JLA / Hitman # 1 - On The Darkside, Part One

Overview

Tommy Monaghan, the long-lost hero of HITMAN, returns in part one of this two-issue miniseries!

There's a problem on the JLA moonbase, and not even the World's Greatest Heroes can cope by themselves. Can Tommy help them out? Will he? Unpleasant secrets from the past return...on the Darkside.

Plot Summary

Clark Kent is interviewed by a young journalist curious to find out the connection between Superman and a contract killer named Tommy Monaghan, known as Hitman. Kent tells the reporter of what happened some years before when the JLA were based at the Watchtower on the moon. Green Lantern leaves the Watchtower to investigate a damaged space shuttle that NASA has lost contact with. Scanning the craft with his ring and sending the results back to the tower alerts Batman to a potential threat.Monaghan, meanwhile, is in Gotham following a tip-off that four killers are after him. As the killers argue about who is in charge, Monaghan throws a bomb into the room, killing all of them.At the Watchtower, Batman reveals what was identified by Lantern's ring once he returns. The Bloodline parasites appear to be on the space probe. Realising they need a survivor of the parasites' earlier attack, Batman heads down to Gotham where he finds Monaghan and brings him back to the moon. Green Lantern is embarrassed when Monaghan recognises him and tells the others of how they had teamed up, causing Batman to lecture Lantern on the morality of associating with a hired killer. His tirade is cut short when Superman walks in and recognises Monaghan, greeting him as a friend. Batman tells Superman of Monaghan's profession which he shamefacedly admits to. Monaghan's blood is tested and compared to the readings from the probe; the creatures on the probe appear more advanced and a greater threat. The League disagree on how to deal with the threat of the aliens but their hand is forced when the probe accelerates and heads for the moon; it crashlands and Superman flies out to find any survivors. At the Watchtower, the four remaining heroes and Monaghan suddenly feel their individual powers waning and it is Monaghan who reminds them that if it has happened to all of them, it may have happened to Superman who is outside on the moon's surface.