Can They Just Make "Justice" The Official JLA Book?
I mean, I was sitting here thinking about it...
I tried to give the current "JLA" a chance, but I really can't get into it. I don't know if it's because of the crossover with 2,000 characters in it, or the covers, or just that I don't feel any sort of emotional response to these stories.
This isn't a bash because of "Identity Crisis." I bought four damn issues of "JLA" in a row. I just don't get it. It's to the point that I couldn't read the latest issue of Justice Society either because I hated that crossover story so much.
Wasn't there a line in one of the current "JLA" books that was like "It's time for us to be HEROES again" -- maybe JLA, or maybe one of those Crisis/52 things.
At any rate --
You can't systematically undermine the heroism of your superhero team and then have them turn around and "decide" that they are going to be heroes again.
No, how it really works is as follows:
Iron Man stops being a hero. He acts like a dick and pisses a lot of people off.
Then the Hulk beats him unconscious. Then maybe Thor knocks out all his teeth.
After sitting in a wheelchair for a while, completely brought low and humiliated, Tony Stark begins, like Paris Hilton, to see God.
Now he decides: "It's time to be a hero again."
*That* I can believe.
As for "Justice" being the official "JLA" book, why the hell not? It's full of that patented Alex Ross "awe of superheroes" goodness, and, in the end, that has really been the selling point of DC's characters.
DC superheroes trade off of the "awe" factor -- their stock-in-trade, what they do best, is being icons of Heroism.
DC superheroes trying to be "bad" and "edgy" and all that is the equivalent of an adolescent Natalie Portman dancing around to Madonna songs in her underwear in "The Professional." It looks as awkward as hell.
i absolutely wholeheartedly agree with you on all your points. seems to me the big problem with the industry is the straying so far from the roots and thus what sells. i mean superman was originally a guy who fought for the little guy and stood up for actual values..then they made him a mopey emo bitch in the 90's. well it started back when byrne did the revamp. the repackaging of icons is stupid and ultimately damaging. thats why i love Justice..its just a roots revival. i haven't read any JLA since..well a damn long time. i fell out of the mainstream a long time ago.
ReplyDeletekeep up the good work...
Oh c'mon, who doesn't love three issues of the most powerful people in the world looking at photos of other, less powerful people?
ReplyDeleteJLA is a complete disappointment, it's true (of course, the more fanatical of us will happily point out that it's been that way since Morrison left). What I've read of the current book points to a fundemental lack of understanding for what makes the League work, and the art certainly isn't doing anybody any favors. Why oh why can't they turn things over to McDuffie? JL/U was the best DC's finest have looked in ages.
*Hugs VSL*
ReplyDeleteThis is why I read your blog. ^_^
You aren't the only one who doesn't like it ... (from Blog@Newsarama)
ReplyDeleteKevin: I’ve come to the conclusion that Brad Meltzer’s comic-book work just isn’t for me. I don’t hate it; I just don’t enjoy it. I read the first three or four issues of his relaunched Justice League of America, but the emotional button-pushing was just too obvious and mechanical for me to enjoy.
Link:
http://blog.newsarama.com/2007/06/12/cant-wait-for-wednesday-47/#more-4169
Heh, good luck talking Dougie back into doing JUSTICE regularly. He seemed pretty happy after he turned in his last issue. :)
ReplyDeleteI haven't read the last couple issues of JLA, as I have to wait for the DC comp boxes (well, I don't HAVE to but I'll be darned if I spend money for something I know we're going to get for free a month later), but from what I recall there was nothing all that objectionable about the storylines, and I generally like Brad Meltzer's writing. I'll have to read the next couple issues more closely...