Issue Number Twenty

"A Knight to Remember"
Part One
Written by Barry Reese

Julie Days downed the last of her pint and staggered drunkenly off her pub stool. She was aware that many of the men were watching her, like vultures sensing sudden prey. Bugger off, she thought to herself. Like I'd give any of you blokes the time of day, drunk or not.

She moved out into the night air, stretching in hopes of clearing the cobwebs in her brain. She was too young to be out drinking, but never let it be said that Cyril Sheldrake had neglected her proper 'education.' He'd taught her how to fake identification on the first day of her tutelage. 

The Squire, partner to the legendary Knight. It'd been too good to be true, especially for a young lass who'd lived on the streets for far too long before Cyril had swept her off to Wordenshire Castle. It was like he was living up to his heroic name -- a knight coming in to save a damsel in distress.

"I hope you're happy out there, Cyril." She stared up at the night sky, watching the stars. Her mentor had chosen to remain behind on an alternate earth*, leaving Julie to fend for herself. "Because I'm bloody miserable here."

(*Back in issue 9)

"Then why don't you make changes, girl?"

Julie whirled about, staring into the parking lot to the side of the pub. An old man was there, his long white beard moving gently in the wind. He wore a long overcoat, buttoned in the front, and his hands were pushed deeply into its pockets. "Mind your own business, you daft old fool!" she barked, staggering as she spoke.

The white-haired man sighed, looking at her with more than a fair amount of pity. "No respect for your elders, it would seem. Surely the Knight taught you better than that."

Julie paused, watching as the old man moved towards her with surprising grace. He gripped her forearm and she immediately felt her head begin to clear. "What are you doing to me?"

"Trying to restore some sanity to you, girl. Don't you know who I am?"

The Squire stared deep into the man's penetrating gaze, her mouth falling open. She saw the rise and fall of nations; the heroic rise of a young boy to the throne of England and his subsequent fall from graze; she saw a Demon lurking within the form of man, battling against Morgan Le Fey; and she saw herself -- drunk and smelling of filth -- in the parking lot. "Blimey. You're Merlin."

Merlin smiled softly and his eyes seemed to twinkle with new life. "Bright lass."

"What do you want with me?" She self-consciously pulled her blouse closed and ran a hand through her short hair. 

"Just to help you attain your true destiny. Cyril began the work, but you'll have to finish the task."

"True destiny? What are you talking about?"

"You're wasting time with your little pity-party, girl. Blaming the Justice Squadron is getting you nowhere -- and you won't find your friend in the bottom of a bottle, either. You need to move on and become what Cyril always knew you could be. A Knight of your own."

"Me... the Knight?"

Merlin smiled, recognizing her hesitance. He'd seen its like before, in many a young man and woman. "Don't doubt yourself. You're a hero."

Julie took a deep breath. "You're here to help me, then?"

"That's what I've been saying, yes."

Julie thought about Cyril's faith in her, how he'd always believed she could become the best. And what had she done when he'd done the heroic thing and sacrificed herself? Boozed it up and blamed the Squadron, instead of picking up the pieces. "Cyril would be ashamed of me."

"I've come here because I sense greatness in you -- and Britain's going to be in sore need of champions. Do you know Jack O'Lantern?"

"Liam? Of course I do -- from the Ultramarines."

"He's a member of the Squadron now. They've got a powerful role to play -- and the Lady of the Lake and I are stepping up to recruit the champions that'll be needed. You're one of them, lass."

"Remember, guys -- we're following a plan here. Let's not go off half-cocked, okay?" Ralph Dibny, the amazing Elongated Man, stretched his neck around the assembled heroes, making sure that each of them was listening. The Justice Squadron were standing on a rooftop across the way from a large factory belonging to the Contessa -- who Ralph believed was behind the recent cloning of Cyril Sheldrake*.

(*The mystery began in issue 15 and continued last month.)

Captain Atom frowned as Ralph's head elongated past him. He was a man of action, trained in the military... and he could already see that Ralph's version of leadership was going to chafe him. They'd worked well together in the old Justice League Europe, but that had been when Ralph was following Atom's lead, not the other way around. "It's a mistake to split up our forces," he said. "We don't know what's waiting for us in there. Keep the group together and we have a greater chance of--"

"Mon ami," the Crimson Fox whispered, taking Captain Atom by the arm. "Ralph is our leader and he has given us our orders. Shouldn't we focus on doing them the best we can?"

Captain Atom nodded, but Ralph surprised him by saying "Listen, anytime you want to talk about the plans I come up with, feel free. This is a democracy here... but I really think splitting up is the way to go. The big guns -- with you in charge -- burst in through the front door. The rest of us go around back and look for clues about what they're up to. At some point, we meet up and kick some villain tail."

Liam crossed his arms over his chest while this was going on. The Power Pumpkin lay pulsing at his feet. He noticed that Maya was watching him with a smile on her face. "What's so funny?" he asked.

"You. You look like you're ready to fly off the handle. Anxious?"

"A little. I don't like combat. Never have. But I'd rather get it over with than argue about how to do it."

Captain Atom's strong, commanding voice cut off the conversation at that point, but Maya was about to point out that she felt much the same. Since Katar's unexpected departure from the group, she'd felt a little out of sorts -- not that he'd ever returned her interest, of course, but she missed him regardless. But Liam... now he was cute as a button, under that fiery mask anyway.

"Dr. Light, Lionheart and Jack O'Lantern... you're with me. Let's head out."

Ralph watched the four heavy-hitters of the team fly forth, Atom already blowing open the door to the factory with quantum-powered blast. "So that's who supposed to take over for me when I'm gone?"

Constance gritted her teeth. As the Crimson Fox, she'd been the team's first leader... and she'd been glad to pass the mantle on to Ralph when the chance came. But with Ralph and Sue's impending parenthood, Max Lord had felt the need to go outside the group for Ralph's replacement -- and she could tell that Ralph was having doubts about his own decision-making now. "You handled that very well, Ralph. And all of us are still in your corner."

"Thanks," he said, smiling warmly. "I should be glad he's here, actually. Having an experienced leader on board's a good thing." He stretched himself upwards, walking off the rooftop. "C'mon, guys -- we've got a mystery to solve."

Lionheart flew into the heart of the factory, scarcely believing that he was really here. He'd adventured alongside the Justice League on a couple of occasions, but it had always seemed so surreal... and he'd always been a guest of sorts. Now he was expected to carry his weight alongside blokes like Captain Atom. It was daunting. 

"Watch your back, Richard!" Dr. Light yelled. She soared past him on her light-platform, discharging an energy blast that caught an enemy full in the torso. 

They were everywhere, all of a sudden. Men clad in black jumpsuits came streaming forth by the dozen, each armed with stun-batons and tasers. Two of them dropped from the ceiling, landing on Lionheart's back. Their weight drove him to the ground, even as their batons slammed down on his forcefield. "Bollocks!" he yelled, shoving one of them away him. He activated his energy sword just in time to block the other's attack.

Captain Atom and Jack O'Lantern joined in, as well. Each was able to stay airborne, greatly increasing their ability to dispatch the men below. There was no doubt about their enemies' skill, however. They looked to Atom like men who had trained under someone very, very good... like Nightwing, perhaps. "Liam! Fly ahead and get a look around this place! Find out where these guys are coming from!" he barked, aware that this factory was involved in some sort of genetics research... he recognized enough of the machinery lying about to know that Ralph was right: cloning research was going on here.

Dr. Light watched as Jack O'Lantern followed orders, a frown on her face. The feel of this team was still new to her -- she'd grown accustomed to the roster they'd had for months, but which had recently splintered. It had begun with Cyril's departure, but had continued with the losses of Godiva, Revenant and Hawkman. Now fully half of the team was unfamiliar to her... and that brought a great annoyance to her, for Kimiyo Hoshi was a woman who liked control over all things.

It was while thinking of this that one of the men she was fighting jumped onto her platform. He dodged one of her light beams and delivered a painful blow to her knee, shattering her knee cap. She screamed, her concentration breaking. The light platform dissolved beneath her but she kept her wits enough to send another burst of energy at her attacker. His face took the brunt of the blast, ripping away his mask. 

"They're all clones of Cyril," she exclaimed, pain making her words come out like a hiss. The men around her barely reacted, though, and she realized why: only Liam knew the Knight at all, really. He was virtually unknown to much of the current roster. 

Max Lord took another stiff drink to stop the pounding in his head. He still couldn't believe it....

Hal Jordan had joined the JLA*. Or at least, some weirdo new branch of it.

(*See Green Lantern # 5)

And only days after turning Max down, about possible Squadron membership*.

(*See Green Lantern # 4)

"It's enough to give a guy an inferiority complex. It really is."

Sue Dibny walked through the team's monitor room, glowing in the way that only newly pregnant women could. She favored Max with a small grin. "Don't take it personally, Max. I'm sure Hal didn't mean it as a slap in the face."

"What else could it be?!" Max exclaimed. "I'm trying to get us recognized as the premier group of heroes in Europe and what does he do? Leads us on and then dumps us for the captain of the football team."

"You're overreacting."

"The hell I am! I have half a mind to--" Max glanced up as two people walked by the doorway, heading down the hall. One of them -- a pixie-ish cutie codenamed Squire, whom Max had dismissed for possible Squadron membership because of her low power levels and sassy attitude -- he recognized, but the other wasn't as familiar. "Hey! How did you get in here?" he asked, running into the hall. 

Squire turned to face him, hands on hips. The old man at her side looked frustrated by the interruption. "Look, Lord, I know Cyril let you and your tin army live here in the castle... but it's my home. I can come and go as I please."

Max paused before answering. He wanted to tell her what he thought of her barging in like this... but she had a point. She did, technically, have the right to do whatever she pleased here. "Well. You could at least introduce me to your friend," he said, rather lamely.

Squire pursed her lips. "Maxwell Lord, meet Merlin." Seeing the look of shock on Max's face made her grin even wider. "Now we're headed down to Cyril's lab. Be seeing you."

Maya crept around the corner, a flame-arrow notched and ready to fly. Her powers over fire and water seemed to be increasing lately, which both thrilled and terrified her. She still had nightmares of turning into Shiva... but the faith in herself that had been nurtured by the Justice Squadron put those thoughts increasingly in the back of her mind. She saw the Elongated Man and Crimson Fox both moving through the lab, as well... each looking far more stealthy than Chandi felt. Sounds of combat echoed through the factory and the ground rumbled from time to time... but here, in the heart of the cloning facility, it was mostly quiet. Only the quiet burbling of water from the cloning tanks filled the air.

Inside each tank was a nude Cyril Sheldrake, with some of them in various stages of development. Chandi felt a blush rise to her cheeks -- she'd never noticed how fit Cyril really was... not to mention the fact that his sex organs were on full display here. She hoped nobody noticed her staring.

Constance paused, holding up one hand. She seemed to be sniffing the air. "Someone's here. Someone... familiar." She cocked her head to the side, looking like her namesake in the dim light: a fox.

Ralph's nose twitched wildly, a sure sign that the mystery was getting to him. "Is it Dabny Donovan?"

"No! I wouldn't know his scent. This is... Oh, no." She stopped in place as a shadow fell over her. She looked up into the face of a nightmare: a bestial white gorilla, dwarfing her in size and power. "The Ultra-Humanite."

The monstrous villain raised both hands and brought them down with terrifying force. Constance barely avoided the brunt of the impact, but his fists left deep dents in the floor. "Welcome, Justice Squadron! Welcome to the site of your deaths!"

Ralph stretched himself around the great ape, trying to prevent him from lunging after Constance again. He suddenly wished he'd taken Cap's advice -- the three of them stood virtually no chance against the Ultra-Humanite. "Maya! Go get help! Get the others!"

Maya hesitated for a second, not liking the idea of leaving her teammates... especially since it had been her who had defeated the villain in their last meeting. She saw the Humanite notice her... and saw him bare his sharp fangs. 

Ralph screamed as mental daggers drove deep into his brain. He felt the Ultra-Humanite savagely rip his mind apart. The Crimson Fox lunged for the villain, but he caught her with a backhanded blow that knocked her clear across the room. 

"Come, little girl. Don't you want to test yourself against me again?" the villain mocked.

Maya uttered a curse under her breath, one that would have shocked and horrified her mother. She turned and began to run, yelling for the others... for her teammates.

Jack O'Lantern continued to mow down his enemies, having ascertained that most of them were coming from the barracks located down the sides of the factory. The clones lived packed together liked sardines and it was almost enough to turn Liam's stomach. 

He hated thinking of these men as the Knight, so he chose not to focus on that. He'd never been close to Cyril in the Ultramarines, finding the other man a bit stuffy and overzealous when it came to defending British policy. But to have your memory distorted by being cloned over and over....

Liam.

The woman's voice in his mind made him suddenly pause. The Lady... she had come to him in dreams, warning him of some dire threat to Britain. She'd led him to the Squadron, as a result. He channeled more energy through the Power Pumpkin, dispatching another group of enemies. "I'm a bit busy," he muttered.

The world around him seemed to shimmer, growing dim. He saw a tall woman cloaked in body armor of gleaming gold. A stylized face mask seemed to smile at him. Know the face of your enemy.

"Who is she?" he asked, feeling the evil that seemed to emanate from the armored woman.

An ancient enemy of the Green. She will seek its perversion. And you will be forced to choose between love... and honor.

Liam saw an image of Julie Days appear before him. The girl had been a partner in the Ultramarines, but he'd never looked at her as a woman before... but in his mind's eye, he saw her dressed in a short skirt and sheer blouse. She looked like those birds in a fashion magazine... and Liam felt his heart skip a beat. "Love?"

"I'm flattered, hero. Love at first sight, is it?"

Liam blinked in confusion as the images faded away. Standing before him was a woman dressed in black, her elegant features looking cold and distant. She held a blaster of some kind, pointed directly at his head. "Bugger me," he whispered.

"I'm the Contessa," the woman purred. "And you're trespassing."

She fired the gun and Liam barely had time to generate a force field around himself. The energy blast was slowed but he hadn't quite gotten all of it. Enough passed through the field to burst the pumpkin-headed mask he wore. He fell backwards, crashing hard to the floor.

Chandi burst into the room just as he crashed downwards. She ducked back into the shadows, her heart hammering in her chest. What should she do?

The Contessa held up a small communications device. "How goes it?"

The Ultra-Humanite's gruff voice replied "I've captured three of them -- and the cameras show that Lionheart's just gone down, overwhelmed by our guards. Only Captain Atom's left... and the girl. Maya."

"She's no threat -- but Atom is. Grab the heroes that you can and let's go. We'll blow the place -- we'll lose a few clones but they're just fodder anyway."

"You're cold," he laughed. "I like that."

Maya watched as the Contessa ordered clones to pick up Liam's body. She waited until they were out of the room before she took off once more. When she reached Atom, he was surrounded by clones, standing over the body of Lionheart, whom he'd managed to keep out of the the enemy's reach. "Nathaniel!" she yelled. "Get us out of here! They're going to blow--"

Her words were lost in a sudden explosion of heat and fire.

The factory went up all around them.

Julie held the helmet before her, staring at it. "I can't believe he made a suit for me. It fits perfectly." She looked up, into the full-length mirror. She was dressed like her mentor... the Knight.

"He knew you would take over, eventually. It is your destiny," Merlin said. "And the Justice Squadron needs you. Put it on... and take the next step."

Julie slowly, reverently, did as he said. She placed the helmet upon her head and was impressed by how good... how right... it felt.

She was the Knight.

TO BE CONTINUED

Next Issue: Julie Days has adopted her mentor's mantle as the Knight -- but is she really ready to live up to his legend? We'll find out as she tries to rescue the captured Justice Squadron!

EUROPINIONS

Hope you enjoyed this issue, which continues to deal with Cyril Sheldrake's legacy. When the Knight disappeared from the series in issue nine, I didn't realize how much I'd miss the guy... but this storyline shows that, even in his absence, he casts a long shadow over the team. You've also seen that this current roster isn't quite as "happy" as the old one... it's going to take time for them to gel with one another. Once this two-parter is over, we'll see some serious characterization focus in this series.

A really in-depth review of the entire Justice Squadron series was posted to the DC Heroes mailing list, courtesy of Steve Seinberg:

Barry's JUSTICE SQUADRON book stems mainly from the old DC JUSTICE LEAGUE EUROPE book. I was a big fan of that series during the great Giffen/Helfer/DeMatteis days, and then dropped it pretty quickly after that group of creators moved on to other things. Barry was clearly a fan of that era as well, and unlike me, he kept going as a reader with all the various JL splinter groups. One of the nice things about this series is that Barry draws upon his extensive knowledge of JL continuity to carry forward old DC plotlines and character appearances. If you're a fiend for canon and continuity, you'll find yourself in good hands here, as Barry doesn't skimp on
the references. Some of his plotlines flow directly from those old JLE pages, and we see familiar faces here, both on the side of good (Elongated Man, the Crimson Fox, Rocket Red, Captain Atom, Max Lord) as well as on the side of evil (not only Lord Havok and the Extremists, but Sumaan Harjavti of Bialya rears his scum-slathered
head, among others).

The tone of this book is light for the most part, and the reading pace is quick (I read all nineteen issues in a couple of days). At times Barry veers into more serious territory, but I found the book to be at its strongest when we were treated to the character interaction. There is a lot of good development going on in that
arena, and it's always nice to see an author paying a lot of attention to characterization -- some of the main characters, like Maya, the Knight, and Godiva, were not too familiar to me, but of the ones I do know, Barry had them down in ways very consistent with their DCU appearances. This team is one of those that becomes more like a family than a grizzled combat unit, and we definitely get to see the group grow organically, forming relationships with each other or renewing older ties, and some members come and go, which all feels very natural.

Speaking of unfamiliar characters, Barry introduces Revenant, a formerly evil person who has died and then been sent back to Earth to atone for his misdeeds in life by basically acting as a hero. He hooks up with the Squadron early on, and it was this character, more than anything else about the book, that I had best recalled from my
earlier reading. Revenant is an interesting creation, and one I suspect Barry is not done with, even though as of the latest issue, he is no longer an official member of the JS. I could see him carrying a book of his own, and he reminded me of a few supernatural characters in the mainstream comics, especially the new Crimson
Avenger, another not-exactly-a-hero with a dark mission of her own. I wouldn't mind seeing more of this guy...

Complaints? One is that I think the fast pace works against the book at points. Some of the villainous schemes and battles went by a little too quickly for my taste, and could have been expanded. For instance, I still don't really understand why a nefarious scheme to shunt the seven JS members to another dimension would result in *all* the world's heroes disappearing. That was a little unclear to me, and the explanation seemed to go by almost on fast-forward. I also thought a few of the big fights could have gone on longer without having the book lose any momentum: the big throwdown with the Secret Society of Super-Villains was actually wrapped up in very short order when I'd been expecting a rather extended brawl. Likewise, the situation on Almerac, and a neat set-up of battling Dr. Lights both got put to bed a bit fast (more Maxima will *never* detract from a title, imho...). Another thing going on that works against the book here and there are typos that are not just spelling
errors or misplaced commas or whatever, but wrong words in place of the ones Barry must have intended that make for really confusing sentences. Here were a couple that stopped me dead in my reading tracks at the time:

"Piers Grayson leaned over to the side of the man, the sheets barely covering his naked form." (I think "man" should be "bed" here, or else we've wandered into much more adult territory than the previous material had prepared us for) 

Or:

"The Crimson Fox crouched and studied her studies." Studied her surroundings, maybe? I'm sure Barry was just typing furiously when he first put these things down, but things like that can be cleaned up in the editing stage to make the overall book tighter. None of this is calamity-level stuff, of course, but some of these kinds of
typos did break my reading flow.

Overall? JS is a fun read, more on the light-hearted end of the spectrum (although the Extremist arc does get a bit more intense than everything that came before it). Fans of the old JLE book can find things to enjoy here, and also fans of team books in general that deal with a lot of character-driven interaction will like this. Barry uses some choice villains, and the characterization is definitely on the money. As of the latest installment, it looks like Barry's moved pieces into place for a new phase of the group, with some new members coming on board, so curious readers might want
to jump on now to see if this is their kind of book.

And Barry *definitely* understands the Extremists! Glad somebody else liked their original appearance as much as I did. It was nice to see them here, and portrayed as the *very* bad guys that they are!

The Extremists are awesome, when done right. Anybody who read their first storyline in JLE knows what I'm talking about -- I'm not sure I ever plan to bring them back in Justice Squadron because I feel I did a pretty good story with them this time around.

As for the hokey science involved in the Secret Society's plot, I blame Gerry Conway :-) JLA 195-197 were some of my most treasured comics as a kid and Gerry came up with that whacked out scheme. I just had the Ultra-Humanite try it one more time for kicks. lol.

Keep in touch,

Barry Reese