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Saturday, October 30, 2010

Justice League Europe #40 - July 1992

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Comics Weekend "The Coming of...Chthon!" by Gerard Jones, Ron Randall, and Randy Elliott.

Last issue of Justice League Europe ended with Batman flatly refusing to take command of the team. Luckily(?), another old hand, Green Lantern, has shown up to do the job:
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...I'm sorry, I don't mean to be too crabby about this, especially right off the, er, bat, but the dialogue in this splash page makes the Aqua-Fan in me boil with rage. Bats and Hal are acting like they're Tom Petty the rest of the group are the Heartbreakers. C'mon, we've got the KING OF ATLANTIS in the room! Sheesh.

Anyway, Batman takes his leave (much to Dr. Light's chagrin), and Flash, Elongated Man, and Sue are thrilled to have their old pal Hal in charge. Aquaman...is less so:
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Power Girl, going through her own personal crises, storms off, confused as to what to think. Dr. Light follows, explaining that a lot of Kara's mood swings can be attributed to...massive diet soda consumption?

Crimson Fox also shows up, teasing Kara about her seeming romantic interest in Aquaman, which offends Power Girl to no end. The fight gets so loud Aquaman overhears it and asks:
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Meanwhile, on the other side of the world, Metamorpho is on an archeological dig in Greece, when the ground begins to rumble. At first it seems like its just an earthquake, but of course it can't be that simple. No, its some sort of giant rock creature, who springs forth from the ground, calling himself (you guessed it) Chthon.

Metamorpho sends a distress signal to the JLE (he was a former member), and they quickly decide to go see what's happening. At first, it seems that Chthon is no match for Green Lantern, who uses his power ring to subdue him.

But as everyone is backslapping Hal for a job well done, Chthon breaks loose, slapping away the JLE like flies:
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...to be continued!


Man, this issue is like one big wet kiss to Green Lantern. Almost all the other heroes act like he's the greatest thing since sliced bread, and even someone who has done this a long time--Wally West--acts like he's going to wet himself now that GL has been taken out by Chthon.

This was the last of the four JLE issues generous F.O.A.M.er Stephen Peterson sent me. And while I do want to read the rest--if just to track Aquaman's role, no matter how small--I'm going to stop here. From what I can tell, Aquaman didn't last too much longer with the JLE, so these books seem to be a minor footnote in the Sea King's career, a pit stop in between his two significant runs with the team.

Thanks Stephen!

6 comments:

Joe Slab said...

LOL I think that's for the best rob!

JLE wasn't Aquaman's best JLA run.

Steve said...

You're very welcome, rob! (Or should I be apologizing for inflicting them on you?!?)

IADW said...

Sometimes books just make you feel like Aquaman would've been better off in Doom Patrol, solo, or a new team creating his own respect.

Don't get me wrong, I think his place is with the League, but when you have writers having Aquaman being yelled at by Ralph like a junior somethings gotta give.

Chip said...

Something about this artwork annoys me, but I can't put my finger on it.

Peace,

Chip

Classic Justice League of America said...

Too Cool!!!!

KJ Sampson said...

Ugh. I saw this in a bargain box a while ago. Passed on it because Aquaman was such a chump in it. I mean, really...going down just because Hal is hurled into him? Feh.