the above issue still made me titter. Booster and Beetle, people:
1) Eightes fashion burns my eeeeyes (Beetle, you seem to have acquired a mullet. Stop it.) 2) GAY BODY LANGUAGE: A how-to. 3) That last speech bubble. I JUST. I DON'T. Is it even possible for it to make sense in a non-romantic way? I DON'T KNOW HOW IT CAN.
Speaking of Booster, following the Kooey-Kooey-Kooey incident he becomes increasingly PMSy upset at how nobody takes him seriously, and he begins wearing a suit and sneaking off to secret dinner appointments, until finally -
He quits the JLI. WHAT. I don't like this.
Neither did other readers, judging from the letter columns the following months:
(Christoph from Vienna, you are wise beyond your years). I'm planning to someday make an entry just about the wonderful and odd things that happens in that letter column (of the unfortunate name Justice Loggers) because it really is an internet fandom with no internet; There's so much creativity and bitching and in-jokes going on ("WOMBAT!") I usually get a giggle out of it every issue.
So anyway, now that you know the setup, back to issue 40: Why did I mention Mister Miracle?
Because this rather odd experiment happens:
The death of Mister Miracle happens in the conclusion of the darkest, most horrific issue of the JLI (rather jolting too, as it happens between a story where a cat beats up Guy Gardner, and one where Maxwell Lord has an alcohol-fueled dream in which he dons pink spandex and saves the day as the über-nineties superhero MAXIMUM FORCE).
Despero (who I know from Batman: The Brave and the Bold, score!) comes to earth, proceeding to slaughter people in the goriest way possible. And I gotta say this as a great fan of horror comics, for a big pink-skinned dude with a fin on his head he's pretty damn scary.
And Beetle, who's usually stuck up in the air shuttle, trades places with Mister Miracle only to be killed for his efforts! (Off-panel, to protect your sensibilities - somehow seeing only that goggle lens and the spray of blood makes it worse).
But don't worry, he doesn't actually kill him, it's all imaginary. Except when he blows up the shuttle with Mister Miracle in it. That's real.
Only. The guy in the shuttle isn't Mister Miracle.
The odd thing I've been hinting at about this story is that if you've read the comics up to that point, you know very well Mister Miracle is in outer space at the time, performing his shows to fulfill a contract his manager (managers abound in this comic) made with Manga Khan.
You remember Manga Khan? He's still awesome.
The "Mister Miracle" that has been living in the JLI building the last couple of weeks is a slightly malfunctioning robot Manga Khan made. At no point is there any ambiguity about this. Hell, I read the comics out of order but still without the setup I thought "I'm pretty sure Mister Miracle has been replaced by a robot".
And the infamous issue 40 is entirely about the reactions of the League following Miracle's "death", even though we, the readers, know perfectly well he isn't dead.
But still, it's an interesting issue for a number of reasons.
I wind up actually feeling sorry for Superman (Me! Who's usually bored to tears by Supes!):
DAMNIT BATS, THAT'S NO WAY TO TREAT YOUR BFF. I gotta say I have a hard time not tittering at the last panel where Bats completes his transformation to an angsty fourteen year-old girl though.
Maxwell Lord turns out to have a heart (despite what the current run of Generation Lost might tell you):
And. Oh God. Oh God. Guy Gardner doesn't repulse me. For the first time since I began reading JLI I don't furiously hate Guy Gardner.
Suddenly some of the most tender and sad dialogue in a comic is uttered by Guy Gardner. Cruel, moronic, infuriating Guy Gardner. I just don't know what to think anymore (and oh he and Ice are gonna be such a sweet couple!)
As for our dynamic duo, though, things aren't going so well.
It's gonna get worse before it gets better.
Booster skulks back to his mysteeerious new offices, where we also catch a glimpse of the mysteeerious Claire Montgomery, who's going to be an important player in the next issue.
Well as for this issue... It's got some strong moments, but it's flawed, not at least because of the fact that the reader knows fully well Mister Miracle isn't dead, so seeing the League in morning doesn't really carry the same weight. Then again you have the Wrath of Khan effect (where I have a, shall we say, tendency, to cry at the end of that movie - not because Spock dies but because I feel so sorry for Kirk) and you find yourself touched by what the story is about, but it really isn't enough.
To make matters even worse, the whole thing is settled in the most anticlimactic way possible: At one point Mister Miracle just walks into Max's office and pretty much goes "Hi, have you missed me?" and everybody go "SCOTT?" and that's it. On the next page everything's back to normal.
What makes me sad is that Scott, too, leaves the JLI at this point (wanting to live a normal life with his wife). Which reminds me that I really want to start reading the Mister Miracle comic that was going on at the same time as JLI.
Thankfully Oberon leaves with him (I never did cotton to Oberon) and Max gets a new assistant who's someone we've met before, and who's way funnier than Oberon anyway.
Coming up: Is the JLI going to recruit new members to counter the fall in their number? Is it going to be someone I don't like?
Are Beetle and Booster going to make up? Are they at some point going to say things that, taken out of context (or more often, read in context) sound kinda dirty?
Is the superhero team known as The Conglomerate as moronic as they sound? Is the answer to all these questions "yes"?
Yes!
So hey, you've probably gotten the impression that I'm all about Booster Gold and Blue Beetle, right? Well they are my favourite members of the league, but not my only ones.
See, I used to regard Mister Miracle, Scott Free, as "the guy with the really garish costume who spawned from Kirby's Fourth World saga, a story so daunting I'm not sure I'll ever dare to read it". But in JLI, Scott's slightly shy and hesitant nature works great as a contrast to the more immature members of the group. Plus, what other superheroes work part-time as a world-famous escape artist, anyway?
Besides, recently I've realized that I fucking LOVE married superheroes. Screw Joe Quesada who says married characters aren't relatable, I always get more interested when I learn that this or that cape-clad crusader is in a long-term, steady relationship.
Scott just happens to be in the most adorable comic book marriage I've ever come across.
Scott and Barda Free: SO SWEET IT HURTS. (Their complete disregard of traditional gender roles makes my heart sing!)
And just as an aside: Even though I've seen the following panels countless times on the internet, actually coming across them in the above issue still made me titter. Booster and Beetle, people:
1) Eightes fashion burns my eeeeyes (Beetle, you seem to have acquired a mullet. Stop it.) 2) GAY BODY LANGUAGE: A how-to. 3) That last speech bubble. I JUST. I DON'T. Is it even possible for it to make sense in a non-romantic way? I DON'T KNOW HOW IT CAN.
Speaking of Booster, following the Kooey-Kooey-Kooey incident he becomes increasingly PMSy upset at how nobody takes him seriously, and he begins wearing a suit and sneaking off to secret dinner appointments, until finally -
He quits the JLI. WHAT. I don't like this.
Neither did other readers, judging from the letter columns the following months:
(Christoph from Vienna, you are wise beyond your years). I'm planning to someday make an entry just about the wonderful and odd things that happens in that letter column (of the unfortunate name Justice Loggers) because it really is an internet fandom with no internet; There's so much creativity and bitching and in-jokes going on ("WOMBAT!") I usually get a giggle out of it every issue.
So anyway, now that you know the setup, back to issue 40: Why did I mention Mister Miracle?
Because this rather odd experiment happens:
The death of Mister Miracle happens in the conclusion of the darkest, most horrific issue of the JLI (rather jolting too, as it happens between a story where a cat beats up Guy Gardner, and one where Maxwell Lord has an alcohol-fueled dream in which he dons pink spandex and saves the day as the über-nineties superhero MAXIMUM FORCE).
Despero (who I know from Batman: The Brave and the Bold, score!) comes to earth, proceeding to slaughter people in the goriest way possible. And I gotta say this as a great fan of horror comics, for a big pink-skinned dude with a fin on his head he's pretty damn scary.
And Beetle, who's usually stuck up in the air shuttle, trades places with Mister Miracle only to be killed for his efforts! (Off-panel, to protect your sensibilities - somehow seeing only that goggle lens and the spray of blood makes it worse).
But don't worry, he doesn't actually kill him, it's all imaginary. Except when he blows up the shuttle with Mister Miracle in it. That's real.
Only. The guy in the shuttle isn't Mister Miracle.
The odd thing I've been hinting at about this story is that if you've read the comics up to that point, you know very well Mister Miracle is in outer space at the time, performing his shows to fulfill a contract his manager (managers abound in this comic) made with Manga Khan.
You remember Manga Khan? He's still awesome.
The "Mister Miracle" that has been living in the JLI building the last couple of weeks is a slightly malfunctioning robot Manga Khan made. At no point is there any ambiguity about this. Hell, I read the comics out of order but still without the setup I thought "I'm pretty sure Mister Miracle has been replaced by a robot".
And the infamous issue 40 is entirely about the reactions of the League following Miracle's "death", even though we, the readers, know perfectly well he isn't dead.
But still, it's an interesting issue for a number of reasons.
I wind up actually feeling sorry for Superman (Me! Who's usually bored to tears by Supes!):
DAMNIT BATS, THAT'S NO WAY TO TREAT YOUR BFF. I gotta say I have a hard time not tittering at the last panel where Bats completes his transformation to an angsty fourteen year-old girl though.
Maxwell Lord turns out to have a heart (despite what the current run of Generation Lost might tell you):
And. Oh God. Oh God. Guy Gardner doesn't repulse me. For the first time since I began reading JLI I don't furiously hate Guy Gardner.
Suddenly some of the most tender and sad dialogue in a comic is uttered by Guy Gardner. Cruel, moronic, infuriating Guy Gardner. I just don't know what to think anymore (and oh he and Ice are gonna be such a sweet couple!)
As for our dynamic duo, though, things aren't going so well.
It's gonna get worse before it gets better.
Booster skulks back to his mysteeerious new offices, where we also catch a glimpse of the mysteeerious Claire Montgomery, who's going to be an important player in the next issue.
Well as for this issue... It's got some strong moments, but it's flawed, not at least because of the fact that the reader knows fully well Mister Miracle isn't dead, so seeing the League in morning doesn't really carry the same weight. Then again you have the Wrath of Khan effect (where I have a, shall we say, tendency, to cry at the end of that movie - not because Spock dies but because I feel so sorry for Kirk) and you find yourself touched by what the story is about, but it really isn't enough.
To make matters even worse, the whole thing is settled in the most anticlimactic way possible: At one point Mister Miracle just walks into Max's office and pretty much goes "Hi, have you missed me?" and everybody go "SCOTT?" and that's it. On the next page everything's back to normal.
What makes me sad is that Scott, too, leaves the JLI at this point (wanting to live a normal life with his wife). Which reminds me that I really want to start reading the Mister Miracle comic that was going on at the same time as JLI.
Thankfully Oberon leaves with him (I never did cotton to Oberon) and Max gets a new assistant who's someone we've met before, and who's way funnier than Oberon anyway.
Coming up: Is the JLI going to recruit new members to counter the fall in their number? Is it going to be someone I don't like?
Are Beetle and Booster going to make up? Are they at some point going to say things that, taken out of context (or more often, read in context) sound kinda dirty?
Is the superhero team known as The Conglomerate as moronic as they sound? Is the answer to all these questions "yes"?
Yes!