JUSTICE LEAGUE SEASON TWO (2003-04)

 

PHENOMENALITY: *marvelous*
MYTHICITY: *fair*
FRYEAN MYTHOS: *adventure*
CAMPBELLIAN FUNCTION: *metaphysical, sociological*                                                                                                                                Aside from introducing a major subplot about the provenance of Hawkgirl upon Planet Earth-- something Season One didn't address adequately-- Season Two is much like its predecessor in structure, 14 stories, usually consisting of two episodes, though occasionally single or three-parters provided some narrative variety. I have the general recollection that the 3-season run of JUSTICE LEAGUE UNLIMITED provided better stories overall, but that remains to be seen. Again, mythicity-ratings for individual episodes signify good, fair or poor.                                                                                                       

  TWILIGHT (P)-- In my general review of SUPERMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES, which brought the Kirby-Kreations of Apokolips and New Genesis, I wrote: "Many of the plots, particularly in the third season, emphasize the hero's encounters with the forces of Darkseid.  Darkseid, unlike the rest of this Superman's fight-and-flee rogues' gallery, is a figure of Satanic majesty.  Even when Superman defeats this villain physically, Darkseid remains in a sense unbeaten, living on as the virtual incarnation of evil.  Yet this struggle too lacks the deeper resonance found in the "Fourth World" comics of Jack Kirby, from whence Darkseid springs.  In contrast to Kirby, the producers of the Superman series apparently view evil as inhering mostly in mindless violence.  Villains are never very clever in this world." The JUSTICE LEAGUE treatment of The New Gods cosmos is just more of the same, with the added touch that  Superman, the only Leaguer who had previous contact with the Lord of Apokolips, bears the villain a sizable grudge. But when Darkseid tells the League that Brainiac is about to wipe out his world, the heroes have to respond like heroes-- and so they get trapped by the connivance of both villains. A few character moments for Orion and Highfather don't disguise the weaknesses of this tale. The title is a simplistic Wagner reference.                               

                   
TABULA RASA (F) -- Luthor finds Amazo, an android left behind by the late Professor Ivo and manipulates the innocent artificial man into attacking the League with his limitless ability to imitate super-powers. It's mostly a big battle-story, with a few Frankensteinian touches.                                                                                                 

ONLY A DREAM (F) -- The writers should have included a tip
of the slouch hat to Wes Craven, as evil Doctor Destiny telepathically takes control of the heroes' dreams. Only two members remain awake to save their allies, and they're running on fumes.                                                                                                                       

MAID OF HONOR (F)-- This is one of the better Diana-centric episodes. Wonder Woman befriends an engaged young princess who's trying to live up her last days of pre-marital freedom. Then Wonder Woman and the rest of the Leaguers learn that the princess is supposed to marry Vandal Savage, who of course has the usual supervillain scheme in mind.                                                               

 HEARTS AND MINDS (F)-- John Stewart gets center stage this time, and we learn that he had a fling with his Green Lantern trainer Katma Tui. This allows the writers to show some mild jealousy on the part of Hawkgirl, foregrounding the romantic relationship that she and the Lantern will enjoy later this season. Despero, a routine comic-book alien evildoer who happened to have three eyes, is revised into a cult-leader who's persuaded his entire world that he is the Second Coming of their sacred deity, partly because he was born with that third eye. The script contains the usual bromides about the excesses of cultish religions but says nothing new.                                     

A BETTER WORLD (F)-- And here, as if by collaboration with Mark Waid, we have an alternate universe where things went to hell because Superman broke his code against killing. The result is that the Justice League of that world became The Authority-- I mean, the Justice Lords. Despite the Lords having brought their world under draconian control, they aren't happy with their accomplishments. Upon learning of the League's world, the six corrupted heroes (Flash having been slain by Luthor, whom Superman then killed) journey to League-world, imprison the real heroes, and begin a new campaign of conquest. There are some good character moments here for Superman, Batman, and the non-deceased Flash, an appearance by Doomsday (who talks this time out), and Regular Luthor redeeming himself-- temporarily.                                                                               

ECLIPSED (P)-- Explorers accidentally release the demonic Eclipso, who proceeds to take control of most of the Leaguers with his power over their dark sides. Twenty years later, STARGIRL did the same story better.                                                                                 

 THE TERROR WITHIN (F)-- Yes, I'll give this one a fair rating just for working in a salute to Marvel's Defenders, consisting of Doctor Fate (for Doc Strange), Solomon Grundy (for Hulk), and Aquaman (for Sub-Mariner). The main plot is a disposable "Lovecraftian-demon-getting-unleashed" plot, and it's not improved by shoehorning in the assertion that Hawkgirl's people once worshipped the demon.                                                                                                 

 SECRET SOCIETY (F)-- Luthor's Injustice Gang is remodeled as Gorilla Grodd's Secret Society, but the only thing "secret" about this assemblage of career super-villains is that Grodd is a lot sneakier about undermining the heroes with psychological techniques. The anthropoid antagonist uses his mind-control talents to aggravate many of the petty resentments the Leaguers harbor toward one another, making it tough for them to work together-- not unlike the ten or twelve times this sort of thing happened to the Avengers or the Fantastic Four. Surprisingly the pongid predator does not pick up on the concealed romantic feelings of Hawkgirl and Green Lantern, though I can guess why the writers did not go there. They did put some quasi-Nietzschean ideas in Grodd's mouth, which is a nice touch for what's still just three big battles between heroes and villains-- though "Society" does boast one of the best multi-character fights in both live-action and animation history.                                               

 HEREAFTER (G)-- I'm surprised that an episode featuring one of the many "Fake Deaths of Superman" proved to have such strong mythicity. Part of the credit lies in the writers' riffing on a famous Silver Age comics-story, "Superman Under a Red Sun," in which the hero is flung into a far-future Earth whose sun is now red, depriving the Kryptonian of his super-powers. In HEREAFTER, a battle with a cadre of villains brings about the Man of Steel's transposition into a similar future-world, while everyone back in 2003 thinks that their greatest hero is dead. But after wandering about the ruined world for a time, Superman is found by "the Last Immortal on Earth," the ever-persistent Vandal Savage. It seems one of Savage's world-conquering plans went awry and killed everyone else on the planet, so that he can only pass his time with pointless hobbies-- until he gets the idea to change history with the help of the Last Son of Krypton. This is one of the better time-travel stories in animation history, largely because of the byplay between the compassionate hero and the vaguely remorseful evildoer. And before the Leaguers learn that their friend is still alive, they have to endure the attempt of the raucous Lobo to take Superman's place in the hero-group. It doesn't really work to imagine Lobo hanging out with a bunch of do-gooders, but his presence does provide a few touches of needed humor.                                                                                                                                             

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         WILD CARDS (F)-- Just because the Joker worked pretty well in the Injustice Gang, that doesn't mean he makes a good main opponent, not even when he's buttressed with a new version of those "wild cards" the Royal Flush Gang and with the even wilder Harley Quinn. Joker invades Las Vegas and challenges the League to uncover a series of bombs that will decimate the city, even though a lot of residents manage to flee. Of course, Batman gets the honor of taking down the Clown Prince, as well as manipulating Harley against him, while the others occupy themselves with the cannon fodder. Good basic action sequences and greater development of the Hawkgirl-GL romance make it all go down easily.                                           

   COMFORT AND JOY (F)-- The writers push themselves to do a sentimental Christmas episode, and though not everything works, it could have turned out much worse. The Hawkgirl-GL romance ramps up, in preparation for having John Stewart get the rug ripped out from under him.                                                                                          

STARCROSSED (F)-- And just like that, the writers drop the other shoe. Hawkgirl didn't just happen to land on Earth by accident as she maintained; she was sent to spy on Earth, and on the League, by her superiors in the Thanagarian military. The winged heroine went along with this plot in the false belief that her people merely planned to briefly control Earth in order to establish a beachhead against the Thanagarians' spacefaring enemies, the Gordanians. But when Hawkgirl learns that her people plan to destroy Earth for their own military advantage, she has to switch loyalties, even though her former friends deem her a traitor as well. There's lots of strong melodrama in this three-part season finale, but not that much myth beyond the standard "don't trust aliens bearing gifts" trope. The romance, not surprisingly, does endure into the run of JUSTICE LEAGUE UNLIMITED.