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Justice
League
Hereafter
Original Airdate - 11/29/03
This week's
Justice League takes a big risk in shaking up the status
quo of the show by telling the tale of "The Death of Superman"
(which is in no way related to the classic "Death of Superman"
storyline by DC Comics.)
The episode
begins in dark shadows where a secret cabal of Superman villains
use cliché costumes and props to swear an oath of revenge.
Soon Kalibak, Livewire, Toyman, Metallo and Weather Wizard
are tearing up the streets of Metropolis waiting for Superman
to arrive but instead are greeted by the Justice League.
The ensuing
fight scenes are well done and filled with great one liners
that have made season two really enjoyable.
Superman
eventually arrives and in a heroic gesture, flies in front
of a blast from Toyman's 300 foot robot to save his friends
and dies. The End.
See you
all for Season 3!
Ok, not
really.
Toyman
is soon hanging from the end of Wonder Woman's fist as she
struggles not to knock his block off. The Justice League and
the rest of the world believe Superman has died and they begin
to grieve. At the funeral, the parade of Justice League
and Superman: The Animated Series characters continues
as we briefly see the world mourning the life and loss of
the world's greatest hero.
Only
Batman seems unwilling to deal with Superman's death, convinced
the big guy isn't really dead. Since Superman's body was never
found, Batman believes that he must be…somewhere.
After
the funeral, the League is shown hanging out in the Watchtower
talking about what a great guy Superman was. The subject of
replacing him comes up and names like Supergirl, Aquaman and
Metamorpho are mentioned. Before anyone with half a brain
can suggest that Aquaman and Metamorpho SUCK, (I'm kidding,
Derek) Lobo shows up.
The Main
Man heard that Superman kicked the bucket and offers his services
to replace him. In all fairness, Wonder Woman threw the first
punch. The League and Lobo squabble over philosophical differences
but are interrupted by looting and pillaging in the street
of Metropolis. The makeshift League flies down to Earth to
keep the peace.
Meanwhile…Superman
is alive! Toyman's robot somehow flung Superman into the distant
future. Earth is a barren wasteland and unfortunately for
Superman, the sun is now red.
With
nothing better to do, Superman loads up on survival supplies
from the Metropolis wreckage and sets his course for a faint
distress signal. When he arrives, he finds the last human
being alive…Vandal Savage.
Hereafter
is a great story that suffers from bad pacing. The action
moves very quickly during the first half an hour setting up
Superman's death and then jamming in as many cameos for the
funeral. While it was fun to see Superman's funeral, there
simply isn't enough time in the hour to show how his friends
and the world mourn him.
Superman's
importance to the League and the safety of the world is discussed,
but never really shown.
The second
half hour grinds the pace to a halt. Like Tom Hanks in Cast
Away, it feels as if Superman has three hours to dilly
dally around in the future, gathering food, shelter, etc…
Other
than the pacing, there were some minor fanboy things that
perturbed me. When Doomsday showed up in A
Better World, he was defeated in the span of about
five minutes. Yet in Hereafter Toyman "kills" Superman?
What kind of bizarro universe is Justice League taking
place in? If Superman is essentially a solar battery, why
did he lose his powers so quickly after appearing in the future?
Realistically (in the reality of comics) Superman should have
had at least some power for a few hours.
And then
there is the beard. Superman has grown a full beard in the
time it takes for him to run out of a couple tanks of gas.
Is there some super hair growing ability that kryptonians
gain when standing in the light of a run sun that I am not
aware of?
The second
half hour is in a large way Dwayne McDuffie's homage to a
classic Superman tale in which he ends up in the future where
the population has died and the sun is red. Maybe Derek can
explain the beard.
Hereafter
also walks a fine line by telling us that Superman is vital
to the success of the Justice League. Only weeks after his
"death" the world ends but comic readers know there have been
many successful incarnations of the JLA that didn't include
Superman.
Superman
is really just the moral compass for the League. Flash and
Batman both touch briefly on the fact that Superman is an
inspiration to the League rather than the League's savior,
yet Vandal Savage kills everyone on the planet. I suppose
it's likely that Aquaman joined the League and screwed everything
up. Never trust a man with gills.
All in
all, Hereafter is a great episode. The story is a refreshing
change from the standard, "Justice League fights Villain X"
rut it fell into during the first season. Writers have a little
more fun and freedom to change up the status quo, at least
in the span of an hour.
The best
part of Hereafter is the amazing list of cameos. Here
is the list I've been able to come up with for those of you
interested in such thing. I'm pretty sure most of them have
appeared on either Justice League or Superman: TAS before:
Lois Lane, Jimmy Olsen, Perry White, Lex Luthor, Tomar Re,
Kyle Rayner (I assume it was him and not Hal Jordan), Katma
Tui, Kilowog, Aquaman, Mera, Dr. Fate, Inza, Orion, Bibbo,
Jonathan and Martha Kent, Supergirl, Lana Lang, Maggie Sawyer,
Lobo, Livewire, Metallo, Kalibak, Alfred, Tim Drake, Vandal
Savage, Toyman, Weather Wizard, Copperhead, Volcana, Star
Sapphire, Deadshot, and Ray Palmer and Metamorpho are mentioned
in name only.
Derek's
Continuity Corner
In several Elseworlds stories involving a post-apocalyptic
Superman, the sun is red and his beard is long. Go figure.
Only DC 1,000,000 seems to have avoided the cliche.
Next
week: "Wild Card" The Justice League must disarm bombs
along the Las Vegas Strip. (Wasn't this an episode of CSI?)
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