The Teasdale Imperative: Part Two: Teasdale Unbound!
JLE (volume 1) #7
Cover Date: October 1989
Released: 5th September 1989
- Writers: Keith Giffen / J.M. DeMatteis
- Pencilers: Bart Sears
- Inker: Pablo Marcos
- Colourists: Gene D’Angelo
- Letterer: Bob Lappan
- Editors: Andrew Helfer / Kevin Dooley
Look I don’t care that they call them vampire, apart from an aversion to sunlight, the baddies here at just like zombies. The comic even makes several jokes about zombie movie, show that even the writers know what we’re dealing with! If I was being fair they do act like the vampire’s in something like I am Legend, but they were also very zombie like so my point still stands!
Anyway now I have that out of my system, and don’t worry I have a rant to spare for later, let’s get onto the story proper!
We start with our plucky JLE dealing with a horde of zombies vampires, and this isn’t a cliff-hanger honestly with maybe the exception of Booster Gold and Rocket Red being here. Oh and we have a full page splash of the group being menaced by these vampires, so obviously we need a butt shot of Pee Gee as she give air support. This results in several pages of the group fighting, including some lovely banter from Rocket Red Dimitri, including mentioning it’s time for the cavalry just before the JLA turns up in there ship.
When Captain Atom decides someone need to warn them of contamination, Pee Gee generously volunteers Flash throwing him up towards the craft, something I’m sure she’s been wanting to do for some time! We then get a ute moment that when J’onn J’onzz ask’s why she threw him up he explains that he think’s Pee Gee is attracted to him but can only show love through acts of aggressions. Luckily J’onn doesn’t just drop him then and there, and after Batman and Blue Beetle being there character types the JSA join in on the battle.
Here is the first instance of trope I really hate, in any media, all the characters find it hard to believe that they’re fighting vampires. Forgetting the fact that several of them have faced vampire before (at least Batman isn’t sceptical) they’re fighting alongside Doctor frickin Fate an ancient magical helmet from the dawn of time. Or even the fact that Pee Gee, who also to be fair doesn’t display any doubt, is from *shudder* Atlantis. She even quips with Fire about her lawyer being a blood sucker themselves!
Anyway with the dawn our not zombies flee and we get some glorious pages of characters just interacting with each other!
First is just a little image at the bottom of a page of Guy Gardner being disgusted that sometime Dr Fate is a man and sometimes a woman, I’m so glad we don’t have this version of Guy today, and Dr Fate saying they they like it. We’ll ignore how messed up everything else is around this version of Dr Fate as otherwise we’d be here all day!
Plot wise we have the Spectre talking to a mysterious Grey Man, who as a collector of the dream of the dead get a shoutout in Sandman at some point, who for some reason is here pulling the strings.
Then we get a great little scene where Beatriz (Fire) and Kara (Power Girl), who has some remarkable capeage here, discuss the difference between the JLA and the JLE. Beatriz points out that with this JLA it’d be lucky if everything doesn’t go wrong, but she stays with the team because they’re a family. Whilst PeeGee laments that they’re not at that point quite yet, but at least has some optimism that it’ll work out. And whilst I’ve spent a whole paragraph on just this one page, it’s always nice to see two female characters just chatting among themselves without someone getting all catty. And it even, technically I guess, passes the Bechdel test which alas is such a low bar to clear!
Anyway we now flashback with the JLE being sent to investigate these vampires, right up to the ambush at the start of the comic, describing how this time it’s a disease and not real vampire (and really obviously isn’t zombies). Batman also ropes Elongating Man into turfing one of the vampires into the sun, because they are vampire honestly, look how he solders in the sun! (we’re a good few decade away from the sparkling thankfully). Finally we meet the eponymous Teasdale who’s behind all this, apparently backed by the mysterious Grey Man…
See a whole load of pages all rammed together to make up for the previous paragraph. To end the issue we have Animal Man and Rocket Red bonded together with the two of them missing there children and Dr Fate find The Spectre and takes him through a mysterious portal to somewhere else!
This is a mixed bag of some really good moment between scene’s designed to move the plot along. It’s completely told but I’m less interested in the fighting bit and more focused on the characters interactions. And to be fair Pee Gee gets a fairly solid showing in both departments, and I can’t fault a comic for giving me some decent Pee Gee between it pages!