The Elite

Infobox comics organization


imagesize=
caption=The original line up from "Action Comics" #775. They are: Menagerie I (foreground), Hat, Manchester Black and Coldcast (background, left to right)
publisher=DC Comics
debut=March 2001
creators=Joe Kelly (writer) Doug Mahnke (artist)
base=
members=Coldcast
Hat
Manchester Black
Menagerie I
Menagerie II
Vera Black
cat=teams
subcat=DC Comics
hero=y
villain=
sortkey=Elite|

The Elite is a team of super-powered anti-heroes in the DC Comics universe taking their early influences from The Authority. [MacPherson, Don, [http://www.thefourthrail.com/reviews/critiques/070504/actioncomics775.shtml "Critiques on Infinite Earths"] . Retrieved on 23 March 2008.]

They made their first appearance in the story "What's so funny about Truth, Justice & the American Way?" in "Action Comics" #775 in March 2001. The story, which was voted number 1 in Wizard Magazine's Top Ten Comics of the Decade. was written by Joe Kelly, pencilled by Doug Mahnke and Lee Bermejo, inked by Tom Nguyen. They appeared in a number of stories as antagonists, before some of them merged with members of the Justice League, to form Justice League Elite.

Team Members

*Manchester Black, the team's first leader, currently dead after he realized that he'd become as bad as the villains he wanted to fight.
*Vera Black, his sister and the second leader of The Elite
*Coldcast, capable of manipulating electromagnetism, he was eventually inspired by Superman to fight on the right side
*Menagerie I, joined with an alien weapon crèche, lobotomized and placed in a coma.
*Menagerie II, joined with an alien weapon crèche which drove her insane, now in a metahuman prison facility.
*Hat, armed with a magic hat, he quit the team shortly after Vera took over
*Bunny, a bacterial colony that became a floating fortress before The Elite brought her to their universe to use as a base of operations. It is the equivalent to The Carrier. On the rare glimpse inside it appears to contain many wonders including Excalibur and the skeleton of Pegasus.

Plot

In their first appearance, in Action Comics #775, they defeated a giant mutant gorilla in Tripoli but caused a lot of collateral damage. Superman attempts to negotiate with them and show them the error of their ways. After this proves ineffective, he agrees to fight them on Io, where the Elite have already defeated God's Seed. When it appears they have beaten Superman, he manages to exploit the weaknesses in their powers to defeat them, apparently lobotomising Black and killing the others. However, this turns out to be just a ploy to show them the futility of their approach, as well as to demonstrate to the world (the fight was being broadcast by the Elite) that heroes who kill are "not" fun, but "terrifying".

After a stint with the Suicide Squad, Manchester Black was betrayed by President Lex Luthor and so reformed the Elite ("Action Comics" #795). However Menagerie I revealed to Superman that the group was not in control of their own actions and Black crippled her.

After Manchester Black's apparent death by suicide, his sister Vera returned in "JLA" #100, leading the Elite against the JLA (this time with Menagerie II) in what turns out to be an attempt to fool Gaea, the spirit of the planet. The Hat, being an earth elemental, had spotted the fact that the planet was going to rise up and strike civilization down because her "children" were not united, which had given them time to devise a plan. The imminent apocalypse was confirmed by Manitou Raven's intuition and Major Disaster's channelling of the planet itself. In a "Watchmen"-like twist, they concocted a bogus threat to unite the world's governments and fool Gaea into believing the people of Earth were united. Not only did this save the world, but it also started the talks for a Planetary Peace treaty.

This final appearance helped cement the links with the Justice League, the result of which was Vera Black, Menagerie II and Coldcast joining the newly formed "Justice League Elite", a superhero 'black ops' team created to hunt down and eliminate metahuman threats before they went public.

Publication

They have appeared in a number of titles and all but "Action Comics" #795 have been reprinted in trade paperbacks:

*"Justice League Elite":
** "Volume 1" (collects: "Action Comics" #775, "JLA" #100, "JLA Secret Files 2004", and "Justice League Elite" #1-4, 208 pages, 2005, Titan ISBN 1-84576-191-X, DC ISBN 1-4012-0481-3) [ [http://www.dccomics.com/graphic_novels/?gn=4015 JLE Vol. 1 profile at DC] ]
**"Volume 2" (collects "Justice League Elite" #5-12, 192 pages, 2007, Titan ISBN 1-84576-632-6, DC ISBN 1-4012-1556-4) [ [http://www.dccomics.com/graphic_novels/?gn=8001 JLE Vol. 2 profile at DC] ]

*"Superman: The Greatest Stories Ever Told Volume 1" (includes "Action Comics" #775, 192 pages, Titan, 2006 ISBN 1-84576-399-8 DC, 2004 ISBN 1-4012-0339-6) [ [http://www.dccomics.com/graphic_novels/?gn=2415 "Superman: The Greatest Stories Ever Told" profile at DC] ]

ee also

*The Authority, a Wildstorm team of elitist heroes who believed that their need to do right and their superhuman powers gave them the authority to ignore international laws and national sovereignty.

Notes

References

*comicbookdb|type=team|id=190|title=The Elite
* [http://www.mykey3000.com/cosmicteams/cosmic/e.html#elite A profile of the team]

External links

* [http://www.comicsbulletin.com/reviews/99143008256605.htm Review of "Action Comics" #775] , Comics Bulletin
* [http://www.comicsbulletin.com/reviews/98085668778606.htm Review of "Action Comics" #775] , Comics Bulletin
* [http://superman.ugo.com/comics/superman_truthjustice/default.asp Review of "What's so funny about Truth, Justice & the American Way?"]
* [http://www.comicreaders.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=917 Review of "JLA" #100]