THERE ARE NO TEACHER-TRAINING COLLEGES ON MARS

Welcome once again, grubby box-diggers, to the Bargain Basement of Dooooom. In this celebration of the oh-so-tasty dregs accumulating fungus in the discount bins, we visit a rarely celebrated spin-off title: JUSTICE LEAGUE TASK FORCE.

By 1993, it’s fair to say that DC’s former flagship, the groundbreaking main Justice League title launched by Giffen/DeMatteis in 1987 (to say nothing of its lesser cousin, Justice League Europe), was pretty deep in the doldrums. Conceived by writer David Micheline, Task Force was an attempt to bring some fresh energy to the franchise. It’s very much two completely distinct books sharing one title. The original concept was a superpowered riff on Mission: Impossible, in which a slightly shady UN representative tasked J’onn J’onzz – known to puny pink terrans as the Martian Manhunter – to put together teams of specialists for covert missions.

Aside from J’onn and JLA Detroit-era veteran Gypsy, the lineup changed between missions, involving everyone from big guns (Nightwing, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Green Arrow) to sweet second stringers (Bronze Tiger, Dolphin, Hourman, Vixen) to embarrassing, gimmicky non-entities that were shat out of a terrible crossover event that most people quite rightly pretend never happened (Joe Public, Loose Cannon – avoid #9 at all costs).

In its early run, the book’s creative team changed almost often as the team’s roster. This, combined with obligatory derailing tie-ins with the Knightfall and Judgement Day crossovers, meant the series struggled to gain momentum (and readers). But the individual stories are mostly strong – particularly issues 10–12, ‘The Purification Plague’, which found an unlikely ad-hoc team infiltrating a neo-Nazi movement bent on racial apocalypse. This arc adopts an appropriately sombre tone, and is a great spotlight for an ageing Rex Tyler, the Golden Age Hourman (coming soon to a TV screen near you, rumour has it) – who, as a former WWII-era hero, is none too fond of Swastika enthusiasts.

As the original concept began to drift perilously, the entire direction of the book changed with the Zero Hour tie-in issues #16 and #0. During its final 20 issues, the Task Force became a relatively stable team of heroes in training, with J’onn the surly, inscrutable headmaster. The new cast came pre-loaded with dramatic potential, with strong emotional ties between long-standing teammates J’onzz and Gypsy; youthful enthusiasm and ineptitude from the new Ray; and a disaster waiting to happen in L-Ron, a helpful artificial intelligence occupying the body of Despero (a purple intergalactic tyrant/monster, vintage League foe and murderer of Gypsy’s parents to boot). Most interesting was Triumph – retconned by Zero Hour as a founder member (leader, even) of the League but wiped out of history and completely forgotten, only to return as a man out of time. And if this retconned forgotten blonde-haired Superman-type sounds eerily similar to a later retconned forgotten blonde-haired Superman-type over at Marvel, well that's a matter for legal professionals. Resentful at being cheated out of his legacy and reduced to novice status, Triumph repeatedly comes into conflict verbally – and eventually physically – with the Manhunter.

With a focus on the troubled relationships within the team and how they relate to their increasingly distant and alien mentor, many of the stories featuring this lineup have a disorienting, insular quality. There’s little world-saving or traditional heroism going on, just a number of increasingly unsettling training exercises and misadventures. Written by some pretty well-respected names (Mark Waid and Christopher Priest), the story arcs take in Vandal Savage’s organ-harvesting scheme, a wildly bizarre and anachronistic interpretation of Dracula, and a trip to Skartaris, home of 1970s sci-fantasy icon The Warlord. Though not the most beautiful thing ever to grace a page, the art is at least interesting, switching between Sal Velluoto’s earthy, pungent Neal Adams-isms and the cartoonish yet expressively sketchy Ramon Bernado.

For me personally, the best thing about JLTF is its treatment of the Martian Manhunter. I’m massively fond of the big green guy, but before this point he was rarely given his due. Previously treated as a blank Cold War-era Superman doppelganger, a brooding loner or a straight man to comedic foils, here he’s brought centre-stage and portrayed as a domineering leader, a vast powerhouse of considerable longevity and an unfathomable teacher whose manipulative methods border on the cruel. (He plays this part consciously too – when Wonder Woman confronts him about his uncharacteristic behaviour and questionable tactics, he tells her: 'Relax Diana. I'm just spooking the kids.') In subsequent incarnations, J’onn was a spiritual creature, an emerald Zen philosopher – and certainly his compassionate side is reflected here in his quasi-parental affection for Gypsy – but there’s also something appealing about him as a possibly untrustworthy otherworldly badass. Interesting that the New 52 interpretation seems to be revisiting this persona… 

(originally published on The Big Glasgow Comic Page)