Justice League of America - Issue 34
Featuring the twin menaces of dreamed power switches and more dreamed power switches
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!
PREVIOUSLY
Doctor Destiny, incarcerated and bored out of his mind, has developed the welcome ability to make his dreams become reality - decades before Christopher Nolan even pitched the basic premise of Inception to Warner Brothers executives. But rather than simply dream of a universe in which the JLA don’t exist and the entire DC Comics line is thereby reduced to old back issues of Sgt Rock and Bomba The Jungle Boy, the good doctor instead comes up with - and you won’t believe this - a needlessly convoluted scheme. He gives all the heroes prophetic dreams in which they each face their villains while saddled with some new, awkward handicap, then studies exactly how they overcome these handicaps, and then, uh, runs the same scenario again, slightly differently, hoping they somehow won’t adapt? So, for example, Batman gets a ring that gives him super speed, which he works around. Hawkman gets gloves that restrict him to hand-powered flight, which he also works around. Superman gets glasses that swap his Kryptonite weakness for a vulnerability to fire and yellow - a cursed trade by any measure - which he works around. Wonder Woman gets a mask that broadcasts her next move, which she also works around. And The Atom gets telescopic vision, which, yes, he works around. Destiny, having now watched five different JLA members successfully adapt to disability in their literal sleep, decides the real-world versions will go differently. They do not go differently. The JLA visit him in prison afterwards, Atom punches him in the face, and they make him see a psychiatrist. Mental health, people! Take it seriously.
Fun With Comics!
MVP
It’s The Atom, who is not going to let something as trivial as a basic understanding of how light works prevent him from coming to Wonder Woman’s rescue. Good for him. Less general relativity, Einstein, more general chivalry.
Top Panel
I don’t care what anybody says, if more modern comics had the guts to include characters sprouting lines such as ‘Gloves - hurtling straight at me!’, the world would be in much better shape.
Villain Cryptic Crossword Clue
See issue 5
Next Issue: CLOTHING COMBAT!