Your new God now and forever

JLA #13

Written by Grant Morrison

Art by Howard Porter and John Dell

When it comes to team books, most older fans look to Claremont and Byrne on X-Men or Wolfman and Perez on Teen Titans as paragons of the genre. I got my start reading comics a little after the heyday of both of those franchises so when someone asks me what my favorite team book is, I have to point them in the direction of Grant Morrison's JLA run.

As a young reader, I found this series to be the best bang for your buck out there. It's the "big seven" version of the JLA (Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Green Lantern, Aquaman, Martian Manhunter) combined with a slew of new and classic characters to create a modern day superhero version of Camelot. The threats this incarnation of the league dealt with were always larger than life, and stories often took place not only on Earth, but all over the galaxy, time, and even the multiverse. You'd never find yourself looking at the baddie in a Morrison JLA story and wonder why the whole team is needed. Big threats only, Royal Flush Gang need not apply.

This particular issue I retrieved from the longbox is smack-dab in the middle of what many consider to be the strongest arc in Morrison's whole run, the six-part "Rock of Ages" story line. Part four of six, to be precise. In this arc, The League throw down with Lex Luthor and his spiffy new Injustice Gang, only to be thrust into a much more interesting and life-threatening scenario involving the Philosopher's Stone, Apokolips, and mental time travel.

After getting kicked around time and space in the previous chapter, Aquaman comes to in an older version of the body he's familiar with, fifteen years after a key point in the JL/IG battle. Darkseid has turned Earth into what Batman refers to as a "global concentration camp" and a hundred different dystopian tropes fly at the reader at once, letting them know that this is the worst of all possible worlds.

Arthur (Aquaman) finds other memebers of the JLA fighting parademons and preparing a last hurrah against Darkseid's chief torturer Desaad. Some of the motley crew he assembles are other time displaced heroes from his time, like the Wally West Flash and the Kyle Rayner Green Lantern (who's stuck in the body of Parademon for some reason). They mount a rather complicated seek and destroy mission using the Atom as their "in". Once in Desaad's chamber, the lackey of Darkseid reveals himself to be none other than Batman in disguise and even his usual grim demeanor is no match for the black cloud that's approaching: Darkseid himself is returning to Earth to finish what he started. Even if the League wins the day, how will they get back and prevent the Philosopher's Stone from falling into the wrong hands? Morrison lines the adventures up like dominoes, and they way they tumble into one another over the next couple of issues is too good to spoil here.

Howard Porter is a comic name I used to see more often, it seems like. I loved his work on this run, particularly with John Dell's thick inks. They're blatantly attempting a Kirby-esque "in your face" vibe with the action scenes and even static characters tend to pop right off the page. It's not the best Kirby pastiche ever, but it works. Darkseid is rendered like an omega-level boss on the last page, and Morrison's caption boxes really make it sing. My absolute favorite bit is Glorious Godfrey announcing Darkseid's arrival:

"On your knees for the master! The hour has come! HE has come! Who is beyond Good and Evil? Who is the prophet of Anti-Life? Who is the Rock and the Chain and the Lightning? All Powerful! All Unforgiving! All Conquering! Who is your new God now and forever?"

Darkseid is.

Reliving that moment was quite a treat and I'm glad I plucked this one out of the box. I'd forgotten it was part of this story, what with the close up of Martian Manhunter on the cover and all. I think DC did that for all of their covers that month. Random close-ups, that is.

So, what are some team books that stick out in your mind as being really, really great?