This week is going to be dedicated to the darker imitations.
T While a couple of these
dudes aren’t bad, they do have qualities that are a bit worrisome to others
around them. Then, you get to the unrepentant sons of guns. These nutjobs I’ll
get to this week don’t care about nice stuff. They’re selfish, psychotic, and
all-around not very nice.
First up is Ultraman from DC Comics. He is from an alternate
Earth (either Earth-3 or an Anti-Matter Earth) and is part the Crime Syndicate
of America, an evil version of the Justice League of America. You got to see
some of his badness back in Final Crisis: Superman Beyond. Yeah, he was the
version of Superman who was about to pop a vein in every panel he’s in. The
original Earth-3 version has recently made a return in the New 52. Forever
Evil, DC’s first major crossover in about 2 years (not counting crossovers
between the Superman and Batman families), brought back the original group with
a few exceptions.
In the event, the Justice League is taken out by the
Syndicate. The Syndicate then takes over the world and tries to get all of the
villains to side with them. Only a few folk like Batman, Lex Luthor, Captain
Cold, and Black Adam are left to stand against the team. The event was okay for
the most part, but I might get to that some other day. Justice League #24 was a
tie-in to the event and featured Ultraman as the main feature. The man known as
Geoff Johns penned the issue. The awesome pencils (yeah, I liked it) is
provided by the awesomeness known as Ivan Reis.
Justice League #24
Writer: Geoff Johns
Pencils: Ivan Reis
Inks: Joe Prado, Oclair Albert, and Eber Ferreria
Colors: Rod Reis
Letters: Nick J. Napolitano
Editor: Kate Stewart and Brian Cunningham
"Forever Strong"
The issue actually starts out with Kal-il‘s (Ultraman’s Kryptonian name) origin. It mirrors Superman’s origin, but his parents and everyone on Krypton are complete tools. Even Kal-il’s father is brash toward the boy. He gets sent in his rocket toward Earth with recordings of his father’s horrid ramblings and Kryptonite. For those who missed out on Ultraman’s use of Kryptonite in Forever Evil #1, the stuff’s not deadly to him. He crashes on Earth at the Kents’ farm and they look pretty dreadful themselves. To anyone who complains about the Jon and Martha’s portrayals in the new movies, I say this: it can be much worse. Baby Kal-il comes out his ship talking and makes them be his parents. He ultimately kills them later on.
The issue actually starts out with Kal-il‘s (Ultraman’s Kryptonian name) origin. It mirrors Superman’s origin, but his parents and everyone on Krypton are complete tools. Even Kal-il’s father is brash toward the boy. He gets sent in his rocket toward Earth with recordings of his father’s horrid ramblings and Kryptonite. For those who missed out on Ultraman’s use of Kryptonite in Forever Evil #1, the stuff’s not deadly to him. He crashes on Earth at the Kents’ farm and they look pretty dreadful themselves. To anyone who complains about the Jon and Martha’s portrayals in the new movies, I say this: it can be much worse. Baby Kal-il comes out his ship talking and makes them be his parents. He ultimately kills them later on.
Now this is indoctrination!
We then see him form the Crime Syndicate with the others and
have an “interesting” relationship with Superwoman. They do take over their
world but it gets decimated by some powerful force. I’d tell you who did it,
but I’ll keep that to myself. Because of the events in Trinity War, they were
brought into the main DC universe which brings us to the present day. Ultraman
and Grid (Cyborg’s counterpart) do some talking about an incident in Khandaq.
Grid tells Ultraman to head over to Khandaq, but Ultraman has something he
wants to take care of first.
Oh crap...
He heads to our world’s Daily Planet and accosts everyone
there. He especially puts Jimmy Olsen through the wringer and even breaks
his hand. Lois and the others try to stop him, but Sir Douchey McDouchens
won’t let up. Grid contacts Ultraman and tells him that the threat from Khandaq
is coming right for him. The action starts up as Black Adam takes Ultraman out
of the DP and starts wailing on him. Unfortunately, Ultraman isn’t too phased
and the story ends there only to be continued in Forever Evil #3. Yay…
We better see something like this when that Shazam movie gets made! Bring it on, Warner Bros.!
…………………………………………………………………….
While that fight probably could have been here since Forever
Evil’s art wasn’t that good, this was a good issue. In fact, all of the tie-ins
from this book were pretty good. We get an idea of what made Ultraman be such a
horrible person in a span of a few pages. We also get in his head a bit and see
how he views his team, his lover, and this new Earth they’re ruling. He is
truly the opposite of what Superman stands for right down to the addiction to
green kryptonite. As someone once said, it’s “a hell of a drug.” It was nuts
seeing him interact with Clark’s supporting cast.
The cameo of Black Adam was pretty cool and ties into the
main book pretty well. The artwork was really good here. Ivan Reis and the rest
of the guys always brought their best to the title and it shows here. The
action is cool and the smaller moments are good as well. It makes me wish these
guys actually did the artwork on the main crossover book since it wasn’t that
good. I keep saying that, don’t I? Maybe I will look at Forever Evil one of
these days.
Overall, this was a nice tie-in. It provided some good
insight to one of the big villains of the Crime Syndicate and had some good art
to boot. Next time’s homage may or may not be this bad
though. Who is it? You’ll find out later. Peace, God Bless, and don’t do
Kryptonite, kids. It'll turn you into a psycho.
"I'm one of the baddest villains of all time! I'm the best-looking mutha sucka you'll ever see! Hold my drink, Superwoman!"
Now all we need is Lex Luthor in the role of Charlie Murphy.
NEXT TIME: AMERICA’S SUPERMAN?
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