Just Plain Batty!
The Dark Knight and Nightwing break into Arkham Asylum on a recruitment drive. Yes, that's right, they break into Arkham, and recruit The Joker along with Catwoman, Poison Ivy, The Riddler and The Ventriloquist and Scarface. Nightwing considers it madness and questions his mentor's sanity. His only answer is, Trust me. The Flash, leader of the newly formed Justice League of Adventure, is quoted as saying that the purpose of the JLA is protect the public and that he is leading the charge to recapture the villains. What is Batman thinking forming a Justice League of Arkham?
He presents the current situation to his new recruits. The situation is dire. If the Advance Man is successful all life on Earth will be eliminated. Heroes and villains unite to eliminate the threat to all, even with The Joker and The Riddler becoming sparring partners. Batman leads the former inmates on an assault of a plant the Advance Man is using to produce a deadly toxin. This JLA manages to capture him, but The Joker slips away to use the toxin. When Batman and Nightwing go to confront the Clown Prince, the Advance Man appeals to the other rogues' darker nature and they disband. The Advance Man escapes. The Flash and his JLA, made up of The Atom, Beast Boy, Black Canary and Mister Miracle do recapture most of the rogues. It seems that Batman is leading one JLA and consulting on another. Wally invites Bruce to be the seventh in his JLA. The Dark Knight declines the invitation. As they part company, he admits that there must be a JLA, and that his was obviously not the right one. Something's wrong with all of this, he muses.
Apparently, when Hector Hammond rewrote everyone's memories concerning the JLA, he re-wrote a lot of other memories and braincells in relation. Batman forgot that being a loner, he has the largest faction of the DC Universe at his disposal. Even while working from Arkham Asylum, he has Oracle, The Huntress and Robin. It's kind of odd that Dick didn't enlist Tim and Alfred. There could have been a way to work Ralph Dibney or Jason Blood in there. Maybe even Black Lightning. I'm surprised that Harvey Dent wasn't one of his selections. I can see Catwoman. The Riddler is a bit of a stretch. I have a hard time believing that Batman's memories would be so rewritten that he would trust Poison Ivy not to take control of the League through one or all of it's members. I can't see why The Batman would need Wesker or The Joker. I could see him inserting himself into this like he has every other time; as with Luthor's Injustice Gang on the JL animated series; and Luthor's Legion of Doom in Alex Ross' Justice. I could see him breaking into Arkham to recruit one inmate, not five. It's not crazy we're talking about, it's common sense versus stupidity. Batman's not stupid. I expected a little bit of gimmickyness with the Justice League of Amazons and The Justice League of Atlantis - basically this whole thing is a gimmick. I guess I expected more of Batman. I know this is not The Outsiders, this is the Justice League, but Batman has done this kind of thing before. He anchored The Brave and the Bold for years! For a loner, he does work pretty well with others...as long as they come around to doing things his way. Which is why I can't see this team coming together in the first place. I could see him breaking out Harvey Dent. I can see The Joker escaping. I could see Catwoman already out. I can't see Batman breaking out five of his worst enemies. Under. Any. Circumstances.
The cover and interior art is pretty good. Nightwing seems to have reverted to his twelve-year old personality - even around his boy-hood partner Wally. That was just weird. This whole issue is weird. This could have been legendary. It ends up just being fun and almost as laughable and wacky as Plastic Man's League.
The story continues in Justice League of Aliens 1.
He presents the current situation to his new recruits. The situation is dire. If the Advance Man is successful all life on Earth will be eliminated. Heroes and villains unite to eliminate the threat to all, even with The Joker and The Riddler becoming sparring partners. Batman leads the former inmates on an assault of a plant the Advance Man is using to produce a deadly toxin. This JLA manages to capture him, but The Joker slips away to use the toxin. When Batman and Nightwing go to confront the Clown Prince, the Advance Man appeals to the other rogues' darker nature and they disband. The Advance Man escapes. The Flash and his JLA, made up of The Atom, Beast Boy, Black Canary and Mister Miracle do recapture most of the rogues. It seems that Batman is leading one JLA and consulting on another. Wally invites Bruce to be the seventh in his JLA. The Dark Knight declines the invitation. As they part company, he admits that there must be a JLA, and that his was obviously not the right one. Something's wrong with all of this, he muses.
Apparently, when Hector Hammond rewrote everyone's memories concerning the JLA, he re-wrote a lot of other memories and braincells in relation. Batman forgot that being a loner, he has the largest faction of the DC Universe at his disposal. Even while working from Arkham Asylum, he has Oracle, The Huntress and Robin. It's kind of odd that Dick didn't enlist Tim and Alfred. There could have been a way to work Ralph Dibney or Jason Blood in there. Maybe even Black Lightning. I'm surprised that Harvey Dent wasn't one of his selections. I can see Catwoman. The Riddler is a bit of a stretch. I have a hard time believing that Batman's memories would be so rewritten that he would trust Poison Ivy not to take control of the League through one or all of it's members. I can't see why The Batman would need Wesker or The Joker. I could see him inserting himself into this like he has every other time; as with Luthor's Injustice Gang on the JL animated series; and Luthor's Legion of Doom in Alex Ross' Justice. I could see him breaking into Arkham to recruit one inmate, not five. It's not crazy we're talking about, it's common sense versus stupidity. Batman's not stupid. I expected a little bit of gimmickyness with the Justice League of Amazons and The Justice League of Atlantis - basically this whole thing is a gimmick. I guess I expected more of Batman. I know this is not The Outsiders, this is the Justice League, but Batman has done this kind of thing before. He anchored The Brave and the Bold for years! For a loner, he does work pretty well with others...as long as they come around to doing things his way. Which is why I can't see this team coming together in the first place. I could see him breaking out Harvey Dent. I can see The Joker escaping. I could see Catwoman already out. I can't see Batman breaking out five of his worst enemies. Under. Any. Circumstances.
The cover and interior art is pretty good. Nightwing seems to have reverted to his twelve-year old personality - even around his boy-hood partner Wally. That was just weird. This whole issue is weird. This could have been legendary. It ends up just being fun and almost as laughable and wacky as Plastic Man's League.
The story continues in Justice League of Aliens 1.