I think Qwewq also appears in Morrison's JLA Classified arc.

The next 2 (JLA #12-13) issues of the Rock of Ages -- gets a little bit weirder and that's why I had a hard time enjoying it; and you sums up these issues quite nicely I may add here.

JLA #14-15: “Rock of Ages” (January-February 1998) Part Three

Issue #14 “Twilight of the Gods”: On the moon, Aztek and Argent deactivate the control mechanism for Darkseid’s zombie slaves. The rest of the JLA take a boom tube to attack Darkseid and Metron. Wonder Woman spars with Darkseid. Batman tricks Metron into turning normal, then clocks and drugs him. Flash, Green Lantern, and Aquaman use Metron’s chair to return to our present time, hoping to avert the cataclysm which will be caused if Superman destroys the Philosopher’s Stone.



The Atom rides a light beam through Darkseid’s shields, through his eye, into his “four lobed-brain” (see previous discussion of this concept in issue #5), and begins tearing it apart.



As Orion uses a Genesis Box to recreate a new Darkseid-free universe, the Black Racer appears to escort all the characters to the halls of death.

Back in present day, Superman and Martian Manhunter have captured Joker and Lex Luthor. Superman destroys the Philosopher’s Stone that we just learned must not be destroyed, else Darkseid wins. Dramatic irony ensues.



Issue #15 “Stone of Destiny”: In the 853rd century, Metron invites Hourman to peer into the Philosopher’s Stone, watching the events of this story unfold. The heroes converge on Luthor’s satellite base. Green Arrow and Mirror Master turn out not to be on Luthor’s side as much as he supposed, and Plastic Man has impersonated the Joker. Jemm stirs from Luthor’s control and strikes the decisive blow for victory but is seriously wounded.



J’onn prevents Superman from destroying the Philosopher’s Stone, but Joker ends up with it. What crazy thing will he do with the ability to shape reality? J’onn makes Joker sane for a moment, and at Luthor's urging, Joker uses the Stone’s power to resurrect the innocent lives lost in issue #10.



My Two Cents: This is a busy couple of issues compared to those which came before. Lots of plot; lots of threads being tied or loosened. Morrison considers Darkseid “the greatest villain in comic-book history.”


“Twilight of the Gods” is the translation of the Norse word “ragnarok,” the end of the world and death of the gods. In German it’s the Götterdämmerung, the title which Richard Wagner gave to the final opera in his theatrical cycle based on Norse mythology.

I was unfamiliar with the Black Racer, a manifestation of death who rides through the air on snow skis. Surely this was originally a Kirby pun on the equally improbable Silver Surfer?




Worlds within worlds motif: Metron re-iterates that the Philosopher’s Stone is a miniature 4-D model of the entire universe. Its other name is the Worlogog (probably a pun on whirligig, a description for a spinning object, which is what it looks like).

Batman uses his Bruce Wayne money power to buy off Mirror Master and his technical prowess to… build a functional teleporter that can take the heroes from the Batcave directly into Luthor’s orbital base? How much do you want to bet that we never see this overpowered tech again? One begins to understand why Denny O’Neill felt that giving Morrison access to Batman would move the character away from the “grounded in reality” version that he was trying to sculpt in his own Batman titles at the time. O’Neill was not wrong, and “Batman is a Reed Richards-level electronics genius who builds a gadget that saves the day” will happen in this series again.



Circe explicitly calls Plastic Man “Dionysos.” See Morrison’s Supergods comment about this in Part One of my review. She transforms him into a pig and a donkey, the same fate that befell the Argonauts at her hand. But the joke's on her; he can just reshape himself into human form. “Are you my mom?” is a line spoken by the piglet protagonist in the 1995 film Babe.




Superman, noting of how Luthor convinces Joker to resurrect the victims of his plot, tells Luthor that “There is a good man in there somewhere.” This notion will resurface down the line in All-Star Superman. Also, Luthor claims that he shaves his head as a matter of choice. This is at odds with old DC lore that depicted Luthor's baldness as involuntary. Was "Luthor shaves" canonical 1998? If so, it contradicts the Luthor which Morrison will write in All-Star Superman, who is hairless, including a lack of eyebrows.



In a lengthy Epilogue, Morrison sets up the cosmic nature of his over-arching story. The “real” Metron arrives to remove the Philosopher’s Stone from the mortal realm for the time being. He tours the history of the universe, talks with the watchful heroes of Wonderworld, and delivers the Worlogog to Hourman in the 853rd century. (Note that Hourman has many clocks, none of them showing the same time.) Hourman talks with a shadowed figure whom we will later learn is Kal Kent, the Superman of the 853rd century and leader of Justice Legion A, the JLA of the future. Morrison gets his plates spinning for the DC One Million event which will unfold a few months from now…



At the end of issue #15 Superman announces the need to disband the JLA, but what he means, according to Christopher Priest’s subsequent story in JLA Secret Files #2, is that Huntress, Zauriel, and Steel are being added to the squad, while Aztek is leaving. The last remnants of the pre-Morrison League have been swept away.

If I can be nitpicky, Atom's riding of a photon shouldn't have worked. The light may have penetrated Darkseid's shield but he should have been bounced back, no?

We can make up a reason like "becoming as small as a photon allowed Atom to penetrate the shield" but then we're tempted to ask questions like "Why does harmless visible light lasers penetrate Darkseid's shield bidirectionally, and his omega beams can zig out, but lasers can't get in?" and at that point, we're better just saying, "Eh, comic books. Pew pew!"

New Year’s Evil: Prometheus #1 “There Was a Crooked Man” (February 1998)

Creative Team: Written by Grant Morrison. Pencils by Arnie Jorgensen. Ink by Dave Meikis.



The Story: The villain Prometheus tells his biography: A wild couple raises their son while committing a string of robberies over the course of many years. When he’s a teen, they die in a shootout with the cops. He studies hard at an exclusive prep school, then masters combat, then travels to Tibet to explore the mystic kingdom of Shamballa with a local lama. Now he has a Cosmic Key that transports him to his secret hideout in the Ghost Zone. He murders a “visit the JLA Watchtower” contest winner and assumes his form, ready to go make his big splash on the villain scene by killing the JLA…

My Two Cents: This was a one-shot with art by Arnie Jorgenson and Dave Meikis. Morrison’s JLA was selling very well, and he had the clout to request spin-offs like this to tell background stories without slowing the progression of the main JLA title. Eight New Years Evil stories were published altogether in late 1997. Mark Waid used one to give further back story on his Kingdom Come character Gog, while John Byrne’s Darkseid issue tied in with his stint on Wonder Woman.

If Morrison’s heroes represent Greek gods, then clearly they’ll be going up against gods, because villains define the hero. Morrison has already used Darkseid and the New Gods as foils.

Prometheus’ high school looks like the sort of fancy boys’ school that Morrison attended in Scotland. See further discussion of Allan Glen School in my Flex Mentallo #1 write up.



This issue also features Retro, a hero wannabe with a Silver Age outlook and catchphrase: “Here Comes Justice!” that reminds me that Morrison also used “Here Comes Tomorrow” as an X-Men arc title. I bet “Here comes X” is a phrase with pop culture significance in Morrison's childhood. Retro disparagingly references unheroic heroes with claws (Wolverine) and chains (Spawn).