Justice League: Generation Lost #5 (2010)

Justice League: Generation Lost #5 (Early September, 2010)
"The Gang's All Here"
Script - Judd Winick
Breakdowns - Keith Giffen
Penciller - Aaron Lopresti
Inker - Matt Ryan
Colors - Hi-Fi
Letterer - Steve Wands
Editors - Rex Ogle & Michael Siglain
Cover Price: $2.99

The power of a great cliffhanger... wasn't planning on doing two issues of Generation Lost in a row, but after the way last issue ended, I just couldn't help myself!

The Day... and May are still Bright.  Now that we're just a couple days shy of the halfway point of the month, I'm wondering if it's time that we started skipping around the "crossovent"... or just stick it out with these early issues.  If anyone has any thoughts... or is even still reading, lemme know!

--

We open with a flashback... to the future?!  We meet up with a "just threw the big game" Michael Jon Carter as he's being persuaded to help the authorities track down the big bad bookie.  They promise him immunity if he hands over some names... and, of course once he does, they renege.  This is a "once bitten, twice shy" moment for Booster in the ol' getting screwed over arena... and takes us to the present... in the past... relatively speaking, where the Gen Lost League is chatting up a holographic Maxwell Lord.

Max shares with them that... yeah, he's been working in the background in hopes that the Justice League International would reform, because he thinks the world needs them now more than ever.

He describes his own mission as one with a "saving the world" sort of scale.  He'd like the JLI to work together... but more "alongside" him than "with" him, if that makes any sense.  They're all going to be working to the same ends, just not "together"... ya dig?  This baffles and annoys Booster, who just a few days ago was nearly beaten to death with a pipe by this very man.  Max figures since he didn't actually kill him, it's "no harm, no foul".

They argue a bit, with Max talking to them kind of like they were children.  Like he knows what's best for them.  He tells them not to pursue him anymore... not like they could.  After all, Max is so much "better at this" than any of them.  He turns his attention to Skeets and tells the little bot to stop trying to trace his signal... then, just as he triggers the Rocket Red armor he's emanating from to self-destruct... he ends the transmission.

The Gen Lost League frantically attempt to figure out how to disarm the bomb... since, ya know... there's an innocent human inside that Rocket Red armor.  It gets to the point where the "big boom" is eminent... and so, Captain Atom takes the Red into his arms and flies him a safe distance away from the League.

On the ground, the Gen Lost League look on at the, err... Rocket's Red Glare.  Then... Jaime informs Booster that he, ya know... managed to trace Max's signal.

We jump ahead to the New York Branch of the Justice League International where Booster and Beetle run the coordinates through the computer system.  Gotta imagine that Max might still be tapped into these computers since they are, ya know... his.  Maybe we're thinking too hard.

Off to the side Captain Atom and Ice have a fairly contentious and uncomfortable conversation about death and dying.  They compare their circumstances... and both seem to come to the conclusion that... death kinda sucks.

Off to another side, Gavril and Bea are having an awkward... and only sorta contentious chat about hypocrisy.  Gavril espouses all of these Communist beliefs... hates everything western... but still thinks it's awfully cool to be a part of the Justice League.

Booster and Beetle are finally able to triangulate Max's location... and wouldn'tcha know it... he's at Checkmate!  Weren't we like just there?

Booster has another flashback... and this one's really from the past.  He's remembering the first time he ever met Maxwell Lord... how arrogant and cocky he... well, they were.  Max offers him membership into the Justice League... because, well Max can do whatever he wants.

We wrap up with the Gen Lost League vowing to go after Max.

--


Okay, maybe not exactly the follow-up I was hoping for... but still a good time.

Let's get Max out of the way.  There's this weird charismatic charm about him here... not unlike the way Lex Luthor was depicted in the early parts of The Final Night.  It's almost like there's part of me that... wants him to win!  I swear, all Max needed to do was call Booster "kemo sabe", and I'd have been done!

What I don't really get is the purpose of exploding the Rocket Red armor.  I mean, he reassembled the Gen Lost League because he feels like they're the "right heroes" for the time, right?  So, why would he trigger a bomb around them?  He'd have to assume that these heroes might risk their own lives in order to save the innocent Russian inside the armor, no?  Wouldn't that just undo all of his prior machinations?  Am I thinking too hard?  Probably.

Feel like a better way to do it would just have Skeets try and trace the signal... and short-circuit, with Max all "Tsk, tsk, tsk... that's what you get for trying to track me."  I feel like that would've made more sense.

Outside of that one bit though... really dug this.  There was some very strong characterization... and we get the feeling that we're actually "working through this" with the members of the team.  The scene between Captain Atom and Ice was definitely an unexpected treat.

Aaron Lopresti provides pencils this time around, and he's just as great as ever.  I wanna say that it was with this series that I finally started to notice when his name would pop up in the credits.  Super clean, super dynamic work.  Really like it!

Overall... sort of a "roundabout" issue.  Ends exactly where we knew it would.  We open with the League wanting to track down Max... and we end the very same way.  Still, there were some fun character interactions... and some neat "motivational" flashbacks.  Worth a look.

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Justice League: Generation Lost #4 (2010)

Justice League: Generation Lost #4 (Late August, 2010)
"The Rocket's Red Glare"
Script - Judd Winick
Breakdowns - Keith Giffen
Penciller - Joe Bennett
Inker - Jack Jadson
Colors - Hi-Fi
Letterer - Steve Wands
Assistant Editor - Rex Ogle
Editor - Michael Siglain
Cover Price: $2.99

If I had more time in my day I think I'd research how many issues dedicated to the Rocket Reds bear the title "Rocket's Red Glare".  I bet it's a lot.  Kinda like when any book takes place in England the title will very likely be "London Calling".

Anyhoo, it's still #BrightestMay... we're almost halfway through, and it feels like we haven't even made a dent!  That's probably because we haven't!  I think to truly do this, it'll take 4-5 more Brightest Mays.  Well, if we're still at this next year... maybe we'll give it another go!

--

We open in... an undisclosed location.  Parts unknown, if you weeeeel.  There, Maxwell Lord is chatting up a researcher... who, of course, doesn't know Max from a hole in the wall.  Lord pulls one of his "power of suggestion" tricks, which surprisingly changes the lab-man into a zombified Black Lantern?!  We then shift scenes.  If you recall, last issue ended with the Gen Lost League catching a ride from an OMAC portal in El Paso... and winding up in Russia.  Enter: The Rocket Reds.

The Reds shout out some threats... but it turns out they're not even paying attention to our Super Buddies... they're actually threatening another Rocket Red?!

Skeets gives the deets... turns out this "rogue" Rocket Red is Gavril Ivanovich, a "revolutionary".  He was once a Captain in the Brigade... but has broken off as the Reds move a bit closer "to center".  Ya see, Gav is a "true Communist", and sees any and all westernization as a betrayal.

The Gen Lost League decides... maybe it would be best to stay out of it.  Ya know, "International Incidents" and all.  Plus, this gaggle of geeks doesn't exactly have the best reputation at the moment.  It isn't until the War of the Reds starts endangering innocent civilians that the heroes know they must get involved.

Gavril is overjoyed to see that the Justice League International has come to lend him a hand.  Just how old are Russian newspapers, anyway?  The JLI hasn't been a thing in like forever, right?  Anyhoo, they enter the fray and fight for a bit... and are eventually joined by Fire.

Now at "full capacity", Gavril gets it in his brain that they can take on the Rocket Reds head on.  Thankfully, Booster and Captain Atom drag him away.  Ya see, they know the fight's not over... but would rather it occur where there are fewer potential civilians to injure, maim, or kill.

Tora asks Bea how things went at Checkmate, which segues beautifully into a scene where the Black King is reporting everything that went down last issue to Batman.  Batman takes the information... but isn't quite sure what to do with it.  You know how Batman is always the smartest guy around, right?  Well, he has a sneaking suspicion that there might be more to this than meets the eye.

Back in Russia (after beating up the pursuing Rocket Reds), Gavril takes inventory of his new "team", and refers to them as the Justice League International.  This goes over like a lead balloon... but he's sincere.  He suggests all they need is a Green Lantern to make the "ensemble" complete.

Booster gets a whiff of what he's cooking... and suggests that Gav's right.  He starts ranting and raving... finally realizing that they're being "played" by Max Lord... and they're being played for a reason.  Suddenly a voice box on one of the fallen Rocket Reds starts to crackle.

It's Max!  And he just might be ready to answer some questions.

--

Very nice issue!  We're definitely getting somewhere.

Before we get "into" the issue, I really wanna say that this is the series where I finally started to "get" Judd Winick as a writer.  It felt like he really found his "voice" here.  This no longer feels like snarky, stale Bendis-lite... or, even worse Kevin Smith-lite.

The jokes here, while not laugh out loud, actually land.  The characterization is strong, and there are some pretty great working-off-each-other moments to be had.  I remember being so bummed out when the "follow up" to this series, Justice League International (vol.3) from The New-52! was announced... and Judd's name was nowhere to be found!

Not that Dan Jurgens (who wound up writing that short-lived volume) is any slouch, but by the time Gen Lost ended, I felt like Winick really made these characters his own.  What's perhaps worse... Judd went on to write that Catwoman (vol.3) book that featured rooftop sex in the very first issue.  Maybe Gen Lost was an anomaly?  Who knows?

Anyhoo... into this book!  It's a pretty good blend of talky and fighty.  There is banter... but it's written in an... I dunno, organic way?  So often it seems as though a writer will think of a really great punchline... and work backwards from there.  Like setting up a joke for pages... lobbing dialogue softballs for a set-up.  I bet if we look though the archives we'll find that I've very likely leveled that accusation at Winick himself.  Here, however... it doesn't feel like that.  Jokes just "happen"... and it makes for a much smoother read.

The Batman scene... eh.  I could say I could "do without" it... but, one of the few things I do remember about this series is that Batman will eventually get involved.  Remember, he was a founding member of the Bwah-ha-ha League too.  I remember growing up and how annoyed we'd get when Wolverine always seemed to have "all the answers" and would get involved with everything.  Never really see those complaints about Batman though.  Ehh, maybe I'm just not looking hard enough.

The Maxwell Lord stuff is pretty interesting.  In our look at the various returnees so far, it's clear that they're not exactly as they'd left us.  Aquaman is summoning undead sea(un)life... the Firestorm Matrix has some sort of dark entity swirling about... Captain Boomerang can summon black boomerangs... and now Max is "power of suggesting" people into dead Black Lanterns?!

Really feels like we're building to something special here.  I'm going to wager that DiDio and Company didn't yet have their hands on the toilet flusher just yet.  I mean, could you imagine putting this much effort into revitalizing the line... knowing that you're a year away from dropping the entire magilla (minus Batman and Green Lantern) into the commode?  Seems like a mighty dumb idea, don't it?

Overall... this was a fun read... and the cliffhanger we're left with is a great one!  This whole Brightest Day endeavor almost feels like we're watching a class on serial storytelling.  Good stuff.

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Justice League: Generation Lost #3 (2010)

Justice League: Generation Lost #3 (Early August, 2010)
"Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, Something Blue."
Script - Judd Winick
Breakdowns - Keith Giffen
Pencils - Fernando Dagnino
Inks - Bit & Raul Fernandez
Colors - Hi-Fi
Letters - Sal Cipriano
Assistant Editor - Rex Ogle
Editor - Michael Siglain
Cover Price: $2.99

It's been a little while since the last time we discussed an issue of Generation Lost... so, let's have ourselves a little bit of a catch-up.

Maxwell Lord was one of the twelve folks brought back by the White Lantern... and his first order of business was to use his powers of suggestion to make the world forget that he ever existed... and it almost works!  The world (minus the Gen-Lost Justice League) couldn't tell a Max Lord from a Mack Truck.

 Or, I guess you could just click on one of these covers for a more complete recap...

This led to the League being looked at as... ya know, delusional.  More delusional than the bwah-ha-ha League is usually looked at.  When we last left them, Booster Gold received a trouble-call from... Ted Kord?!

Worth mentioning, today is Free Comic Book Day... so, if you're a newcomer to the fandom, welcome aboard!  Just remember that comic shops are open and ready for you EVERY day... not just the ones that begin with the word "Free".

Haw haw, who am I kidding?  We'll see ya in 364 days!

In the meantime, #BrightestMay rolls on!

--

We open at the castle outpost of Checkmate where Fire is informed that she is not only unwelcome... but she's been relieved of her duties as well!  Ya see, she failed her psych test... twice!  Probably something about believing that there's the fella named Maxwell Lord roaming around.  Meanwhile, in El Paso Jaime Reyes and his family are being attacked by OMACs!

Booster Gold, Ice, and Captain Atom arrive on the scene.  Booster informs Beetle that these OMACs aren't completely artificial... there are innocent humans inside, so, ya know... don't kill 'em.  Tora is bewildered as this breed of OMAC came around while she was un-alive.  Skeets fills her (and us) in on how they came to be.

Inside, Jaime's pop decides "enough is enough" and starts swinging his cane at a lumbering OMAC... which would be adorable, if it weren't so sad.  Ice suggests they beat a hasty retreat, but Booster figures that'll only cause the OMAC to follow... endangering anyone in their path.  Suddenly, a portal opens... and hundreds more OMACs emerge!

Back at Checkmate, Bea is being read the riot act.  The Black King calls out her family's mental history... and really makes a mess of things.  Then, from the corner of her eye, Bea sees... a rather chuckleheaded John F. Kennedy Maxwell Lord!  She "flames on" and gives chase.

Max runs for a bit just to get out of sight before waiting for her to arrive.  He mocks her a bit... and tries to get her to question her own sanity, before causing himself to combust in her green flame.

Bea panics, and bursts through the castle walls.  The Black King calls off his men, suggesting that she's now the Justice League's problem.

Back in El Paso, the heroes (and Reyeseseses) are surrounded by OMACs.  It's a pretty neat scene in that Beetle's suit keeps telling him ways to kill all of the OMACs... and doesn't immediately get the point that they're looking for a non-lethal solution.  I give Winick a lot of grief for his poor dialogue, but this scene (hell, this series) is a great showcase for his abilities.

Finally, Beetle and the suit realize that powers of magnetism might be the best approach... which means, Blue Beetle has magnetism powers?  I guess?  Oh well, he uses 'em... and causes the OMACs to fall into a stasis.

Then suddenly, a portal opens... and begins to suck 'em all in.  Beetle fights the pull, until Booster suggests they just follow 'em in.  Tora ain't on board... but Booster doesn't really give her a choice in the matter.

They wind up in... Russia (three guesses as to where this is leading).  They've completely lost the OMACs, and so, have a moment to gather their thoughts and breathe.  Beetle asks a simple question... "Who's Max Lord?"  Ya see, his suit/scarab, like Skeets, are forms of artificial intelligence, and therefore weren't affected by Max's "Forget me now" stunt.

We also learn that Jaime never sent the distress call to the League... the OMACs did that by attempting to "hack" into his Beetle armor.  Almost like whoever sent 'em knew that the Gen Lost League would check it out.  Hmm...

Then we wrap up... and since we're in bwah-ha-ha Russia, you know we're about to get a little Rocket Red.

--

Moving right along... I'm still really enjoying this revisit.

Though mostly an action issue, they still managed to nudge the story forward enough to where it felt like a full-fledged "chapter".  So often these days it's like we give up one for the other... like, here's the "big fight"... next issue, the heroes will stand around and talk for a bit.  Here, we get both... and it's pretty satisfying.

Let's get Bea out of the way... her sanity (or psychological health) is called into question by Checkmate.  As she fights to make her point... she sees friggin' Max Lord!  The cause of all of her problems... he's just skulkin' around in plain sight!  What a bad ass.

As soon as we see her "flame on", we get that pit in our stomachs... it's like "that's exactly what Max wants you to do!", which is what makes it so great.  There's that idea that the more people tell you that what you think is wrong, the more steadfast in that belief you become... and so, with people telling Fire (and the Gen Lost League) that Max Lord was never a thing that existed... they only dig their nails deeper into the belief.

I'm not exactly sure what happened with Max bursting into flame though.  Was that really him?  Was he projecting his visage just to mess with Bea's mind?  We didn't see a trickle of blood coming from his nose or anything, right?  Dunno... still liked the scene though!

Then there's the El Paso scene.  More good stuff!  Really dug the dynamic of Beetle with the Gen Lost League... he's a natural fit, and not just because of his heroic namesake... though, it does help.  I really dug the "conversations" he had with his suit... pleading with it to deduce a non-lethal solution to their OMAC problem.  Makes me wish Winick had this kind of grasp on dialogue a decade earlier.  It's funny, without going for that Kevin Smith/Bendis "snark".  Winick is good when he's not trying to be someone else.  Also, no soapboxes here... which is also a gigundous plus.

The art here is pretty good... though uneven.  We get some panels that are just flat-out awesome... and Dagnino mostly does a great job with "cute" female faces.  I don't say that in a disparaging way either... this is really good stuff.  On the other hand, some of the pages do look kind of rushed... and some of the dude's faces are a bit "chuckleheady".

Overall... still having a blast with this one.  This series is probably my personal highlight for the entire Brightest Day "crossovent" (ya like that?).  Of course, nothing came of it... but, we'll burn that bridge when we get to it.  This series is still worth a look!

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Justice League: Generation Lost #2 (2010)

Justice League: Generation Lost #2 (Late July, 2010)
"Max'ed Out"
Script - Judd Winick
Breakdowns - Keith Giffen
Penciller - Joe Bennett
Inker - Jack Jadson
Colors - Hi-Fi
Letterer - Pat Brosseau
Assistant Editor - Rex Ogle
Editor - Michael Siglain
Cover Price: $2.99

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!  Here's something to help you digest.

--

Picking up a little after last issue, the old JLIers are attempting to show Superman some pretty choice footage of Wonder Woman.  Oddly, instead of seeing her snap Maxwell Lord's neck, he only sees her holding her sword aloft in a He-Man pose.  Worth noting, Superman seems to have no time for our Bwah-ha-ha buddies... he's really rather short with them.

A bored and impatient Superman then takes his leave, but not before giving Captain Atom orders to "stand down".  The Checkmate mix-up last issue along with this bit of "odd" behavior is a bit too much for him.

The Super-Buddies then look inward and start arguing among themselves.  Booster's ticked that the rest of his "friends" took their sweet time responding to his signal... to which, Captain Atom attempts to put things in perspective by comparing a nuclear bomb exploding with being thwomped by a pipe.  Skeets thankfully interrupts to give his (its?) two cents on the situation... and deduces that the assembled foursome might be the only people on the planet with any memory of Maxwell Lord.

We shift scenes to the Batcave where Booster Gold is visiting with new Batman, Dick Grayson.  Dick, like Superman before him, has absolutely no recollection of Max Lord.  It's here that we learn that in making the world forget about him, Max also made it so stories where he had been integral have been rewritten... at least mentally.  Restarting the Justice League post-Crisis/Legends?  Bruce Wayne did that.  Hijacking the OMAC Project?  That was Lex.  Blue Beetles murder?  Well, actually... Ted committed suicide!  Really neat bits here.  Maybe contemporary Marvel and DC should hire a fella like Max Lord to make things "fit".

Another scene shift, and this time it's Fire visiting with Wonder Woman.  They have a terse exchange, wherein Diana takes great offense at the very thought that she'd break a man's neck.  After running Fire down some, she dismisses her.

We next join Ice as she's chatting up her old beau, Guy Gardner.  It... could've gone better.

More members of the hero community are called upon... and none of them have the foggiest idea what a Maxwell Lord is.  Even Oracle is stumped!

Last stop on the "tour" takes us to Davis Mountain Air Force Base in Arizona.  Captain Atom is there to brief a general and his staff... and is shocked to find that he's not the only Meta on the premises.  Our old friend David Reid... Magog, is also there.  What's more, he wants ol' Nate to turn himself in!

Making matter much worse, when Cap sees the General... he looks like Max!  Atom lunges forward and chokes him out before realizing that... well, he's got the wrong guy.  Magog declares him under arrest!

Realizing just how royally he just screwed up, Captain Atom attempts to turn himself in.  Unfortunately, Magog's more in the mood for a fight.  Reid charges in... and Nate goes atomic!

Back in New York, the four JLIers reconnoiter... and discuss the events of their pretty rotten day.  They posit that Max kept them "in the know" only so he could ruin them.  He's discredited and shamed them all... it'll take a lot of rehabbing for any of them to be taken seriously ever again.  Well, maybe not Booster.  Max hasn't done anything to him... which Skeets suggests is by design.  Any slams against Booster's credibility would be... redundant.

Booster's had about enough.  His friends are being dragged through the mud, and the world believes his best friend killed himself.  He declares that they will find Max Lord!

We wrap up with Skeets reporting that a "flutter" from the ancient JLI computer systems just started up... and it's coming from El Paso, Texas.  Not only that, but the signal belongs to... the Blue Beetle?!

--

I mentioned the last time that we discussed this series that this was part of my grand return to comics after a lengthy bout of unemployment.  This really could have made or broke me... a poor showing here might've turned me away for an extended period... or perhaps (when The New-52! flushed everything a year later) I might've said "screw it" and been done for good!

I was a bit iffy back in ye old 2010 when I picked this up off the rack.  The classic team is right in my wheelhouse as a fan... however, there was that one name in the credits that gave me a bit of agita.  Judd Winick is responsible for quite a few comics that I have... disliked.  He has many of the worst habits of contemporary writers... soapbox lectures, snark, writing like he's too cool for comics.  There's also the fact that he's from The Real World.  Fair or not, I think I always held that against him.  As though his being from "the mainstream" afforded him certain opportunities that didn't quite jive with his level of talent.

In reading Generation Lost, however, I was pretty blown away.  I was already bracing for social issues to be at the forefront... and for awful reaching snark.  Everytime we were introduced to a new character here, I swear I clenched... because I was absolutely positive that the description following their name would be "cute" and "meta".  Ya know, like "Aquaman: Talks to Fish" or "Batman: A Night Person"... stupid crap like that.  Thankfully (and surprisingly) there was none of that!

Instead what we get is an interesting and tragic story of targeting and discredited superheroes.  This iteration of the League has always been something of a joke to the community at-large, however, by this point it's clear that the joke's wearing a bit thin.  Superman and Wonder Woman appear tired of humoring these lovable losers... which is almost painful to observe.

There comes that time when everyone has "enough".  If you're a parent, the first time your kid brings you a (literal) mud pie... it's cute.  Maybe the second and third time too.  But the hundredth?  The thousandth?  What was once charming is now just a mess.  We get the distinct impression that Superman and Wonder Woman are currently at that point.  They see Booster and the Gang with a handful of mud... and are just annoyed that, ultimately, they're going to have to clean it up.

Overall... a surprisingly great issue (and series).  My only complaint is that everybody is drawn with Batman's jawline.  Well, that and the fact that this isn't leading anywhere.  This is one of the skatey-eight hundred things DC flushed down the commode to make way for (the totally planned and well-thought-out) The New-52!  Worth a read to be sure... expect a great story... with less-than-great followup.

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