Rock of Ages is a six-part arc in JLA (1997), written by Grant Morrison, and mostly drawn by Howard Porter, with artists Cary Frank and Greg Land filling in the last part. It was Morrison's first major arc for their run in the title, as it lays down the seeds for their future storylines.
After the founding of the new iteration of the Justice League in issue #1, someone is planning to destroy the superteam from outside and from within. With the help of a strange artifact called the "Worlogog", Lex Luthor assembles a new, deadly Injustice Gang, preparing an attack on their JLA nemeses on fronts both personal and moral.
The arc officially occurs in issues #10-15, but an epilogue in issue #9 shows the release of the Revenge Squad, kicking off the events of part 1.
Tropes:
- Badass Boast: Aquaman has a good one when Metron shows up:The Flash: This is going cosmic on me Aquaman. I don't know about this...
Aquaman: Leave it to me, Flash. I've handled cosmic and lived. - Bad Future: When Superman destroys the Worlogog (Luthor's red stone), unaware of its true nature, this somehow leads to Darkseid coming and taking over Earth 15 years later.
- Beware the Skull Base: The Injustice Gang uses a skull-faced satellite orbiting Earth as their base of operations.
- BFG: After being untied, the Joker says he'll be looking for "a big science fiction kinda gun". On the next panel, he takes out a large metallic weapon with a brilliant red light on its muzzle, commenting how "[the gun] really expresses [his] masculinity." Later in the issue, his gun is drawn like a normal looking machine gun.
- Big Bad Ensemble: The main threat is the Injustice Gang, while Darkseid appears as the Big Bad during the time travel segment in issues #12-14.
- Bizarre Alien Biology: During J'emm's surgery in issue #15, Aztek comments to J'onn J'onnz about J'emm having eight independently functional lungs.
- Brainwashed and Crazy: J'emm, an obscure character created as an expy for J'onn, ends up like this to act as J'onn's counterpart in Lex Luthor's first Injustice Gang.
- Breaking the Fellowship: At the tail end of the arc, Aztek and Green Arrow leave the team, while Aquaman, Batman and Superman disband the JLA.
- Call-Forward: The panels of the last page of issue #14 are a Call-Forward to a similar sequence in the last part of the arc.
- Corrupt Corporate Executive: Lex Luthor, as usual. This time, he treats the destruction of the Justice League as a business transaction and refers to his whole operation using corporate jargon.
- Chromosome Casting: Barring Argent, Azteka and Wonder Woman in the Bad Future segment, the Justice League is all male this time around. Strangely enough, Circe, Wonder Woman's nemesis, is a major character, but the Amazon is nowhere to be seen during the arc. In the case of Diana in the present, this is justified as the events of Neron killing her and the Gods resurrecting her as the Goddess of Truth were happening at the same time.
- Divide and Conquer: The second part of Luthor's plan: separate the Justice League and take out their members by groups:
- Superman and Martian Manhunter ("the figureheads") fall into a trap in Injustice Gang's hard light satellite.
- Circe goes after the "hotshots", Green Arrow (Connor Hawke, Oliver Queen's son) and Green Lantern (Kyle Rayner).
- Even Evil Has Standards: During the Injustice Gang's attack on Star City, several people (including children) were killed. After the Joker reveals he rigged the coffins of the children with explosives, Luthor backhands him and expresses regret over their deaths. During the Joker's J'onn-induced "My God, What Have I Done?" moment, he manipulates the Joker into resurrecting those killed with the Worlogog and Superman sees through Luthor's reasoning of simply avoiding murder charges to realize that Luthor felt guilty. In the same arc, Mirror Master claimed to not have killed anyone during the attack.
- Evil Counterpart: As the first phase of their plan, the Injustice Gang uses hard light holograms of the real Justice League they call "Revenge Squad". Instead of the heroes' recognizable symbols, the Revenge Squad wears a stylized skull on their costumes.
- Extremely Short Timespan: Starting with issue #12, when Superman and Martian Manhunter meet Batman, then going into the last page of issue #14 and practically the whole action scene of issue #15, the JLA fights the Injustice Gang in mere four minutes - the time for a giant rock to collide with the Injustice Gang's satellite, and the time for the nukes to detonate at the JLA Watchtower.
- Face Death with Dignity: Pretty much everyone except Darkseid in the bad future. The issue is narrated by the Black Racer (the Death of the New Gods).Wonder Woman calls me by an old name and speaks it quietly, calmly as she dies.
This one sees me and smiles.
Consumed in the eye of the neural storm that devours Darkseid's brain, this one catches sight of me and, like a good scientist, asks me a question. My answer is "yes".
This onenote feels me close by, stills his mind as he was taught, and prepares to return to the source.
Orion, once the god of war, does not turn to look at me. He knows my face too well. And my name also. - Forced to Feel Empathy: Martian Manhunter temporarily restores the Joker's sanity, causing the Clown Prince of Crime to be horrified by his own actions.
- Foreshadowing: Many for future storylines:
- In issue #12, during Flash, Aquaman and Green Lantern's temporary sojourn in the Wonderworld, one of their members mentions "the Anti-Sun" and the "armies of men". This will come into play in World War III.
- In issue #15, Metron's last words to the present time Justice League are "Prepare for the fortification of Earth". This is a nod to Morrison's World War III.
- Also in issue #15, in an epilogue, Metron convenes with Hourman and a mysterious person who says he will prepare the "Justice Legion A" for time travel. This is Superman from the 853rd century, which will appear in the future Crisis Crossover DC One Million.
- Internal Reveal: Pulling plot threads from their run on Aztek, Morrison uses the arc to have Luthor reveal to Aztek that the latter's whole training was sponsored by him. This is the reason why Aztek decides to leave the League.
- Legion of Doom: The Injustice Gang serves as the primary antagonists until Darkseid shows up. As the League has been returned to a "back-to-basics" approach the Gang similarly institutes an "arch-enemies only" rule amongst its membership. The new Injustice Gang and their counterparts are:
- Lex Luthor (Superman)
- The Joker (Batman)
- Circe (Wonder Woman)
- Mirror Master (The Flash)
- Doctor Light (Green Lantern)
- Ocean Master (Aquaman)
- Son of Saturn (Martian Manhunter)
- MacGuffin: Lex Luthor's secret weapon, apart from his allies in the Injustice Gang, is a small stone shaped like a red human heart called the Philosopher's Stone or Worlogog. Destroying it is what allows Darkseid to conquer Earth, as shown at the end of issue #12.
- The Mole: Batman has three in Luthor's Injustice Gang's roster: the Mirror Master, via outbidding Luthor; Green Arrow, who feigns defection after a meeting with Circe; and Plastic Man, who captures and impersonates the Joker.
- My God, What Have I Done?: In the climax, J'onn uses his powers to stabilize the Joker so he can't use the Philosopher's Stone to wreak havoc. While due to the nature of Joker's mind, J'onn can't keep it, during this time, the Joker regrets what he's done over his life.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: The Bad Future is perpetuated by Superman destroying the Philosopher's Stone. With a powerful artifact such as it is out of the way, Darkseid and Apokolips found their window of opportunity to take over Earth.
- Nuke 'em: Luthor teleports 12 nuclear warheads inside the JLA's Watchtower on the moon, with a countdown of mere 4 minutes before they explode. Its sole occupant is hero Aztek, and nobody else, and he alone tries to defuse them all by himself.
- Only in It for the Money: Batman convinces Mirror Master to defect from the Injustice Gang by doubling Lex Luthor's paycheck.
- Parental Issues: Circe tries to manipulate Connor Hawke and Kyle Rainer by pushing their buttons regarding their father figures.
- Psychic Link: During the arc, J'onn J'onnz uses his Martian telepathy to establish a commlink between the JLAers. However, Luthor mind controls another alien to cut off their communications.
- Reality Warper: The Worlogog, being "the reflection of time and space", can shape reality to the whims of its wielder. Luthor found it first and uses it during the arc, then it ends up in Joker's hands in the last chapter.
- Red Skies Crossover: At the last pages of issue #10, Martian Manhunter sends a telepathic warning to the JLAers on Earth about an incoming wave that is coming to the world — this is the "Godwave" from 1998's crossover Genesis. The next issue, Superman briefly mentions they dealt with the Godwave, then goes back to the pressing matter at hand: JLA's evil holograms.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: In issue #15, Ocean Master jumps ship... er, satellite and leaves the rest of the Injustice Gang to be dealt with by the JLA members. He has a change of heart and joins the fray to fend off the JLAers.
- Set Right What Once Went Wrong: In issue #14, the future versions of Aquaman, Green Latern and Flash use future Metron's Mobius chair to travel back in time 15 years to stop Superman from destroying the Worlogog.
- Sinister Silhouettes: The Injustice Gang cameos as darkened silhouettes in an epilogue in issue #9, and keeps it like this in the official first part of the arc, with Luthor being the only one revealed in full.
- Sixth Ranger: Connor Hawke aka Green Arrow II. Ironically, like the original Green Ranger, he quits the team at the end of the storyline.
- Slasher Smile: In the epilogue to issue #9, the Revenge Squad (JLA's evil hologram counterparts) are released from the Injustice Gang's satellite, all of them grinning evilly. This is also repeated in the cover to issue #10
. - Snipe Hunt: Of a sort. In issue #11, New God Metron or someone impersonating him appears in the Watchtower and sends Aquaman, Flash and Green Lantern to the far edges of the universe, in search of the Philosopher's Stone (a.k.a., the Worlogog), before it falls in the wrong hands. As the real Metron reveals to Hourman in a prologue in issue #15, it has indeed fallen in the wrong hands: Luthor's. This means the false Metron had sent the heroes in a failed mission.
- Storming the Castle: Or storming the villains' skull-faced satellite. In the last part, Blue Electric Superman, Batman and Martian Manhunter storm the Injustice Gang's base of operations, and join forces with Batman's moles, Green Arrow (Connor Hawke) and Plastic Man, to defeat Luthor and his cohorts.
- The Team Normal: In issue #11, Connor Hawke pours out his woes to his friend Kyle Rainer about being "just a guy with a bow" in a team with superpowered people, Batman notwithstanding.
- Time-Travel Tense Trouble: In issue #12, Green Lantern meets with Hourman, who has a non-linear perception of time, and is told they will meet/have met at some point.
- Too Kinky to Torture: After his Joker's disguise is blown, Plastic Man goes to face sorceress Circe. She uses her magic to distort Plastic's malleable body into animal forms, which greatly impresses him, so much so he makes a comment to ask for her number.
- Two Lines, No Waiting: The gist of the arc is the Injustice Gang's attempt to destroy the JLA. However, beginning with part 3, there is a subplot about Green Lantern, Flash and Aquaman travelling through space and to the future, then dealing with a world ruled over by Darkseid. Finally, part six closes the main plot, while also giving closure to the Darkseid subplot and how it fits with the rest of the storyline.
