Grant Morrison returned to the JLA last week with the premier issue of JLA: Classified. The comic recaptures the breakneck, take-no-prisoners and leave-no-exposition pace of his earlier JLA work, although it benefits from much stronger art by Ed McGuinness. (I haven�t read any of McGuiness�s previous work but any man who�s willing to play along with Morrison�s games, like the raindrop panels of page 10, the bomb-ripple panels of page 11, or the cubic panel arrangement on page 12, is okay in my book.).
But while the rapidfire action is intensely satisfying to a fan of Morrison�s JLA, it may leave others struggling to keep pace, especially since it focuses on an obscure set of Morrison supporting characters, the Ultramarines. If I had a hard time remembering who all these people were, what might new readers think?
To some extent, it doesn�t really matter if you know who they are � as long as you grasp that they�re meant to be cyphers who get their asses kicked in act one, and maybe pick up on the Ultimates/Authority pastiche, then you�re fine. But I thought it would be helpful to provide some of the background and to talk about how these characters allude to their Marvel counterparts.
The Ultramarines first appeared in JLA #24-26, where they were government-created super-soldiers who took part in a coup against the President and the JLA. That story ended with the Ultramarines siding with the JLA, then declaring their independence and recruiting other superheroes to form a pre-emptive, first-strike team that would kill enemies first and ask questions later. They were never seen or heard from again until last week, but their charter makes them the ideal vehicle for a takeoff on the Authority-style �proactive� superteam. Morrison has also stated that the new Ultramarines are a conscious parody of Marvel�s classic characters, particularly as they�ve been portrayed in The Ultimates.
Three of the four original Ultramarines appear in JLA: Classified #1:
� Warmaker One: little more than a human sentience inside a suit of armor. Obviously the Iron Man character.
� Glob: originally named �Flow.� Based on his radical deviaton from the human form, and his new dialogue tics (�the ever-luvvin� Glob in the Rain Room�), he seems to be a vague Thing analogue.
� The Master: originally named �Pulse 8.� In his first appearance, Pulse 8 was �connected to the unified harmonic field� and could �perform incredible feats� involving gravity, electromagnetism, and the other fundamental forces of the universe. Now he�s using his powers to rewrite reality. He�s vaguely reminiscent of characters like the Authority�s Doctor, but I suspect Morrison has gone straight to the source and made him the Ultramarines� version of Doctor Strange.
� 4-D: mentioned and pictured on the cover, but not featured in the issue, this Ultramarine has the power to move through the various dimensions, becoming two-dimensional, four-dimensional, etc. Possibly an Invisible Girl analogue.
The four originals are sufficiently bizarre that Morrison has to retrofit them pretty drastically to match the classic Marvel characters (although their origin � their media-friendly fake origin, anyway � does fit a general Fantastic Four pattern, making them highly appropriate as the inaugural members of a Marvel pastiche). He has a much easier time with the preexisting DC characters who joined after the team went international. Pictured in JLA #26 were the Knight and Squire, Goraiko, Jack O�Lantern, and the Vixen.
� The Knight and the Squire: new versions of characters from the �Club of Heroes,� a 1950s invention comprised of Batman and Robin ripoffs from around the world. They map just as easily onto Captain America and Bucky.
� Goraiko: first appeared in JLA #26, as far as I know. An atomic titan with the size of Giant-Man and the power of the Hulk, he only speaks in equations and ultraviolent haiku. I love him already.
� Jack O�Lantern: once a Global Guardian (and therefore a spinoff from the Super Friends comic book) with a bargain-basement Green Lantern-style power battery, he�s been reimagined as an acrobatic wisecracking Spider-Man type, right down to the poses he strikes on page 3.
� Vixen: mentioned but not featured, this animal-powered heroine will presumably play the Wolverine or maybe Black Widow type.
� Olympian: mentioned but not featured, he�s a Greek Global Guardian with mythology-based powers. Obviously the Thor analogue.
In one interview, Morrison has indicated that the Ultramarines may include an Elektra analogue as well. It�ll be interesting to see who, if anyone, he casts in that role.
Finally, a few other interesting details that hint of past and future stories:
� Neh-buh-loh the Huntsman: the Squire�s files suggest a connection to Nebula Man, the being who scattered the Seven Soldiers of Victory across time back in Justice League of America #100-102. Neh-buh-loh�s speech reads like a bit of classic Morrisonian set-up for a larger story, which is exactly what it is: this will almost certainly lead into the �Seven Soldiers� saga next year.
� Batman�s �sci-fi closet�: given that Morrison loves to reintroduce the more outr� bits of expunged continuity, I�m surprised this closet wasn�t filled with all those costumes from the days of the Cosmic Zebra Batman. In my mind, they�re all knocking around in the back somewhere. The �Don�t tell my friends in the G.C.P.D.� line seems to acknowledge this forgotten silliness.
� The infant universe of Qwewq. First mentioned in JLA #12, this baby universe was being protected and nurtured by the heroes of Wonderworld. Apparently it survived Wonderworld�s destruction and somehow found its way into the hands of the JLA. The name is a reference to Italo Calvino�s stories about Qfwfq, a being as old as the universe who narrates the stories of Cosmicomics and t zero.
(I�m disappointed that Qwewq looks exactly like the �information sent backwards in time� form that Neh-buh-loh assumes to trap and consume the Master. Unless there�s some good plot reason for this in the later issues, it just seems unnecessarily coincidental and misleading.)
So there you have it. The first issue of JLA: Classified is a straightfoward but entertaining superhero story perfectly in keeping with Morrison�s earlier JLA work. The storyline looks like it�s building towards a giant DC/Marvel rumble in the grand Avengers/Squadron Supreme manner, updated for the house styles of the new millenium. Should be a lot of fun.
Posted by Marc at November 9, 2004 9:48 AM