Crossover time!

[skjam]

Hopefully, this won't have been posted between the time I started and the time this uploads. Cover and four pages from this week's JLA/99 #1.

For those of you who haven't been around for previous discussions, "The Ninety-Nine" is a concept created by Naif al-Mutawa, in an effort to let kids from Muslim-majority countries have superhero comics they could read with at least some cultural approval. Each of the teenagers in the 99 gets their powers from bonding with a "Noor stone" which contains a fragment of the knowledge and wisdom of the ancient Middle East. Their code names come from the 99 names of Allah, minus the bit that makes them a god's name. As part of the themes of the series, while individual members are fairly powerful on their own, they are much more powerful if they link up in threes or more to combine their abilities.



Wonder Woman's costume seems to be the "alternate universe" one solely to allow this comic to be reprinted in countries where her swimsuit outfit would be too controversial; the JLA depicted seems to be one we've never seen together before.



We open in the "Empty Quarter" of the Arabian peninsula, where a "City of the Future" has been built to showcase green technology and international cooperation and peace.
Wonder Woman ("ambassador of peace") and Superman ("champion of justice") are present at the opening ceremony to represent the Justice League, while Dr. Ramzi has brought three of the 99 to represent their team. (Dr. Ramzi has no powers himself, but is a wise mentor to the team.) There's a couple of double page spreads to introduce the characters. Superman is approached by Doctor Albert Chou of Mamluk International, who shakes his hand. And as Superman leaves, lets a sinister smile cross his lips.



Noora has the handy ability to see the darkness in people's souls, making it very hard to fool her as to your motives.

It's mentioned that Dr. Ramzi is an acquaintance of Bruce Wayne, who speaks highly of the philosopher's efforts to combat poverty. Just as everything seems to be going well, a riot breaks out.



That can't be good.




Darr has been kind of down because his ability to inflict pain is one of the least useful in the context of the 99, and because he's a basically good person with a traditionally bad guy power. It's been interfering with his link to his Noor stone.

One of the Madmen scratches Darr, reactivating his powers at "cannot be controlled" levels. Uh-oh. GL John Stewart, Barry Allen Flash, the femal Dr. Light and Ray Palmer Atom corral him. They call in some 99 members to assist in getting Darr back to normal.

In the Amazon Basin, Carter Hall, aka Hawkman, is leading an archaeological dig when earthquakes start happening. Eventually some 99 members pop in to help.

Back at the riot, the City of the Future also has an earthquake. Wonder Woman needs some assistance, but Superman has suddenly decided that the Earth people are unable to work together for peace, so there's no need to help them out. Uh-oh.

Issue one of six, so things are likely to get worse before they get better!



Your thoughts and comments?

Suggested tags

char: Superman/Clark Kent
char: Wonder Woman/Diana of Themiscrya
creator: Drew Geraci
creator: Fabian Nicieza
creator: Stuart Moore
creator: Tom Derenick
group: Justice League of America
group: The Ninety Nine
publisher: DC Comics
publisher: Teshkeel
theme: crossovers

Comments

[jarodrussell]

Darr has been kind of down because his ability to inflict pain is one of the least useful in the context of the 99, and because he's a basically good person with a traditionally bad guy power. It's been interfering with his link to his Noor stone.

Maybe if the JLA introduces him to Oracle it'll help. I know she makes me want to inflict pain on people. ;-)

[darkblade]

Oh no, he's being attacked by Freakazoid pallete swaps.

[icon_uk]

To be fair, Freakazoid would get along with the Madmen for much of the time.

[jarodrussell]

Until Cosgrove told him to cut it out.

[ejne7]

I was thrilled (as a Blue Beetle fan) that the Madmen were the villains, but kind of sad that no more was made of the 99's background and association with Muslim culture. I can imagine why the authors are being very softly-softly about this aspect of the characters, but I think it's a shame they can't make more of it. I (like to?) think mainstream audiences of Western comics can handle heroes who come overtly from Muslim cultures without flipping.

[stig]

I dunno, I just saw it as them acting as if it was any normal team-up, and that the Islam thing wasn't a big problem. Same as Captain Britain And The MI:13 not hugely shouting about Faiza's religion, and the only person making a thing out of it was Dracula because he was a racist.

[ejne7]

Yeah, I see your point. And I certainly think it shouldn't be a big problem. Perhaps in the coming issues we'll see a little more about what makes this group distinctive, because (from a story perspective, at least) being like "any normal team-up" is not always the most gripping prospect.

Maybe it's just a question of writers and publishers testing the waters as they decide how to introduce a new story element. Perhaps we'll just see some totally run-of-the-mill storylines featuring Muslim characters before writers feel safe to spend showing what might be interestingly different about characters from Muslim cultures.

I'm pretty hazy on the actual history of The 99 as a group. They haven't actually been created just for this event, have they? Do they have their own book?

[arilou_skiff]

They have their own book.

[ejne7]

Cheers. I went and looked them up; anyone else who's interested can find links to the comics available for (legal) download (in English and Arabic) at http://www.the99.org/article-36-33-Articles-17,ckl . There's a free "origins" issue too.

Nice to see a comics publisher making their stuff so available.

[stig]

Yep. As far as I know they're the premiere superheroic group for Middle Eastern comics.

And, yes, it might just be that some testing of the waters is required. Not trying to offend anyone, but observing the US of A's diverse opinions on Islam puts one in mind of stepping onto a grassy knoll only to see a sign saying 'abandoned minefield'.

[turtlefu]

Well, the thing about the 99 is that hey are influenced by Islamic culture, but are not necessarily Muslim themselves. The creator specifically said that the comic is intended for all audiences, Muslim or otherwise, and that they are not overtly Muslim, the same way most American comics are not overtly Christian while still having Christian themes.

[ejne7]

Sure. I hadn't really appreciated that until reading more about the group (in like the last half hour - which I should've done before wading in to Opine About Things; I apologise). The general-media coverage seems to have glossed over it in their haste to report "THE JLA MEET SOME MUSLIMS OMG!"

I picked up the book and wasn't blown away by it, mainly because it did seem so much like "Here's another miscellaneous team up!" I felt as though a little more attention to what (from the readers' perspective) new and interesting about the 99 might have relieved that a bit. But, y'know, it's the first issue of a teamup featuring a cast of thousands; there's still time for all of this.

[skjam]

I'm hoping that one of the issues will at least have a text feature on the 99 for the fans who aren't familiar with them, and why they're important.

[feyandstrange]

I read an interview with the creator, and he said that was very deliberate; the comics are not about the hard-sell teaching, they're about creating some Muslim heroes that everyone can enjoy. And some of the characters are more overtly Muslim than others, IIRC the interview says one wears full burqa and others wear headscarves, for example.

[thanekos]

the New Madmen! (with a Madwoman now, it seems), Catalyst killing the second latest Mr. America's family, Firestorm very nearly transmuting Carapax to death..

.. bring back someone in the Overthrow gear for someone's first issue, and we'll be good to go.

(maybe someone can do something with Doctor Animus, while we're at it..)

and antagonistic corruption of one party, always a good way to eat up the initial part of your crossover!

[ejne7]

The Black Beetle is sitting sulking in the corner all "Whyyyy does no one pick on meeeeee?"

[stig]

Well, technically if the universe has been altered then Wondy's outfit has ALWAYS been like that, even while she's been with the JLA, and will revert to normal when the universe is restored.

Or possibly not. History-altering stories kind of make no sense.

[fredneil.livejournal.com]

That would be kind of funny if the entire timeline reverted back to her normal costume ,so they ended up looking at pictures of this and wondered how WW qot away with going around half-naked.

[darkknightjrk]

DIANA: Huh, I don't remember wearing that...but, I guess I just got into Man's World as an actual person and not a fugitive and...things just got crazy, I guess. Last time I'm going to eat the worm, I'll tell you that!

[crinos]

I actually started reading the 99 recently, up to issue 4 ATM, pretty good stuff.

Also, the Mad Men are never not awesome.

[pyrotwilight]

One of the weirdest thoughts I had on this crossover was how even when the series was announced a year or so ago (I think) Newsarama made a strange point of pointing out how scantily clad Wonder Woman is and if she'd be "allowed" in it. Then the whole thing recently happened with Wondy and I was all "Hey she can show up in the 99 now."

And...there she is. Makes me wonder if DC purposely did it (the Wonderwoman story) as a way to get into the market of having comics more spread out into the Eastern countries. Or maybe I'm thinking too into this?

[kaete]

Nah, they gave her a different outfit because they want to give her a movie or a TV show. Her current outfit really, reaaally looks like they told the artist "hey, you know how the Xmen movie costumes worked so well? Do something like that for her."

[fredneil.livejournal.com]

Granted, an idea being stupid is no guarantee that no one will try it, but that would have been REALLY stupid. "Hey, you know that iconic look that's been around for 70 years and that makes her one of most recognizable superheros ever? We don't want that."

I'd like to think someone would have figured out a simple rule of merchandising, Wonder Woman product sells better when the character looks like Wonder Woman.

But now that you mention it, yeah it does look like that.

[skjam]

Nah, I'm thinking that the artists just breathed a sigh of relief when they saw the new costume so they didn't have to figure out some justification for not using the swimsuit.

[psychopathicus_rex]

There was a JLA story where they were in Turkey, and Wondy donned loose robes over her traditional outfit because she didn't want to offend cultural sensibilities. They could have just done something like that.

[darkknightjrk]

Except it looked like they weren't primarily in a Middle Eastern country in-story. What would be her excuse then?

[psychopathicus_rex]

Hmm, good point. *thinks* It... could be raining, and she could don a raincoat? I dunno.

[darkknightjrk]

...She's got cramps and she wants to be in her comfy sweater?

[psychopathicus_rex]

Another good possibility! Or she could be disturbed in the middle of a midnight snack, and have to go into action still wearing her bathrobe.

[pyrotwilight]

Also I've read the first issue of the 99 (I think) after I got it at the Strand a while ago. It looks like a lot of fun.

[icon_uk]

I liked the Hawk and Dove Madmen who were the product of one of the originals gained a sort of infectious telepathic power and made other people Madmen with a group consciousness simply by making physical contact.

[icon_uk]

Not that these don't look fun too!

[philippos42]

I'm not nuts about the way they intuitively treated that guy as evil, though I guess they were justified later.

Di looks good in her costume, though.

[skjam]

Not intuitively, Noora's powers actually allow her to detect evil intentions, as I noted. Now, Superman and Wonder Woman just ignoring this brushoff of Dr. Chou and not wondering why that happened? A bit more implausible.

[fredneil.livejournal.com]

"Dr. Ramzi has no powers himself, but is a wise mentor to the team."

Yeah, if they were just standing around watching Superman and Wonder Woman until Dr. Ramzi told them to help, they need all the wise mentoring they can get.

[skjam]

True enough, none of the kids at the city were gifted with common sense by their Noor stones.

[deepspaceartist]

Is Darr (the blond guy in the wheelchair, in case I misread your post and that's not really his name) using a one-wheeled wheelchair? If so, why?

[skjam]

Huh. Checking the pages that aren';t in the post, I can't establish that the wheelchair has more than one wheel. And I have no idea why he's using the chair version of a unicycle.

[psychopathicus_rex]

'Cause he's X-TREME, man! Can you not see it?!

[feyandstrange]

Because nobody in comics gets a realistic wheelchair; it's either a 1970s hospital relic or a pseudo-futuristic monstrosity invented by somebody who has never used a chair. (that thing does not look comfy, and if it is a futuristic gyroscopic thing, it still got knocked over by the evil guys. My heavy-arsed old-school powerchair might not have.)

[psychopathicus_rex]

This looks pretty nifty - I like the concept of the 99, and while this so far seems to focus more on them than the JLA, that makes sense - there's more of them, and we know the JLA better, so it's not necessary for them to be introduced to us.
Also - woo! The Madmen! Someone is a Ditko fan! This should be fun.

[feyandstrange]

Thanks for the preview! I normally try to avoid spoilering myself for stuff that's in my pull list box waiting at the store for me, but I was pretty excited about this one. And a good reminder to order the 00's own series, too - thanks.

[skjam]

I knew there'd be a few people at least in your shoes, so I avoided giving away all the plot points--you'll see what I mean when you get there.

[leikomgwtfbbq]

I still have yet to pick up The 99 (I hate being broke!) but it looks soooo cool. :D