The Teasdale Imperative: Part Four: Showdown…
JLE (volume 1) #8
Cover Date: November 1989
Released: 3rd October 1989
- Writers: Keith Giffen / J.M. DeMatteis
- Pencilers: Bart Sears
- Inker: Bob Smith
- Colourists: Gene D’Angelo
- Letterer: Bob Lappan
- Editors: Andrew Helfer / Kevin Dooley
Continued from JLA #32.
For such a pivotal event in Pee Gee’s future in the JLE Kara has very little to do in this comic, indeed whilst a lot happens the combined Justice League does very little.
And whilst they’re there in the background the zombies play very little part, apart from them being something for the heroes to be worried about. What we’re focused on is the plotline that has been bubbling under in the background, that of the Grey Man.
To sum up the plot Stagg has a vat of the zombie juice, that the Grey Man wants Teasdale, not that it matters as the now expiring vampires are adding to The Grey Mans powers. Indeed he gains enough power to grow to giant size and begins to fight the League.
We then get a couple of pages of the League fighting the 50ft Grey Man, and in one random panel, which is at least a double panel (though the fight has quite a few of them), Pee Gee get’s swatted away. It seems to be a inconsequential panel, the random chaos of a superhero fight. But no it’s quite important as we find at the end she’s seriously injured and on death’s door. Not that this is bought up in the fight, except for Captain Atom to make the call to focus on the fight instead of her which leads to his guilt at the end of the comic.
Indeed the fight is full of these weird little anti-climaxes, Teasdale gets killed of rather sad way of being stomped on by the Grey Man. And of all the indignities the heroes don’t actually win the fight instead Dr Fate brings the gods of Chaos and Order to literally bring him down to size. It’s an actual Deus ex Machina and a little disappointing.
Indeed it’s hard for me to judge this comic fairly as I know it’s setting up a depowering of Pee Gee, especially as it’s thrown in such a random way. Weirdly up to now we’ve seen so more of Pee Gee using her powers in this run than ever before, I’m not sure why they decided to depower her, apart from classic idea that a Kryptonian hero (or Atlantean here) making the rest of the League redundant. But as here the fighting part of superheroes is often cast aside for the soap opera aspects, and whilst I sometime get frustrated by the lack of competence this sometimes cause I’m all here for the soapy part.
I’ll save some of the ranting for the next issue and say that this is still a competently told tale, even if the ending is a little bit of a let down after all he issues of setup.