Written by Dwayne McDuffie; Art by Jose Luis Cover by Ed Benes

We pick up where issue 28 left off with Hawkman telling the JLA that he needs there help. By this time the JLA has taken out all of the Milestone heroes and tells Hawkman that Shadow Thief should not be too much of a problem to handle. We find out though, that he has gained a new source of powers and is much more powerful.

Shadow Thief emerges from Hawkman’s shadow and proceeds to take over the entire JLA’s shadows. While this is happening we see that Icon and Superman are still having their talk. Superman interrupts this saying the league is under attack and they both go off to help. The battle with the shadow JLA rages on for several pages and the story then moves back to Dr. Light’s apartment where Rocket arrives to tell Batman about what is happening with Shadow Thief. Dr. Light emerges from the back of her apartment fully charged and powered up. They all head to the JLA satellite where Dr. Light destroys all of the shadows and the Shadow Thief’s outfit allowing Hawkman and Hawkgirl to knock him out. He did do one last thing with his power though, and that was to send the shadow form of the Moon to crash into the Earth. Superman races to stop it and destroys the shadow moon by traveling just below the speed of light. Superman is pulled out of space by Green Lantern and then they all head back to the satellite. They try to get information from the Milestone heroes but they have there teleporting back since the defeat of the Shadow Thief. They slide out of the JLA headquarters and Icon returns to Dharma in the Himalayas. There they discuss what evil is coming  and the fact that the JLA is being used as Dharma’s pawns in his battle against the unnamed evil . The origins and omens backup features Hawkgirl and Red Arrow taking down the Fadeaway Man. They get into a fight over who she really wants to be with and Red Arrow leaves. Hawkman arrives at this time to talk to Hawkgirl . Then Scar tells us that the league will be tested and may not survive. A nice resolution to the story arc, after the horrible fill in issue. The Milestone characters are a fun group and it will be interesting to see if they get a spin off or join with various DCU groups. The artwork , while not up to Benes level is serviceable and not too bad. Overall this book gets 3 out of 5 JLA-ers.

Put It On The Stack.