Justice League of America - Issue 13
Featuring the twin menaces of cheating robot duplicates and floating swimming pools
The Justice League (aka the Justice League of America, aka the JLA, aka Justice League International, aka Zack Snyder’s Justice League (2021)) is a collection of the DC Universe's greatest heroes (and also Green Arrow).
I talked about why I love the JLA in this piece here. Now I’m breaking down each and every issue of the comic book, from their very first appearance, with Atom-sized summaries. Enjoy!
Y’know, these Justice League of America heroes are all well and good (exception: Green Arrow), but what if they were also robots? Wouldn’t that be kinda kickass? That’s the big question posited at the heart of this issue, in which the team are summoned to an alien world to fight robot versions of themselves in order to somehow save a planet or a galaxy or some damn thing from the evil planet Skarn! Naturally, Skarn’s robots are cheating, in accordance with Asimov’s Two-And-A-Halfth Law of Robotics (‘A robot emulating a superhero must utilise all available plot mechanics to pad out the story, as long as such waffling does not conflict with the idea that we should see as little of Aquaman as possible’). Anyway, Supes points out the cheating in a typically respectful, yet forceful, manner (ie, he heat visions a transmitter), and the JLA win again.
Fun With Comics!
MVP
It’s Aquaman, who inexplicably doesn’t have a robot duplicate to fight, because the planet Skarn doesn’t have water? So he just gets to hang out and cheer on his team mates, offering them timely coaching advice from a hovering kiddie pool. Difficult to argue with.
Top Panel
Bats static-electricities the living shit out of his robot duplicate. Ha ha ha! Take that, you stupid robot.
Villain Cryptic Crossword Clue
Six killer alien robots need, primarily, to serve as villains for this issue (5)