Week Eight

In week eight, we find out, conclusively, that John Henry Irons has been infected by Lex Luthor’s metagene, which is slowly turning his body into stainless steel, an ironic joke on Luthor’s part, which eventually turns Natasha, Irons’ niece, into Luthor’s hands, where she’s also going to be given the gene, since she thinks her uncle’s a hypocrite for having the gene in his blood stream. Meanwhile, Ralph Dibny visits Star City to have a chit-chat with Green Arrow, since it seems that the Cult of Conner has set up shop (and quickly taken down shop) in one of the back alleys of said city. Out in space, Adam Strange and Animal Man search for Starfire, only to find her hung up in a net of some sort. Once they come to the conclusion that it’s merely bait, it’s much too late, and they’re strung up with the same fate.

I like this issue a lot. One of the nicest touches comes with the introduction of Green Arrow, when he shoots down a store vendor, rather than a “thief,” since the vendor is charging thirty bucks for diapers in a disaster zone. Nice set-up for Ollie running for mayor OYL. The odd part about their meeting is how shocked it seems Ralph is, when he realizes that Ollie was once raised from the dead, just how the Cult of Conner is trying to raise Sue. Does Ralph fail to realize that many of his friends have been raised from the dead? I mean, think about it. How’s it such a shock? Superman, Ollie, Carter, Hal? Ralph shouldn’t be all that surprised.

Another interesting note from this issue is that Steel mentions that he was a member of the group that took down Brother Eye. Go re-read Infinite Crisis #6. I’ll give you a second. Ok, now we’re on the same page. No, he wasn’t. Is that an editorial oversight, or part of the New Earth? I’m not sure, but it seems silly. Unless he was on a cover of one of the Perez variants, I don’t recall Steel being anywhere near IC. I’m not wrong. Look it up. I’ll wait.

See ya in seven.