Justice League 3001 #2 review

Here she comes to save the day.

Supergirl arrives on Takron Galtos as the Justice League fights the drone slaves of Starro. The Flash, Teri Magnus, has been zooming around the planet, looking for the prime Starro - dealing with the cosmic jellyfish dictator will free his thralls, but she's had no luck. Can a Kryptonian with telescopic, x-ray and infra-red vision do any better than a pure super-speedster?

You betcha.

Writers JM DeMatteis and Keith Giffen do justice to the original Supergirl here, capturing her never-say-die, no-nonsense attitude, without ignoring her sense of humour. Despite the light-heartedness  being what most people remember about their previous Justice League runs, DeMatteis and Giffen never stinted on the dramatics. And here we have a great battle between Wonder Woman, Superman, Guy Gardner, Batman, Flash and Starro's slaves. Howard Porter's opening action spread shows the odds our heroes face, while DeMatteis and Giffen uses the fight to demonstrate the members' personalities. The softening of Superman's character is a delight, and I can't wait to see how Supergirl will react to her not-quite-cousin.

In the background, League advisor Ariel Masters lurks, hoping the heroes will fall before Starro's horde ... well, she is criminal mastermind... Lois Lane? This twisted version of the girl reporter has survived into the 31st century, leads a new Injustice League and wants to see former love Clark - or, at least, his future avatar - dead. And if she can take down the rest of the League, so much the better.

That job just got much tougher, if Supergirl sticks around. Rocketed into space at some point in the Silver Age on a mission for cousin Superman, she's perturbed to find she's strayed by a millennium. She may try to time travel straight back home, but I suspect things won't be easy. I do hope so - there's no Kara being seen regularly in DC Comics, so I'll happily take this classic version. Her first meeting with Teri may be my favourite comic scene so far this year.

The arrival of Supergirl is just one more reason to buy Justice League 3001, a series which never fails to deliver strong character dynamics, compelling storylines and fascinating illustrations. This month it also delivers a couple of Fun F.A.Q. pages for new readers. The first sees Ariel begin to explain just what this League is, the second has the story baton taken up by (drum roll) future Maxwell Lord. 

OK, these pages are exceedingly playful metafiction, but I'd be amazed if Max didn't join the story proper soon. And hurrah for that, let DeMatteis and Giffen reclaim the character so sullied by the hands of others.

I did try to work out from whence this Supergirl might hail - it seems to be after the original JLA has fought Starro a few times, but, given that they don't get a mention, before she met the Legion of Super-Heroes. Which doesn't fit at all, so the heck with it - hey, it's a Silver Age Supergirl, full of charm and wonder.

I love this series. Buy it and make me happy.