|
Justice
League Unlimited
Dark Heart
Original Airdate - 12/11/04
An alien
war probe sent thousands of years ago crash lands in the
desert. While at first its intentions seem to be only to
terrorize rock climbers, it soon sets higher goals and begins
replicating itself an army of robotic bug soldiers in order
to take over the world. With the Army and their guns unable
to stop it, they must call in the entire Justice League,
even the guys who use guns (and arrows).
It's
a slobberknocker this week on Justice League as our heroes
find themselves in a battle royal to save Earth. Almost
every hero we have seen thus far in JLU shows up to fight
the alien menace, but ultimately the spotlight falls on
Ray Palmer, The Atom, to save the day. (MURDERER!!)
You
wouldn't think that an episode written by Planetary
and Authority author Warren Ellis would be so short
on plot, but it was. Sure, there were a lot of memorable
lines and the action was top notch, but there was no character
development to speak of and certainly no complex story to
unravel. Faceless, nameless aliens crash on Earth just because
it's that time of the month and the Justice League has to
stop them. Dark Heart seemed more like a Warren Ellis
doodle, rather than a Warren Ellis story.
Still,
a good episode with lots of little things for DC fanboys
to zorlac over and a whole new fantasy to dream about. Oh,
how we all now long to be a tiny man riding around in Wonder
Woman's royal cleavage.
The only real
plot advancement to speak of was that the Justice League
apparently has a wave motion gun aboard the Watchtower.
The Army has taken notice and with mysterious government
agencies already working on Justice League counter measures,
I can't see that this plot detail won't crop up again before
the end of the season.
You'd think
a team of heroes that has met and fought tyrannical versions
of themselves might be a little more sensitive about owning
a weapon of mass destruction that they keep in orbit above
Earth.
The
debut episode had more total heroes, but Dark Heart definitely
has more of those heroes in action. For reference sake,
Justice League members appearing in Dark Heart included:
Atom Smasher, Atom II (Ray Palmer), Starman (the lame outer
space prince, not the cool Jack Knight), Dr. Light, Dr.
Fate, Dr. Mid-Nite, Vixen, Vibe, Vigilante, Captain Atom,
Fire, Ice, Elongated Man, Crimson Avenger, The Ray, Booster
Gold, Rocket Red, Huntress, Gypsy, Crimson Fox, Steel, Green
Arrow, Supergirl, Johnny Thunder, Stars & S.T.R.I.P.E.,
Wildcat, Shining Knight, Aztek, Blue Devil, Black Canary,
Hawk, Aquaman, Batman, Superman, Martian Manhunter, Wonder
Woman, Green Lantern and Red Tornado, who is apparently
back from the dead as Derek predicted.
No Longshadow?
Guess he had less time to live than we thought.
Also,
no Flash, which seems even more odd since he's in the credits
and had he been there, he would have had something to do.
Michael Rosenbaum must have done something awful to Bruce
Timm's wife, as The Flash has not actually spoken at all
this season even when he does appear in crowd shots.
Derek's
Continuity Corner
Nothing
much to report, actually, although it should be noted that
on JLU, Ray Palmer works in Boston instead of the
thinly disguised Boston called "Ivytown" in the
comics. Otherwise, Warren Ellis follows a recent trend in
DC Comics that requires any massive superhero team-up to
be a problem so large and dangerous that only the smallest
man in the world can solve it.
General
Eiling, who has appeared in other episodes, did indeed stage
a comic book coup against the League. Besides being responsible
for the creation of Captain Atom, Eiling also now resides
in the body of one of the League's most savage enemies,
The Shaggy Man. However, they shaved him.
While
watching this episode, Goodson noted the burgeoning Village
People-like romance of The Vigilante and The Shining Knight,
but I should point out that both are teammates from the
1940's, in a short-lived group known as The Seven Soldiers
of Victory, aka The Law's Legionnaires. Sharp-eyed readers
will note that Grant Morrison will be reviving the Soldiers
in a couple of months, and those two are the only members
remaining in the revamp.
The
Vigilante, in reality cowboy singing star Greg Sanders,
rides a motorcycle, carries a six-shooter and generally
brings law to the lawless Los Angeles. For a while he had
a sidekick/valet named Stuff, until apparently Stuff told
him to stuff it.
The
Shining Knight is actually a refugee from King Arthur's
Court. Sir Justin has bulletproof armor and a winged horse,
and is devastatingly handsome. His solo stories are absolutely
worth seeking out, because the art was done by now-noted
fantasy artist Frank Frazetta.
Goodson
also failed to mention the rather specific presence of Nemesis,
whose appearance in this show just fills me with wonder.
He's a government agent with a good handle on make-up skills,
just what you need for fighting nanites.
As for
riding around in Wonder Woman's decolletage, I've
never seen a story in which The Atom actually does that,
but if it had happened, you had to figure his sales would
have totally gone up.
|
