Justice League Adventures #2
DC Comics (February, 2002)
“More Human Than Human”
WRITER: Paul Storrie
PENCILER: Craig Rousseau
INKER: Wayne Faucher
COLORIST: John Kaliz
SEPARATIONS: Heroic Age
LETTERER: Kurt Hathaway
ASSISTANT EDITOR: Steve Wacker
EDITOR: Dan Raspier
A group of women with magic staves attack museums around the country, splitting the Justice League into teams of two to stop them all. This is just after a gas attack at one particular museum, which J’onn realizes is the the real target. The leader, the Serpent Queen, wants to restore dinosaurs to life as part of her plan to bring the ancient god Tiamat back to Earth. J’onn manages to scuttle her plans and solve the bickering between his teammates by having them spend time with kids who were at the previous attack. While J’onn considers himself an outsider he may also learn he’s not that far different from humans.
What they got right: The artist does this neat thing where detective John Jones’ (his secret identity) reflection is J’onn (his Martian Manhunter form) not to show who he really is but to reflect how apart he feels from the humans he lives with. The visit with the kids is a reminder of who and what they fight for, which is what DC used to be good at. The Daughters Of Tiamat are a decent enemy and I like J’onn’s idea for disrupting the “queen’s” plan.
What they got wrong: I don’t know, maybe it’s still a sting from Justice League 52 but the bickering seemed a bit forced. Yes, I see Wonder Woman DCAU getting a bit annoyed with Flash’s antics but not to this level. I’m not sure what Batman is on about, and Green Lantern and Hawkgirl’s bickering makes no sense at all given how their adventure went.
Recommendation: A pretty decent Justice League story. Worth a read.