Monday, March 11, 2019

Justice League 1.10

A Knight of Shadows

Part 1

Jason Blood, was a knight of King Arthur's Court. He betrayed the king to the sorceress Morgan Le Fay. Merlin the magician placed a curse on Blood. He bound his soul to that of Etrigan, a demon.

Jason Blood teams up with Batman in the present. Together they investigate what looks like the return of Morgan Le Fay. She is after the Philosophers Stone, a powerful relic. Batman is skeptical at first but after they are attacked by animated suits of armor he changes his tune. Blood is forced to changes into Etrigan, the Demon, in order to save them. Batman finally relents and calls for help. It arrives in the forms of Wonder Woman, Flash, and Martian Manhunter.

J'onn tries using telepathy to locate Morgan Le Fay. She detects what he is up to and uses her powers to make him think that he is back on Mars and that his loved ones are not dead. The Demon uses his powers to break into J'onn's dream ad bring him back to reality. J'onn was unable to locate Morgan and Modred, her son, but he did learn that they are still looking for the ancient relic.

Morgan is frustrated at her lack of success in finding the stone. Modred suggests that they find the two men who excavated the site where the stone should have been. The Justice League gets the same idea. The heroes get to Henry Moss, the first of the men, before the villains, but he doesn't have it. Batman, the Demon, and Martian Manhunter set a trap for the villains. Martian Manhunter disguises himself as Moss but Morgan sees right through the disguise and uses her powers once again to enthrall him.

Flash and Wonder Woman go to see Harv Hickman, the second man. He is a rich magazine publisher, not unlike a certain real world publisher who has the same initials. Hickman's security isn't about to let the two heroes in until Hickman sees Wonder Woman.

Good start but not a great story. It is always nice to see a change of pace and scenery. Adding some characters with magic based super powers is a welcome addition in my book.

Part 2

Wonder Woman talk to Harv. Flash pursues another lead, a couple of women in bikinis. Harv shows Wonder Woman the ancient relic. Morgan Le Fay and Modred arrive and attempt to take the relic. She turns Harv into a giant worm with teeth. He promptly attacks Wonder Woman. Flash joins the fight but it isn't until the Demon and Batman join the fight that the tide turns in favor of the heroes.

The heroes get the relic to their satellite headquarters. Flash is confident that Morgan Le Fay will never get it from there. The Demon questions Flash's confidence. The witch contacts J'onn and tries to get him to help her. She promises him that she will restore his family to him. He struggles to resist helping her. While he is fighting the urge to help the enemy, Morgan Le Fay sends her monster-men to the satellite.

The Sorceress' ugly creatures fight with the heroes. The heroes win the fight only to discover that J'onn has fled the satellite with the relic. The Demon is once again very dismissive of Martian Manhunter.

The final battle occurs on Earth in what look like it might be London. Morgan transforms the city into a giant castle. The other heroes arrive just as J'onn is about to hand over the relic. The Demon battles the Martian Manhunter who is still bent on helping the sorceress. Flash and Wonder Woman take on Le Fay. Batman has to deal with Modred who it turns out also possesses deadly magical abilities.

The fight between J'onn and the Demon turns out to be the key to winning the battle. J'onn wins but in doing so he reads the mind of Jason Blood and sees how Morgan Le Fay betrayed Blood's trust. He destroys the relic. Le Fay is enraged but she and Modred leave vowing that this is just a battle in a larger war.

At one point Martian Manhunter tries telling Batman that he doesn't know what it is like to lose family. Nothing could be further form the truth but Batman doesn't try to refute J'onn's assertion.

This is part two of the Martian Manhunter arc. The first part was Secret Origins (JL 1.01). The final is To Another Shore (JLU 3.04). I don't recall if there are any other episodes that spotlight Martian Manhunter's past.

Final Thoughts

On the whole this is a good but not great story. I like the Demon. It's a shame they didn't use him more.

Superman, Green Lantern, and Hawkgirl do not appear in this story.

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