Legion World Forums LEGION OUTPOST Bits o' Legionnaire Business Justice League Apocrypha: fanfics, fanfics discussion, and more

Fab stuff FL, you obviously love the JLA!

Sadly I don't really know them so I may ask some silly questions...

Your first story with Ollie telling the story of Kal El's good-as-gold heart was very touching. Green Arrow strikes me as a cynic (though I don't really know so tell me if I'm wrong) so it's all the more poignant that he's the one telling the tale. No idea who Ronnie or ConGorilla are btw, but that didn't stop me from loving it - Ronnie flirting with Big Barda was funny.

Never the end, indeed!

I liked the writing technique executed in the next story using flashbacks to explain the story as it went along - I've never been brave enough to do that so I applaud anyone who does it, and does it convincingly.

Mirror Master vs Dr Light seems like a decent fight, loved her being split into component colours and cyborg being split human and tech - very striking image that.

Every story needs dinosaurs so I loved Triceratops! You have inspired me with this o do something myself, once I work it out properly you'll read it in one of my fanfics soon

Mon El in the JLA? Ok... I didn't know he was a member but there you go, I must go pick up some trades soon.

It's a pity you didn't finish this as it was a great story, but given that about 10years ago I started Ambers Song then never finished it I can understand that.

Marvel characters in the next story though again I didn't really know them, sorry. Bug Bite and Golden Boy made me laugh - Blue Beetle and Booster are chumps in every reality it seems

Loved the two teams fighting - it's an old trope but a fun one that two hero teams have to fight the first time they meet, and it was great to read here, as was Shifter and his cookies - you had a lot of fun with this story didn't you?

JLA/JSA team up

Loads of yummy characters! Donna as Wonder Woman? Coolio!Dr Light being shy - nice touch. Gypst being snaky - yup, well written. Kara telling of Donna - best part of the fist section! Very nice character interaction! Well done.

The Princess Eve character - no idea if she's canon or not, sorry, but watching her brother being killed - how horrific!

And then Dr Fate, the resident powerhouse, possessed by shadow demons! What a cool cliff hanger, splendid!

Blue Beetle the Worlds most flippant hero - haha! Great line!

I only know the Charlton characters from their watchmen analogues so again I'm reading this without ant preconceptions.

The Question making knock out odours in the bathroom made me laugh, though Captain Atom possessed is a scary thought!

What are you willing to do to survive? Chilling line!

MM mentally networking the team together was clever as was the rest of the team getting stuck in. Good teamwork to catch the Thief. Looking forward to seeing where the teams go next - I'm hooked!

Great stuff FL. More, more,more!

Thank you, Harbi. I do love them, especially when the lineup has a nice variety.



Ask away anytime. I'm always happy to answer questions.



Ah, Ollie, Ollie, Ollie...such a great character, so frequently misunderstood by writers, even some good writers. To try to explain Ollie would take a whole thread in itself. Say...maybe I'll do that in Gy'mll's...

Ronnie is the dominant personality of the original Firestorm, a nuclear-powered character made up of both teenager Ronald Raymond & Prof. Martin Stein.

Congorilla is an obscure character -- a man inside a golden ape's body -- whom James Robinson thought would be fun to include in the JLA.



Thank you! I may try that again soon.



Again, many thanks. And I hope that, as a Scotswoman, you found his accent acceptable.



Nice! Looking forward to it.



I'd suggest reading trades of James Robinson's Superman run instead, where he dug much deeper into Mon-El (who, at the time, was living in the 21st Century as Superman's deputy) than he did in his JLA stories. I think that, despite such a promising initial JLA lineup, Robinson either mischaracterized or underdeveloped everybody.



Awww...thanks. I'd have enjoyed writing Mirror Master and Poison Ivy some more. Maybe in the future.



I really did have a lot of fun with this story -- ironically, the whole reason I wrote it was because I needed an alternate reality for the Marvel characters to go to, and Marvel has a long history of parodying the Satellite Era JLA as the Squadron Supreme, so I thought, why not parody the JLI for a change?



Princess Eve is Nightshade, a Charlton character (her Watchmen analog was Silk Spectre). Her origin in this reality is similar to the one in the mainstream reality, but with a few tweaks (Obsidian and Ian Karkull had no connection to her in the mainstream reality, and Queen Magda was not a villainess.) If you're curious enough about her, I think you could do a lot worse than to pick up John Ostrander's entire Suicide Squad run, where she was one of the main characters and even got a spotlight arc set mostly in the Land of Nightshades. Sadly, only one trade of this run has ever been published, due to ongoing royalties issues between Ostrander and DC, but the floppies are cheap and readily available.

Thank you so much for all the kind words, especially the ones about the JLA/JSA team-up.

I'm so happy that you're giving updates so often, Fanfie! Just read Part 4, I do love how you move the story so quickly and concisely - that is, every scene counts yet there's a lot of characterization wrapped up in it too.

I think I understand now why you wrote Peacemaker so much like the Comedian And the Earth-4 heroes being unfamiliar with each other makes his futile attack on Captain Atom so very believable.

Thank you, Ibby.

The final two installments probably won't be ready til the weekend, but considering the tremedous gaps between installments in some of my past fanfics, I think I'm doing pretty well.

Part Five got finished faster than I expected. Here 'tis:


JLA/JSA: CRISIS ON EARTH-4 (Part 5 of 6)

On Earth-4...

With the treetops on fire, the three heroes -- Blue Beetle, Judomaster, and the Question -- had nowhere to hide from Captain Atom, who had finally managed to track them down.

"It's been nice knowing you guys..." said Blue Beetle, looking over at the other two heroes, "...even if it was just for a few minutes."

Suddenly, the Question appeared to vanish into thin air. Blue Beetle blinked, and then Judomaster was gone, too. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Captain Atom's hands beginning to glow. Blue Beetle closed his eyes and hoped his death would be quick and painless.

When Blue Beetle felt nothing happen after a few seconds, he opened his eyes to find himself at a safe distance away from the fire and from Captain Atom. He was also surrounded by several gaudily garbed heroes he had never seen before. The Question and Judomaster were there, too.

"How did I get here?" asked a puzzled Blue Beetle.

"That would be me." said a smiling Jay Garrick. "Fastest man alive."

"Freakin' awesome!" exclaimed Blue Beetle. "And who are the rest of you?"

"We'll have time for greetings later." said Donna Troy firmly. "Right now, I want Green Lantern and Dr. Light to execute maneuver Z-1."

Alan Scott and Kimiyo Hoshi flew towards the blazing trees, in time to see Captain Atom emerge from there. Kimiyo hit him high with laser beams, Alan hit him low with a green-energy battering ram.

Captain Atom was nearly thrown off-balance by the attack, but he managed to keep his footing. He fired a nuclear blast at Kimiyo, grazing her and sending her spiraling downward. As for Alan, Captain Atom uprooted a burning tree and threw it at him. Alan tried to dodge the tree, as his one weakness was wood, but the roots smashed him and got through his green-energy shields, knocking him out.

The distraction of dealing with the two heroes allowed Donna Troy a window of opportunity to charge at Captain Atom like a juggernaut. She pounced on him with all her Amazon might, and the two wrestled ferociously on the ground.

Meanwhile, Kimiyo managed to make a rough landing at the clearing where the other heroes were gathered. Judomaster helped her to her feet, asking her in Japanese if she was hurt. She replied she was not, and thanked him.

A short distance away, Diana, Gypsy, Vixen, and Wildcat were holding their own against the remains of the shadow army, when Donna tumbled into sight. She had managed to land on her feet after being tossed by Captain Atom, but she could barely stand. Diana signaled to Gypsy to follow her, and the two ran towards Captain Atom.

"Hey, tinfoil face!" yelled Gypsy at Captain Atom. "Yeah, you! Why don't you take a shot at me? I'm right here! C'mon!"

Just as Captain Atom was about to fire, Gypsy faded away out of his sight, and in the momentary confusion, Diana lassoed him around the neck and tugged as hard as she could. He felt himself choking, and tried to burn off the lasso, but it stayed intact.

"Listen to me!" she commanded. "You are not a slave to the shadows! Let the truth set you free!"

Meanwhile, in the Land of Nightshades...

"Blast!" roared Ian Karkull, self-appointed monarch of this shadowy dimension, as he watched Captain Atom and Diana through the scrying pool in front of him. "She's getting through to him! I can't keep my telepathic hold over him!"

"But you must!" said Queen Magda. "Or all is lost!"

"You have a talent for stating the obvious." snarled Ian, putting his hands on his head as he struggled to reassert control over Captain Atom. "Go and attend to the Shadow Thief and his army, they have...urgh...returned with...argh...prisoners."

Shortly, Queen Magda went to the entrance of the palace, where J'onn J'onzz in his Shadow Thief disguise was mind-controlling the entire squadron of shadow warriors, and the rest of his team was in shadow-construct chains.

"I bear good tidings." said J'onn.

"Deactivate your suit and remove your mask." ordered Queen Magda. "I wish to see you face to face when I address you."

"As you command." replied J'onn, taking off his mask to reveal the Shadow Thief's face.

"Very well." said Queen Magda. "At least you were successful. Once we mind-dominate these prisoners, it should turn the tide on Earth-4." She then looked Eve in the eye and began to say, "As for you, prodigal daughter..."

"I regret to inform you," said J'onn, "that we have different plans."

"What are you talking about?" demanded Queen Magda.

As the other heroes broke their chains, the shadow warriors fell to the floor unconscious as J'onn released his hold over them and shape-shifted back into his Martian Manhunter form, his supple muscles tearing the shadow suit to pieces.

"Treachery!" yelled Queen Magda as she prepared to blast them with shadow-bolts. But before she could, Elongated Man had stretched himself out and wrapped himself around her. "Now, now, Queenie." he said. "Is that any way to treat your guests? You should meet my wife, now there's a hostess with the mostest."

"Shut up and get off me!" she screamed.

"Sure thing." he replied, unwinding himself and slithering away. "I've got bigger fish to fry. Besides, I think the Princess has some choice words for you."

Eve grimaced viciously as she assaulted her mother with shadow bolts.

The other heroes took advantage of this to head deeper into the castle, with Obsidian leading the way.

"I can sense Karkull." he declared. "His chambers are through...that giant door, there."

Power Girl attempted to smash her way through the door, only to get knocked down by mystical feedback.

Dr. Fate now stepped forward. "Karkull's spells shall avail him none." he asserted, holding up his good arm and blasting it with magic rays. This counteracted Karkull's protective spell and cancelled it out. Another magical blast from Dr. Fate followed, this one so powerful it atomized the door.

The heroes charged through, with Dr. Fate front and center. "Karkull!" he belted out in a stentorian tone. "Only one of us shall leave this palace alive!"

"Die, all of you!" yelled Karkull, firing the strongest shadow bolts he could summon. "DIE!"

TO BE CONCLUDED

As usual, love the concise but effective battle scenes. Really loving Ted and Kimiyo and Gypsy and Donna and Ralph... Well, all of them! I think you got their personalities down really well.

Eve vs. her mom is quite poignant, in one line you pointed out how hard it must be for Eve.

Thanks, Ibby.

The character bits are what I've been happiest with in this story. I can be quite self-critical. At the very least, I think I should have been more descriptive of the Land of Nightshades and its royal castle. But I'm not George Lucas, I don't like to go back and try to "fix" my stories.

Will do my best to deliver a good conclusion.

Yes I think your scene with Ian and Queen Magda already captured the "feel" of the castle well enough. No need to add any more to that.

Thank you, Ibby.

And here's the final installment:


JLA/JSA: CRISIS ON EARTH-4 (Part 6 of 6)

Dr. Fate was able to put up a mystic shield just in time, but it proved too weak against Karkull's shadow bolts, and it shattered, the shockwave knocking over Dr. Fate.

"You can't fool me, my old enemy." cackled Karkull. "You're only operating at half-strength. And that will prove to be your doom." Karkull began influencing the unconscious Dr. Fate's shadow, having it wrap itself around the fallen mage and cutting off his air supply.

But Dr. Fate's shield had nonetheless accomplished its purpose, for so intent was Karkull on annihilating his nemesis that he paid no attention to the rest of the heroes, all of whom were still standing thanks to Dr. Fate.

Huntress struck first, launching a flash-bomb right at Karkull's face, blinding him just long enough for Martian Manhunter to get close and unleash a powerful psionic blast at Karkull, who went down screaming in pain.

Meanwhile, on Earth-4...

By now, Diana had wrapped her rope around Captain Atom's midsection, effectively immobilizing him as he continued to struggle to throw off Karkull's control over him.

And back in the Land of Nightshades...

Karkull was able to get back on his feet, but he could no longer maintain his shadow form, which gave Power Girl the opportunity to pummel him back to the ground.

As the heroes backed away from Karkull to catch their breath, the villain rallied and began firing shadow-bolts at them again. The heroes scattered.

Enter Eve and Obsidian, who double-teamed against Karkull to great effect.

And at that moment, on Earth-4...

"I...remember...now." mumbled Captain Atom, whose eyes suddenly went back to normal as his voice got louder. "Yes, I remember. Karkull did this to me! Let me go, so I can make him pay!"

Diana looked over at Donna, who nodded. She set Captain Atom free, and he used his quantum powers to open an interdimensional portal. "Follow me to the Land of Nightshades."

And within moments, the assembled heroes of Earth-1, Earth-2, and Earth-4 were charging the royal castle, taking down the palace guards with great ease. Captain Atom blasted the front door open.

In Karkull's chambers, Martian Manhunter alerted his fellow heroes, "I have detected telepathically that the others have arrived from Earth-4. Donna is telling me that we must evacuate the castle immediately.

The heroes, with Eve carrying the unconscious form of Queen Magda and Martian Manhunter carrying Dr. Fate, ran past Captain Atom, who was flying straight towards Karkull's chambers.

When Captain Atom reached his destination, he found Karkull struggling to pick himself up off the floor.

"This is the end for you!" screamed Captain Atom at the man who had turned him into a killer.

Captain Atom fired his nuclear blasts at maximum intensity, while Karkull found just enough strength within to equal Captain Atom's blasts with his own shadow bolts. The humongous explosion tore apart the castle and created a mushroom cloud.

Outside, a revived but still weak Doctor Fate summoned all of his might in order to project a mystical force field around himself and the others, shielding them from the explosion.

After a moment, Donna broke the eerie silence. "J'onn, does your telepathy detect any life signs?"

"None whatsoever." replied J'onn, shaking his head.

"What was done was what had to be done." declared Donna, even though she knew that not everybody present agreed with her.

Much later, back on Earth-2 at the JSA brownstone, all of the heroes were celebrating the overthrow of the rulers of the Land of Nightshades. Queen Magda was being kept in a holding cell in the lower levels, bound by shadow ropes created by Eve, awaiting trial on Earth-4 to answer for her crimes against humanity.

Eve, for her part, was alone on the balcony, until Obsidian stepped next to her. "Don't you want to join the party?" he asked her.

"I prefer solitude right now." she whispered wistfully.

"Okay." replied Obsidian, turning around.

But before he walked out, Eve called him back. "Wait. I did want to tell you something."

"What's that?"

"I think we make a great team. And I'd...really like it if you came to live with me."

"Um...I don't know how else to say this, but...I swing the other way."

"I understand. But...can we still be friends?"

"Absolutely."

"Thank you. I'll be needing friends as we work to rebuild Earth-4 and to turn the Land of Nightshades into a democracy."

"Speaking of rebuilding Earth-4, Blue Beetle, Question, and Judomaster are talking about forming a team called the Sentinels of Justice, and they'd like to know if you'd like to join them, at least on a part-time basis."

"I would be happy to. Let's go tell them."

The two youths stepped back in, and in the cool night sky of Earth-2, all seemed well.

NEVER THE END

That was quite an ending, Fanfie! Loved the teamwork among the heroes. Eve and Obsidian do make a great team, it would be nice to see their battle techniques in greater detail. Thank you for keeping Todd as a gay man; I found it perfectly believable that Eve, whose life has been turned upside down in the last few days, really took a liking to him.

Poor Captain Atom. His rage at being mind controlled was understandable and realistic. Will you have him reappear, perhaps after being tossed through time?

The moral ambiguity of the destruction of the castle was well done. This is certainly a different Donna Troy. Even Diana is arguably more shades of grey than usual for letting an enraged Captain Atom loose.

Quite an enjoyable read! You juggled the huge cast quite well!

Thank you, Ibby.

And regarding Todd, you're welcome. I felt it was important to make it clear that Todd's sexuality is the same in this reality.

Captain Atom will definitely reappear. I'm toying with the idea of a fanfic focusing on the newly formed Sentinels of Justice, and reintroducing the Son of Vulcan as the team's "Thor". Imagine a battle between SoV and Captain Atom.

It is definitely a more warlike Donna. That's what came naturally to me, and when I analyzed it, I saw it as a realistic part of her evolution, a combination of the twin burdens of team leadership and the Wonder Woman mantle.

Good point about Diana, but I'd like to think she was simply being pragmatic.

Hi FL,

Great to see you are obviously really enthusiastic about this story, your enjoyment shines through.

It was quite touching reading Blue Beetle think his time was up and saying his goodbye so to the two guys he'd just met, though I think he would have felt being whisked aside by Jay. Loved the "freakin' awesome!" Though, that was the perfect response. Donna Troy being a physical match for Captain Atom was cool, I never would have thought of that but she is one tough cookie. Dr Light and Green Lantern distracting him was clever team work.

I haven't read a lot with Gypsy in it so it was a nice surprise reading her so confident and spunky - I think the only think I've read was the 4 parter when the Detroit team were mostly killed off and she wasn't like that then so good to see character development and growth.

I didn't really get the land of nightshade as there were no real descriptions to work with, I think that was the one part that didn't fit as a result. Sorry, I'm really not all that knowledgeable about DC'S history so things like that are difficult to follow.

That said Jonn in disguise as the Shadow Thief was great, very clever to use a mega powerful character like that to do something so stealthy.

I Googled Obsidian as I again didn't know too much about though glad I did, from what I read you did his character justice. And as cliffhangers go part 5 is a doozzie! Splendid stuff.

Part six and it's all led to this...

Opening with Dr Fate having trouble shielding the team was a fantastic way to keep the excitement up, excellent! Interesting that it was the non powered Huntress who attacked Karkull first too.

I'don't have liked to have seen a bit more action in the little interlude with Diana and captain Atom, just to know what the rest were doing -putting out the burning trees? Catching their breath? Introducing each other properly? This seemed like a missed opportunity for you to add a little bit of characterisation into this final section.

Why is Power Girl pummelling always so satisfying? I loved her pummelling Karkull into the ground, made me smile!

Obsidian and Eve double teaming the villain could have had a bit more detail though as it had such a good lead up to it that I wanted to know how they did it. Captain Atom regaining his memories and getting angry was well done, he's such a dangerous character that the idea of it is scary! Donna'so comment about what was done being what had to be done was cold, almost too pragmatic though I do get it, and understand her rationale, even if I don't necessarily agree. Still, controversial characterisation is absolutely the way forward - they may be heroes but we don't have to agree with everything they say or do, and the slices of gray in a character always help make them more honest.

Ebe and Obsidian'so friendship was nicely written at the end, after everything they'd been through it was only fitting that they had a moment of sorts.

Excellent that you ended with the Earth 4 team forming into a cohesive unit, out of the loss and struggle something good was born.

Great stuff FL, as I don't really know much about the characters a lot of my points may be mistaken so please accept my feedback as just that - from someone who knows nothing about the majority of the settings or characters but enjoyed it thoroughly anyway.

I'm really looking forward to seeing where you take us next and which charters you use, so please don't keep us waiting too long for more, more, more!

Thank you, Harbi.



Good point about how he would have felt being whisked aside by Jay. I considered writing something about that, but ultimately I decided it was more surprsing to write him just opening his eyes and being safe.

I'm very proud of "Freakin' awesome!" In fact, my whole writing of Blue Beetle is what I'm proudest of in this story.



Donna's my girl. She took up the Wonder Woman mantle all-too-briefly in the mid-2000s, and it was very badly executed. I wanted to be sure I got it right.



Thanks. As I said to Ibby earlier in this thread, Gypsy finally grew on me when I read Peter David's 2-parter in Justice League Task Force #7-8. He gave her a lot of the best snarky lines. Those issues have not been collected, but are well worth seeking out.



Yeah, that's my biggest regret with this story. If I do revisit these characters, I'll be more descriptive of the Land of Nightshades.



That's another bit I'm very proud of.



Thanks. Todd's one of the best LGBT characters in the history of comics, and I appreciate your kind words about me doing him justice.



Helena, like Donna, is a favorite of mine. I wanted her to have at least one iconic moment. It's tough to do things like that with non-powered characters without making them come off as a bit much (see: Morrison's Batman in JLA) but I was happy with this bit.



I agree. At the time of writing it, I wanted to make sure the pace didn't flag, but in hindsight it was a missed opportunity.



Awwwww...thank you.

Why? Because Power Girl is an awesome, underappreciated character.



That's another part I think I should have thought through a little more.



Thank you. That proves to me that I succeeded in my intent. As I said to Ibby, the pressures of leadership and the WW mantle are definitely having an effect on Donna.



Exactly. Thank you.



And I think that's the most rewarding part of this project for me, to know that I made it accessible enough. Many thanks.



I promise I won't take too long. I've got a Marvel project I need to get out of first gear, and then we'll see where this thread goes next.

Looking forward to whatever you create next FL, and sorry for Defrost team, it should say Detroit but I was using my new tablet and it auto corrected me, honest!

LOL That's all right, I figured out easily that you meant Detroit.

I've never been to Detroit, but I imagine in the winter they have to defrost a lot, so there's that, too.

Drat that autocorrect. The other day it turned my "Quislet" into "Quid Key". Bah!

All right, I think (I hope) I've got it all figured out.

From this point, I'm only going to write the JLA stories that I absolutely feel need to be told, and provide summaries of the rest. I'll use the same lineup as in the JLA/JSA team-up.

I came up with the backstory for this lineup. The original JLoA timeline deviates after JLoA #243, the issue where Aquaman leaves.

Then there's a 7-part battle royal against Darkseid, with JLoA ending at issue #250. The lineup for this epic is:

Martian Manhunter
Zatanna
Elongated Man
Gypsy
Vixen
Vibe
Steel

Plus guest stars:

Superman
Batman
Wonder Woman

And introducing:

Dr. Light II (Kimiyo Hoshi, empowered by Highfather of New Genesis rather than the Monitor)

Wonder Woman, Steel, and Vibe all die during this battle. In the aftermath, Wonder Girl (Donna Troy) leaves the New Teen Titans and takes up her mentor's mantle, joining the JLA.

Superman and Batman turn down the offer to return to the team full-time. Zatanna retires from superheroing.

This leaves the lineup at the time of the JLA/JSA team-up: Wonder Woman II, Dr. Light II, Martian Manhunter, Gypsy, Vixen, Elongated Man.

The JLA/JSA team-up is issues #1 and #2 of the JLoA relaunch.

Issue #3, which I may or may not write, is a recruitment drive. Firestorm returns, Cyborg is convinced by Donna to join, and Metamorpho leaves the Outsiders for the JLA (I know it might seem redundant with Ralph already in the team, but the way I look at it is, Ralph is a sophisticate while Rex is salt-of-the-earth, creating a nice contrast despite their similar powers.)

Issues #4-13, which I probably will not write, are various battles against The Key, The Weapons Master, and Amazo, plus a battle alongside guests stars the Sea Devils and Dolphin, against an invasion from an Ocean Master-ruled Atlantis, after which Dolphin joins the JLA, and a team-up with the Outsiders against the Masters of Disaster, after which the Outsiders disband and Geo-Force joins the JLA.

Which brings us to the next JLA/JSA team-up in issues #14-16: "Crisis on Earth-Infinity". What is Earth-Infinity? Find out soon!

This is wonderful, Fanfie! I agree, summaries can fill in for issues which are not absolutely crucial to write.

I like how you took the established Detroit League and morphed it into something else. I think your continuity very cleverly merges your own ideas with canon continuity. Superman and Batman both really became much less involved with the League after COIE; and Vibe and Steel really did die in canon continuity. I am a bit sad that Diana died, as she is a favorite, but I recall she also "died" at the end of COIE. Just curious, but did you decide to have her die as part of Donna Troy's character arc? Or to "fill in" for her canon "death" and rebooting in the comics?

I of course love that you brought Kimiyo in.

Adding Firestorm, Cyborg and Metamorpho is a great move. All are capable heroes with great powers. And I think that besides the personality differences, Ralph and Rex also have powers which are different enough to justify their concurrent membership (plus, they served together in Justice League Europe for a while so we know they will work well).

Thank you, Ibby.

I think Superman should only be in JLA in extreme emergencies, such as the aforementioned Darkseid battle. He's to the JLA what Thor is to the Avengers: the ultimate weapon, to be used as little as possible. And I've never liked Batman in the JLA; Morrison's take on Batman only underlined my dislike.

And, yes, I did decide to have Diana die as part of Donna's character arc. It would have happened in my stories anyway -- if I had continued writing stories with the James Robinson lineup, Diana would have turned out to be the new Libra, manipulated by Circe into villainy; Diana would have retired in disgrace, and Donna would have become Wonder Woman.

Firestorm and Cyborg are both characters I love anyway, and putting them in this lineup makes it more Super-Friendly, which is a bit of fangirl indulgence for me. Metamorpho is another character I love, whom I think deserves to move into the big time.

Update: I edited my next-to-last post to reflect a change I made in the lineup. Instead of Little Mermaid joining the team, Dolphin, who has more of a following thanks to Peter David's Aquaman run and her appearances in CoIE and Animal Man, joins the JLA as Aquaman's designated replacement.

I'm about a quarter of the way through Crisis on Earth-Infinity, and I plan to wait until it's finished before I post any of it.

And, Ibby, I hope I didn't sound too callous about Diana in my reply post, since you said she's a favorite of yours. If I did come across that way, I apologize.

I missed the part where Little Mermaid/Dolphin and Geo-Force join! More good choices, Fanfie.

Oh Thanks for apologizing Fanfie but you definitely didn't sound callous about Diana! Diana may be a favorite but I also think you have done a great job with Donna so no qualms there I also apologize if my lack of reply have you the impression that I felt you were being callous. I must have missed replying earlier, I think I first read your post when i had just woken up.

Ah, okay. Glad that's all it was. Thanks, Ibby.

I don't know how I didn't think of Dolphin before, especially as I raved about her in my Aquaman Re-Read posts. Her catfight with Mera may well be my favorite catfight in all comics.

I first encountered her in the Aquaman story where he lost his hand. I'll never forget how calm and collected she was. I was glad when she married Garth! They both deserve a happy ending

I realized recently that my heart wasn't really into writing the JLA/JSA/Earth-Infinity team-up, but I'll provide the summary:

The Earth-Infinity universe is an unstable anomaly in the Omniverse of multiple Multiverses, being a multiverse which compressed itself into a single universe -- in other words, the place where the Crisis on Infinite Earths did happen. While casually chatting during their annual get-together, the JLA and JSA start discussing Starman's Omniversal theory, which leads them to the conclusion that the Ultra-Humanite, who escape imprisonment months ago, may have fled Earth-2 and the multiverse altogether for the anomaly.

Starman's experimental technology allows them to pierce the barrier into the Omniverse and travel to the anomaly, where they are greeted by the Morrison JLA, who explain to them that the Earth is being plundered by a powered-up Royal Flush Gang, now consisting of 52 members (a full deck of cards) and acting under the orders of both Amos Fortune and the fallen angel Asmodel, who are treating the whole thing like a card game between the two of them.

This leads the combined heroes to the conclusion that the Ultra-Humanite has taken over Amos Fortune's body, but Wonder Woman (Donna) remains skeptical and secretly orders Gypsy to investigate the Earth-Infinity Justice Leaguers. Initially, it looks like the Ultra-Humanite is the Earth-Infinity Martian Manhunter, but in the end this J'onn turns out to be a red herring planted by the actual Ultra-Humanite: the Earth-Infinity Batman!

Yes, it turns out that Morrison's Batman was such a know-it-all jerk because he had been the Ultra-Humanite all along.

Once revealed, Ultra activates his contingency plan of destroying the Earth-Infinity universe, and even though he is defeated, he does partially succeed by destroying sizable chunks of the universe. The Earth-Infinity JLA now faces the task of reconstruction and restoration. The Earth-1 JLA and the Earth-2 JSA offer to help any way they can.

Upon returning home, Wonder Woman (Donna) must deal with the fact that she nearly beat Ultra-Bats to death, only to be stopped just in time by her lieutenant J'onn. The Justice League now distrusts her, and she must make amends and figure out why she had become so violently warlike.

So Donna decides to rediscover her roots by traveling to Paradise Island with the female Justice Leaguers, which is a story I definitely am going to write. I will start posting it once it is finished.

Awesome concept, Fanfie! Having the Morrison Batman be the Ultra-Humanite in disguise is one of my favorite twists ever.

I also love how you have your JLA and the Morrison JLA together, yet only J'Onn is present in both teams.

Also looking forward to your next story. Donna, Vixen, Gypsy and Kimiyo will make a wonderful quartet to read about.