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Mild Mannered Reviews - Justice League Adventures

Justice League Adventures #8

Justice League Adventures #8

Scheduled to arrive in stores: June 5, 2002

Cover date: August 2002

Writer: Mike W. Barr
Penciller: Min S. Ku
Inker: Rob Leigh

"New Moon!"

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


Superman and Green Lantern put Bruce Wayne's money to good use as they install an upgraded transmitter relay that the Martian Manhunter has recommended. As the new sensor comes on-line for the first time, the League is horrified by the images, courtesy of the new hardware.

Massive tidal waves threaten to obliterate locations across the world, and the League rushes off to prevent damage and spare lives. When the threat has subsided, the League (sans Batman) returns to the Watchtower to learn the reason for the disturbance.

The Dark Knight soon reveals that quakes on the moon's surface caused the tidal waves and Superman's x-ray vision reveals the cause of the quakes: a monster growing within the very core of the moon!

League procedure soon becomes a hostile issue within the ranks, as half the League wishes to eliminate the creature in order to save the world from massive tidal waves, and the other half wishes to preserve the creature's life. Hawkgirl comes upon a compromise that the League can agree upon: create a new moon to replace the real moon so that the creature can birth itself in peace.

Somehow, the League's hard work results in the construction of an alternate satellite to keep the Earth's tidal patterns in check. With the building process complete, Superman and Green Lantern swap the positions of the real moon with its replacement. Superman pushes the old moon out of the way as the Green Lantern uses his ring to ferry in the new moon into position.

The League's plan succeeds, but just as The Flash cheers in triumph, he is silenced by the Weather Wizard, who singlehandedly takes out Wonder Woman, Flash, Batman, Hawkgirl, and J'onn J'onnz.

His evil plot, he explains, is to use the gravitational influence of the new satellite and cause tidal waves that can wipe out the Earth. Of course, if he were paid enough money, he might generously spare his world from utter elimination.

Superman and Green Lantern, meanwhile, are oblivious to the new threat until Batman convinces the Weather Wizard to press the Justice League signaler. The signal happens to irritate the creature enough for it to burst out of the moon and attack the new moon, spilling out the League and the Weather Wizard into space.

Green Lantern quickly saves everyone within protective bubbles and later, Batman explains that the first time the League used the signaler, it pained the creature and thus caused the first wave of tidal waves. Knowing this, the Dark Knight had to convince the Weather Wizard to set off the signal a second time, knowing that the creature would attack its source.

As the team reflects on their victory, they wish the best for the creature, who floats out and away from Earth and, likely, towards its home.

3Story - 3: This issue was amusing in the Silver Age sense of the word. The story was about as ridiculous as possible, but there was a degree of fun in it as well. If you can get past the absurd notions of the League building an entirely new moon, a creature living within the original moon, and the Weather Wizard somehow defeating almost the entire Justice League (though the battle was cleverly calculated), you're likely to enjoy the issue. Barr's tale is a little too much to swallow at moments like those listed above, and there are bound to be a million other nitpicks a reviewer could make of this issue, but in the end, there were enough twists to make it a decent and rewarding read.

3Art - 3: Ku's pencils are not quite as sharp for this issue, or perhaps the fault is partly Leigh's because while there are some nice illustrations and decent layouts (especially in the battle against the Weather Wizard), there is nothing quite as impressive as Ku's prior work in these pages. Partly, of course, this is due to the nature of the story, which is more talk than action.

3Cover Art - 3: Eye-catching? Sure. But when did tentacles spring out of the moon to ensnare our heroes within the story? In fact, the creature doesn't even have tentacles.... and it's green, not purple.


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Mild Mannered Reviews

2002

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