Justice League of America #261

[iamrman]

Writer: J.M. DeMatteis

Pencils: Luke McDonnell

Inks: Bob Smith

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Martian Manhunter and Vixen are the only remaining members of the Justice League, so it comes down to them to stop Professor Ivo.

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More androids come crawling out if the woodwork.

J’onn bursts in just in time.

Vixen finds the real Ivo still locked up in his cell.

Welp, that’s it for Justice League Detroit. Does it deserve its bad reputation? I don’t think so. I thought it was a perfectly adequate run of issues. I certainly don't regret reading these issues,

Of course, Martian Manhunter will go on to lead Justice League International. Vixen is next seen in Suicide Squad. Of the other surviving members, Aquaman, Elongated Man and Zatanna are mostly relegated to guest appearances.

You’re probably expecting me to start posting Justice League International next. Haha, no. As for what I am going to replace this with on my list, well, you will just have to wait and see.

I am not completely done with Justice League Detroit, however. There are still bits and pieces I want to post about those that survived the changeover (so just Cindy.)

Next: Manhunter #2.

Comments

[scorntx]

Don't think the Detroit League deserves its bad rep.
From the scans here, it looked like it was at its worst just sort of so-so.
(certainly a darn sight better'n the Nu52 JLI.)
And even Cynthia and Vibe (but mostly the former) were just kind of obnoxious and irritating, which is hardly something to brutally kill someone for.
This League didn't deserve such a brutal end.
(but then, never a fan of the "it didn't sell, so kill or depower or shove them off to Limbo" approach.)


"Good work figuring out Ivo was a robot, Vixen!"
"I... yes. I sensed it with my powers. I definitely am not filled with a murderous rage barely held in check."

... when Vixen goes hardcore, she doesn't mess about.
Given the circumstances the team's gone through, it's understandable, but still unsettling to see her being so damn grim.

[lbd_nytetrayn]

Of course, Martian Manhunter will go on to lead Justice League International. Vixen is next seen in Suicide Squad. Of the other surviving members, Aquaman, Elongated Man and Zatanna are mostly relegated to guest appearances.

But what about Batman? Do they ever do anything with him again?

For real, though, I thought he took over? Did he just bail when the others left?

[tcampbell1000]

Batman was going through some difficulties of his own during Legends, including caring for a severely beaten Jason Todd (that was, er, the other time the Jason Todd Robin took a severe beating). Still, it is weird that Batman doesn't even rate a mention anywhere in this final storyline, especially since it's kind of a murder mystery. (Who killed the JLA? Was it Ivo, Ivo...or...Ivo?)

Not even an apology to J'Onn when they see each other again in the first issue of the next League series. "Sorry for un-demoting you back to leader, J'Onn, but my city and family needed me, and I figured the presidential anti-superhero order would keep you out of any serious action. How'd everything work out?"

[blues32]

So...why does Ivo have teeth like that? I know he's basically turning into stone...VERY slowly. But why the teeth?

[tcampbell1000]

The turning-into-a-stone was a later retcon. At this point, all we knew was that he had an immortality formula with the warning label, "Side effects may include looking like a 1940s Hollywood monster."

[tcampbell1000]

"Batman was never seen again."

No JLI? Drat. I've thought about doing it myself, but to say I'm too busy right now would seriously understate things. The main reason I've been commenting so much in the last few days is to take the edge off work stress. But I was always gonna talk about this one.

Note the reason Vixen goes from winning to losing is that the androids get programmed with the traits calculated to defeat her. In theory, the fact that Ivo wasn't expecting J'Onn is the only reason they don't all have flamethrower hands.

Obviously killing one Detroit Leaguer at a time is much easier than killing the assembled Superfriends JLA (to say nothing of the current JLU). But still, this is a much more efficient and dangerous approach that Ivo, IIRC, never used again. Considering what he's like here, I'm not surprised that he didn't keep enough notes to replicate his approach, but still.

J.M. DeMatteis used the denouement to vent some of his conflicting feelings about the superhero genre that was his primary artistic medium. J'Onn picks himself up and says some version of the League must carry on, "despite praise or blame." It's what gives purpose to his life, and what gives purpose to other Leaguers' deaths.

Vixen, feeling "exorcised" after this last adventure, announces her intention to leave the life and find one of the other "million ways to help people...that don't have anything to do with fists and guns and corpses. You know the cliché, 'Violence begets violence'? Well, it's a cliché because it's true."

(Which, yeah, does make her post-JLA career more than a little ironic. My headcanon is that she spent about two weeks as Mari McCabe, professional model, before deciding that joining the Suicide Squad would be a slightly less cutthroat existence.)

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The superhero community rarely talks about the Detroit League, and except for Vixen's continued career, there are few signs in the DC multiverse today that it even ever existed. Ivo's treated as mostly harmless now, Hank Heywood Sr. probably died off-panel three weeks after this, and Vibe had a brief revival in 2013 (universe rebooted, you know how it is) but seems to be gone again.

In marketing terms, the Detroit League was a "failed crossover": the hope was that longtime JLA readers would remain invested in figures like Elongated Man and Zatanna and accept new faces among the old ones, while younger readers who preferred Kitty Pryde, Wolverine, and Cyborg would embrace new characters with a somewhat similar, er, vibe.

What happened instead was a lot of NIMBYism from the dwindling JLA fanbase, not enough new readers showing up to matter, edginess that was a little cringe even in the Eighties, and a product that, while well-intentioned, never quite managed to be more than the sum of its parts. The lesson, it seemed, was that the "JLA" brand just wouldn't work without DC's most popular superheroes on board...

...which got REALLY AWKWARD for DeMatteis and Keith Giffen when they realized they weren't going to get access to Superman or Wonder Woman for the next version of the League either. The resulting discussions led to a new strategy. The Detroit JLA had been an attempt to follow market trends, the JLI would be an attempt to defy them. And it would succeed beyond any and all expectations.

[iamrman]

I always enjoy for these mini-essays.

I chose not to continue with the JLI as I am missing a bunch of the issues. I was toying with posting Justice League Task Force, but then I remembered Triumph was a thing.

I just hope the series I replace this with will be as popular.

[scorntx]

Guessing (either metatextually or just plain text) the reason Ivo's plan to wreck this version of the JLA works precisely because they're so low-tier.
I mean, these days Vixen's... well, not quite A-List but definitely more formidable than she was at the time this was made.
But J'onn's the only big name left on the team by this point.

Heck, even the JLI at their zaniest have enough raw power between them that any attempt to destroy them would quickly run into difficulties, even without the tonal difference.
Nobody'd be reduced to a half-dead corpse with most of their face hanging off on-panel.

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Think the last time any title discussed the Detroit era much was the Robinson JLA's Blackest Night tie-in, and that was fifteen years ago...

Just a teensy bit metatextual, that one, with Zombie Vibe going on about how they were a joke lot who hadn't gone up against any real threats, and if he and Steel had lived they'd have been A-List for sure.
But he was a reanimated corpse being controlled by an anthropomorphic personification of death, so preeeetty sure readers weren't meant to agree with him.
Not entirely.
(speaking of blip Justice Leagues...)

[tcampbell1000]

I feel like it's more metatextual than textual, for sure. Like, the JLI had some powerful members, yes, but Ivo's androids routinely mimic the powers of Superman and Wonder Woman and Flash and Green Lantern put together. That was like Day One stuff for him, that was a starter pack. Magic was apparently no obstacle.

Combine that with this "targeted assassin" approach and you've got something that not many JLI members would be likely to withstand, especially if you assume these circumstances, where they didn't have access to help from each other. Shazam seems like a difficult target since his weaknesses aren't widely advertised, and Mr. Miracle's outside-the-box tech solutions seem built for this kind of "impossible trap." But J'Onn, Captain Atom, Doctor Fate, Guy, Fire, Ice, Blue Beetle, Booster Gold, Black Canary, Rocket Red, Batman? I'm not saying any of them couldn't survive, but they'd need luck (AKA the writer) on their side.

[thanekos]

There was that bit in 90's JLA where Ivo and T.O. Morrow had a rivalry - creating robots this psychologically complex is definitely one point for Ivo.

(Tomorrow Woman's brain is maybe one for Morrow, evening the scale.)

[mazway_75]

I did like the face off of J'onn and Vixen in the Suicide Squad/JLI crossover with her railing on J'onn looking down at them as the "Joke League" and he makes it clear he never saw them that way.

[superfangirl1]

I really like how the writer had PTSD flash on Manhunter’s face. As he sees Vixen about to be brutally murdered. Just like what happen with Vibe. Also, the twist with Ivo not having any control and being so insane that he made his orbits lock him away was a nice twist. Professor Ivo was one twisted character