This Kid Is Going to Need a League of THERAPISTS: THE WEIRD #2 (JLI 24)

[tcampbell1000]

Last time out, Billy confronted the Weird, who looks like the corpse of his father making a o_O face.

Billy’s mom notices he’s gone from the backyard, but it’s the Eighties, so she assumes he’s just roaming around the neighborhood. Or maybe she assumes a supervillain kidnapped him, just to put a capper on the week of her husband’s death and his corpse getting vaporized. She’s not doing okay!




The Weird shows Billy the rest of his cool powers, and Billy responds with some slang that would embarrass Snapper Carr.



“That’s the BOGUS dudest, Dad!”

The Weird launches into a rambling origin that boils down to this: there are two kinds of energy beings in his dimension. Macrolatts prey on the helpless zorolatts, and what's more, they're real dicks about it. The Weird is a zorolatt, but on our world, he has more power and hope. “You have something on this world you call freedom…I desired freedom.” “The Jason” (just a guy named Jason) wants to open the way for the macrolatts to invade Earth. The macrolatts are all about that, but showing his unusual initiative, the Weird got here first.




Of course, telling Billy "I'm only HALF your dad and the other half is a TOTALLY AWESOME ALIEN HERE TO SAVE YOUR PLANET" doesn't make Billy any less attached to the Weird. Like, have you MET any kids Billy's age? He might as well tell Billy he's part dinosaur, too.

But the Weird is suffering from internal conflict. He's aware that either "the Jason" or his own body might soon kill him, but he's brimming over with the parental love that Walter could never express while alive. He can't stay, but he can't leave.






Musing to himself, the Weird confirms what the heroes already know: his structure is unstable and could end all life on Earth if he explodes. He’s confident he can contain himself long enough to find and stop Jason, but Superman catches up to him first and informs him that monologuing out loud is what villains do. Manga Khan wouldn’t disagree.



Superman’s much harder for the Weird to shake than the JLI was, but the Weird's appreciation for the subtler aspects of human existence has given him a gift for subterfuge, which will come in handy again later.




The reporter shares what he knows on the air. His name is Lance Armstrong, and this was published back when his namesake cyclist was still just a teenager, not yet famous...or notorious.





Toilet humor! Bet they don't have THAT in the energy-being dimension.

Monday: More weirdness.

Comments

[blueprintstyles]

He looks straight out of the first Mortal Kombat.

[super_fly]

Yeah this has been on my mind since the first issue: why is the extraterrestrial energy being inhabiting a reanimated corpse dressed like a GI Joe ninja?

[tcampbell1000]

[shrugs] The Eighties?

[lbd_nytetrayn]

Am I the only one curious if they revisit the hole Superman left and if he fixes it -- and whether or not they even want it fixed?

[blues32]

Does this guy normally spout nonsense while in the bathroom?

"THE WHOZIWUTS ARE FINDANGLING!"