Part 8: Justice League America 70 – You could just put other clothes on though.

Credits: Words and breakdowns by Dan Jurgens, finishes by Rick Burchett and edited by Brian Augustyn.

Cast: Tora ‘Ice’ Olafsdotter, Beatrice ‘Fire’ DaCosta, Jon Michael ‘Booster Gold’ Carter, Ted ‘Blue Beetle’ Cord, Maxima, Guy Gardner, Bloodwynd, Bruce ‘Batman’ Wayne, Oberon, Max Lord, Wally ‘The Flash’ West, Arthur ‘Aquaman’ Currry, Hal ‘Green Lantern’ Jordan, Katar ‘Hawkman’ Hol.

Plot: He’s dead. At the site, Bloodwynd (stop laughing!!!) and Ice just watch as their leader, icon and inspiration lies dead at their feet. With nothing to do, they drape his cape over him and leave. At a hospital, the rest of the team are fracturing. Booster Gold, in his torn costume, is full of despair. Guy Gardner is being crass, covering his own feelings of defeat. Maxima is putting on a brave face, honouring a fallen warrior, but her pain is clear. Blue Beetle, still hasn’t woken up and the doctors are not optimistic that he is going to any time soon. Max Lord and Oberon try to cheer Booster up, telling him that he seems to be okay, but Booster points out that the torn tatters of his suit are all that’s left and without it, he has no powers and no place there. Ice confides in Fire that she feels like everyone thinks she had a schoolgirl crush on Superman, but she’s devastated by his death. Booster (still in the remaining scraps of his costume) broods on the rooftop of the League’s headquarters, he is joined by Flash, Aquaman, Batman, Hal Jordan, Hawkman, members of the New Titans and Justice League Europe, Green Arrow, Black Canary even Robin, the Demon and Wonder Woman arrive and each one is given a black armband with Superman’s logo on it for a memorial service for the Man of Steel.

The issue closes with Booster talking to his comatose friend. He still feels the weight of their loss and blames himself for Beetle’s injuries. He tells his friend that he’ll wear the S-band, but doesn’t know what he’d do if he had to wear one for the Beetle.

Notes: Aftermath issues were very much a thing after a big event. Marvel made a good living doing the events and were very good at this slice of life and seeing everyone try to cope. To be honest, Marvel (in particular the X-office) were better at it. This feels like them tackling a type of story that they’re learning as they go.

We get to see how the team are coping in the aftermath of Superman’s death at the hands of Doomsday and they aren’t. Maxima wants to move forward, Guy wants to show how it doesn’t bother him, Fire wants to comfort Ice and Booster feels awash in failure. Only Bloodwynd (hahahahaha) is left out of this sorrow, mostly to reinforce his man of mystery thing. But there aren’t many moments that land for me, except the last one. Booster, near tears at Ted’s bedside is the only actual emotional point for me. The memorial is just a box ticking exercise, Guy is doing that whole gruff macho crap and Ice’s crush on her boss doesn’t translate for me as pathos. I added this issue for completeness’ sake and kind wish I didn’t.

Verdict: 5/10 Most of this is for the art, the two page splash with the heroes in their arm-bands is quite good, but feels like a soul-less photo op and that’s not really what you need for this kind of story. It doesn’t play to either the artist or the writer’s strengths. Considering they’re both the same guy, that’s odd, especially given the tour de force that the same man did with Superman #75. This was a mis-step in some way and it’s one of the only non-core title to be featured here and am glad for that. Lets get back to the next part.

Next Time: StormWatch wade into the crossover.