Welcome to another month of pointless babbling on my part. Wait! This month it's not pointless, I have a purpose! I want to say how lame the JLApe story line that took up the JLA annual and the 7 core members annuals was.

Basic set-up, Gorilla City (a city of super intelligent apes, that's where Gorilla Grodd is from) decides to drop it's secrecy, and asks for membership in the UN. Well to make a long summary shorter, Solovar, Gorilla City's King, gets blown up in a car bombing. Gorilla City declares war on the world, but there will be no blood shed, Instead, they mutate the human population into Gorillas, but not super intelligent ones, semi-intelligent slaves of the super intelligent ones. Of course, the first strike is against the JLA, turning Supes, Flash, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, and Martian Manhunter into Gorillas. MM stays sane while the others slowly lose it, but he keeps them in check with his telepathy. By the end of the JLA annual, the first part btw, Green Lantern is turned into an ape too, but doesn't get any telepathic therapy from MM. Basic huh?

Oh, did I mention that it's all orchestrated by Simian Scarlet, who is being manipulated by Gorilla Grodd, (revealed on page 7 of the first part ?)

Here's my problem with it, DID THE WRITERS EVEN TALK TO EACH OTHER!!! I mean, god. there is no consistency. All the characters return to human (or alien, or whatever) again in the first couple pages, Wonder Woman's biology rejects the mutagen after she gets into her own annual. MM simply shape shifts, something he could have easily done in the JLA annual, but no. GL had to have MM force him to remember who he was, so the ring would change him back, after, I say only after, GL went to the apes' side and tried to kill J'onn. The others took some effort, but still.

Another thing, if you want to see `Batape' look on the cover of the JLA annual, the only place you'll see it. Apparently, Batman's too dignified to be a Gorilla, punks. It's just a plain fact not all artists can draw Gorillas. There were good moments: "It's a madhouse, A MADHOUSE!"-GL from the JLA annual ala Planet of the Apes. Impulse actually thinking better as an ape, and some other good parts, but I'll get to them later.

And now issue by issue, in their supposed order, and I'm going to rant about the story.

JLA annual #3: Good set up. Basically what I said at the beginning is the story, it showed so much . . . potential.

Batman annual #23: No Batape but a good story, none the less. Batman and Nightwing are trying to stop arms shipments to the apes in Bludhaven (Nightwing's town). You get to see gangstered out Gorillas go ape sh- um poopie on the local mobs with anti-tank guns. Also, it is major for Nightwing fans, because it holds a major development for Nightwing's main pain in the ass, Blockbuster.

Aquaman annual #5: This one I really liked, half of Atlantis is turned into apes, and there's a major throw down between `Aqua-ape' and er,'Tempest-ape.' Good reading. Also, Aquaman goes through the most hassle getting normal again, especially since he's gotta help half his kingdom out, too.

Wonder Woman annual #8: Nope didn't like it, most of the story is ok but the least imagination and hassle getting human again. I mean, WW has a seizure and gets back to normal as her mystic biology rejects the mutagen. I had to read it 3-4 times to get it.

Flash annual #12: now I know the new Flash has only been around a month or two, but come on, that's no reason to get sloppy. I mean, this one's plot and action are set damn near all apart from the rest. The art was horrible, Doug Braithwaite can draw humans, but he can't draw Gorillas. I'm sure it's not easy but... Anyway, in all the other annuals, people are being turned into Gorillas and only Gorillas, in the Flash annual, it seems they can turn into random primates. The Gorillas of Gorilla City are supposed to be super intelligent, in this annual and only in this one, they're all idiots, even Grodd. Hated it.

Superman annual #11: Supes goes bananas (sorry lame pun) and Lois has to snap him out of it. Also, she suggests kinda, who he gets outta the Gorilla thing. Then King Ulgo (Solovar's successor) comes out with a big Gorilla Robot, thinking the humans killed his uncle. Supes saves the day and in the end, Ulgo joins up with Supes. Oh and something great in this issue had me laughing! Right after Superman becomes a man again, the apes standing by say "oook! ook ook ook oook! oook ook!" "oook ooook!" "ook! oook...* OOOOK!" with an editor's box , * You don't really need me to translate this, do you?'

Green Lantern annual #8: I'm a big GL fan, so understand it when I say this, it was ok. I mean, GL goes to their side as a grunt in the army for them, eventually MM reverts him (as mentioned above). Guest appearances by Sentinel, Guy Gardner, and the Metal Men.

Martian Manhunter annual #2: Don't get me started... it takes 3/4 of the damn issue to get around to announcing that the Gorilla behind all this is Grodd, when it was revealed in the first part of the story arc... DUMB! Lame ending to a stupid story, too. Makes Grodd go basically brain dead (supposedly permanently) when we all know he's going to be part of the anti-Titans group Tartarus. DUMB. Pass on these annuals waste of good money. Man, it SUCKED.

If you want a good JLA story, pick up the special one shot JLA Foreign Bodies, it's a good read, and you get to see Aquaman in Wonder Woman. "SAY WHAT!?!?!" Just go pick it up, it's good.

Next month I'll yell about the meaninglessness of death in comics and DC's Day of Judgment brings more and more heroes and villains back from the dead, there-by cheapening their deaths.