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

Cosmic vampire, huh? Well, at least it's not a zombie.

#32 has some nice bits for Dr. Light and Vixen. Firestorm seems much more punkish than I remember reading him in his own series (thought I confess I didn't read every issue...).

Still, I can't help feeling that there's a good deal of 'marking time' going on.

Would a JLA without Supes, Diana or Batty work for long? One without even GL, GA, or Flash?

This was much better than I thought it'd be from the plot descriptions. The discussions between the characters showed what people in a similar situation (team membership shifts... prospect of the whole thing being shut down) might talk about. Will any of that matter when the next shakeup occurs?

Anyway, Shadow Thief was way scary here-- for the first time ever (for me, anyway). That bit where he spit out the shadows from inside his body was creepy as all get out.

He took down a couple of pretty powerful individuals with ease. I halfway wish we could've seen more with just him facing the JLA.

I would've preferred ST accomplished his own power-up without a 'master-summoning' scenario. Mainly because Shadow Thief has always been a villain I just didn't take seriously. I wasn't inclined to take his 'master' seriously, either. But I reluctantly did. All that light-feeding (though how Dr. Light could pull light-energy from the Lyta constellation is a puzzler- though the resulting Omega Men cameo was sort of fun) choreographed like a dance or a vampire-seduction was effective. As was Dr. Light's heroic, if misguided, act of following the self-proclaimed 'god'.

Just how misguided was well-presented in that sad last panel of the character cowering in the dark.

James Robinson interview regarding the mini-series starring Hal and Ollie's team, "Justice League: Cry For Justice."

Best bit by far: Robinson comparing Hal and Ollie to Geoff Johns and himself. Something else else tells me this is going to be the best-written Ollie since the early 80s Mike W. Barr Green Arrow mini-series (I'm not a fan of the Mike Grell Green Arrow.)

http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=21236

Wow, just as I feel like JLA is starting to get good since the relaunch #1, McDuffie is fired from DC. Too bad, I kind of like the 'picking up the pieces' arc right now. The inclusion of Dr. Light was a big plus for me.

Oh well...hopefully we won't have a repeat of the the previous 30+ issues, which are akin to a large portion of the Silver Age: great line-up, but pretty mediocre stories.

DC took McDuffie off JLA, but keep an eye out for some Milestone stuff in the future.

As for the Silver Age flavour, with Len Wein wiritng the next few issues, you might have hit the nail on the head there.

I'm actually looking forward to Wein's JLA fill-ins. Back in the early 70s, he wrote some excellent JLA stories, and while I'm not expecting anything as good as them, I think we're in for a fun little side-trip.

I'm looking forward to them too. Wein's JLA stories he wrote in the 70's are a high point in Justice League history. Like I've said before, the Silver Age had an awesome line-up and spectacular art, but so many stories are so flat other than the JLA/JSA crossovers (which generally ruled). It wasn't until the hit the Satellite that things got good, and then when Wein came in, they got *great*. I think he can still bring that level of dynamism in his stories, including his "quirkiness" which has always been enjoyable.

And I hope this might speed up the reprints of Wein's stories in Showcase: JLoA. I figure the next volume will probably have his first four or five issues, most or all of which I already have in reprints, but the next one will be the real goldmine, since it'll have the Wein issues that haven't been reprinted before (or, in the case of the Libra issue, the print run on the reprint was so small that it quickly became impossible to find.)

So... Robinson and Bagley are the new creative team for JLA. Dare I hope that DC's finally found a winning creative team for their flagship title for the first time since Morrison/Porter? And if so, will DC leave Robinson alone, so he can get out from under the crossover constraints that have been crippling JLA throughout it's latest incarnation?

I'm reservedly optimistic about this new creative team.

Robinson has proven to me several times he's one of comics best writers.

Bagley is dynamic, fun and draws some of the best icons with his unique style (Wonder Woman for one).

The only kink in the armor is DC editorial hampering every thing.

I have to admit that I wasn't a big fan of what Dwayne was doing, but then i read the thread that caused all the trouble. the constraints that he had to operate under, characters being removed IN THE MIDST OF A STORYLINE was assanine. It would easily have driven even the most sane writer up a wall.

Somehow, I doubt that Robinson will be slapped with these constraints because he is a fair-haired boy. DC still makes beaucoo bucks off the Starman TPB's.

I hope he does a bang up job, but I would have liked to see Dwayne get a chance to tell his stories without all the editorial diddling.

Bagley was okay on spiderman. I don't know how his art has progressed since i didn't read trinity. Hope it got a lot bette because while some cartoony art is okay on Spiderman, JLA is a different animal.

When I read the news at CBR I squeaked with delight and did a dance around the room.

Bagley is one of my favorite artists, with plenty of experience handling large casts (New Warriors, Thunderbolts). I only bought Trinity because of him, because I hoped that if I supported that book he would get a plum assignment -- and it paid off! Yay!

Robinson is more of a question mark. He's done fine work in the past, but his Superman work has not been very good IMO, and the preview of Cry For Justice that ran in the back of DC books a couple weeks ago had very weak dialogue. Hopefully he'll get his second wind by the time he starts JLoA.

Here's a happy thought: if Robinson doesn't work out, they could replace him with Fabian Nicieza and keep Mark Bagley. Then one of comicdom's Creative Team Supremes would be reunited.

I don't know if there's enough people at Legion World interested in Justice League: Cry For Justice for it to warrant its own thread, so I'll post about it here.

On first read, it felt like my worst fears were confirmed: beautiful art at the service of an insipid story. But it's improved upon re-readings, and IMO even Robinson's best work tends to read better as a whole arc than as individual issues. I'm still on board.

The art caught my attention, so I picked it up but haven't read it yet. Hoping the story will make it worthwhile.

The reviews are all over the place CBR gave it a rare 5-out-of-5 stars, while Newsarama makes it sound like it's as brainless as Jeph Loeb's Red Hulk or somesuch.

Either way, I've bought it and will decide for myself.

Mauro Cascioli is a talent for sure. Shame the only other comics work he seems to have done is that awful dark and gritty Shazam fiasco.

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Originally posted by LardLad:
<strong> The reviews are all over the place CBR gave it a rare 5-out-of-5 stars, while Newsarama makes it sound like it's as brainless as Jeph Loeb's Red Hulk or somesuch.

Either way, I've bought it and will decide for myself. Yet another reason for me to prefer CBR to Newsarama.

Even bottom-drawer Robinson, like his Superman vs. Atlas arc, is still better than anything by Jeph Loeb.

Well, in Newsarama's favor they didn't actually make that comparison in the article, but that's what their review evoked for me in my mind.

Ah, okay. Thanks for clarifying.

Newsarama is still inferior to CBR in my mind, though.

You should read both articles I linked, Stealth. Since you've read it, maybe you can address their specific criticisms and praises?

I agree I should, but my opinion doesn't just have to do with the quality of their reporting -- the last time I tried to access a Newsarama link, my computer nearly went down.

Read it.

Liked pretty much everything about it including the liner notes and two page story in the back. They added a lot to my enjoyment, the book wouldn't have been the same without them.

I did get a bit lost around the "Atom" bit and totally lost after that, not being a huge follower of everything present tense DC.

The premise itself is a bit of an old chestnut but that this time the split isn't "political" but Jordan realizing, he has a job to do that he hasn't really been doing in the "shadow" of the big 3, I think is a slaps head kind of moment and provides a great premise.

In the art I thought there were a few iconic level panels, the opening splash, the next page panel of Supes and the entire third page didn't even need the two words given.

The panel of Hal and Ollie lifting off on the bubble is poster worthy as is the final splash of Congorilla (???).


It will be very difficult to sustain this level of energy I think but all the subplots set-up are something I look forward to following.

One thing that I find surprising is that it's taken so long to get Hal an Ollie back into a Justice League ongoing since they both returned to life. To me, they are quintessential leaguers whose very presence as characters can elevate the quality of the storytelling.

Dont't get me wrong--I understand what John Stewart's presence adds to the lineup for diversity's sake. And he's also a really good character in his own right. But I also know the genesis for his inclusion goes back to the successful Justice League cartoon. The bottom line for me is that Hal is the definitive GL, and the iconic representatives of the JLA should always be whomever the definitive version of the character if said character is available.

At first Hal's not being included made good sense. Last anybody'd seen of him, Hal had been a world-beating super villain, so trust was an issue. But when the current series started, all that was water under the bridge by that point. Hal shoulda been made a fixture at that point.

As for Ollie, it was just nonsense to put Roy in over Ollie and rename him Red Arrow?!?!?! Roy just works better as a Titan and had earned his Arsenal name very well. Heck, if anything, Conner woulda made more sense in Ollie's place--he had league experience! But in any case it should have been Ollie anyway. Having Ollie on the team just makes JLA a better book.In a serious way Ollie works better as a JLAer than as a solo character in the long run.

Hopefully, Hal and Ollie will transition to the main book when Robinson takes the reins!

I second all of the above.