Justice League: Corporate Maneuvers

Justice League Quarterly #1-4

by Keith Giffen, J.M. DeMatteis, Gerard Jones

For the first time the start of the 1990s, Justice League Quarterly returns to print with quirky adventures from the Justice League International era! In these stories, meet the Conglomerate, a new super-team assembled by Booster Gold! Booster’s new pals and gals include Maxi-Man, Praxis, Gypsy, Echo, Vapor, and Reverb, but Booster has to wonder if their industry backers want them to be heroes...or corporate puppets. Collects Justice League Quarterly #1-4.

Genres: Comics, Dc Comics, Graphic Novels Comics, Graphic Novels

300 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 18, 2020

About the author

Keith Ian Giffen was an American comic book illustrator and writer. He is possibly best-known for his long runs illustrating, and later writing the Legion of Super-Heroes title in the 1980s and 1990s. He also created the alien mercenary character Lobo (with Roger Slifer), and the irreverent "want-to-be" hero, Ambush Bug. Giffen is known for having an unorthodox writing style, often using characters in ways not seen before. His dialogue is usually characterized by a biting wit that is seen as much less zany than dialogue provided by longtime collaborators DeMatteis and Robert Loren Fleming. That approach has brought him both criticism and admiration, as perhaps best illustrated by the mixed (although commercially successful) response to his work in DC Comics' Justice League International (1987-1992). He also plotted and was breakdown artist for an Aquaman limited series and one-shot special in 1989 with writer Robert Loren Fleming and artist Curt Swan for DC Comics.

Giffen's first published work was "The Sword and The Star", a black-and-white series featured in Marvel Preview, with writer Bill Mantlo. He has worked on titles (owned by several different companies) including Woodgod, All Star Comics, Doctor Fate, Drax the Destroyer, Heckler, Nick Fury's Howling Commandos, Reign of the Zodiac, Suicide Squad, Trencher (to be re-released in a collected edition by Boom! Studios)., T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents, and Vext. He was also responsible for the English adaptation of the Battle Royale and Ikki Tousen manga, as well as creating "I Luv Halloween" for Tokyopop. He also worked for Dark Horse from 1994-95 on their Comics Greatest World/Dark Horse Heroes line, as the writer of two short lived series, Division 13 and co-author, with Lovern Kindzierski, of Agents of Law. For Valiant Comics, Giffen wrote XO-Manowar, Magnus, Robot Fighter, Punx and the final issue of Solar, Man of the Atom.

He took a break from the comic industry for several years, working on storyboards for television and film, including shows such as The Real Ghostbusters and Ed, Edd 'n' Eddy.

He is also the lead writer for Marvel Comics's Annihilation event, having written the one-shot prologue, the lead-in stories in Thanos and Drax, the Silver Surfer as well as the main six issues mini-series. He also wrote the Star-Lord mini-series for the follow-up story Annihilation: Conquest. He currently writes Doom Patrol for DC, and is also completing an abandoned Grant Morrison plot in The Authority: the Lost Year for Wildstorm.

Reviews

[Chad · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm happy DC is finally collecting more of the Justice League International run by Giffen and DeMatteis. It remains my favorite Justice League run of all time. This collection is of the first 4 Justice League Quarterlies. The quality isn't quite as up to snuff as the regular run due to the fact Giffen only plotted some of these stories and didn't script them as well. Still there's some great stuff.

Booster Gold leaves the JLI and forms a corporate superhero group called the Conglomerate with some ties to the Detroit version of the Justice League. Then we get a hilarious sendup of Galactus with Mr. Nebula, Interplanetary Designer. In the third quarterly the Justice League tries to go back in time to stop the Extremists from being created. I really liked this. Finally, it's the return of the Injustice League as they try to rob the Hari Krishnas.

[Christian Zamora-Dahmen · Rating 3 out of 5]

For some reason, these stories, as good as they are in their regular monthlies (Justice League America and Justice League Europe), they don’t work that well in this format. They actually feel like single-issue stories stretched way too far to cover this extra-sized format. Too bad, because out of these four books, I only felt the third book managed to accomplish what the regular series did (as uncle Mitch went back to his weird world). The fourth book’s main story focused on the Injustice League, but it was written by someone who didn’t clearly had the bwah-hahaha sense, and most of his jokes just fell flat. In this same book, the Ice story wasn’t bad, but yet another writer wrote it and he had no clue as to how to handle Guy Gardner, and his very particular view of Ice. The result: It felt like a familiar story which was off, again and again.
Oh, and were issues 1 and 2 tiresome— The Conglomerate story should have been great, after all that build-up, but it never reached its point. And what about issue 2 with Mister Nebula? It should have been hilarious. But, it wasn’t.

[Justin Partridge · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Ya know, just once I’d like to hear about this sort of stuff happening to the Doom Patrol.”

Oh, man, have I missed THIS Justice League.

I might have maybe read this back during my JLI days proper, but I’m really happy to have included it in the overall. It’s basically nonsense but it’s precisely the sort of nonsense I like from this team. Both creative and cast wise.

Like how can you hate a comic that ends basically with a bunch of openly comedic stuff about them trying to take care of Streaky the Super-Cat?

[Eskana · Rating 2 out of 5]

A collection of short, unconnected stories featured in the annuals and quarterlies of the Justice League (International/Europe.) Typically, I really enjoy oddball Leaguers, but the problem with annuals and quarterlies is that they are usually intended to be stand-alone stories. Consequently, there is no real flow to these stories, although the fact that they aren't part of some huge overarching story means you can jump right in.

Review: I enjoyed the first story the most, and it's definitely the strongest of the bunch. Seeing the struggle of heroes dealing with a corporate-funded super-team is an interesting concept, although it is very short lived (since I believe it's only in this issue. The other stories feel a bit too long. Annuals are always a bit longer, but still, most of these feel stretched out and played for laughs and character puns and hijinxs. Except for JLI fans or fans of members, I can't say I recommend this, but take a look below to get an idea of the stories. I tried to list the characters involved in case you're a fan of them.

Plot Overview, Issue-by-Issue:
Annual 1- Sometime in the recent Justice League International comics, Booster Gold decided he was fed up with being a joke in the JLI, and so he quit, leaving his best friend Blue Beetle behind. With the help of Claire and many corporate sponsors, Booster Gold forms a new super-team: the Conglomerate. While true heroes at heart, most of the team are newbies, and while they prove to be a good team, they are soon frustrated by the need to satisfy corporate demands of publicity and toeing the company line. Meanwhile, the team also faces friction from Booster's former team, the Justice League, who dislike the Conglomerate for their commercial veneer. The story involves the creation of the Conglomerate, their dealings with the JLI (especially as Beetle confronts Booster,) and the Conglomerate being used and trying to get out from the control of their sponsors.

Annual 2 - If you think the JLI are the bottom of the barrel, you must not know about the joke that is Justice League Antarctica. G'nort, the doggy Green Lantern, and the Scarlet Skier are faced with the challenge of Mr Nebula, the planetary designer, who wants to "re-design" Earth so it looks "fabulous," I suppose. They take him on with the help of Ice, Martian Manhunter, and a few members of JLE.

Captain Cold and Heatwave commiserate in a bar that "things just aren't the same" since the "real" Flash, Barry Allen, died. Both now have normal jobs and stable lives, which they find boring. So they decide to commit a robbery to liven things up. What they don't know is super-heroines Fire and Ice are on a shopping spree that day... (some fun Fire and Ice moments, as well as silver age villains bemoaning the change of tones in the post-Crisis era.)

Quarterly 3 - After a convention of all JLI members (fun cameos,) member Mitch Wacky decides to create a time machine with help from Kilowog to save his and Silver Sorceress' world. The JLI follow him. There's a whole slew of heroes present (classic Power Girl, Blue Beetle, Ice, Fire, Guy Gardner, Wally West, Captain Atom..), so that's always fun.

Quarterly 4 - The Injustice League attempt to earn some money and get rich quick...

In a second story, Fire and Oberon accompany Ice and Guy Gardner (ironically wearing a Batman t-shirt) get into trouble while on a "double date" at a fair featuring all sorts of "new age" treasures. There are some nice Ice and Guy Gardner moments here, for fans of that relationship.

In a third story, something involving classic Power Girl and Sue Dibny, a cat, and Elongated Man. I kinda skipped it....

[Ilan Preskovsky · Rating 3 out of 5]

As is the nature of these anthology books, this is decidedly a mixed affair, and certainly isn't up to the incredibly high standards set by Giffen and Dematteis (and Jones) in the main JLA/ JLE books. This was towards the end of their run, though, and the whole JLI franchise hadn't been at its peak for a while - and would only really pick up steam again for the grand finale, Breakdowns. But, that said, all of these stories are at least enjoyable and the best of them (including Dematteis writing solo on a short story that's a crossover between JLI and his Dr Fate book, a JLE-centric time travel adventure, and a bunch of pretty funny vignettes revolving around Powergirl's awful cat) are pretty delightful.

So no, this isn't top drawer Justice League International, but it's still a must-read for fans of this, the most unique - and for my money, best - era of the Justice League.

[John Richardson · Rating 4 out of 5]

My memories of Justice League Quarterly during this time was that it was usually a treat. The stories were one-offs, but a bit bigger than could be done in either monthly and sometimes feature team-ups of the two chapters. JLQ #3 particularly was a fun team-up. However, getting to JLQ #4 possibly gave further testimony as to how the 'three stooges' approach could be entertaining for only so long before it began to feel like a rerun.

[Aloysius · Rating 3 out of 5]

So, this is a bunch of stories about something called the Justice League International, with the most prominent one being their rivalry with a corporate-sponsored superhero team called the "Conglomerate", led by none other than Booster Gold. That one was pretty good. The rest are of... varying quality, and are a bit humorous for my taste. Pretty OK overall.

[Michael Schirle · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you're a JLI fan, it's worth reading it eventually, but not sure I would recommend this collection to others. The stories were a bit hit or miss.

[Markus Seaberry · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was a nice compilation. The corporate part doesn’t run through the whole trade, but the rest is also hilarious. RIP Keith Giffen.

[Isaac Woodman · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s funny!

[Jody Banman · Rating 2 out of 5]

The whole Conglomerate subplot never really panned out. Having Booster Gold leave the Justice League and start his own corporate sponsored team was a good idea that never really went anywhere, the team was uninteresting and nondescript and the writing was bland and tepid compared to what Giffen was doing in the Justice League America series. I'm surprised they made a collection of this considering there's tons of things they could reprint that are better than this that they haven't.