 Noteworthy
Items:
by DAVID
BIRD
p 01: The floating city is Superbia, the base of operations
for the International Ultramarines. Usually, it’s in
Uruguay. I wonder: has an Uruguayan company licensed these
guys? Goraiko, Warmaker, and Pulse 8 are standing on the base
of the city, and Warmaker is narrating. The situation: The
JLA is gone, animal terrorists have risen up (terrorists who
are animals, not eco-terrorists) and IUC is more than able
to finish this one. “Let’s give it ten minutes?” Since
World War One, which started in August and was supposed to
be over by Christmas, yet went on for six years and millions
and millions of lives, the promise of a quick resolution has
been a sure sign that things are going to go horribly wrong.
The more certain the promises, the worse it’s going to
go. “Who needs the Justice League?” This isn’t
IUC: Classified!
pp 02-04: We are in Africa. We later learn its Kinshasa,
capital of the Congo and third largest city on the continent.
Our heroes leap into action, making sure to use their names
frequently enough that we’ll get a handle on them. The
three from page one are fighting off apes in cool commando
gear (the apes) in order to clear a path for Knight and Jack
to get in and rescue the hostages. Knight is listening to ‘Pretty
Vacant’ by the Sex Pistols. Jack O’ Lantern’s
assault comes to a halt – rhyming – when
he stumbles on a strange cube. As his curiosity is peaked,
the flame around his forms a question mark. Hopefully that’s
just a one off. It would be awful if your enemies could learn
to read your mental state that easily. Warmaker continues on
to the Presidential Suite, deploying surveillance equipment,
such as “dust cams” and “mini-Spitfires”.
Knight makes contact with Squire, the team’s techie and
Robin to his Batman. A girl Robin, they call each other by
their first names. Cyril and Beryl. Rhyming names…
pp 05-11: While Goraiko burns monkeys, apes, Knight confronts
the story’s arch villain, Gorilla Grodd. He has eaten
the hostages, beaten and captured Jack, and his threatening
to eat them. Knight and Jack seem to have a buddy relationship
built on mutual insults, but real nonetheless. Knight uses
a micro-wave gun to induce violent illness and the two heroes
jump on his bike and escape through a window, confident their
team mate Pulse 8 will save them. He re-writes reality around
them with a quantum keyboard and they land safely. Goraiko
takes on Grodd. Glob warns them that he is picking up something
weird on a cosmic level.
pp 12-15: Squire checks on the cube and discovers a JLA match
for the Nebula Man. Warmaker cautions Pulse 8 against using
his keyboard to investigate, but Pulse 8 pushes on. Turns out
that Grodd isn’t down yet. He attacked Kinshasa in order
to draw the IMC and Superbia. It has all been a trap. Great
use of panels by McGuinness here, turning them into the cube.
Goraiko heart skips and an EMP takes out the whole city. In
the turmoil Knight mentions that two IMC members – Olympian
and Vixen – were sleeping in Superbia. Foreshadowing?
The cube absorbed Pulse 8. Grodd holds Warmaker like a broken
doll. Crashes into Kinshasa, two cities are destroyed. “November
18. 1:15 AM. Savagery is crowned king. Civilization’s
defenders fall.”
Image has named their new, shorter format comics ‘slimline,’ and
I think that if they stopped right here we’d still have
had a great issue. That’s not a criticism of the second
part. I’m just pointing out that Morrison is doing some
very tight writing here.
pp 16-24: Its ten minutes later. The hot line goes off in
the Batcave. It’s Squire. Bats (in my notes I always
call him Bats or Bman) isn’t too happy to have someone
he doesn’t know call the line, but he assures her he’s
on it. Batman opens the “Sci-Fi Closet” and calls
for his flying saucer. Cut to Kinsasha. Grodd and Neh-buh-loh.
Grodd expects Superia to be functioning soon and asks Neh-buh-loh
about himself. He’s the Huntsman, born in the region
of a Vampire Sun, he is the forerunner of the Queen of Terror.
There will be a Great Harrowing. He is going to make weapons
of our heroes. I imagine Morrison was already well at work
with at least the planning of his Seven Soldiers. Here he is
laying some groundwork. Placing things – or at least
his spin on things – into continuity. Cut to: the skies
above Superia. Squire is on a rocket bike, fighting flying
monkeys. …Jet apes. Its two pages, but its great. It
really makes me want to see more of the IUC and Morrison’s
take on them. Squire is shot don’t and the Bat-Saucer
is there in the nick of time. He activates a Boom Tube and
they are off to the JLA remote lab, orbiting Pluto. Batman
knows that the heroes are going to be turned into weapons.
How? His attempts at humour come off a little snarky (“No,
I’m Goldfish Man. Can’t you tell.”), but
he explains that the League is lost in an infant universe called
Qwewq (“quick”). It looks just like the cube that
became Neh-buh-loh. He gives her the job of contacting them – she’s
a communications expert – while he takes the fight to
Grodd.
|
#1
