Buy Now!

Mild Mannered Reviews - Justice League Adventures

Justice League Adventures #6

Justice League Adventures #6

Scheduled to arrive in stores: April 10, 2002

Cover date: June 2002

Writer: Dan Slott
Penciller: Min S. Ku
Inker: Dan Davis

"Wolf's Clothing"

Reviewed by: George O'Connor (mo442@nyu.edu)



The auction of the century has begun, and up for sale are the three greatest heroes of all time: Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman!

Chronos, the time-thief, explains that he has plucked the three heroes from the time stream and that they are frozen in a particular moment. In this state, the heroes are helpless and oblivious of their situation.

Then, looking out to the crowd, Chronos inquires, "What's my first bid?"

The crowd consists of practically all of the Justice League's arch-foes. From Bane to Metallo to Captain Cold to the Royal Flush Gang and even Deadshot and Queen Bee. A multitude of villains is present and eager to win the bid and thus own the right to eliminating their arch-foes.

However, when the monetary bids begin spiraling upwards at an exponential rate, tempers flare and the crowd soon descends into brawling. Eventually, Chronos calls a time-out, ordering the crowd to take a break and come back later... with serious bids. Despite Chronos' time out, some of the arch-villains are still anxious for a fight.

Mr. Freeze challenges Captain Cold, but does not reckon on Cold's support team of Central City rogues, including Captain Boomerang, the Weather Wizard, the Reverse Flash, and another Flash villain holding a flame gun.

The ambush results in the destruction of Freeze's body suit, and he is forced to disconnect his head, scurrying away on metal, spider-like legs until a green hand snatches him away.

Meanwhile, the Riddler, Bane, Clayface, Scarecrow, and Poison Ivy plot on stealing the heroes from Chronos. Unfortunately, the Royal Flush Gang, who have been hired by Chronos to serve as security, overhears the conversation. A fight ensues and the Gotham gang easily overpowers their playing card foes until the Parasite arrives and steals Clayface's power, allowing him to wipe out the group without any problem. Then, collecting them in a sack, the Parasite disappears with the Gotham gang, entering a boom tube and arriving at the Justice League Headquarters.

Reverting from the Parasite to his normal form, J'onn J'onnz meets up with Hawkgirl, who has been disguised as Roxy Rocket. The two begin sealing away the unconscious villains in prison chambers when Green Lantern arrives with Mr. Freeze's head.

Back at the auction, Metallo attempts to just kill the frozen form of Superman with a Kryptonite blast, but nothing happens. Chronos explains that the heroes are frozen in a specific moment of time and can only be affected by what was affecting them at the moment they were frozen. Similarly, he prevents Catwoman from peeking under Batman's mask, warning that by touching the stasis field, she could disrupt the energy plain and accidentally release the three heroes.

After this incident, the Brain, the leader of the Brotherhood of Evil, theorizes that Catwoman may be one of the many Justice League members present at the gathering disguised as a villain. He points to the dwindling numbers in their ranks as evidence. Upon hearing this, the Central City villains realize that the Flash is probably disguised as the Reverse Flash. They run after him as the rest of the group gathers up the female villains, believing that one of them must be Hawkgirl.

Choosing Catwoman as their Hawkgirl, Warp grabs the cat burglar before she can escape. However, the Brain soon realizes that Warp is actually the Flash when the supposed Frenchman addresses the villain as "mon ami" or "friend."

The Flash dashes off as the villains pursue him. Meanwhile, the Central City villains finish kicking the Reverse Flash around only to realize that he is in fact the Reverse Flash. Heading back to the meeting place, the group is amazed to see the group fighting once again. Eventually, they begin wondering if the whole thing wasn't a set-up to lure them all to one place where it would be simpler to capture them.

Captain Boomerang hurls his weapon at a console and the trio of Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman fade away. Realizing that the heroes were just holograms, the Central City villains rush the stage, demanding an answer from Chronos. Before he can answer, another Chronos shows up, wondering what everyone's doing on his island.

Batman, disguised as the original Chronos, knocks out the entire group of villains and calls out to his fellow members to spring the trap. Green Lantern, disguised as Count Vertigo, soars into the sky and encompasses the entire area in a green energy dome so that no villain can escape. Then, Hawkgirl aims her rocket at the hard hitting foes and sends them flying.

The Man of Steel reveals himself next, flying off the ground as Solomon Grundy to tackle the Royal Flush Gang. Seizing the opportunity to extinguish his old foe, Metallo gears up his Kryptonite heart, only to be crushed under the weight of a giant gorilla (Grodd, maybe?) when Wonder Woman, disguised as Catwoman, hurls the primate at him.

Elsewhere, Warp is cornered by a gang of criminals believing that he is the Flash. They fire their weapons, but the blasts are ineffectual. Before they can think of a new strategy, a super breath blows the criminals off their feet and J'onn reverts to his normal form. Flash ducks out from behind a tree to thank J'onn for the switch.

Much later, when the criminals have all been defeated, the League switches back to their normal costumes. J'onn congratulates Batman, only to receive a powerful sock in the face that knocks him unconscious. When J'onn lands, he reverts to the form of Amazo. Superman is impressed, wishing to know how the Dark Knight knew it wasn't really J'onn. Batman's answer is vague, but Superman understands what he means when he claims that over time, one gets to know one's friends and acquaintances.

4Story - 4: This is so close to a 5/5 that I'd like to give it one, but there are just a couple of piddling little details that didn't make sense upon further scrutiny. But let's start with the good stuff first! This was an exceptionally entertaining issue, filled with humor, action, and surprises. Plus, it was just fun. All the super villains in one place added a camp feel to the issue without overdoing it, and the inner fighting and turmoil instigated in many cases by the disguised Justice League was fantastic. That the villains really take the spotlight in this issue while the Justice League is in the background also makes it unique and terrific. So, the complaints are only minor ones, but a 5/5 has to be perfect, and this one just wasn't there all the way.

  1. Okay... so why just Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman if they're holograms anyway? Why not have the entire Justice League supposedly captured? That would have drawn even more foes and would explain what the Flash's villains are doing there better than a "what crook could pass that up?" explanation from Captain Boomerang.

  2. J'onn J'onnz captures Poison Ivy and locks her up, and then in the very next panel, Hawkgirl arrives with the Floronic Man and Poison Ivy... again. How many are on that island? Does she have a clone we don't know about?

  3. Chronos/Batman warns Catwoman that she can't touch the stasis field or the heroes might escape. Yet, if that were true, then why wouldn't a Kryptonite energy blast disrupt the field enough to let them loose. Obviously, because it's a hologram, but shouldn't this logic have fallen on someone in the crowd... like the Brain?

  4. What was the point of Catwoman/Wonder Woman trying to uncover "Batman's" identity? She only draws suspicion to herself by doing so.

  5. What's the deal with Mr. Freeze starting a fight with Captain Cold? That's completely uncharacteristic. The only thing Freeze cares about is revenge on Batman and Gotham City now that his body has deteriorated and he can no longer be with his wife, Nora.

  6. How many powers does J'onn have? Is he stronger than Bane? How does just tackling Bane defeat him? Can J'onn stretch his arm out like Clayface can? Hmmm... I'm skeptical. And how is he bulletproof or energy weapon proof or anything? In the first episodes of the show, he gets shot once and he's out for the count. On the other episodes, he phases out to avoid getting shot. And... what's with the super breath? C'mon, already!

  7. Batman knocks out Amazo. Right. It's certainly cool looking, but Amazo has the powers of the entire league, right? Meaning he has Superman's strength, so one punch from Batman isn't going to knock him out.

Okay... that's everything, I think. It's just little stuff obviously, and this really was a great issue.

4Art - 4: This issue shows off some great action scenes provided by Min S. Ku and inker Dan Davis. Personally, I find that Davis' inks are a little too crisp for Ku's pencil work, and that things just don't seem to flow as well on the page because of that. Despite this, however, the layouts are great and the action scenes are fun and fantastic. The two page spread at the beginning of the book is, alone, worth the cost of the issue. Dealing with so many different characters, Ku does a nice job not mixing things up (except for the Poison Ivy situation-- see above), and though some of the panels look a little crowded, this is almost unavoidable, especially when dealing with the multitude of characters and all the fights that are going on. Overall, this is another excellent effort by Ku.

5Cover Art - 5: This is a gem of a cover. The first time I saw it, I got excited to read the issue. It really pops out on the newsstand and it has a lot of energy and enthusiasm. The combination of vibrant colors, costumes galore, and the used car salesman vibe that Chronos exudes here all combine for a terrific cover.



Other recent reviews:

Mild Mannered Reviews

2002

Note: Month dates are from the issue covers, not the actual date when the comic went on sale.

January 2002

February 2002 March 2002 April 2002 May 2002 June 2002 July 2002 August 2002 September 2002 October 2002 November 2002 December 2002

Back to the Mild Mannered Reviews contents page.

Check out the Comic Index Lists for the complete list of Superman-related comics published in 2002.