WARNING! SPOILERS AHOY! HEAVE TO AND PREPARE TO BE BOARDED, YE LANDLUBBERS! ARRRR!


Title: Stillborn Atlantis
Release Date: September 2002
Writer: Joe Kelly
Penciller: Doug Mahnke
Inker: Tom Nguyen
JLA Members: Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, the Martian Manhunter, Green Lantern, the Flash, and Plastic Man.
Guest Stars: Tempest, Zatanna, and the Atom.
Bad Guys: Ocean Master and Black Manta.
Cameos: Doctor Fate, Dr. Occult, the Blue Devil, Doc Magnus, Ragman, Jason Blood, and others I couldn't recognize.

So what happens?
With the sudden reappearance of Atlantis, located above the water and reduced to ancient ruins, a power struggle has broken out. The seagoing supervillains Ocean Master and Black Manta are trying to claim ownership of Atlantis, and the Justice League are trying to evict them from the premises. Tempest, the former Aqualad and the next guy in the line of succession for the Atlantean throne, shows up, sending Ocean Master and Black Manta running.

Meanwhile, Green Lantern is still being plagued by strange visions of the Leaguers being killed. A telepathic examination by the Martian Manhunter proves that they weren't caused by the time-traveling Tezumak or the Shaman, from the previous few issues, but sheds no light on why the visions are continuing.

Back at Atlantis, a group of leading scientists and wizards arrive to research the Atlantean ruins and try to determine why Atlantis disappeared and why it re-appeared. What they eventually work out is that, when the Imperiex probe attacked Atlantis (during JLA: Our Worlds at War), Tempest cast a protective spell over Atlantis. But it got badly screwed-up somehow, causing Atlantis to vanish, creating the strange Atlantic Trench, and causing Tempest to lose his memory of ever casting the spell. What happened to Atlantis? Apparently, it got teleported 3,000 years into the past! After that, something -- definitely not Tempest's spell -- lifted it to the surface, then hid it with a powerful invisibility/teleportation/mind control spell -- the Atlantic Trench was the only visible effect of the spell.

So what to do now? It's decided that Tempest will recreate his spell, assisted by a number of more powerful magic-users, to send the JLA back into the past to retrieve Aquaman and the other Atlanteans. The only Leaguers who doubt the plan are Batman and Green Lantern -- Batman because he doubts everything, and GL because he's still having visions of dead superheroes. Turns out they're right: Tempest's spell is immediately hijacked by someone -- or somethingĀ -- else, and even big-time mages like Dr. Fate and Zatanna can't do anything to stop it. Unaware that anything has gone wrong, the JLA charge into the time portal and disappear. No one knows where or when they've gone or how to get them back.

No JLA? What's the world supposed to do now? Pick out a new JLA with a bunch of new members? DC wouldn't do that, would they?

Cool Quotes!
Green Lantern, promising to hurry to a crisis: "I'll be there faster than Wally does the wild thing."

Zatanna, objecting to sharing a mindlink with certain JLA members: "Can I just talk to you guys? I'm totally creeped out with the idea Plastic Man has access to my brain."
Plastic Man: "That's so unprofessional."

Green Lantern, just before the final spell is cast: "I think this is going to go badly."

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