Well, I got three more posts for this month, so I’m going
out some of the big ones. Next up, we got one of my favorite superhero teams:
The Justice League. You can throw “of America,” “Elite”, “International,” “Task
Force,” or “Dark” at the end of that phrase. Just don’t use “Extreme” and we’ll
be good. The team first appeared in comics in The Brave and the Bold #28. The
idea DC had was to reintroduce a then-modern version of the Justice Society of
America. They just changed the name and threw in all of the major heroes like
the Flash, Green Lantern, Wonder Woman, Martian Manhunter, Aquaman, Superman,
and Batman. Over the years, a lot more heroes were added. They eventually got
put into their own book, Justice League of America, and the rest was history.
The team also made it to TV and movies. They’ve been in
stuff like The Super Friends, they headlined their own show for years, and
they’ve had a lot of animated movies done about them. They’ve also been put in
live-action. There was the recent 2017 movie, Smallville, and some weird
variety show from 1979. In 2007, there was a movie that was in production
called Justice League: Mortal, but that never came to be. There’s also the
failed pilot from the 90’s. They’ve also made it to the video games and have
had quite a few games released featuring them.
Since Superman is the theme of the month, I thought I’d look
at an episode from Justice League. “Hereafter” was a season 2 episode. Season 2
is probably one the best seasons for the show overall. It was written by Dwayne
McDuffie, a cool writer who is unfortunately no longer with us. So, what
happens to the League when a member is lost?
Part 1 starts out with the Superman Revenge Squad (Metallo,
Livewire, Kalibak, Toyman, and Weather Wizard) meeting and swearing vengeance
on the Man of Steel. They then attack Metropolis to draw Superman out. What
they get instead is the Justice League since Superman is busy. It’s not an easy
battle but it does end somewhat quick. Unfortunately, things get bad when
Toyman uses his robot’s disintegrator beam to cause some serious damage. He’s
about to kill Wonder Woman when Superman takes the blast for her and is
disintegrated. Everyone is shocked, and Wonder Woman almost kills Toyman, but
Flash keeps her from doing it.
Powerful, sad moment. Also a nice moment for Flash.
A funeral is held for Superman and everyone (even most of
his supporting cast from STAS) comes to it. The only member who doesn’t show is
Batman since he’s holding out that Superman is still alive. Later, the League
is at the Watchtower remembering the good times when “The Main Man,” Lobo,
comes to visit. He wants to join the League, but they don’t want him. A fight
breaks out, but it’s stopped when it’s revealed that Metropolis is under siege
by supervillains. Batman is already there, so the League and Lobo head on down and
put a stop to it. Unknown to them all… Superman is alive on another planet.
Part 2 begins with Superman waking up. It turns out that
Toyman’s device was a teleporting device. He realizes that the planet he and
the stuff Toyman teleported has a red sun, so Clark’s powers are leaving.
Grabbing all he can, he uses the car that was teleported there and goes on a
trip. The League’s transponder is active, so he follows it. Once the car runs
out of gas, he gets to scavenging. He runs into a band of dog-like beasts and
is able to tame them into sled dogs. Weeks pass and Superman eventually reaches
a city. He’s shocked to find the Watchtower and other, bigger beasts. He
accesses the Watchtower’s computer but gets another shock: Vandal Savage
(albeit a less evil one) shows up and tells him that he is in Earth’s future.
Kal-El and Savage are... Men With Great Facial Hair!
Savage tells Superman that he did something in the past that
killed the League and caused the whole solar
system to go out of whack. Since it’s been 30,000 years, he realizes that he
screwed up big time. The two talk while Superman sees what Savage has done with
his time. It turns out he even created a time machine and Superman wonders if
he can get sent back to before Savage did what he did. Savage agrees to help
him and after they acquire Savage’s power source from creatures, they’re able
to use the machine. After they say their goodbyes, Superman is then teleported
back to the time where the League is having their battle in Metropolis. The
League is happy to see Clark and they go presumably to stop Vandal Savage in
the past. The episode ends with future Savage fading out of existence in favor
for a better future.
……………………………………….
This was an awesome episode. A few years ago, I made a list
of my favorite JL/JLU episodes. This one was at #2, and after re-watching it,
it’s easy to see why. What we get is essentially a mish-mash between the “Funeral
for a Friend” and “Exile” storylines. The first part works in that we get to
see how the League and others react to Superman’s death. Bruce doesn’t handle it
well and has one of the best lines of the show: “You taught me that justice
doesn’t always come from the darkness.” We also get to see a lot of Superman’s
supporting cast and villains from Superman: The Animated Series. While I’m not
a big fan of Lobo, it was cool and funny to see him show up and wreck the place.
Then, we get to the second part where Superman goes all-barbarian
on us. Not only does he grow some long hair and an awesome beard, he must make
due without his powers. It’s probably one of the better showings of Superman in
anything. It shows that it’s not just his powers that make him special and that
he can do other things. Seeing him getting dirty was cool. I also liked what was
done with Vandal Savage here. You got the idea that his actions in destroying
Earth really changed him. It was Phil Morris’s last time as Savage on the show,
and he makes it a memorable one.
Here's more of the bearded Superman. Could we get more of this?
There really isn’t anything wrong with the episode, per se.
The animation and action works. The pacing in both parts work for the most
part. The pacing in part 2 can be a little rushed, but this is a 22-minute
episode. Things gotta happen. Even Lobo, who I don’t like, was a hoot. I will
say that it would have been nice to see Superman’s supporting cast react to his
return, but that’s not a knock against the episode. Overall, this is one of the
best episodes from this strong season and the show in general.
The Justice League isn’t exactly a big piece for Superman,
but they are an important one. The League gives Clark a place to do his job in
protecting the world. It’s also nice to see him interact with other heroes. Sometimes,
it’s on a professional level. It can be on a personal level as well since he
can let them know more about his life. Well, I got two more folk to get to in
this month. They both have nice moments in this episode, so that should give
you a hint. Until then, Peace, God Bless, and don’t destroy the world. We only have
one to play around with.
NEXT TIME: SUPERMAN AND BATMAN TAKE OVER THE WORLD!!!
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