Magenta Doomsday: JUSTICE LEAGUE AMERICA #38-40 (JLI 53)

[tcampbell1000]

Giffen, DeMatteis, Hughes. Warning for jump scares, ridiculous levels of violence, an extended pro-suicide thought sequence, and a scene that had me wondering if it was possible to fridge a dude.

Hate destroys. Hate makes you into a parody of the person you once were, an empty, scowling mask where a human being once stood, chasing goals that’ll never bring you lasting happiness. Oh, it might give you a burst of fearsome short-term energy, maybe even enough to destroy your enemies, but that’ll just leave you with one last enemy: yourself.

That’s the philosophy by which I try to live my life. Even when I have to watch the news. (Those Death Note fantasies are just fantasies.) But here to articulate a dissenting view is our new op-ed columnist, Despero.

Despero, who once ruled a planet, now has no ambition beyond wreaking his revenge on Justice League Detroit. After finding Steel dead (and killing his body’s caretakers), he moves on to his next target. A middle-aged couple in suburbia are getting ready for dinner when their house’s front door explodes.



While the new, extra-thicc Despero embarks on the pettiest renovation project this side of the White House ballroom, Cynthia walks home. She’s full of peaceful, positive thoughts about how easy she’s got it now that no one’s trying to murder her every other week. She’s been out late at the library, apparently doing research for a paper on “dramatic irony.”

We learn that J’Onn writes her a letter every couple of weeks and that her dad has a habit of sleeping in front of the television, a habit real convenient for Despero’s purposes.




We never even see the body of Cynthia's brother, but he's never mentioned again, so...




Despero doesn’t seem to have retained the reality-warping powers he had when he last fought the League: now he’s “just” a flying three-eyed Hulk with his old telekinesis and telepathy amped up. It’s more than enough.





DeMatteis does a good job with Cynthia’s narrative thread here, giving her moments of believable hysteria and moments of ordinary-person courage.

By the bye, Despero ends up wearing a United Nations flag as his tattered cape, because Cynthia’s not the only one who can do irony.



“…I think I’ll drown you in them.”



With J’Onn lost in his private torments, Despero moves to finish off Cynthia with a blast from his third eye. But…



(Cue G.I. Joe animated movie music. I know this video's too long to accompany the scene, just cut it off when you're ready.)

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At this exact moment, I'd be hard pressed to argue with Guy. This might be his most badass moment ever, so of course he dispels any goodwill he’s earned by hitting on Cynthia right away. (“You’re a little on the young side, but who’m I to put age limits on love, right?”) But he straightens up again when he realizes how hurt J’Onn is and what Despero’s already done.



Guy pursues Despero while J’Onn starts to pull himself together.



The rest of the JLA catches up with Guy, distracting him long enough for Despero to counterattack. As they rush to his aid, Ice gets knocked out, and Guy reacts predictably. But as is often the case, his anger impairs his better fighting instincts.





Beetle’s worries about the shape he’s in would resurface later in this run.

The Mister Miracle-bot flies in on the JLA shuttle, strafing Despero. “Scott’s” weird speech repetition hasn’t escaped Beetle’s notice, but he acts close enough to normal that Beetle’s sure it’s his friend in the cockpit. So when Despero uses his third eye to return fire…



Beetle feels it as hard as anyone could. Meanwhile, a recovered J’Onn concludes the way to stop Despero is to help him achieve his goal. Not the heel turn you were expecting, right?



In issue #40, Despero kills everybody. Rest in power, Justice League!




Unopposed, Despero wreaks greater and greater havoc on the surface of the Earth, first calling forth lava, then igniting the atmosphere, then blowing the whole planet to kingdom come. He has a lot to say about this, though it’s unclear if anyone can hear him.

"Hear me, people of Earth! What I do now, I do for hate's sake! For I learned at an early age that hate is the only power in this chaotic universe! The one true beloved who will never abandon or betray you! Embrace hate and you will be free of torment! Free of pain! Free of life itself! Hear me, people of Earth: In the name of hate, I bless you. In the name of hate, I destroy you. And in that destruction, you will find eternal rest. The bliss of non-existence. No more false ideals, fragile dreams, shattered hopes. No more clinging to the lie of love. In the name of hate, I consume your world. I set you free. All of you…and myself, as well.



“The Justice League is dead. Their race, gone. Their world, ashes. Rest. Nonexistence. At…long…last. Peace…is mine…”



(Beetle, "Mayavana" doesn't even sound close to a sneeze, repressed grief is clearly impairing your joke-telling abilities.)

J’Onn finds the leggy cocktail shrimp that Despero’s devolved into and judges that “there’s a consciousness there, unformed but…happy.”

In Hindi, Māyavaṉ is another name for Krishna and in at least one translation it means “this illusory universe” (the one we experience). As you saw, Mayavana was introduced in issue #39, so J'Onn pulling it out here isn't quite a last-minute revelation. But some fans complained that it was close to deus ex machina, and those fans had a bit of a point.

The cover for #38 represents upcoming events, except that it includes Booster Gold and Batman, who may've been there in the initial outline…



But #39 is an ill-timed attempt to inject some “JLI-style” humor.



Most fans liked this change of pace for the Justice League, even some who also enjoyed its comedy. Despite the end twist, more than one called it the best JLI story. It is arguable that Despero's narrative raises the violence up to something like poetry, and it has lots more to say than the later Doomsday arc: more about love, hate, the power of mad obsession, and the wreckage it leaves behind.

Others were less impressed, including the series’ assistant editor. Kevin Dooley, answering a letter in JLA #54, would then say, “The Despero saga wasn’t even a saga. It was inane, violence-driven fluff.” An odd statement, since issue #53 had already foreshadowed Despero’s return.

This arc would redefine Despero, finishing the job his battle with the Detroit League had started. He’d remain a top threat long after this version of the League had gone the way of the New Fantastic Four. But he’d never play another game of space chess.

Maybe he should bring a little of that back now and then, just to season the “HATE HATE HATE” stuff a bit. “MY HATE BURNS WITH THE AGGRESSION OF THE SCHEVENINGEN VARIATION OF THE SICILIAN DEFENSE!” Eh, we can workshop it.

Saturday: Marvel kicks DC’s ass.

Comments

[thanekos]

We've had a few " Despero as mental threat to the Martian Manhunter " stories since, most recently Absolute Martian Manhunter inflicting " Despair-O " on John Jones - makes sense to play the two mentally and physically impressive aliens off each other.

[mazway_75]

This was a tonal whiplash into more serious stuff with a funeral for "Scott" topping it off. And emphasized how Despero could be a threat and this era of JLI could deliver amazingly dark stuff (see at the same time the Extremist Vector in JLE).

[scorntx]

Shame this was the 90s, or Despero could've just taken his thoughts on haaaaate to the social media platform of his choice.

It's a horrible thing to be introduced solely to die and provide motivational angst, the fate of far too many an unfortunate redshirt.
Worse to not even be introduced in the first place.
(Cynthia may have been difficult to like in her JLA days, but still. Damn.)

"Inane, violence-driven fluff"? Ouch.
Despero might be laying it on pretty thick with his hate obsession, and what's done to Cynthia is pretty extreme, but inane and / or fluff? Don't think so.
Wouldn't even say that about the attempts at humour.
I wouldn't say that they're all landing, but at the same time it's not ruining the seriousness of the situation.

Though Ted's bit about now being so lazy it's actually impacting (or going to impact) his health is worrying.
Being a goofball was one thing, but given the situations he's in it's actively (or passively, I suppose) endangering lives.
Probably be more appalled if later stories didn't build on it.

(there's also an idea in there of someone signing up to the superhero lifestyle while also being utterly unsuited for it, which might something to see if it weren't being applied to Ted.)

[iamrman]

Certain higher-ups at DC obviously hadn't read these issues when they decried the JLI as silly.

[metadronos]

Guess I'm the odd one out here (so far), but I find characters who are evil for the sake of being evil, who hate for the sake of hating, uncompelling. While I agree calling this very dark story "fluff" is a tad harsh, I do see a kinship between the new, "post-chessmaster" Despero and your typical Saturday morning cartoon villain. The sort who boasts about how evil they are and who demands their minions address them as "Your Evilness" and such. The main difference being that Saturday morning cartoon villains typically don't kill anyone (at most, they'll issue euphemistic "DESTROY them" commands which of course go unfulfilled).

Look, I realize Despero, like the JL and the entire DCU, is fictional. However, I prefer characters whose motivation ("Every character must want something," as the Writing 101 rule goes) has some grounding in how real-life individuals, even the worst of them, think. And in real life, people don't hate in service to some abstract, perversely sacred ideal of universal Hate. They hate for one or more specific reasons. These reasons may or may not be justified, understandable, or reasonable. But they are reasons, not just hate for the sake of hating.

The characterizations I find at all interesting in this story are not Despero's "hate is the cleanser" ranting but Cynthia's relatable mixture of panic and courage (as tcampbell1000 notes) and the rare instance of Guy's anger stemming from empathy for another's suffering, rather than from affronts to his ego.

[scorntx]

It depends on the villain. And also the one writing them.

But usually, yeah. Villains who are just written as doing evil because they are very evil and talking about how they like doing evil things because they are evil are quite dull.
(for example, Empath. *pittup*. Cannot stand that obnoxious little so-and-so.)

However, if it's done by the right writer in the right way, it can work.

I think for Despero, here, it mostly works, in that he's meant to be a more serious type of villain than the evil dictators or killer alien robots or depressed cosmic agents or whatnot.
Even if he don't half bang on about hatred.

[tcampbell1000]

Thing is, I usually agree with you that such villains are shallow and boring...like bad Saturday-morning cartoons with the G-rating filters off. (So just..."grating"?) This Despero tale turns that around for me because of the D-man's bizarre self-concept, which couples an unexpected thoughtfulness with his otherwise stock villainy.

If I can play Desper's advocate for a moment, most people don't admit to hate itself as their primary motive...but I think people do get so caught up in hatred that the act of hating can supersede the reason for it. There's a few points in the story, not shown here, where Despero remembers the life he had before he became all about this, dreams of power and security and even love that the League took from him (because even then he was a cruel, sadistic tyrant). As I hinted at the start of this post, I try to follow J'Onn's pattern and rise above hate, but when it comes to those who've hurt me or my loved ones, I've heard hate's siren song too often to deny its hypnotic beauty.

I will say, though, "hateful but deep" is a tough characterization to maintain beyond the bounds of the 50 pages or so Despero gets here. Later Despero appearances--even his one reappearance toward the end of Giffen and DeMatteis' run--have not come anywhere close to this kind of depth.