After the Fox!
JLE (volume 1) #10
Cover Date: January 1990
Released: 5th December 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
We start with Bruce Wayne, aka Batman, doing what “clever” people on the internet like to claim he never does, use his billions (or millions in the 80s I guess) to help people! He’s at a gala in Paris raising money to help people suffering due to the fairly recent Invasion! event (aliens attacked Earth), a nice touch remembering DC’s canon at the time.
Unfortunately someone has decided to steal he giant ball that the money has been held inside, but exploding the base and picking it up on the end of a tether attacked to a helicopter! Only in comics, right?
Bruce is unable to get involved, but it’s okay because we have local hero Crimson Fox on the case! She seems to be doing okay, but just in case Batman decides to call on the help of Justice League Europe, something he doesn’t seem overly confident about!
Meanwhile we cut to the Paris Embassy where PeeGee is sparing with Captain Atom to find out the limits of her (newly) reduced powers. Even though she seems to be holding here own everyone talks like it’s a major downgrade. Perhaps she’s coping because technically she was trained in secret before being revealed to the world except she’s not because they never quite sorted out quite what her post-crisis origins were when it came to things like her being trained by Superman. Half arsed update to her origins and power sets seems to be a norm sine the beautiful mess that is Post Crisis!
But what about that plot about the stolen money? Well it’s not a big problem because the helicopter literally crashes into the embassy! Into Captain Atom’s bedroom as it happens! At least PeeGee and Elongated Man get the two criminals to surrender to them, no fight as these two normal criminals know they’re outclassed even if its Elongated Man!
Captain Atom chew’s Crimson Fox out, until Batman turns up to point out that she really did take the two guys on her own and that they wanted her to join the JLE anyways. Apparently, as we find out in a jogging scene between Buddy (Animal Man) and PeeGee, she turned the offer down, though at the very end she provides a new bed and accepts the offer.
As pointed out may time the JLE had two problems, none of the heroes are from Europe (beyond the Pillars of Hercules apparently doesn’t count) and there are distinct lack of female heroes. Now Sue and Catherine are amazing and good additions to the team, but at this moment only PeeGee was counts as a female hero. And even then she’s been depowered so she not stronger than the male heroes…