Justice League Task Force #30

Thunderworld

Priest • Writer
Ramon Bernado • Penciller
C Wallace & M Stegbauer • Inks
Adrienne Ray • Colorist
Kevin Cunningham • Letterer
Alisande Morales • Ass't Ed.
Ruben Diaz • Editor
Cover by Chris Batista & Chip Wallace, colored and separated by Matt Hollingsworth

The cover shows Martian Manhunter battling three rather random villains — Shrapnel, Sledge and Brimstone. He doesn't fight them simultaneously, but they are directly related to the Underworld Unleashed story. Actually, this issue is ironically more closely related to Underworld Unleashed than Impulse #8 was, even though Mark Waid was the author of the event.

The story begins with what I assume is supposed to be a joke. Martian Manhunter needs to assemble the Justice League Task Force, so he asks this blue pterodactyl man named Yazz to contact them. I have no idea who or what this Yazz is, but he seems to be something of a goofball. Anyway, Yazz accidentally contacts everybody who's ever had anything to do with the Justice League Task Force, leading to a room full of random heroes, including Nightwing, Wonder Woman, Damage and Impulse.

Martian Manhunter apologizes to everybody for the confusion, and they all leave, with Damage literally dragging Impulse away. To my surprise, Damage was wearing the Task Force suit they gave him when they offered him a spot on the team in Justice League Task Force #26. Even though Damage turned them down, they still apparently let him keep the suit, and he felt he should wear it when they called him a second time.

Anyway, that's all the Impulse we get here, so I won't dwell too much on this issue. Martian Manhunter tells the team one of their members has been captured, but an alert goes off before they can begin their rescue mission. Since J'onn says they're pressed for time, he decides to take down Shrapnel by himself. But as soon as he does, he gets another alert, and another. Meanwhile, the demon Neron visits the leaderless team and offers to grant each of them their deepest desire in exchange for their souls.

This wasn't a terrible issue, although the art was completely terrible. Everything and everybody just looked so flat, ugly and unrealistic. Even the coloring felt lazily slapped together, adding up to making this issue almost completely unbearable to read. But the actual story was fairly interesting, especially since we got to actually see this evil Neron in action.

I only have the digital copy of this issue, so no ads or letters this time. Next time, we'll prepare for the first official Impulse-Flash crossover with Impulse #9.