Justice League International #22-26 + Annual #2

Justice League International #22-26 + JLI Annual #2

Originally released in 1989

Written by Keith Giffen and J.M. DeMatteis

Art by Kevin Maguire (#22-23), Ty Templeton (#24-26)

I had a bit of deja vu when reading these issues, as they take place in the middle of the Invasion event that I previously covered in George Perez's run on Wonder Woman.  As a result, at least one panel is almost identical to one from that Wonder Woman run.

As Wonder Woman, Guy Gardner, and Rocket Red head off to rescue Etta Candy, the rest of the team has to take on a division of the alien fleet.  This leads to a great moment for Martian Manhunter in particular:

Meanwhile, Booster Gold is stuck on monitor duty back at the JLI's headquarters, along with Oberon, Mister Miracle's pint-sized assistant.  When Booster is incapacitated by aliens who were shrunk down to the size of toys, it's up to Oberon to save the day.

While the JLI are cleaning up the aftermath of the invasion, a new version of the Injustice League has formed, and they're trying to get a Thanagarian spaceship to start so they can fly it around.  They seem like a particularly unimaginative sort of super-villains.

The team consists of Major Disaster (their leader), Multi-Man, Mighty Bruce, Big Sir, Clock King, and Cluemaster.  My problem with a lot of the silver age Justice League stories is that was very rare for the JLA to encounter something that could pose a serious threat to them as a group, and that's also the case here.  You'd think that "evil version of the Justice League" would be a no-brainer - sure, the members of this team are D-listers at best, but the original Masters of Evil consisted of second-stringers (along with Baron Zemo, who was made up for those Avengers issues), and yet they could still pose a credible threat to the Avengers, with half of that team (Enchantress, Executioner, and Radioactive Man) being people who could take on Thor.

Meanwhile, this version of the Injustice Gang has a fifth-rate Riddler knock-off and a guy who's obsessed with clocks, and those are the best-known members as far as I'm aware.  Admittedly, given the comedic nature of Justice League International, having their evil counterparts be comedic relief makes sense, but when Martian Manhunter could effortlessly beat every single one of them with no trouble at all, calling them "the Injustice League" feels like it's overselling it. (maybe it's meant to be like the Superior Foes of Spider-Man)

During the Invasion event, a Gene-Bomb goes off, playing havoc with some abilities and triggering powers in others.  Maxwell Lord falls into the latter group, gaining some sort of ability, though it's unclear what.  He investigates the computer that manipulated him before, thinking it might have an idea, but in the process, there's a cave-in and he's trapped.

Blue Beetle somehow finds out Max's situation despite having no way of knowing what happened, and he and Ice go to Max's rescue.  I'm not sure if this means that Max has telepathy or some other mental power, or if it's something else, but it's a clue, at least.

After the Invasion event, Oberon and Max hold a party/recruitment session for the Justice League, bringing together all sorts of superheroes. (And Major Force - not sure if he was considered a hero at some point, though that's clearly not the case by the time that Kyle Rayner became Green Lantern) They ask some questions, but it doesn't go well.

It's around this time that the shrunken aliens that Oberon had dealt with regrow to full size.  Assuming that their forces have taken over the Earth by now, they head out to rejoin their people.

Once the aliens are chased off, Oberon and Max choose the line-up for a new branch of the Justice League (and a new series), Justice League Europe.  The original series is rebranded Justice League America (note the lack of the word "of") in issue 26; I get why it goes through so much rebranding, but it must make following it a bit tough at times.

The Annual involves the Joker being hired by the dictator of Bialya (a recurring foe of the JLI) to assassinate the Justice League in exchange for Bialya's information network digging up information on Batman's secret identity.  This doesn't go well for him, as he keeps having bad luck.

Mister Miracle and Big Barda are holding a barbecue for the team, while Blue Beetle and Booster Gold steal a tank from a criminal gang as part of a get-rich-quick scheme.  All of these plots culminate in Batman driving through the suburbs, only to declare that he does not want to deal with this today.

Booster and Beetle's get-rich-quick schemes continue in issue 25, where they have to hunt a vampire for a research laboratory. Things quickly take a dark turn, as it's clear that he was tortured there, and his last living relatives were killed.

Giffen and DeMatteis do a good job with naturally weaving between comedy and tragedy as the situation calls for it, and the duo of Blue Beetle and Booster Gold seem to be their favourites to write.  The Blue Beetle takes on a more dramatic role in issue 26 (the aforementioned series rebranding), where he's brainwashed into attacking his teammates and trying to murder Maxwell Lord by a mysterious queen.

Compared to ordinary Justice League adventures, this series feels more like a sitcom for the most part, with villains that are ineffectual, bumbling, or downright unlucky, and Martian Manhunter doing his best to wrangle a team that's filled with a bunch of goofballs. (Hawkman has left, while Captain Atom and Rocket Red have joined Justice League Europe)  Still, it has its share of poignant moments, like Martian Manhunter's conversation with Wonder Woman as the Invasion plot is wrapping up.

I'm sure that the tone of this series would get on the nerves of some traditional Justice League fans, who would likely prefer to see DC's premiere superhero team be more serious, but I'm continuing to enjoy this run.  I'm hoping that, whenever DC Studios does its live action adaptation of the Justice League, it takes some inspiration from this series - not a direct adaptation (that would probably be going a step too far, and any Justice League adaptation seems like it would need to have Batman, Wonder Woman, Superman, and probably a Flash and a Green Lantern on the team), but a rotating line-up, or the inclusion of lesser-known DC characters, would be appreciated.