Golden Voice and Sacrificial Machine

First Look for December 18, 2017

Today I take a first look at JLA #5 and Tales to Astonish #42 and while I wouldn’t call either essential, they were both decent reads. In JLA #5 Grant Morrison shows us that the League is looking for some new members. Many apply but only one is selected – Tomorrow Woman, and she’s a nice addition to the team. In Tales to Astonish #42, Stan Lee shows that even a super-powered voice can’t overcome the teamwork that Ant-Man has built up with his insect friends.

JLA #5

Woman of Tomorrow by Grant Morrison and Howard Porter
This is an interesting issue that starts a new story arc which I think is called “American Dreams”. Not only does this start a new arc but there are also some strange new goings on…first off, Superman is wearing a blue and white suit. Huh? I’ve seen Supes in all kinds of colors but never like this – I’m gonna have to figure this one out before I write up a review of this issue. In any case, the League conducts a recruitment drive and we see a bunch of aspiring Justice League members. The only one who makes the cut it seems is Tomorrow Woman who we see helping out in a variety of missions and doing great. After one mission though, we see her go “home” to a warehouse where she meets up with Professors Morrow and Ivo and it seems they’re the bad guys of the story. Somehow it turns out that she’s working for them and is actually some kind of android that’s designed to kill the members of the League. After some pretty nicely drawn battles, Tomorrow Woman is in position to detonate an EMP to kill the JLA but she decides to sacrifice herself instead, destroying the adversary the League was facing.

Tales to Astonish #42

The Voice of Doom! by Stan Lee, Larry Lieber and Don Heck
The story starts with a man, Jason Cragg, who it appears is a great orator and for some reason he is vilifying Ant-Man to a large crowd. Flashing back a couple of weeks we see that Jason was in an accident with a radioactive microphone and ever since has a golden tongue. Anyone who heard him speak would instantly obey his commands. And it so happened that he saw Ant-Man stopping a bunch of thieves and realized this little superhero would be the one thing that could stop him from taking over the city. So he set out to destroy Ant-Man. Using his voice, he got the city folk to scour the land searching for Ant-Man and they find him. Trying to avoid capture, Ant-Man takes off his helmet and suddenly the voice of Jason Cragg flows over him and he becomes entranced, unable to stop himself from doing what that voice commands. But his ant friends aren’t affected. They save him from certain death and with their help, they defeat the voice of doom.