Even though the various super-heroes were known to still be alive and active, the Legion of Doom all drank wine and put on tuxedos and unfurled "Mission Accomplished" banners. Gorilla Grodd got speciesist with Giganta, then stated, "These humans are fools to celebrate now, if that is indeed what they are doing. I am not always certain I can sense what is at their core. Brainiac is mechanical. Luthor has his own... manipulations to keep his thoughts hidden from me. The Weaponer's ring was lost as well. Neither has mentioned it. This is part of their damnable plan. Somehow it is all a component of their ambitions. They will deal with me for as long as I am essential to them. Still, they cannot control me, can they?"
At the shindig, Brainiac tried to use Aquaman's baby whose brain he'd rewired from Radio Shack electrodes to mind-control the Super-Gorilla, but it just seemed to make him irate as he cursed the sudden but inevitable betrayal discussed one story page and a spread ago. "You planned this, didn't you? Et tu, Luthor?" Oh, did I forget to mention the monkey trap was sprung as Grodd was informing the gathered super-villains that he'd detected all the super-heroes about to smash through their door, because that happened. The professional story writing continued as Captain Cold shapeshifted into the Martian Manhunter, who punched Grodd once in the face and left him unconscious on the floor for whole minutes.
Setting aside that J'Onn J'Onzz wasn't wearing his
godawful purple armor from last issue (ever again,) leaving him vulnerable to Brainiac's enslaving nano-worms... and also setting aside that taking Grodd out was essential to a stealth initiative meant to rescue the captive supporting casts of the heroes, which it failed to fully accomplish because Grodd soon awoke and alerted counter agents... but also that one punch was the resolution to the massive power struggle between Martian Manhunter and Grodd from earlier in the series. The Alien Atlas relives the destruction of Mars and burns under unquenchable flames for several issues, and retaliates with a single ineffectual love tap before flying off to wrestle with Giganta in the background of other characters' scenes for the rest of the book. Given the choice between an Alex Ross cover and an Alex Ross story, you're better off with just the cover.
"Chapter Ten" was plotted and painted by Alex Ross. The script was provided by Jim Krueger, and the penciled layouts by Doug Braithwaite.
Continue the story through these character-specific posts:
I like that you guys are covering Justice but I didn't like Justice as a whole. He tried to incorporate too many heroes, too many plot lines... he just tried to do too much.
ReplyDeleteHis strength is in the paint. Not the point.
Totally agreed. I got so sick of covering this poorly written series that I set aside these last three issues for nearly as many years before completion. There's a reason why 2/3rds of this creative team's only major project after this was at Dynanite.
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