Wednesday, July 6, 2011

JLA #96 (Early June, 2004)



Faith was tied to a chair in a darkened room. Just as her telekinesis freed her, Crucifer showed up, and mesmerized her into submission. The vampire then indulged in a superhuman nibble.

Superman and Wonder Woman flew to Castle Crucifer, whose owner knew Diana's mother, Hippolyta. The Amazing Amazon was surprised by this, but not nearly as much so as being punched in the back of the head by Superman. Diana recovered better than just about anyone, then fought the Man of Kneel for several pages. Nudge saw this as her chance, and beguiled Superman long enough for Wonder Woman to floor him and impale Crucifer with a thrown sword. Superman also made a swift recovery, while Crucifer extracted the sword from his chest. "You cannot win! If Superman falls, if I fall, the League remains! They'll find a way to stop you!" Crucifer tapped Diana with the sword so hard that she came up off the ground before lying deathly still upon it. "Whatever. Pity you won't be around to see it.

"The Heart of the Matter," part three of "The Tenth Circle," was by the creator of a lot of other really bad Wonder Woman comics, John Byrne. He dragged Chris Claremont and Jerry Ordway into this quagmire with him. It's a good looking book, but I can't believe I'm still dancing around the reveal of the second team as the classic Doom Patrol. It's really blatant at this point. I have to admit that the Superman sucker punch was pretty amusing, especially the cartoon stars and "KLUDD!" Pity Wonder Woman once again needed to grab a big metal phallic symbol and stab somebody with it rather than use her powers and non-lethal weapons. I bet the Lasso of Truth could have been loads more effective, especially with all the random crap vampires are vulnerable to. Has anybody ever tried kryptonite?


The Tenth Circle

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