CSBG Archive
I Love Ya But You’re Strange – Justice League…Antarctica?!
Every week, I will spotlight strange but ultimately endearing comic stories (basically, we’re talking lots and lots of Silver Age comic books). Here is the archive of all the installments of this feature. Feel free to e-mail me at bcronin@comicbookresources.com if you have a suggestion for a future installment!
Today we take a look at the famous (or perhaps infamous) first appearance of perhaps the strangest Justice League of all-time – Justice League Antarctica!!! They came to us via Justice League America Annual #4, by the creative team of Keith Giffen, JM DeMatteis, Mike McKone and Bob Smith.
After the events of Justice League Europe #6 (a funny story I detailed here), the Injustice League have fallen on hard times. The story begins with two members of the Injustice League waiting on the unemployment line when they recognize a couple of their erstwhile teammates…
After collecting another teammate (in a hilarious sequence in the mansion where he was working as the butler to an old woman), they reunite as the Injustice League and go rob a museum, the only problem is, terrorists have beaten them to it…
Now that the world thinks that they are superheroes, their leader, Major Disaster, gets the idea to ask the Justice League to make them official (and paid) superheroes.
Maxwell Lord figures out a good way to keep them out of everybody’s hair, especially as it also gives him a chance to get rid of G’Nort, the dimwitted Green Lantern friend of Guy Gardner…
The Martian Manhunter and Power Girl are sent to help them set up their “League”…
However, G’Nort comes across some trouble at an installation in Antarctica…
Meanwhile, G’Nort’s friend the Scarlet Skier had come to Earth to join the team at G’Nort’s request, and he and Big Sur come across something terrifying…
Yes, killer penguins, baby!!!
Go pick up the Annual (you should be able to find it pretty cheap in back issue places) and find out what happens next (basically, even MORE hilarity ensues)!!
This was a very funny issue and McKone and Smith do a find job on the artwork.
(Note: This article first appeared as part of the Fools of April feature – BC)
14 Comments
Clutch
August 18, 2012 at 6:03 am
One of the funniest comics ever. After this one, the Injustice League really should have gotten their own series.
fury
August 18, 2012 at 11:47 am
i love the paper’s front page: ‘MJ DeMatties, Stuff writer’…
Stony
August 18, 2012 at 3:38 pm
My one problem with this story was that it broke the JL A/E/I/O/U meme
What, Justice League Oman was too hard to do?
jack_sakes@yahoo.com
August 19, 2012 at 6:13 am
Whenever I find this is cheap bins, I buy it to give to friends.
Affects the way I read comics to this day.
chad
August 19, 2012 at 2:43 pm
this issue proved that the humor could be put in the jl books including making artic penquins go homicidal plus loved power girls reaction when mm tells her she has to brief the injustice gang as the new jl team plus love the scarlet skier crack of he could only hope gnort got eaten by the penquins
deron
August 19, 2012 at 7:15 pm
Aren’t the Giffen/DeMatteis Justice League issues sort of low-hanging fruit here? The entire point of those issues was to be strange… this feature is more fun if it highlights storylines that were not designed to be deconstructionist or satirical or silly.
Also, can we get chad some help with punctuation and grammar?
Anonymous
August 20, 2012 at 11:31 am
deron, chad tends 2b hopeless. just ignore him & maybe he’ll go away.
sean
August 20, 2012 at 12:31 pm
I kind of think “I Love Ya But You’re Strange” should be about strange plot developments that are played straight, not funny stuff that is done in funny books.
mervansrm
August 21, 2012 at 10:33 am
That guy in the foreground of the first panel has always stuck in my mind – is that supposed to be the Joker? He so obviously stands out.
buttler
August 21, 2012 at 10:41 am
Oh, that’s interesting. He could conceivably be the Jack Nicholson Joker, but not the comics one. Which I guess might explain why he was out of work.
Andrew Collins
August 23, 2012 at 5:03 pm
This was the first JLI story I read, picking it up on a whim off a spinner rack (remember those?) a local store used to stock with newsstand comics. Been a huge fan of the whole JLI run ever since…
CB
August 25, 2012 at 11:57 am
I don’t care if it fits the theme of this column, where else would you put it?
Abandoned and Forgotten maybe?
Any excuse to showcase these stories is a good excuse.
Crusader K
September 8, 2012 at 2:14 pm
There was no funnier comic that I ever read than JLI #6. Unbelieveable. I can’t look at certain panels without cracking up. Especially when it involved Multi-Man and Big Sir. This was a worthy sequel to that book!
Joe
September 9, 2012 at 8:28 am
One of the best single issue comics to ever come out of DC! Better than any of the entire POST Breakdown- Pre Morrison Justice League runs.