Justice League of America 241-243
“Battle Cry”
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| JLA: gotta catch 'em all! |
There's a new, hip, young team of Justice Leaguers on the block,
and how are they doing? Well, they've been training hard, which has
consisted of being yelled at by Aquaman (that can't be good), as well
as trying to get to know each other on a personal level. Hard to
fight together if you don't care about each other, right? When
Aquaman abandons the team to find and reconcile with his estranged
and missing wife, what's the worst that can happen? A psychotic robot
can punch the hell out of everyone. These are the consequences to
actions in superhero comics.
For
the first time in, humble opinion here, what is a criminally low
number of appearances, Amazo, the amazing robot makes a JLA-shredding
appearance. Alright, alright, he's an android, not a robot. Robots
are chumps anyway.
Why
is it a bad thing that Amazo shows up so infrequently? He's an
android in a yamaka with a striped vest and gold pendant who has all
the powers of the Justice League. What's that? While enemies are too
busy laughing at the android's mismatched clothes, he's running with
the speed of the Flash, hitting opponents with Green Lantern's energy
blast, and then punching them into orbit with Superman's strength.
And yes, he can also talk to fish. What do you have to say about that
Aquaman?
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| The amazing Amazo. I forgot to mention the elf-ears in his design. |
Apparently
nothing, because he's not around to help his teammates against this
long-time, oft-thought-destroyed-but-never-actually-destroyed menace.
Amazo was created by the mad Professor Ivo, a scientist obsessed with
finding the secrets to immortal life as well as the ability to grant
life. Unlike most mad scientists in the DC pantheon, Ivo eventually
did accomplish both of his goals: a serum did transform him into a
deformed creature, albeit an immortal creature, and he did create
life in a way with Amazo. While Amazo probably doesn't directly fit
the definition of sentient life, he has a simple bit of programming,
his purpose: destroy the Justice League; but he is well-designed
enough to come up with plans of his own device to carry out this
lofty, if not single-minded, goal. Not as well-known, but as far as
super-villains, specifically mad scientists, are concerned, I'm going
to say that Prof. Ivo is definitely more successful than some of his
more popular and well-known counterparts like Lex Luthor or Sinestro.
No super-villain is as successful as The Joker though, who admittedly
only has the broad goal of 'making Batman's life hell.' Forget The
Joker though, this is Ivo's time to shine.
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| The JLA fuck up a bear's day. This is their time to shine. |
Ivo
does not show up here at all though, this is really Amazo's show.
Although Amazo get's an 'upgrade' in he sense that it's not an
upgrade at all. In the stupidest bit of comic-book science a drunken
Alaskan (because Alaska is not random enough I suppose) stumbles upon
the frozen, left-in-the-tundra form of Amazo (way to be responsible
with your killer-android foes, JLA), who then absorbs and adapts the
personality of the inebriated stock character. Of course this process
kills the hapless Alaskan, but it results in what amounts to a drunk
and surly Amazo.
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| This chili is so thick, gravity can't force it from the bowl. |
What
follows is an entirely boring and pedestrian three issues. The story
is so rote and inconsequential and the plot so predictable that
there's not a lot of excitement to wring from the reading experience.
Amazon appears, there's the requisite difference in his personality
in an attempt to spice up a long-standing villain, but the end result
is the same it's ever been: Amazo goes on a rampage, after sufficient
property damage, the JLA catches wind of this and investigates the
damage, splitting off in to teams of two in the process. Each team is
then ambushed by the villain and left for dead. By story's conclusion
the JLA comes together as one and is able to defeat the villain not
through any clever trick but just by hitting the bad guy enough times
until he falls. Oh, Aquaman shows up at the least minute to deliver
the final blow.
Aquaman's sub-plot is the most interesting aspect of this story. He
split from, but never divorced, his wife Mera (an inter-dimensional
sorceress with the ability to control water, only in comics is this
not very odd) after their infant son, Arthur Jr., was killed by
undersea terrorist Black Manta. These incidents were also the impetus
for Aquaman to assemble a new, full-time Justice League squad and
throw himself into the job of training them. Watching Aquaman finally
start to acknowledge his son's death and also come to terms with the
fact that he'd been ignoring his wife's feelings by selfishly turning
away from her and pushing away anything that could remind him of his
lost son is the only narrative push worth paying attention. Too bad
it's approximately six pages of a sixty-page story.
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| Even an Aquaman can cry. |
