Justice League Adventures #12
Justice League Adventures #12 cover

Date:

 December 2002

Title:

 “Cold War”
(Cover Title: “Cold War!”)

Plot:

 The desert country of Dijbouti is found covered by ice, and the Justice League investigates, only to find that the country is now controlled by a group of supervillains with cold-based powers who eject the Leaguers from the country.  Investigation reveals that one of the villains, Polar Lord, is actually General Eklu from the planet Tharr, but the villains turn out to already know this.  The Justice League was right about Eklu’s ulterior motive, though, and he turns on his villainous allies, starting an invasion of Earth.  The Justice League is able to free the captured villains, who then help defeat Eklu and his troops.  The villains then give themselves up.

Credits:

 Christopher Sequiera (Writer) • Min S. Ku (Penciller) • Mark Propst (Inker) • Kurt Hathaway (Letters) • John Kalisz (Colors) • Heroic Age (Seps [Separations]) • Stephen Wacker (Editor) • John Delaney / Paul Neary (Cover)

CHANGE HISTORY
Date of Change
Content of Change
02/18/03
 Posted
06/25/04
 Added Reprints information

Analysis Notes
General The Justice League Adventures comic (and television show) does not share continuity with the main DC universe, although it tends to share the same continuity as the other “animated” comics and shows.  (Exception: the Legion issue of Adventures in the DC Universe meshed with the normal DC Universe continuity and diverges from that of the animated appearance of the characters.)  As such, while there are Legion-related events and characters in the shows, analysis of those tends toward how they contrast with the main continuity.
Cover Who’s that lurking three from the back?  Powder purple outfit lined with white fur?  Polar Boy?  Perhaps a traitor in the villains’ midst?
3 Ah, Polar Lord.  (And note the scar.)  Adult Polar Boy gone bad?  Member of the Adult Legion of Super-Villains?  Just a 21st century ancestor?
Praise be for going back to the classic, non-slutty design for Killer Frost.
4:3 The animated JLA’s satellite has a strong resemblance to the old Legion Outpost.
7:6 How can Superman — able to fly unaided in outer space — be taken down by this?
8:1 Actually, physical weapons (other than Wonder Woman’s magic lasso) should become highly brittle.
9:3 Superman doesn’t recognize him, either, showing that either this Superman was never a member of the Legion as a boy, or at least he never met Polar Boy.  (Note that Polar Boy has only been seen a couple times in the current main DC Universe continuity.)
10:5 Green Lantern has seen pictures of the ship, and knows the name of the general it belongs to, but not of the general himself.  Must... stretch... disbelief...
12:1 Captain Cold is making a “loser” sign.
17:1 All of General Eklu’s troops are wearing the purple and white outfit, complete with the same Polar badge which Polar Boy would one day bear.  This implies that in the intervening 1000 years, either the outfit and badge came to be a common (perhaps school) uniform on Tharr — perhaps even because Eklu’s troops eventually conquer the world and over time, do good by it — or else Eklu is an ancestor of Polar Boy’s, and Brek Bannin’s use of the outfit is an attempt to redeem it and his family name.
18:3 What a mix of bad metaphors, Mr. Freeze.
19:2 “Thartok” = Tharr talk.  A relatively clever language name.
19:3 What is fun, Frost?  Teaming up, or just winning for a change?
20:1
 Two of these have armbands while the others don’t.  Perhaps a signal of rank?
Reprints This issue was reprinted in Justice League Adventures Vol. 1: The Magnificent Seven.