The JLA ?

Seriously, what is with the JLA? From this image alone I see Batman, but not BatmaT - rather the Dick Grayson batman so it's really Nightwing. I see Donna Troy (Wonder Girl) and Supergirl. I also see Jade.

This isn't the JLA, it's the Teen Titans.

I mean it. Dick and Donna were charter members. Jade was a contemorary on a comperint team (infinity Inc) back in the 80's, but joined the Titans later. Supergirl fits right in with these second generation heroes.

Now don't get me wrong, I enjoy the idea of second generation heroes. I followed Nightwing religiously (there's a joke in there but I don't think most of you will get it) in his own title. I really loved both Donna and Jade when they were characters in Green lantern (Don't get me started on the foolish editorial mandate to get rid of both of these characters from that title) and I think Wally west is a better Flash than Barry ever was.

The problem is they arn't the Justice league.

Nowher is this clearer than here, where they are fighting the Crime Syndicate - supposedly the JLA's evil counterparts. Where are analogs? there's no Superman to battle Ultraman. No Wonder Woman to fight SuperWoman. Not even a Green lantern to face Power Ring!

Gran Morrison got it. People want to see teh Worlds greatest heroes in the JLA. That means the big three, not to mention the second stingers like the Flash and Green lantern. Heck, even Brian Michael Bendis got this and resturctured the Avengers to include Spiderman and Wolverine (An unprecidented move. Never in 40 years had Spidey been a part of the Avengers...and yet, what an obvoious descision!)

I want to like DC again. but it's stuff like this that just makes me wonder why they simply don't get it.

Now that Halloween is over, I'm catching up on comics. Green Lantern Corps 53 was REALLY good. I've been enjoying this title a great deal whenever it's not caught up in some company wide event like Sinstro war, blackest night, or some other crisis....
I'm glad Kyle is still around. He really deserves to be. I grew up with Hal Jordan, and I enjoyed him in the silver age, I even liked the brooding, gray haired version of the dark age. I don't care for this Hla Jordan that's come back from the dead thoguh. I don't recognize him, I don't like his personality. It's something a littel intangable, but he's lost something and the current hal is just hollow. He's not right. You know, they never wrote him like this when he would occassionally show up in Kyle's Green Lantern run, I don't get why it's happening now.

Anyhow, GLC really can be a fun book and this month's a great start to what promises to be an interesting storyline. If that's not enoguh for you, Kyle punches out Sinestro on the last page. The coing attraction blurb consists simply of the words "Next issue, Sinestro hits back."

Holy crap. This site is still here!

No serieously, I would have bet the blog was deleted by now.

These days, you'll find me over at my webcomic Violent Blue
but as it happens, I find I still have something to say about comics, especially running a comic oriented web comic.

So here's try three at blogging. We all know I don't have anyting important to say, but when I'm saying it there I'm going to link here too. It's prettier here anyhow!

What the &^@# is going on with "The Dark Side Club"?

Okay, I read Birds of Prey, and let me just tell you, I was delighted when I saw the writer from Mary Jane was on it. He's not responsible for this month's issue though....a story which features a bunch of gangsters in an undergroud fight club who all have names of various Fourth Worlders. Didn't we just finished Death of the New Gods? DC...what are you doing?

Father's Day

Father's Day in my home goes like this;

Step One : I say don't do anything, we can't afford it, it's not that big a deal.

Step Two : My family ignores my advice and does something anyhow.

My wife was with our two daughters at Wal-Mart gettign diapers. She qswung by the Men's section to get a Shirt form me, something with a clever phrase on it. She found one she liked, and was showing my two year old Maddie. Maddie had other ideas. She marched over to the shelf and pointed.

"Spidey shirt!"

"No honey," My wife said, remembering I have a moratorium on getting superhero shirts. (I have enough to go a month wearing a different one each day and you'd never see the same one twice) "I don't think Daddy wants another Spider-Man shirt. How about this one?"

"No. Spidey shirt!"

"Really honey, how about we look over here?"

"No Mommy! SPIDEY SHIRT!"

So I got a Spider-Man shirt for Father''s day, and Maddie dressed in a little Spidey shirt of her own when we went to Church on Sunday (So we would match).

Now let's see what happens on my birthday.....

Okay, let me just say, I wasn't a big fan of the Salvation Run concept. I fugured this was just DC's event de jour and I have attempted to avoide as many of these as I can. I actually only took a look after JLA refrenced it...yes I know that was the trap and I willingly walked in.

I loved it.

It reminded me of the old Suicide Squad stories, the dynamics were thre and teh characterizations were wonderful. I was especialy pleased with the way Luthor was portrayed. This was a really well done series and surprisingly tehre are very few tie ins.

So why can't they coordinate it correctly??? Catwoman is WAY out of synch with SR, and the JLA sub-plot was completely useless, especially being seperate as it was(add another issue to SR or something. It could have been a good sub-plot if it had been contained within the series). The Suicide Squad mini had nothing to do with SR, but it ran concurrrently to the series (even though it takes place some time before SR - confusing anyone?). Now, the last issue dosen't even come out this month! No SR For May! June is the release date! In the mean time, Grodd shows back up in Flash, Catwoman shows Selenia back on Earth...so does JLA....

DC, you guys are the big boys. This isn't Rob Liefield's Image or Post-Shooter Valient. You need to do better. The Superman titles have shown (at least in the past) incredibly tight continuity. The Bat titles (with as vast a selection as there are) have given it a good shot. This series shouldn't have been too hard. It was small, and it had genuinely good ideas behind it. I know you will probably collect it in a trade paperback, but if you keep buchering the serial titles you'll soon find that you have no more stories to collect in trades.

Better luck next time.

Spidy 560 and JLA 21

I'm ashamed to be a DC fan.

Can I just admit it? I've been a DC fan all my life. If you want flashy art, you go to Marvel. If you want great storytelling and innovation, you go to DC.

No so anymore.

JLA is just getting DUMB. The secret room floating in space that you teleport to from the front of the Hall of Justice...okay, I felt my IQ drop six points just writing that sentence.

At least we got to see some of Superman Wonder Woman and Batman...since the seriese OBVIOUSLY isn't about them...no this is really about the second stringers...of course that's not why most folks buy it. They buy it because Superman is usually on the cover. And what's with Lex Luthor being back in the green armor? I know it's been going that way for a while, but honestly; are the writers so lazy that they can't find a compelling way to tell a story with him unless he can hit someone? John Byrne managed to do it. Heck, Salvation Run managed to do some pretty amazing things with him (even though it still devolved into hitting)

Perhaps they need to take a hint from the guys over at SpiderMan.

Now I'll be the first to say the whole getting rid of the marriage thing was a mistake, but

A. Come on. We know it's not forever

B. They did it right.

Seriously. The devil wants to dissolve their marriage because it is "pure, and made holy in the eyes of he who I hate most". Dude, I almost fainted. In a society that constantly attacks marriage on a philisophical level for the sake of cheap laughs, this is GOLD.

Shake ups at the Bugle, Pete snapping paparazzi pics and....let's just call her the "Mystery Lady" ( How did i not see that coming?) and everything fits together perfectly in a compelling story. I've been hooked on Spidey's "Brand New Day" since the first issue. I haven't missed one.

Oh well. It's time to head over to the comics sho wit my list of mostly Marvel titles. I better get my dark glasses so no one will recognize me.