Well he's got the ears and teeth. Pretty distinct.

What, personally?

Well, if I know The Doctor personally, that certainly makes the other a viable possibility...

Justice League Annual #1



"Germ Warfare"
plot and breakdowns: Keith Giffen
script: J.M. DeMatteis
pencils: Bill Willingham
inks: (various)
letters: Bob Lappan
colors: Gene D'Angelo
editor: Andy Helfer

grade: C


Ah, the team receives its first annual...after five long months of publication. Does that seem a little early to anyone else? I suppose it's possible that DC had a tight schedule for annuals and needed Justice League here so that everyone's annuals weren't hitting stands at the same time, but I wonder if instead this came from the immediate success the title was having (while exact publishing numbers aren't available, Helfer was going on and on about the reaction in the letter cols). First, try giving them an extra (and extra expensive) issue to buy (this annual), then an extra-large, extra-expensive new first issue with #7 two months later, and, in a short while, split the team off into two titles. Money money money money.

But yeah, this issue was clearly a rush job, as the six different inkers assigned to this issue suggest. Maguire's absence is sorely felt, the plot is largely repetitive of the Gray Man storyline (one evil being spreading its consciousness by infecting all of the world's population and turning them into mindless drones, but the only one who can stop it is Doctor Fate), and instead of it being carefully planned to tie in neatly with the main title, we're told it takes place between issues #4 and #5 (because the storyline began in #5 is still going at this point), which plays out really awkwardly since so much change occurred in issue #5.


First off, the tension between Guy and Batman, once fun and comical, now feels repetitive because this conflict was reconciled in #5.




And, whereas Batman was beginning to lighten up with the team and even crack jokes, his characterization necessarily has to be retroactive, as well.



Frustrating to be taking these steps backward. I wonder if I would have enjoyed this story more had I read it prior to #5.


So, a pretty forgettable story, and I still have no idea how a cell was accidentally given the intelligence of a human being in a genetic laboratory and then was able to influence cells around it, yet not properly infect or mutate them because, once that one cell is contained, everything reverts to normal. It's awful pseudo-science, even moreso than what I've come to accept in comics of that era. Maybe this would have flown in the Silver Age.


The PROS of this issue:

1) It's beginning to occur to me, more and more, just how little regard this title has had for the individual heroes' lives outside of the League. We've talked about Booster not having Skeats, and Batman not ever mentioning Robin nor his obligations in Gotham, but it didn't even occur to me until now that Blue Beetle is supposed to be running a multi-million dollar company comparable to Maxwell Lord's holdings in the world. Fortunately, this issue finally takes time to address that, having the gene issue occur at Kord Industries.



Of course, it's then all the more problematic that Beetle was the last to know that something had gone haywire within his own company. This story definitely doesn't reveal any other side of Beetle to us -- there's no shrewd, confident, capable CEO beneath that mask. When asked how he juggles it all, Beetle's reply is ""Nervous breakdowns every second Sunday." Still little more than a character there for comic relief at this point.


2) J'onn donning the Helm of Fate.



This should have been the coolest moment in the story, but it wasn't. Rather than watching mystical powers surge through the Martian while Fate speaks through him in eerie mystical lettering, he just puts the helmet down after a split second and knows what he needs to know.

...and that knowledge (that all of this is being caused by a sentient cell) is damn ridiculous.




The CONS

1) I'm still disturbed by the Dr. Light / Batman kiss. I guess it made sense if she was looking for an opportunity to invade Batman's cells that he wouldn't anticipate, but it was just...awkward.



Speaking of which, why did Giffen feel the need to bring Dr. Light back for this story, only a month after booting her from the team?



2) The ending. Up until now, this title has done a pretty good job of telling me everything I need to know about these characters in order to enjoy the stories. My lack of familiarity with any one of them has not been prohibitive, and yet the highly dramatic ending of this story hinges entirely upon the reader understanding something about Martian Manhunter that I clearly do not.





What won't he go through again? Did he experience a plague before? Is that what killed all the other Martians?? Why can't DeMatteis help me to understand this??


All in all, a forgettable story that felt utterly rushed and poorly timed to boot. The first Justice League story yet to not impress me.



Minor Details:

Batman is usually the master strategist, and yet they charge into this situation with absolutely no plan. If not for comic book style luck, they would have failed big time (and, of course, no other heroes were going to show up in time to save the world because this isn't anyone else's title). Batman did this just last issue with the Gray Man as well, but that was different. Dr. Fate told the League to come, and Batman trusts Dr. Fate. Also, the clock was ticking in that scenario, whereas here there was no imminent threat. This mission seemed extremely ill-advised.



Plot synopsis:

The League is alerted to a bunch of folks in Tokyo acting like zombies. They decide to show up without a plan (as always) and are immediately brainwashed except for Martian Manhunter, who proves immune. He uses the Helm of Fate to help him, and the Helm ultimately tells him he must absorb the sentient cell causing all of this in order to stop the problem. This torments him, but he does it, thus saving the day,

It's funny. I figured this was very early in Willingham's career, but the man was already 31 by this point. I guess he didn't really earn mass fan attention until Fables.

Martian Manhunter donning the Helmet of Fate and I did not see that coming on this thread!

I'm thinking some of this might be generational - You didn't grow up on '70s comics, right?

Basically, from about 1971-1977 superheroes got their butts handed to them all the time. I never even noticed the in-effectualness of this version of the league because it was what I was used to - They weren't much less competent than, say, during Len Wein's run.

(I suspect that the switchover to the more badass eighties version had to do with changing audience demographics - More adult readers required more powerful power fantasies!)

Giffen had worked for Marvel in the '70s and J. M. DeMatties seemed fairly old-school in this regard; Compare Kraven's Last Hunt (Spider-man gets beaten and buried alive) to Roger Stern's stuff, where Spider-man beats up the ''70s-Gerry-Conway-created Tarantula (who'd been a fairly difficult opponent before) in three panels to demonstrate that Spider-man is TEH POWERFULLLZZZ NAOW!

(How fan-fictiony was it? It was so fanfictiony. I still love you, Tarantula!)

So honestly, I don't think the JL creative team intended this as commentary, so much as being a little out-of-date in how SUPER POWERFUL GRRR! all the heroes were supposed to be in the '80s.