The second trade paperback collecting issues 5 through 9 of Morrison's JLA starts off on a decidedly more low-key approach than the planet-wide antics from the inaugural story, but it is still a powerful tale that also allows Morrison a dig at the convention of death in the DC Universe being no more final or inconvenient than a bad case of the 'flu.

With "Woman of Tomorrow" we open with Superman at the funeral of Rex Mason, Metamorpho, and Morrison instantly taps into the psyche of Superman with his observation that there were more people at his funeral and it's sad that more people weren't at Rex's. The response from the pastor? "Everyone knows you people come back all the time. … I'm sure Metamorpho won't stay down for long, God rest his soul."

This is the issue where Morrison builds more of the group dynamics of the JLA. For example, Flash and Green Lantern on the skive and swapping stories of how scary they think Batman is. The reader is then lead to believe that the core for this issue is a tale of the JLA looking for new members, allowing for some hilarious cameos by the likes of Ma Mercury, Damage, and Hitman. After those interviews go poorly, in flies Tomorrow Woman, a mysterious heroine who appears to be in the Superman class of things and she helps the JLA out combat a mysterious energy globe.

But Tomorrow Woman is not who she seems. It turns out that she¹s an android created by Professors Ivo and T.O Morrow to destroy the league. She's been co-created as the two argue over who is the better intellect and it seems to be that she will detonate in the middle of a crisis situation but she chooses self-sacrifice instead, over-riding her programming and the story comes full circle with her burial in the same cemetery as Metamorpho from the beginning.

What elevates this tale past the normal 'Robot and Humanity story' is the way Morrison uses it to define what a hero is, something that is a recurring theme in his JLA run.

The next story, a two-parter starts with an angel, Zauriel, falling to become Heaven's representative on Earth and not a moment too soon as the JLA face two threats ­ that of a rebelling angel and Lord Neron trying to force the moon out of it's orbit into the Earth.

It¹s obvious from the kick-off that Zauriel is meant to be this JLA's Hawkman, especially when at one point Aquaman calls him Katar. This story continues the building characterization of everyone with Superman wondering if he can live up to the myth that the S shield brings with it… and then goes off and fights angels.

But it's not all contemplation and trying to clip the wings of angels. The highlight of the two-parter is Morrison slipping in some science and the moon seemingly on collision with the Earth. Superman ­ in his electro-blue incarnation ­ goes out into the moon, wraps himself and the JLA base in some metal cabling and starts giving off enough power for the moon to develop magnetic poles and repel itself from the Earth's magnetic poles. Makes for a fantastic splash page, even though originally the story was mean to have Superman pulling the planet back into orbit.

The story ends with Zauriel rejecting a JLA job offer, instead pursuing love (which as the character notes is "uncool". Really.) and our heroes returning to the moon, only to be ambushed by The Key. This leads into the next two part story-arc, "Elseworlds".

The idea is that The Key places all of the members of the League into alternate realities, which hearken back to the old "imaginary stories" of the fifties. Bruce Wayne has passed on the mantle of the Bat to Tim Drake, Superman is the Green Lantern for Krypton , Aquaman in Kevin Costner's WATERWORLD and so on. The Key is using their dreams to help provide the power he needs to enter the heart of spacetime and be the master of all that he surveys.

While the Elseworlds idea seems to be the core of the story (and it allows Morrison the chance to have some fun such as when The Key notes that his expanding powers have the side-effect of him constantly talking to himself in expository dialogue), it's really not. This is another tale of heroism as it turns out the new, rookie Green Arrow is the only person left to fight against The Key. The dichotomy between this rookie hero and one of the JLA's oldest (and now deadliest) villains is played up even further, when the rookie's arrows and equipment are destroyed and all he has left to fight with are the original Green Arrow's trick arrows, boomerang arrows, handcuff arrows, hell even boxing glove arrows. Still, it should come as no surprise that he does win the day. While other writers could have been goofy about it, Morrison plays it straight while realizing how daft it is to be beaten by this sort of thing. As he said in an interview when asked about things like this being daft, he replied: "There's two ways to do something like a flying horse with a cape. One is silly and the other way is that you shit yourself."

Morrison does that here, playing it straight and it's a great story for it. The trade overall suffers in that it is between two of the best stories produced ­ the intro tale and the Rock of Ages and while it is not as good as either of them in terms of scale and scope, it more than makes up for that with the character interaction and is better than some of the stories that would come later on in the run.

Recommended.

Craig McGill is a writer for SFX magazine, and has written the books FOOTBALL INC. and DO NO HARM.

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