![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tcampbell1000 posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
scans_dailyThese two issues will be Giffen, Jones, and Sears’ last collaboration, though we’ll see a bit more of Sears in JLA. I think the brutal paranoia of this arc plays to Sears' strengths.
Last time out, the JLE repaired the dying Starro’s vessel to send him home. It blew up before reaching the stratosphere, and the JLE-ers think they’ve accidentally killed an old League foe just after he mended his ways. Miles away, starfish began to rain on London.
The Leaguers slink back toward their headquarters, still mortified at their apparent failure, unaware that anything more serious might be wrong with London since they left it.
They start to realize something’s up from the eerie quiet and the cat’s spooked behavior…but the real clue is Inspector Camus hiding in the spare room.
But they don’t quite put it together in time. Camus is one of the few people in all of London--let alone the JLE embassy--who has so far escaped getting a star on his face. Catherine, Sue Dibny, and Dmitri’s family are all possessed, and they throw a dozen flying starfish at the JLE.
Rocket Red’s “magnifying visor” allows him to see they’re the only ones unstarred on the streets of London, except that one guy…
This inaction takes a clear toll on the compassionate Dmitri. It’s hard to be sure due to the different art styles, but it looks like the victim here is Robin. Not Batman’s sidekick, the blond kid who thought it’d be a great idea to steal Power Girl’s cat.
Not the nicest or brightest fella, but he didn’t deserve this.
Cap, Red, and Rex realize they’re in over their heads and start flying across the Atlantic before the RAF can attack them too. Back in New York, J’Onn J’Onzz nixes the idea of a frontal JLA assault, since Starro has made it clear he will sacrifice any of his thralls. What they need to do is locate Starro’s central awareness. Take that out, and you take out the whole star-network. But that’ll require subtlety.
The JLE members use the transport tubes to get back to London, and Starro is so delighted to find a new means of starfish distribution, he doesn’t even bother to attack the three of them again just then. And so he doesn’t realize that the three of them are actually the four of them: J’Onn is there too, invisible. Shape-shifting into an older woman with a star on her face, J’Onn separates from the others and starts tracking the central awareness with telepathy. Once out of public view, the JLE members rejoin J’Onn as backup, and they confront the true Starro.
Maybe…maybe J'Onn should've had Cap, Red, or Rex tag in on the hand-to-hand combat before morphing back into a stronger but more exploitable body? This is what happens when you go into battle right after having a disastrous dinner with G’Nort. It really puts you off your game!
(Is #27's cover a subtle clue or too much of a spoiler? U-DECIDE.)
In #28, the newly empowered central Starro flies off in J’Onn’s body, leaving the others to face a rematch with the rest of the JLE. “Enjoy your fight. I look forward to learning whether you choose to kill or die.”
Another transatlantic flight isn’t an option, not with supers like Flash, Bluejay, and the Silver Sorceress this hot on their heels. Fighting against Starro’s control makes the JLStarro slower than usual but not slow enough. After a few more pages of more and more desperate combat, Cap settles on the one viable option: the transport tubes in the embassy.
Starro figures out the tubes’ simple interface (“Some of the beings meant to use it must be…less than brilliant”). As a test, he sends his possessed Kilowog-self over.
Kilowog hits the books.
J’Onn-Starro panics for a moment as he realizes where Atom and the others are headed, but the JLE-Starros act like Cap is just playing right into their hands.
Cap, Red, and Rex push their way into the transport room but stop just short of the goal, staring ahead. “Oh, God,” Cap says. “How can we fight THEM?”
The JLA debrief Metamorpho fast, then look back as something happens on their monitor feed.
And that takes care of that: with the central starfish frozen, all the others in London drop off and dissolve. Nobody tell Starro about decentralized networks, okay?
The JLE keeps Starro in their freezer next to the strawberry ice cream until Manga Khan can take his frozen body off their hands. As with Despero, this seems like a totally reasonable decision that I’m sure won’t come back to bite the universe in any way.
The issue ends with an almost unrelated cliffhanger that leads into the “Breakdowns” storyline, this era’s big wrap-up. But we’ll get back to that one when we’re ready. Before that happens, we’ve got chunky Justice League Quarterlys to savor.
Thursday: Mitch Wacky’s attempt to assume command of the Avengers turns out only slightly better than Doctor Druid’s.
Last time out, the JLE repaired the dying Starro’s vessel to send him home. It blew up before reaching the stratosphere, and the JLE-ers think they’ve accidentally killed an old League foe just after he mended his ways. Miles away, starfish began to rain on London.
The Leaguers slink back toward their headquarters, still mortified at their apparent failure, unaware that anything more serious might be wrong with London since they left it.
They start to realize something’s up from the eerie quiet and the cat’s spooked behavior…but the real clue is Inspector Camus hiding in the spare room.
But they don’t quite put it together in time. Camus is one of the few people in all of London--let alone the JLE embassy--who has so far escaped getting a star on his face. Catherine, Sue Dibny, and Dmitri’s family are all possessed, and they throw a dozen flying starfish at the JLE.
Rocket Red’s “magnifying visor” allows him to see they’re the only ones unstarred on the streets of London, except that one guy…
This inaction takes a clear toll on the compassionate Dmitri. It’s hard to be sure due to the different art styles, but it looks like the victim here is Robin. Not Batman’s sidekick, the blond kid who thought it’d be a great idea to steal Power Girl’s cat.
Not the nicest or brightest fella, but he didn’t deserve this.
Cap, Red, and Rex realize they’re in over their heads and start flying across the Atlantic before the RAF can attack them too. Back in New York, J’Onn J’Onzz nixes the idea of a frontal JLA assault, since Starro has made it clear he will sacrifice any of his thralls. What they need to do is locate Starro’s central awareness. Take that out, and you take out the whole star-network. But that’ll require subtlety.
The JLE members use the transport tubes to get back to London, and Starro is so delighted to find a new means of starfish distribution, he doesn’t even bother to attack the three of them again just then. And so he doesn’t realize that the three of them are actually the four of them: J’Onn is there too, invisible. Shape-shifting into an older woman with a star on her face, J’Onn separates from the others and starts tracking the central awareness with telepathy. Once out of public view, the JLE members rejoin J’Onn as backup, and they confront the true Starro.
Maybe…maybe J'Onn should've had Cap, Red, or Rex tag in on the hand-to-hand combat before morphing back into a stronger but more exploitable body? This is what happens when you go into battle right after having a disastrous dinner with G’Nort. It really puts you off your game!
(Is #27's cover a subtle clue or too much of a spoiler? U-DECIDE.)
In #28, the newly empowered central Starro flies off in J’Onn’s body, leaving the others to face a rematch with the rest of the JLE. “Enjoy your fight. I look forward to learning whether you choose to kill or die.”
Another transatlantic flight isn’t an option, not with supers like Flash, Bluejay, and the Silver Sorceress this hot on their heels. Fighting against Starro’s control makes the JLStarro slower than usual but not slow enough. After a few more pages of more and more desperate combat, Cap settles on the one viable option: the transport tubes in the embassy.
Starro figures out the tubes’ simple interface (“Some of the beings meant to use it must be…less than brilliant”). As a test, he sends his possessed Kilowog-self over.
Kilowog hits the books.
J’Onn-Starro panics for a moment as he realizes where Atom and the others are headed, but the JLE-Starros act like Cap is just playing right into their hands.
Cap, Red, and Rex push their way into the transport room but stop just short of the goal, staring ahead. “Oh, God,” Cap says. “How can we fight THEM?”
The JLA debrief Metamorpho fast, then look back as something happens on their monitor feed.
And that takes care of that: with the central starfish frozen, all the others in London drop off and dissolve. Nobody tell Starro about decentralized networks, okay?
The JLE keeps Starro in their freezer next to the strawberry ice cream until Manga Khan can take his frozen body off their hands. As with Despero, this seems like a totally reasonable decision that I’m sure won’t come back to bite the universe in any way.
The issue ends with an almost unrelated cliffhanger that leads into the “Breakdowns” storyline, this era’s big wrap-up. But we’ll get back to that one when we’re ready. Before that happens, we’ve got chunky Justice League Quarterlys to savor.
Thursday: Mitch Wacky’s attempt to assume command of the Avengers turns out only slightly better than Doctor Druid’s.
