INDEX PART 1:
SECRET ORIGINS 32 (Peter David/Eric Shanower. The new post-crisis origin for the JLA. MUST READ!!
SECRET ORIGINS 46 (Grant Morrison, origin of JLA's mountain HQ)
BATMAN ANNUAL 14 (Andy Helfer, Chris Sprouse, Two-Face origin)
SECRET ORIGINS 2 (Roy Thomas, Gil Kane, Blue Beetle origins)
JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA 258-261(The End Of The Justice League Of America)
JM DeMatteis, Luke McDonnell
Members: Vibe, Gypsy, Steel, Vixen, Jonn Jonnz.
runs concurrently with LEGENDS MINISERIES.
LEGENDS 1-6 (John Ostrander, John Byrne)
JUSTICE LEAGUE 1 (Editor, Andy Helfer, Keith Giffen, JM DeMatteis, Kevin Maguire)
FIRESTORM 64, Annual 5 (John Ostrander, Tom Orchezowski, JL vs. Suicide Squad vs. Firestorm)
recommended: this whole storyline, Firestorm 55-64, Annual 5, 65.
JUSTICE LEAGUE 2-4
JUSTICE LEAGUE ANNUAL 1 (Giffen, Dematteis, Bill Willingham)
JUSTICE LEAGUE 5-7 (with 7, becomes JUSTICE LEAGUE INTERNATIONAL)
recommended: DR FATE miniseries 1-4, DeMatteis, Giffen art. This guest stars the JL and sets up the DR. FATE ongoing by DeMatteis/McManus.
Also recommended: DC Comics Presents #88. Since the Creeper appears in JL #5-7, this issue with Giffen art makes a nice introduction to the character.
JUSTICE LEAGUE INTERNATIONAL 8-12, (involved in DC's MILLENIUM crossover)
recommended, SECRET ORIGINS 22, Roy Thomas, Manhunters)
JUSTICE LEAGUE/SUICIDE SQUAD crossover,
JUSTICE LEAGUE 13
SUICIDE SQUAD 13
Recommended: MARTIAN MANHUNTER miniseries, JM DeMatteis, Mark Badger)
JUSTICE LEAGUE INTERNATIONAL Annual 2
JUSTICE LEAGUE INTERNATIONAL 14-15 (Steve Leiahola art, Manga Khan and Lobo)
JUSTICE LEAGUE INTERNATIONAL 16-17 (Kevin Maguire returns, vs Queen Bee)
JUSTICE LEAGUE INTERNATIONAL 18-21 (vs Manga Khan and New Gods, Templeton art on 20, 21)
INVASION CROSSOVER EVENT:
INVASION #1
JLI 22
recommended tie-in: Animal Man 6
INVASION 2
JLI 23
Recommended: Animal Man 7
Doom Patrol 17 (Aquaman, Sea Devils, Gene Bomb goes off)
INVASION 3
JLI 24 (sets up the reorganization to Justice League America and Justice League Europe)
recommended: ANIMAL MAN 9, BLASTERS SPECIAL 1 (Peter David, Jim Fern), FLASH annual 3, LEGION 89 #1
JLI 25 (first McKone art) Beetle and Booster encounter a Vampire named Caitiff.
Caitiff had first appeared in Action Comics #577, written by Keith Giffen and Robert Loren Fleming, art by Giffen.
Starting with #26, the JL title becomes JUSTICE LEAGUE AMERICA
Notes on Index part 1:
Descriptions of the Giffen/DeMatteis era as a bunch of cheap jokes are highly inaccurate. The book was a good mix of drama and humor, much more along the lines of Peter David's run on INCREDIBLE HULK.
SECRET ORIGINS 32 (Peter David/Eric Shanower, new post crisis origin for the JLA, MUST READ!!)
This story is beautifully drawn, and a lot of fun.
SECRET ORIGINS 46 (Grant Morrison, origin of JLA's mountain HQ) A good reflection of the creativity that was thriving at DC at the time.
BATMAN ANNUAL 14 (Andy Helfer, Chris Sprouse, Two-Face origin)
I include this because Andy Helfer was Giffen and DeMatteis’ editor, and he didn't write comics very often. This story was a brilliant origin for Two-Face, and it sets the tone for Batman's character very well for the Batman who would appear in JL titles.
SECRET ORIGINS 2 (Roy Thomas, Gil Kane, Blue Beetle) The Gil Kane art is great, and it gives a decent background history on Ted Kord and Dan Garrett, his predecessor as Blue Beetle.
"THE END OF THE JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA"
JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #258-261, 1986.
The members at this time were Vibe, Gypsy, Vixen, Steel, and J'onn J'onnz. Batman, Zatanna, Aquaman, and the Elongated Man also did guest stints with this crew, but all of them had left prior to this storyline. This storyline runs during the LEGENDS miniseries.
This storyline is written by JM DeMatteis, and involves a deadly plot by Professor Ivo to destroy the JLA. Very dramatic and well done, with an unusual ending. Vibe, who had been handled badly and was not liked by many fans, is given his best portrayal. I think if he'd always been written so well, he wouldn't have been so disliked. Vibe and Steel, who had been somewhat temperamental as a member of the JLA, meet tragic fates. The real sadness of death, the lost potential of those who die prematurely, is vividly portrayed.
What is left of the JLA at the end of this story disbands, and the new group informally forms up for the first time in LEGENDS.
LEGENDS
LEGENDS 1-6
Writer: John Ostrander
Penciller: John Byrne
A follow-up to CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS, meant to give the newly revised DC Universe a kick start and launch several titles, including FLASH (now with Wally West), WONDER WOMAN, JUSTICE LEAGUE, SUICIDE SQUAD, and SHAZAM.
Darkseid plots to defeat Earth's heroes and enslave the planet by turning earth's population against their own super-powered people. During the course of this story, a new Justice League forms, consisting of Black Canary, Martian Manhunter, Dr. Fate, Blue Beetle, Captain Marvel, and Green Lantern (Guy Gardner). They don't get much focus during the story.
NOTE: The CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS revised DC History. All of the pre-crisis stories were said to still exist as DC's past history, but with changes here and there. Nowhere was this more problematic than with Hawkman, Wonder Woman, Wonder Girl, and the Legion of Superheroes.
In the Pre-Crisis DCU, Wonder Woman was a contemporary of Barry Allen and Hal Jordan, and founded the original JLA with they, J’onn J’onnz, and Aquaman, with Batman and Superman often on the team.
However, in the Post-Crisis DCU, Wonder Woman is not to become known about or active until the Legends series. Superman had never been a JLA member, and Batman had only joined the JLA sporadically. Wonder Woman is replaced in JLA history with Black Canary.
JUSTICE LEAGUE (new series) #1-7.
Writers: Giffen and DeMatteis
Editor: Andy Helfer
Artist: Kevin Maguire.
The same team from Legends forms, manipulated by Maxwell Lord, who appears here for the first time. Batman, the new Dr. Light (a Japanese woman), and Mr. Miracle also join.
In their first adventure, they confront a suicide bomber at the UN.
FIRESTORM 64 and annual 5
The new JL shows up at the end of FIRESTORM 64, which continues in FIRESTORM Annual 5, where the JL battles the new Suicide Squad. This is significant for a number of reasons.:
1. This storyline, including FIRESTORM 55-64, annual 5, -65, is one of the best Firestorm stories, one of the best of the new post-crisis titles, some of John Ostrander's best mainstream work (which is saying something), and sets up the later JL/Suicide Squad crossover around JL 13.
Next, in JL 2, they intervene in Russia when Russian missile silos are attacked by a group of anti-nuke heroes from another dimension, where their earth was destroyed by nuclear weapons. This group had appeared in the JLA comic once or twice before. They are a thinly disguised version of Marvel comic's Avengers, Thor, Scarlet Witch and Ant-Man, called Wandjina, Silver Sorceress, and Bluejay. The Extremists, who later appear in the JLE series, are from this same Marvelesque world, and mirror some of Marvel’s most powerful villains.
Booster Gold joins in #4, as a pawn of Max Lord.
JL Annual 1 happens between JL 4 and 5. The heroes fight an alien virus that controls minds, pitting the entire league against Jonn.
In JL #5, the famous confrontation between Guy Gardner and Batman takes place.
In JL #5-7, The League fight a mystical agent of the Lords of Order called the Grey Man. It is in this story that J.M. DeMatteis really exerts his full poetic abilities. His narrative told from the Grey Man's point of view is stunning, poetic, and chilling. Maguire's realistic art really adds to the effect.
This story leads nicely into the Dr Fate miniseries by Giffen and Dematteis. During this miniseries, the torch is passed from Kent Nelson to a young man named Eric, and the love of his life, Linda, who must merge when they transform into Fate. Kent Nelson dies, and Nabu remains in his reanimated body to coach the young couple and to learn about being human. This miniseries was 4 issues, followed by a wonderful ongoing series by DeMatteis and Sean McManus that lasted 24 issues before being revamped with a new creative team.
By #7, The team has garnered such national attention that Max Lord is able to get them United Nations sponsorship on the condition that they take on Captain Atom and Rocket Red as members. Dr. Light, Dr. Fate, and Shazam leave the team. The title of the book changes to JUSTICE LEAGUE INTERNATIONAL. Sometime after this, Captain Atom tells Blue Beetle a bunch of lies about a shared past he had teaming up with Beetle's predecessor Dan Garrett. This is in CAPTAIN ATOM #20. Beetle later discovers that these are lies. None of this happens in the JLI titles, but it is referenced.
JLI 9 and 10 are crossover issues with MILLENIUM, a miniseries written by Steve Englehart involving the Green Lanterns, Guardians, and Manhunters. These issues also star Hawkman, Hawkwoman, Superman, and Hal Jordan as Green Lantern. With Kevin Maguire art, it's a treat to see his renditions of the old school characters. The Hawkman and Hawkwoman who appear here would soon after have to be revised as Thanagarian spies, and not Katar Hol and Shayera Thal.
Overall, the MILLENIUM crossover did not have the impact that CRISIS and LEGENDS had. Its cool reception from the fans was possibly due to the lack of a top tier artist.
(It's probably hard for newer readers to imagine a time when comics art paled in comparison to what's on the stands today. Ever since the Image Comics explosion in the early '90's, there has been a wide pool of impressive talent for companies to choose from, but prior to that, the talent was pretty sparse, and most of the comics from that time that a reader of today might pick up would seem to have very pedestrian art.)
This is why John Byrne, George Perez, Steve Rude, and Barry Windsor-Smith were so revered; at the time, they were the only game in town. It's also why Kevin Maguire was so admired, because his art really was something special, head and shoulders above the rest. Unfortunately, he would be overshadowed entirely by Todd McFarlane, who would of course use his powers for evil, rather than good.
The JUSTICE LEAGUE/SUICIDE SQUAD crossover. This was a great story. Batman is portrayed at his most maddening here; conflicted, inflexible, and just on the edge of giving into monstrous rage. Not to spoil anything, but the fight between Batman and Rick Flagg (leader of the Suicide Squad) is one of my favorite fights in comics, my favorite Batman moments, and one of my favorite DC moments. This story takes place after the death of Jason Todd, and Batman is spiraling into suicidal depression and unfocused rage. This was also going on in the BATMAN titles, and his psychological condition would only worsen until he and Dick Grayson meet Tim Drake, whose contribution to Batman's life is positive and monumental.
INVASION CROSSOVER EVENT: This is one of the best crossovers ever. The idea is that all of DC's alien races gang up to invade earth. The Khunds, The Thanagarians, The Daxamites, and the Dominators, and others I can't remember. They basically kick the crap out of the earth heroes, but when the heroes start to gain ground, a bomb is set off that incapacitates all of them. This bomb also activates powers in a bunch of normal people, creating many new heroes, including Crazy Jane in the pages of DOOM PATROL.
Grant Morrison, already writing Animal Man at this time, takes over the writing of DOOM PATROL, making it one of the strangest, most surreal, fun and interesting comics ever.
A book that would spring from INVASION was LEGION’89. This title featured Vril Dox, the son of Superman’s villain BRAINIAC, and his efforts to form an intergalactic contracted police force. The first 12 issues were written by Giffen, and feature Barry Kitson’s first mainstream artwork. This first year of the series is Giffen at his subversive best, playing with reader expectations and throwing in unexpected twists as his plot escalates at a fever pace. Dox’s manipulative abilities rival those of Machiavelli.
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INDEX PART 2
JUSTICE LEAGUE EUROPE 1-4 (New series, Giffen, DeMatteis, Bart Sears)
JLA 26-29 Templeton art
JLA 30 Willingham art
recommended: Mister Miracle 6, 7, 8 (JM DeMatteis, McKone, Phillips)
JUSTICE LEAGUE EUROPE 5
JUSTICE LEAGUE INTERNATIONAL Annual #3
McKone art in the first story.
The second half features one of the best, most defining Martian Manhunter and Batman stories by DeMatteis, with some of the worst and mismatched art ever by someone named Gula).
JLE 6
JLE annual 1
JLA/JLE CROSSOVER: "the Teasdale Imperative" (1st Adam Hughes DC art)
Dr Fate returns as a vampire infestation breaks out in Eastern Europe, masterminded by the successor to the Grey Man.
JLA 31
JLE 7
JLA 32
JLE 8-9 (#9 guest written by Bill Messner-Loebs)
JLA 33-35 (Adam Hughes art)
JLE 10- 12
JLA 36 (Tom Artis art, Scarlet Skier (parody of Marvel’s Silver Surfer)
JLA 37/JLE 13 (Furballs)
JLE 14
JLA annual 4 (Justice League Antarctica, McKone art)
(Note: around this time, Mister Miracle goes to space with Manga Khan, leaving a robot double behind. this happens in JUSTICE LEAGUE INTERNATIONAL SPECIAL 1, by Len Wein and Joe Phillips. It is not made clear in the JLA or JLE books that this is what happened, and for good reason.)
THE DESPERO ATTACK
JLA 38-40
THE EXTREMIST ATTACK
JLE 15-19 (Gerard Jones begins co-writing)
JLA 41-42 McKone art
membership drive, guest stars Hawk and Dove, Starman, and El Diablo, none of whom join. Orion and Lightray show up at the end and join.
Recommended: Hawk and Dove #20 (Maguire art)
JUSTICE LEAGUE QUARTERLY #1 (Chris Sprouse art. The Conglomerate, a group formed by Max Lord's business rival/ ex-wife Claire Montgomery, lures Booster to join them.)
JLA 43-44 (The Dark Side bar story. Adam Hughes art).
JLE 20-22, Marshall Rogers art
Justice League Quarterly 2
(Mr Nebula origin, Fire and Ice vs. Captain cold and Heat Wave)
JLA 45 (Russell Braun art, very funny story about Ice and Guy Gardner).
JLE 23-25 (Bart Sears art, Crimson fox origin)
JUSTICE LEAGUE QUARTERLY 5
PLEASE NOTE: I highly recommend reading JLIQ 5 at this point. It was actually released amid the "Breakdowns" crossover, but the stories chronologically fit better here, with only the Global Guardians story being an exception. There is an Ivo story, a Fire and Ice story, a Global Guardians story, and a General Glory story, which makes a perfect intro to the next storyline, "Glory Bound".
"GLORY BOUND"
JLA 46-47
JLIQ 3 (MUST READ!!)
JLA 48-50
JLIQ 4 Injustice League story with Jason Pearson art
JLA story that picks up 2 loose end characters from DR. FATE ongoing.
recommended: STARMAN 35 (Peter David, Mon El, Mister Nebula)
JLA 51 (Adam Hughes art)
JLE 26-28 Starro the Conqueror, Bart Sears art.
JLA 52. Guy/Beetle confrontation, Max Lord shot.
Notes on Index part 2
JUSTICE LEAGUE EUROPE 1-4 (New series, Giffen, DeMatteis, Bart Sears)
JLE consists of Captain Atom, Flash, Rocket Red, Power Girl, Elongated Man, Metamorpho, and (for a very short time) Wonder Woman. Fans who wonder why Sue Dibny has so many fans need only read issues of JLE.
In the JLE's first adventure, they come into conflict with The Queen Bee, who had taken over the middle eastern country of Bialya in JLI 16-17. There is also in the early issues a brillant, touching story of Wally and Ralph Dibny finally having it out over Dibny's constant picking on Wally, and it comes out that Dibny's been pushing Wally toward the confrontation to help him talk out his pain over Barry Allen's death. Another of my favorite DC moments, and easily Ralph Dibny's best story.
JLA 26-29 Templeton art
Ty Templeton’s more cartoony art mutes (a little) what is a good, horrific suspense story. Beetle goes on a murderous rampage under a post-hypnotic suggestion from Queen Bee. Batman and Suicide Squad's Amanda Waller try to snap Beetle out of it but almost kill him in the process. “Kent”/Nabu/the former Dr Fate is brought in to help.
JLA 30 Willingham art: One of my favorite New Gods stories. Barda's car is stolen by street punks, and one of them gets a hold of her Mega-Rod. The rod influences him to go on a spree of destruction, he kills his gangs's enemies and then his own friends, and by the time he's defeated (by the Huntress) his face is a skeletal mask and his body's wasted away. Throughout, his internal monologue reveals that he's hearing a voice in his head, and that it's Darkseid's.
JUSTICE LEAGUE INTERNATIONAL Annual #3
Mike McKone art.
also features one of the best, most defining Martian Manhunter and Batman stories by DeMatteis, with some of the worst and mismatched art ever by someone named Gula.
THE DESPERO ATTACK
JLA 38-40
Things turn deadly as Despero returns to Earth and slaughter's Gypsy's family. The JLA stand almost no chance against him. Mister Miracle is killed, and Giff/Dematteis's handling of his funeral is incredible.
Orion shows up at the end, and although his scene at Scott's grave is all too brief, it is beautiful.
> THE EXTREMIST ATTACK
> JLE 15-19 (Gerard Jones begins co-writing)
The JLE is trashed by villains from another dimension, the same alternate earth that Silver Sorceress, Wandjina, and Bluejay from JL 2-4 are from. Just as those heroes were take-offs of Marvel heroes, the Extremists are take-offs of Marvel's most formidable villains:
Lord Havok/Dr.Doom
Doc Diehard/Magneto
Dreamslayer/both Nightmare and Dormammuu
Gorgon/Doc Ock
Trapper/Sabretooth and Kraven.
Gerard Jones’ writing contribution to this era is often overlooked. At the end of the Extremist saga, he takes the reins writing JLE, and maintains the spirit and quality very nicely while putting his own personal stamp on the stories. At the time, he had also written the entire run of the post-crisis GREEN LANTERN series all the way up to Ron Marz’s taking over the book with the notorious EMERALD TWILIGHT story arc.
> JUSTICE LEAGUE QUARTERLY #1 (Chris Sprouse art, the "Conglomerate", a group formed by Max Lord's business rival/ ex-wife Claire Montgomery)
This story is good and dramatic, Gypsy and Booster are members of the Conglomerate team, as is Vibe's younger brother.
JLA 43-44: The “Dark Side” bar story. This story features a bar where supervillains go in costume to hang out, staffed by waitresses who have to dress up as DC superheroines while they serve drinks. It has been often imitated, even by Alan Moore, who created “Clark’s Bar” during his run on Wildstorm’s WILDC.A.T.S, and most recently by Matt Fraction in PUNISHER WAR JOURNAL, in the Stilt-Man funeral issue.
JLA 45 (Russell Braun art, very funny story about Ice and Guy Gardner). This might be the funniest single issue of a comic I've ever read. Guy takes Ice on a date, but lets her pick the place. Things go very, very wrong, thanks to help from Beetle and Booster.
JLE 23-25 (Bart Sears art, Crimson fox origin)
JUSTICE LEAGUE QUARTERLY 5
PLEASE NOTE: I highly recommend reading JLIQ 5 at this point. It was actually released amid the "Breakdowns" crossover, but the stories chronologically fit better here, with only the Global Guardians story being an exception. There is an Ivo story, a Fire and Ice story, a Global Guardians story, and a General Glory story, which makes a perfect intro to the next storyline, "Glory Bound".
"GLORY BOUND"
JLA 46-47
JLIQ 3 (MUST READ!!)
In this story, the heroes travel across dimensions and back in time. They first visit the world the extremists are from, and see even more marvel parodies, then back in time to witness one of the earliest meetings of the original JLA. Captain Atom forbids Wally to make their presence known by communicating with Barry Allen.
Supplemental reading:
Secret Origins 33 (Martian Manhunter, Fire, Ice)
Secret Origins 34 (Rocket Red, Captain Atom, G'nort)
Secret Origins 35 (Martian Manhunter, Max Lord, Booster Gold)
Captain Atom #20 (reveals how Captain Atom manipulated Beetle, and is the source of Beetle's distrust of him)
Booster Gold #22 an interesting, tragic issue.
Marvel comics: WHAT THE?!?!?! #7, a good parody of the JLA and the Avengers.
Mister Miracle series (JM DeMatteis)
Dr Fate Miniseries and on going (Giffen, DeMatteis)
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INDEX PART 3
It is at this time, immediately after JLA 52, that the Breakdowns storyline begins. This is basically a dismantling of the whole Justice League International concept, and of Giffen/DeMatteis's ideas for the books. "Breakdowns" runs through JLA, JLE, and some issues of GREEN LANTERN, and is mixed up with DC's ARMAGEDDON 2001 and WAR OF THE GODS crossovers. Overall, a big mess, with revolving artists and odd ideas.
BREAKDOWNS properly begins in JLA 52, in which Beetle and Guy try to settle their differences in a boxing match, which ends in disaster. Then, on the last page, Maxwell Lord is shot by an unknown assassin.
After that, the members end up in turmoil as the UN appoints a secretary, based on former UN secretary general Kurt Waldheim, to supervise them (who might have been interesting at least on a villainous level if he wasn't drawn so silly looking). Throughout breakdowns the leagues also come in to conflict with the Queen Bee of Bialya, Despero, Lobo, and the extremists, and get embroiled in the ARMAGEDDON2001 and the WAR OF THE GODS crossover events. Breakdowns checklist is as follows:
JLA 53
JLE 29
JLA 54
JLE 30
JLA 55
JLE 31
JLA 56 (Green Lantern 18 ties in to this issue. Awesome cover.)
JLE 32
JLA 57
JLE 33
JLA 58
JLE 34
JLA 59
JLE 35
JLA 60 (Kevin Maguire art)
JLE 36
This would end the Giffen/DeMatteis era. What would happen next would be a relaunch of the JLA and JLE titles, With Superman, Batman, Maxima, and (sporadically) Wonder Woman joining JLA, and Aquaman, Hal Jordan, and the female Dr. Light joining JLE. Beetle, Booster, Fire, Ice, Metamorpho, Crimson Fox and the Elongated Man remained on their respective teams. Dan Jurgens handled the art and writing on JLA, Gerard Jones wrote and Ron Randall Drew JLE. ARMAGEDDON: INFERNO (in which the original JSA return from DC’s Asgard) and ECLIPSO: THE DARKNESS WITHIN (which features some killer Bart Sears art and a chilling Giffen penned story) both occur during this era.
Related to Breakdowns, The following issues are good reads:
ARMAGEDDON 2001: This story involved a time traveling energy hero, Waverider, who came from the future to prevent the rise of a super-powered despot called Monarch. All Waverider knew was that Monarch was one of our present day heroes, so he went around touching each hero and reading their possible futures. Each title released an annual showing what Waverider saw for each hero.
ARMAGEDDON 2001 #1
JLA annual 5 (Maguire, Sprouse, Jurgens guest art)
FLASH annual 4
JLE annual 2 (Marshall Rogers, Giffen, Curt Swan art, leads into A2001 #2)
ARMAGEDDON 2001 #2.
After Breakdowns is over, Maguire returns for a farewell issue, JLA #60, date March 92. Jonn Jonnz leaves the league and earth.
A GUY AND HIS GNORT was a storyline that ran in the Post-Crisis GREEN LANTERN series, issues #9-12, 1991. It pre-dates "BREAKDOWNS by a couple of months, but adds a little focus to the whole "tearing down the house" thing, and makes kind of a good addition. The story involves Guy reluctantly saddled with poor G'nort, as they discover a plot by the weaponers of Qward, who've infiltrated G'nort's home planet. Guy gets to let loose and really kick some tail.
Post-Breakdowns, Gerard Jones (in addition to continuing on Green Lantern), would write an outstanding second GL title, GREEN LANTERN: MOSAIC, starring John Stewart, with art by Cully Hamner. This series fcused on John’s struggle to maintain security on the Mosaic world, where a mad Guardian had placed several abducted cities from different planets. All the different alien races had a great deal of difficulty getting along, and John had to use his head to avert catastrophe and get the different races to connect peacefully. This overlooked series was wonderful, with every issue being something special. Readers of the Giffen/DeMatteis/Jones era in search of the same kind of quality and intelligence should check this out.
Giffen would focus his energies on his LEGION OF THE SUPERHEROES revamp, a complicated, intriguing take on the destruction of a society. DeMatteis would return to Marvel and do some amazing work on SPECTACULAR SPIDERMAN with incredible artwork by Sal Buscema, best showcased in his initial arc, “The Child Within”.
Finally, these are some good post "breakdowns" issues worth reading:
ELONGATED MAN. A 4 issue miniseries by Gerard Jones and the late Mike Parobeck, showcasing Ralph and Sue as they vacation in Europe and run afoul of Sonar. This sonar is different from the Sonar featured in JLA 43-44, and is best viewed as a more dangerous cousin.
Justice League Quarterly #6 features a good short story by John Ostrander about how Beetle gets motivated to lose weight.
Justice League Task Force 7-8 (Peter David, Sal Velluto) An all female team has a conflict with an all female alien race. Jonn Jonnz must switch genders.
Martian Manhunter 24
JLA Incarnations 5-6
(Both written by John Ostrander, homages to the Giffen DeMatteis era)
1998 JLA 80 page Giant #1 (contains a new flashback story by Giffen, DeMatteis, and Maguire, relates back to JL #5, 1986)
Suicide Squad (2001) #1
Giffen, Paco Medina. The return of the Injustice Society, later Justice League Antarctica, now Suicide Squad. Actually, this whole series is very good, and highly recommended.
And of course, the triumphant return, more than a decade later:
FORMERLY KNOWN AS THE JUSTICE LEAGUE
JLA CLASSIFIED: I CAN'T BELIEVE IT'S NOT THE JUSTICE LEAGUE.
Both miniseries were handled by Giffen, DeMatteis, and Kevin Maguire. Max, L-Ron, Booster, Beetle, Guy, and Fire, Ralph, and Sue all reunite to try out superheroing as a service industry. Unfortunately, any hopes these miniseries raised for an ongoing were crushed by DC’s odd decision to kill off many characters connected with the Giffen/DeMatteis/Jones era, including, Sue Dibny, Blue Beetle, Rocket Red, and Max Lord. In fact, most of these deaths had already taken place before the JLA CLASSIFIED:ICBINTJL miniseries was released.
Giffen, DeMatteis, and Maguire would soon after produce a six issue miniseries at Marvel, THE DEFENDERS, featuring that group’s “Big 4” line up of Dr. Strange, the Hulk, Namor, and the Silver Surfer. Giffen and Dematteis had both done some of their earliest work Marvel’s DEFENDERS title in the late 70’s and early 80’s.
