Legion World Forums LEGION COMPANION Dr. Gym'll's Cultural Rarities Justice League Detroit

I was going through my old JLoA's the other day and came across the Gerry Conway "detroit bunker" era issues. I had quite forgotten about these issues and had a good time re-reading them.

I browsed on the net to kinda see what others thought of them, and was very surprised to see a powerful hatred of them. I know they weren't that popular, but where they really that bad?

Maybe the fact that they were based in my old home town helped a little, but I really loved this rag-tag team. I don't get why they were so hated.

OK, so maybe Vibe was a travesty, but Gypsy was a cutie-pie, and Steel was cool.

Anyone else out there remember this team fondly?
Anyone hate it, like most apparently do? if so why?

I don't think that they were that bad...but the whole Lake Michigan thiung from the start (I live near Detroit, and was bummed by the huge geographic blunder)kinda threw me.

I also didn't really like Luke McDonald (I think that was his name) on the art. Loved him on Suicide Squad...but not the JLA.

i kinda liked the Detroit era League but because of the addition of Steel,Vibe and Gypsy a few of my friends got to calling the book the Juvenile League of Adolesence.

Chuck Patton (what ever happened to HIM?) was pretty decent on the art. Maybe not top-notch, but better than some at the time and he brought a nice stability to the book for awhile.

Luke McDonnell, however, I disliked on EVERY series he ever touched (IRON MAN, DREADSTAR, THE PHANTOM). At some point Gerry Conway decided to bring the "big guns" back for occasional guest appearances, but by then the art had dragged the book down seriously.

One thing we can thank Gerry Conway for was, he brought the long-missing MARTIAN MANHUNTER back to Earth to rejoin the JLA-- where he's been-- EVER SINCE!!! In fact, it really struck me that the JUSTICE LEAGUE cartoon series' pilot episode was-- of all things-- a loose adaptation of the MM return story from the long, long Gerry Conway era.

The CRISIS came and went, and was followed by LEGENDS ("Crisis II"-- HAH!!!), and a new "tradition" was begun by cancelling the JLA series, having a mini-series to set up a new series, and beginning over from #1. How many times has something like this happened since??


Mention of JLD brings to mind something Cicily Tyson said to Garrett Morris on SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE...

"Look what ya'll did to DETROIT! That used to be a NICE place to live!"

I actually liked Vibe, Gypsy, and especially Steel. I loved the art in the beginning. It was the first time I remember thinking Aquaman looked good.

In retrospect, I don't think the series was very good, but it was probably the Detroit League that allowed for later versions without "Big Guns".

Justice League Detroit was one of those eras that I kinda liked, but couldn't think of as being real. Like, they called themselves the Justice League, but to me they really weren't. Sorta like the current Teen Titans. Perhaps it's because I grew up during the satellite era. For me, you need to have a significant amount of the satellite JLAers onboard to make the team feel right to me. That's part of why the current JLA series has never totally clicked with me. It's not just about having the Big 7. It's about having the Big 7 mixed with other heroes, each bringing something to the table.

Submitted for your consideration:

JLD was in part an attempt to "Avengerize" the JLA: get rid of the big guns and introduce obscure/new but potentially more interesting characters. For some reason, Avengers was always great at this, and JLA wasn't. Maybe because Avengers always had at least 1 big gun (Captain America). Let's face it, whatever you think of Aquaman, he's no Captain America.

I loved the addition of Vixen and would really love to see her back with the Laegue!

Wasn't JLD an attempt to have lightning strike twice. I really thought it was an attempt to bottle whatever Wolfman did with NTT.

It was hard to have real character development interactions with the big guns lineup. It's the same complaint about the Morrison JLA today, totally action driven not character driven.

It failed for JLD but then Giffen-DeMatteis tried it again from a goofier angle and it took.

Well it reminded me what Stan Lee did with the Avengers way back when he brought in the Kooky Quartet.

What is funny is that when I read Justice League Detroit I get a mental image of tough guys. Hey I apologize to the residents of Detroit but nearly every where I've see it depicted...it's rough. I mean I am sure it has some super ritzy rich areas...but well i mostly see it as a hard town.

The JLD didn't seem that hard. I mean atleast Steel had a good name for the town. But it just seems the original Outsiders may have fit the city better versus...Aquaman?!?!?!

Also on character development. The Avengers have always had it...but not the JLA. It was a always a plot due to each member basically having their own book.

I always thought they should have about 4 to 5 more members besides the big 7...where we can explore more. Atom, Zatanna, etc. Guys without their own book.