Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman are stranded on the prison planet Takron-Galtos, Green Lantern is Locus’ prisoner, and Flash is still dead. Things certainly do not look good for our temporally-displaced heroes, trying to survive against the strength of The Five. Not much happened last issue, sadly, the frenetic pace that ended Issue 2 of Justice League 3000 just didn’t carry over to last issue, but it picks up somewhat in “The Terrible Truth.”
Many of the questions I had in the previous three issues are answered here, and I’m left with a pretty disgusted feeling. There is much foreshadowing leading up to the big reveal by Ariel Masters regarding the origins of the 31st century Justice League, mostly coming from the battling Wonder Twins, Teri and Terry. Teri seems very calm about the circumstances surrounding the League’s origins, while Terry’s conscience has her on the verge of a nervous breakdown. The more the two spoke of the hero-creating process, the more I wanted to see what was so horribly unspeakable. My theories had gotten shot down one-by-one (I’ll go into more detail in the Spoilers), but I did not see the final reveal coming. It was a powerful moment that I think will have a large impact on the League going forward.
Locus and Green Lantern also check in, preparing for perhaps the most awkward date-night in Hal’s life. All that immaturity and out-of-control emotions that I mentioned about Locus in last issue’s review are in the spotlight again, and are even brought up by Hal in captivity. It does indeed seem like this will be a case where the only thing that can stop Locus are her own flaws. I don’t think this is very fun for the reader or The League, but Locus is just crazy-psycho-insane enough to keep me glued on what she’s doing.
There is some fun Green Lantern moments in the latter half of this issue, as he attempts a daring escape from the clutches of his alien captor. Hal is able to conjure up some imaginative and inventive creations, and his duel with Locus is ultimately both visually appealing and, on some strange level, funny. The artwork really shines in this issue, with the vibrant greens and purples of Hal’s and Locus’ abilities popping on a space background. I know I’ve said it before, but with each issue, the quality of the close-up facial work is steadily increasing. The only qualm I have about it is whenever someone is accessing a computer, they develop these weird reflections on their face which make it look as if they are made out of metal plates and rivets. It’s an odd look that I still haven’t come around on.
The story has stood somewhat still for another issue, but I’ll let that slide due to the revelation behind the League’s origins. Hopefully now that the proverbial cat is out of the bag, we can move ahead with the League’s battle against The Five. A final reveal at the end of the issue (see Spoilers) may propel the story forward in the coming issues.
- Apparently the heroes are not clones, or reanimated versions of our heroes, or anything that’s been done over and over again in the world of comics. It would seem that the Justice League are indeed normal people who have been “overwritten” by the genetic material of the League members. Nanobots (the answer for anything science-related nowadays) within the heroes’ bodies control the spread of the genetic material, effectively “killing” the host and replacing them with the hero. That’s really a horrifying process, basically deleting someone and replacing them with someone else.
- There is no way anyone who signed up for this knew what they were doing.
- When Superman, Wonder Woman, and Batman learn the names of their hosts it’s a small but intense (at least for me) moment that could have been exploited more.
- Just looking at the cover kind of gives away a massive spoiler, which is that Flash is brought back to life. So I’m getting the feeling that there will be a lot of dying/resurrecting heroes. Normally I’m not a fan of this at all in comics when it’s done to revive people for no reason, but this is an absurd comic (in a good way). So in honor of this, every time a hero dies, their death will be added to THE DEATH COUNTER. JL3K DEATH COUNTER: Flash – 1.
- Locus rips off Hal’s cloak and leaves him for dead in space. Since we do not see him die, I cannot add him to THE DEATH COUNTER, but things do not look good for Hal.
- Returning to the living at the end of the issue is Firestorm.
Favorite Quote: “Okay, let’s be honest – those bodies I stole, I’d go broke if I paid everyone!” – The Convert
Recommended If…
- You want a well-drawn space fight from Howard Porter
- You’ve been following this series so far and want to know the League’s origins.
- You don’t mind the lack of an advancing story
Overall:
“The Terrible Truth” does not solve any of our heroes’ problems, but it does create another interesting layer to the story that they will have to come to terms with.
SCORE: 8/10
