MYTHICITY: *fair*
FRYEAN MYTHOS: *adventure*
CAMPBELLIAN FUNCTION: *cosmological, sociological*
The two seasons of JUSTICE LEAGUE were better than average superhero entertainment. But the format-- consisting of episodes that were always either two or three parts long-- didn't take advantage of the greater story-time, except that the fights were longer and more spectacular. UNLIMITED tended to focus upon done-in-one episodes with occasional multi-parters and generally made the narratives tighter and more streamlined.
Taking place a few years after the previous show, JLU now encompasses a plethora of DC's heroes, both famous and obscure. I imagine newbies were confused by a lot of characters who were given little or no introduction, but arguably there's a simple anti-military sociological theme this time, involving the attempts of world governments to manufacture their own superheroes.
INITIATION (P)-- The opening episode isn't particularly complex on any level. A nuclear-powered robot goes on a rampage in Asia, and three heroes-- Green Arrow, Captain Atom, and Supergirl-- are assigned to stop the marauding automaton. Arrow plays the role of reluctant candidate, a street-level hero who's drafted into the more cosmic adventures of the JLU. The episode ends by suggesting Arrow's interest in female member Black Canary, but this does not pay off until Season Two.
FOR THE MAN WHO HAS EVERYTHING (F)-- I've never agreed with the many fans who raved about the Alan Moore comics-story on which this was based, as I found it predictable. Batman and Wonder Woman visit the Fortress of Solitude to celebrate the Man of Steel's birthday, and they find Superman paralyzed by an alien plant. The plant feeds the hero pleasant visions of his enjoying a happy married life on Krypton, and while he slowly tries to overcome his Lotus-eater fate, his friends fight the villain responsible for the attack, alien overlord Mongul. The story is somewhat simplified but is adequate.
HAWK AND DOVE (P)-- Wonder Woman's Olympian foe, Ares God of War, gives a giant robot, the Annihilator, to one of two warring Euro-nations. The Amazon thinks it's a good idea to choose as her team-mates two warring brothers, warlike Hawk and peacenik Dove, to end this threat. The Dove gets the main role of managing to pacify the killer robot, which only works because the script says it does.
FEARFUL SYMMETRY (F)-- Supergirl's having bad dreams in which she kills people, so she turns to the JLU for help. Green Arrow and The Question (the latter now re-imagined as a conspiracy freak) help the Girl of Steel learn about a government project, Project Cadmus, the first of many covert US government operations. Cadmus has created a clone of Supergirl, known as Galatea (after the Greek myth of the statue-that-comes-to-life). This evil Supergirl, designed to look like the comics-character Power Girl, is one of the show's better concepts and provides lots of action.
KID STUFF (G)-- The season's only concrescent myth-tale plays with an idea that's probably occurred to every child: "what would it be like to be free of adult oversight?" Sorceress Morgaine Le Fay is betrayed by her immortal (and permanently juvenile) son Modred, who exiles all adults on Earth to another dimension, including the League. But Morgaine can make it possible for the heroes to cross back to the Earth-plane, by de-aging them to kids. Writer Henry Gilroy does a fine job giving kid-personas to Wonder Woman, Batman, Superman, and Green Lantern. (Somehow Morgaine's spell also de-ages her comics-foe The Demon to an even younger age, but I'll allow it because it made for good comedy.) Eventually all is set right, except for Modred, who pays a substantial price for his desire for independence.
THIS LITTLE PIGGY (F)-- The sorceress Circe escapes captivity but instead of seeking revenge, she simply wants to let loose and have fun. However, on encountering Batman and Wonder Woman, the witch resorts to tradition and changes the Amazon into a pig. No longer able to think, the little piggy gets loose and Batman must engage the unusual talents of the super-obscure hero B'wana Beast to find her. But the standout moment takes place when Batman has to exercise a hidden talent to save Wonder Woman from becoming pork rinds.
THE GREATEST STORY NEVER TOLD (F)-- Here's the first JLU episode to spotlight one of the C-list heroes. Booster Gold, a guy whose tendency to showboat compromises his position in the League, is given minor crowd control duty during a crisis, only to find another crisis in the making. It's a reasonably clever script, though I didn't come out of it thinking BG any more than a C-lister.
THE RETURN (F)-- At the end of the episode "Tabula Rasa," the super-android Amazo, created by Luthor to destroy the League, transcended his programming in Nietzschean fashion and zoomed off into space. Here, he becomes assailed by doubt and returns to Earth to demand that his creator give him a meaning to his existence. Neither the League, nor a special weapon designed by Luthor and The Atom, can stop him, but Luthor does give the android a satisfying lecture on self-determinism that also has a certain Nietzschean ring, and even suits Luthor's megalomania.
ULTIMATUM (F)-- More Cadmus clone-antics, as they unleash five new heroes plainly patterned after five SUPER FRIENDS characters: Super Samurai, Apache Chief, Black Vulcan, Zan and Jayna. However, the clones soon learn that they all have limited lifespans, and they go on a rampage, forcing the League to take them down. There's a cute in-joke when the "Apache Chief" character squares off against the JL version of Giganta, since the two characters contended in the SUPER FRIENDS show.
DARK HEART (F)-- Self-replicating nanobot-aliens invade Earth, and the League must stop them. There's some decent sci-fi concepts here, though it's never more than a standard invasion yarn. General Eiling, a CAPTAIN ATOM villain who will become part of Cadmus in Season Two.
WAKE THE DEAD (P)-- Solomon Grundy is revived, becoming a mindless force of destruction with a special magic that even Amazo and Doctor Fate cannot overcome. This simple story is mostly meant to spotlight the return of Hawkgirl to the League, though many citizens, and even some heroes, still resent her.
THE ONCE AND FUTURE THING (F)-- The season's only two-parter takes League members into two different time-eras: the Old American West and the future of BATMAN BEYOND, thanks to a new version of the classic . The first part is a mini-celebration of DC's various Western characters-- Bat Lash, Jonah Hex, El Diablo, and Pow-Wow Smith-- though there are so many characters, along with three Leaguers, that El Diablo doesn't get any lines. In addition to all that, their main villain in Part 1 is Tobias Manning, which is the regular cognomen of Terra-Man. Part 2 allies the League with Future-Batman, Future Bruce Wayne, and various others to track down Chronos, who suffers a unique, extra-legal punishment.
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