JLA #31 "Going Home" Forward

Well, this is it. This is the LAST issue in my bilingual comic-book series.

I am happy to say that I went out with a bang. This is probably my favorite issue of the series. Not only because I based it on two really good source stories (JLA #122 by Martin Pasko and JLA #149 by Steve Englehart) but because there is no painful art sequences (just my normal mediocrity) AND because I added a twist to this story to mirror my own leaving of Japan. That part I sort of took from Len Wein; I will talk more about that part of the story in the Afterwards.

Here are the two stories I used as sources:

 

Both feature Dr. Light as a nefarious villain. In my story, I even have Red Tornado call him the Justice League's greatest enemy. In the actual DC comics of the early 80s he started to be featured as an incompetent idiot; I always resisted that characterization. I think of Dr. Light as an absolute genius who hates the JLA, so he always tries to be three steps ahead of them. Now that my series is over maybe I will go back and scan his original appearance (JL #3) to FRIENDS OF JUSTICE. It's kind of his secret origin and how I see the character: evil genius. I haven't uploaded it yet because I am embarrassed about the quality of the art, but I do remember the story fondly...

In the more recent mini-series IDENTITY CRISIS it was revealed that Dr. Light once tried to rape one of the wives of the JLAers. As an evil act, this ranks right up there; as a way to get back to the JLA in general I don't put this past him, I guess. I'm not a fan of this characterization, but if I had to pick between idiot or rapist, I suppose I would pick rapist. Still, this story you're about to read is from 2001, several years before he was shown to be *that* evil. Feel free to think of him as that type of scum-bag if you so choose.  Or forget that I even mentioned it.

One of the reasons I gravitated to then eventually chose these stories as my source is because they use most of the JLAers in them. Therefore, I was able to use most of the members in specific scenes. For example, the actions of Superman and The Flash are directly from JLA #149, and the scenes of Aquaman fighting Dr. Light came directly from JLA #122. It was easy to plug these stories into my universe. 

This group shot cover is one of my favorites, too. I went all out on it. It's loosely based on the WHO'S WHO illustration of the JLA by Luke McDonnell. I usually didn't date my work, but this time I did because I knew it would be the last cover I ever did.

Here are both for your consideration. 

 

One problem I see with my version is that it looks like Wonder Woman is putting her hand out to "stop" Red Tornado. Now that I see it that way, I can't "un-see" it. Sorry if I just spoiled it for you, too, haha~! 

Translation was, as always, done by my friend Kinuyo Yamamura. She did a great job on the last years of stories, and was my all-time favorite assistant. We'll talk more about this work in the Afterward, too, because I don't want to spoil any of the story beforehand.