Rage Against the Machine: JLA #58, JLE #34 (JLI 88)

[tcampbell1000]

JLA Giffen-DeMatteis-Bart Sears, JLE Giffen-Jones-Robertson. Sorry, I've been overloaded with actual work-type stuff, but the schedule should bounce back soon.

Verbatim opening text: “The ugly one is Lobo. The uglier one is Despero. That’s all you really need to know!”

#58:



Yes, this is the same image as above the fold. It's a really great cover! JLE's had a similar sentiment:




Despero attacks J’Onn for the little deception J’Onn pulled last time…a gift of peace in J’Onn’s eyes, a humiliating indignity in Despero’s. And Despero’s three eyes are never gonna match up to J’Onn’s two.



Meanwhile, Lord Havok’s come through the tubes to attack the Silver Sorceress, who’s already so bad off she can barely muster a curse at him. And not, like, a magical curse, just “I’ll see you in hell.” General Glory recognizes Lord Havok from the files, but those files also said he was turned into a museum exhibit.





You’d think Lobo would be joining forces with the League, but Lobo at this stage is too indiscriminate in his violence for the League to risk letting him at his goal. I mean, that’s the main reason, but also Guy wants the Justice League to get the credit, Booster wants Lobo to stop beating Guy to a pulp…fog of war, shit gets complicated.

L-Ron and Kilowog’s plan involves Kilowog cannibalizing L-Ron’s body into a control unit. Is this…the final fate of L-Ron???



(No.)



You've got to respect the Silver Sorceress's commitment to Marvel-style expository dialogue and being a huge fucking downer. Even on the verge of dying herself and taking Catherine with her, she still manages to make the situation more depressing than it otherwise would be.

Major Disaster is a little less self-interested than the other IJL members. In his view, he’s doing what he can by trying to persuade a mildly concussed Flash to keep to the sidelines. But he gets little thanks for his trouble, in a scene that seems to sum up his life:



The Major would continue to struggle in the decades ahead, sometimes giving in to his frightening potential as a villain, sometimes trying to find his way back to a state of heroic grace. At this writing, his tale is still more one of failure than success. But at least he's made better FASHION choices.



The Injustice League would later serve as an ill-fated incarnation of the Suicide Squad (Suicide Squad v2 #1)...



…and although most of them would have independent careers after that, Big Sir wouldn’t.



But while the Injustice Leaguers aren’t exactly seizing any triumphant moments today, Blue and Gold are doing GREAT.






#34:

Lord Havok is now Lord Scrapheap, so our full focus returns to the urban battle. That battle now consists of throwing more and more bodies and super-powers at Despero and hoping something will stick.



Nota bene: Cynthia is not visible in this issue. She could be just camouflaging herself and waiting for her moment, but considering what Despero is to her, it’s just as likely she froze up and is now hiding under some rubble.

Despero’s hatred of the League is starting to slip past its operatic proportions into comical ones. When he came back as Despero the Reborn, he figured he’d start with the new League and let their deaths bring him to Superman’s and Wonder Woman’s attention (Justice League of America v1 #252...RIP Gerry Conway).



When he came back to life after that, it made sense for him to seek revenge on Cynthia as well as J’Onn. since they'd both helped “kill” him in his last incarnation. And when he met new Leaguers like Guy and Beetle, he was ready to kill them out of principle, but his homicidal rampage was tempered by curiosity (JLA #39).



But now, he’s just like…



“AAAAARGH! MORE League-aligned heroes? Hate them too! HATE THEM ALL! FEEL THE HATE I HAVE BEEN SAVING FOR YOU FOR YEARS, SILVER HORSEFACE OR WHOEVER YOU ARE! HANK PYM, I HATE YOU TOO!”




If this were another title, Lobo would probably beat up every costumed person in the city on principle, but since it’s not, he remains focused on his contract, and cooler heads prevail.



“L-Respero” would later serve on a League team alongside J’Onn and Cynthia, but that ended up a lot less interesting than it should’ve been. (The series' three writers seemed to disagree about how to treat J'Onn's relationship with Cynthia and Cynthia's discomfort with Despero, resulting in characterization that didn't develop so much as lurch. Only Mark Waid really seemed interested in following the patterns Giffen and DeMatteis had set up there, and he contributed to the series the least.)



I'll also share a couple of pages of Despero in L-Ron’s body attacking Justice Leaguers in JLE #36, just because I think they’re hilarious.




Ah, but those unforeseen consequences are still in the future. Back to the peaceful present…



Lord Manga, it seems, will be facing some unforeseen consequences of his own.



We'll catch up with these two later.

Oh, and in case you thought there might be bad blood between Beetle and Booster after Beetle failed to get into the Conglomerate, worry not. They’ve each had a few asshole moments now; they’re practiced at forgiveness.



J’Onn, Catherine, and the Silver Sorceress have been putting two and two together. Lord Havok teleported in from Kooeykooeykooey, where the “miraculously recovered” Max is…and the Sorceress’s mind-clouding headaches started up almost the moment Max awoke from his coma. The Leaguers have no shortage of enemies, but outside of the robot Extremists, they only have one who would fixate on the Sorceress like this: Dreamslayer.



And back on the island, Dreamslayer is feeling ready to slay, slay, slay.



The entire population of Kooeykooeykooey is under Dreamslayer’s command. Also, they’re back to looking like Native Americans, which will make the optics terrible when the JLI has to fight them. Damn, he’s thought of everything!

(Late) Thursday (probably): In a stunning role reversal, the rest of the League is pretty useless while the Silver Sorceress becomes totally awesome for the first and last time ever.

Comments

[scorntx]

And so everyone is saved from the Havokbot by Blue Beetle... ...'s Bug.
Well done, that vehicle. Hooray for the Bug!

Kudos for De and Giffen for not going whole hog and having Havok fight Elongated Man, Cynthia, Fire and Metamorpho.

Foolish Dreamslayer, not making a robot capable of withstanding such a simple threat as extremely high temperature blasts.
Such shoddy second-rate workmanship would not be tolerated in certain fictional European countries.

Even without the almost-certainly unaddressed trauma Cynthia has from Desy's last rampage, bringing her into a fight against him doesn't seem like Booster's smartest move.

So in order to defeat Despero, the JLs use... mild hijinks! Ingenious.
Well, punching him and throwing warm bodies at him wasn't working.
It's a somewhat silly solution, but... it worked, didn't it?


("Weird, bad characterization" are not words one typically tends or expects to hear associated with Mark Waid. Like, ever.)

[tcampbell1000]

Foolish Dreamslayer, not making a robot capable of withstanding such a simple threat as extremely high temperature blasts.

Well, hey, it's really Mitch's fault.

("Weird, bad characterization" are not words one typically tends or expects to hear associated with Mark Waid. Like, ever.)

Quite right! Waid only contributed a few stories to JLTF, and the weird, bad characterizations weren't his. Tweaking to clarify.

[thanekos]

The temptation to script something with Despero and Dreamslayer together, conflict or otherwise, must've been there - they're both purple-ish, powerful with a strong mental element to that power, monomanically motivated..

[superfangirl1]

I like that Despero was used more often in the DC comics back in the 80s and 90s. I never knew there was a character called Big Sir.

[beyondthefringe]

Poor Big Sir.

Real name, Dufus P. Ratchet. A large individual of diminished mental prowess, kidnapped by the Rogues and empowered to attack the Barry Allen Flash during the Trial of the Flash storyline, pre-Crisis. Then the scientists of Gorilla City treated him, boosting his intelligence to average levels and that should have been it ... until he got picked up for the Injustice League, where he stayed until their disastrous turn as part of the Suicide Squad.

I've always liked and felt bad for him.

And I'm pretty sure his name is a pun on "Big Sur" from the California region.

As for Despero... going from a highly intelligent alien warlord and manipulator to a pink rage-monster was definitely an evolution. I feel like this should have been close to the end of his story...

[beyondthefringe]

"As long as the collar is intact, I'm in control" are SUCH ominous words. I'd have immediately started looking for a backup system just in case.