I am debating adding a bit more variety to my blog and what I mean by that is adding recaps of other comics I am reading and not just the ones on my DC list. I haven't decided yet, but I am just putting the idea out there. Today though I am still working on my seemingly never ending list of DC Rebirth comics, specifically Justice League Vol. 2: Outbreak. This volume includes issues #6-11 and this part one is going to include issues #6 & #7. If you still need to catch up on the events of Vol. 1 you can go ahead and click this link (here). Now, onto this recap, which might be a little long because there are a lot of people doing a lot of things.
State of Fear, Part One: Page one is not messing around as we start this issue with all of the JL (even Batman) looking terrified. Hard to say the city but some this is spreading fear and the only person still in her right mind is Green Lantern Jessica Cruz. Jessica saves Flash and calls on Simon to help her. He too seems to be good, since overcoming fear is sort of their thing. The Green Lantern plan to beat the scary fear monster is for everyone in the JL to hold hands (I am here for it). Hand holding works. Barry flirts with Jess and Batman wants to chat with Superman. (Note: This issue is before the date night issue from the Flash volume I did last week.) Aquaman and Wonder Woman leave, Arthur asking Diana for help. Jess works up the nerve to ask Barry out on a date, while Cyborg catching on drags Simon away. Jess and Barry set a time and place in Seattle while Cyborg asks Simon to come help him with kids in Detroit.
Back at the Kent Farm, Clark is recapping what happened to Lois. They are also super cute and we get an eye roll from Jon. Meanwhile Jess is getting ready for her date, aka stressing. Barry is running around also stressing a speed changing. Jess arrives at the date, sees Barry running off, thinks he is leaving, but he comes back with flowers that did not like super speed. In the Batcave Batman is trying to get ahold of Dick, but he doesn't answer and I think this makes Batman sad/angry. On their date Jess and Barry are only a little awkward and Barry orders a crazy amount of food. Barry is being weird and it stresses Jess out to the point that when he touches her hand she freaks out throwing herself from her seat. She then attacks the server because she thinks he is going to touch her. Barry continues to be a weird jerk, who is part angry and part arrogant. Jess runs and hides in the freezer and when Barry vibrates in scaring her, she blasts him out. The last page of this issue we see Clark fighting a headache. Lois brings up Batman and this sends Clark into a rage as he declares he is going to go kill Batman, because the guy never appreciates the team and is too bossy. (Maybe the hand holding didn't work?)
State of Fear, Part Two: In the Batcave, Bruce is feeling a lot of feelings about how he isn't doing enough to protect or save people. Suddenly Superman arrives and tells Batman just how pissed he is while punching him into the Batcomputer. Off the Atlantic Coast, Wonder Woman and Aquaman are not feeling the world as a whole, while they pull a giant shipwreck out of the ocean. They both sort of ramp each other up to the point that Aquaman thinks it is time to show America just how small it is. In Detroit Cyborg is showing off on the football field of his old high school, while Simon awkwardly sits alone in the stands wondering why he came to this. Suddenly Cyborg thinks everyone is afraid of him and thinks he is hideous, so he boom tubes away. Simon just sits there thinking that everyone hates him.
Back in the Batcave, Bruce tells Clark to just kill him, he wants him too. Superman just screams and they both collapse to the floor. Jess is just curled up on the ground in a green light bubble, while Barry is running around (fixing the wall I think). We now see that something is putting thoughts into the heroes heads, the same thing from the beginning. Barry decides to read all the ID's of the patrons of the restaurant. He also admits to liking Jess but thinking that he is an idiot and just too fast for her. Barry is aware of the voice, he can feel it and that it is coming from Jess. He startles her and she gets sick, literally barfing up the black thing from earlier. The evil fear voice tells us that it wasn't destroyed, it just infected all of them through Jessica's ring. It points out that there is nowhere for Flash to run, that Simon is into isolation and self-loathing, and Cyborg thinks of himself as a monster. We also see Wonder Woman and Aquaman have decided that people cannot be trusted to find peace on their own, so they declare that they will force it on them.
Barry and Jess have found a way to talk and Jess figures out that they never beat the thing from before and she can feel the wounds in every member of the JL. In the Batcave, Clark still wants to kill Bruce and Bruce is still fine with that. They are both super smart and self aware though and figure out that perhaps something more is happening. The shadow monster that Jess barfed up is now infecting/covering in darkness more and more people in Seattle. Barry and Jess find each other (more hand holding) and Barry gives Jessica a pep talk while the darkness gives her the opposite of a pep talk. Lucky for the people of Seattle and the rest of the JL team, she listens to Barry and uses her light to finally take down the darkness. It might be over but the whole team is affected and the feelings might have been escalated by the creature but they belonged to the people that were infected and there will still be consequences. A few days later, Barry and Jess meet up again, but only for her to tell him that she is quitting the League. He tries to convince her to stay in the League and to give him a chance but she is not interested in either right now.
Thoughts: I am only doing these two issues since it is one short story and I don't want to split up the next story. These team volumes are a little tough because they tend to happen at a different pace then the individual story lines. Like we know Aquaman and Wonder Woman are both dealing with a lot of stuff. Batman is super sad about Tim Drake. Superman is still dealing with the death of his counterpart. Flash is torn between what it means to be Barry and the Flash. Cyborg's father-stuff is more than crazy. Not to mention how tough it is for the Green Lanterns both as a team and as individuals. I think trying to show how much these heroes have to deal with by presenting it as fears was an interesting story. I will be curious to see how the team can come back together to face the next global foe.
The writer for this volume is the same as Volume 1, Bryan Hitch. It looks like he will be the main writer for most of this run of Justice League barring a few crossovers and special issues. I like his writing and again feel like it is a tough job to make up stories for whole teams. I'll give credit to the artist here and in my next post. Issue #6 had many people working on it, John Trevor Scott, Matthew Clark, and Sean Parsons. Issue #7 took a little less people with only Jesus Merino and Andy Owens working on it. The main covers for both issues were done by a prior JL artist, Tony Daniel.
Next post you can look forward to the Outbreak story line, see you all then and there.
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