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

OMG, welcome back, Theresa!

Lash, I'm reading the regular series and I'm enjoying Wein's fill-in arc very much.

I'm reserving judgement on Cry For Justice until it's over.

By then, Robinson will have taken over the regular series, with Mark Bagley on art. Like I said a couple pages ago in this thread, I actually hope Robinson doesn't work out and is replaced by Fabian Nicieza -- then the New Warriors creative team supreme will be reunited.

How about the stupid deaths of Winky, Blinky and Noddy, the Golden Age Flash's sidekicks? Did he really need to do that? They haven't been seen in 50 years! Thus, the only people who even know about them would obviously be the ones who care about them.

Meanwhile, Wein handling the 'Outcast League' team is actually kind of fun.

He did indeed CK. That offing was just downright mean. The James Robinson of old is obviously trapped in a dungeon somewhere while this serial killer who's taken his place is using the opportunity to clear house at DC!

(Actually that seem like a good idea for a Grant Morrison-style story - fictional serial-killer escapes into the real world and starts killing people by writing their deaths into the comics. What a freaky good idea! Unless I've already been beaten to it like so many of my other great ideas... sob... Greek Street... sob).

Meanwhile, why am I reading Robinson's trash comic when my favourite villain-team in the DCU is being written in the regular book by the writer of one of my favourite ever eras of this team? Is it really safe to come back to the main title? I've been burned by it in the past.

I'd go for it. It's a solid superhero story full of Wein's classic dynamics between characters and dare I say it...fun! But real fun, not corny fun. It kind of reminds me of some of those classic moments in super-team history between line-ups where there is a momentary magic that just works but you know it will be fleeting (which makes it sweeter).

(One example--a powerless Goliath, Wasp, Hawkeye and guest stars Thor & Iron Man right before the Black Panther.)

BTW, picked up Cry for Justice #3 and witnessed the horrific and unnecessary death of Tazmanian Devil. Enough is enough for me. This is ridiculous.

I'll try to pull back my reaction and explain it in a way that doesn't break the guidelines of Legion World: er...must...try...to...contain...self... James Robinson needs a fucking punch to the head! I'm sorry, I better stop talking about this miniseries right now. My apologies Legion World.

In "Cry For Blood - oops I mean Justice", Who was the Global Guardian chick who got her head cut off? (and I agree about T-Devil)

Man, I have the Superfriends issue that first introduced those characters... Godiva, Tuatara, Tasmanian Devil, etc. Run Tuatara, run! (He was my favorite.)

Gosh. Of all the people to kill off. Who'se next, Zan and Jayna? (Biting my tongue, as I realize they've already gone to work on Wendy and Marvin.)

Edit: A Global Guardian named Gloss died recently, that might be the one you're thinking of. She tapped into the 'dragon lines' (ley lines) and had great strength, immortality and elemental powers (such as to create earthquakes).

Sounds like a pretty neat concept, actually...

Gloss started off as a New Guardian by the way. I guess after she'd been around a while she decided to become a Global one instead.

P.S. Set - I hate to tell you this but I think Tuatara actually died years ago in JSA. I believe he (along with my fave Global Guardian Impala) was one of the pictures on the wall of fallen-heroes in Roulette's fight-club thing.

An off-panel, 'no body' death scene like that is easily the shittiest of Geoff Johns' many shitty ways of killing good characters though so I personally take the view that none of the characters shown on that wall did actually die there and that their pictures were just Roulette's way of creating attention for her business. (And indeed a number of other characters who had pictures on that wall have shown up alive since then so...)

Now we just need a good writer (i.e. not James Robinson) to come along and do something with these great characters.

Global Guardians = Blacula's #1 favourite most-underdeveloped DC Comics property.

In my 37-itemized proposal on how I could make DC Comics great again, creating an ongoing Global Guardians comic is one of the items! I agree they have HUGE potential.

Anyone noticed the new house ad for Robinson's JLA?

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Who's going to be in The Titans now?

That's a very slapdash, temporary looking lineup. Pass.

Meh. Vixen is the only character in that line up that I care about. (I like Mon-El, but he doesn't really work for me in the League.)

The lineup doesn't necessarily thrill me, but I'm intrigued enough to give it a shot. (And Hal's in it, so I'm there regardless) Robinson's been pretty horrible in "Cry for Justice" so that doesn't really give me high hopes. I just have to keep remembering he wrote "Starman" and "The Golden Age"...

Me, I'm wondering who the hell is gonna populate the Titans book! Isn't this the meat of that book's lineup?!?!

^^^ I'm not sure who's going to be on the new Titans team but apparently Deathstroke (of all people) is going to be its leader.

Deathstroke = the guy who stuck his sword through the chest of Phantom Lady.

Yes, the Titans franchise does indeed suck that much now.

Yeah, the Titans book itself blows dead whales. I wish it would be cancelled and all memory of it would be wiped away from existence by Zatanna.

Meanwhile, the new JLA line-up looks interesting. I'm not exactly confident Robinson can give us anything good since his Cry for Justice has pretty much exhausted any patience I had for him left over from his older work which I loved. But Bagley is awesome, so that helps.

While I know that ultimately Dick and Donna won't last here, I love the idea of Starfire in the JLA and have always wanted her to become a major DC star.

James Robinson talks JLA, plus astonishing previews of Bagley art

I like this lineup, with its mixture of old warhorses (Hal and Ollie, two of the few non-Legion DC characters who have sentimental value for me, plus Ray), grown-up ex-sidekicks (Donna and Dick), grown-up ex-young-turks (Koriand'r and Victor), wild cards (Mon-El, Guardian, and Congorilla), and Kimiyo, who I'm glad to see get a second shot at the JLA.

What concerns me, other than Robinson's iffy showing on Cry For Justice, is that with such a large cast and the number of guest stars he has planned, he's going to have to be real careful not to let the book lose focus.

I'm sure a lot of people are cringing at the news that Robinson is a fan of Joe Kelly's JLA and JL Elite, but I happen to be a fan of those runs, too, so I find it encouraging.

What bothers me about what Robinson says is that he seems so intent to tie in with the rest of the DCU that it would seem like more of the McDuffie Syndrome is imminent. Namely, JLA being so tied in to the latest Big Event constantly that we don't really have a title that does its own thing. When Robinson was announced, I was sure this would not be the case given his pedigree. Now...not so sure.

As for the lineup, the best thing about it is that it really doesn't remind me of any other JLA roster of note. That would imply this run is less about nostalgia than almost any on recent record since the JLI era. That's a good start.

I'm not all that excited about this run or the line-up. Why?

Because in addition to Freedom Beast, Tazmanian Devil and a host of other characters in Cry for Justice, Robinson supposedly has now killed off Blue Jay in his first issue of this run. What's going on with Robinson? Did something terrible happen to him in real life? Is that the plot device he knows how to use now? How in the world can I be excited about the JLA if the writer's recent body of work gives me the inclination that he's going to give us a huge steaming pile of shit?

PS - no complaints about Bagley, of course, whose art looks as stunning as ever.

I hear you, Cobie. I'm still hanging on by a thread, but the Robinson/Bagley JLA is probably going to turn out to be the next Waid/Hitch JLA -- great art at the service of embarassing stories.

Apparently, news of Blue Jay's demise has been greatly exaggerated according to Robinson himself via Twitter. (I don't tweet, but it's mentioned in the comments section of an article in Newsarama about the issue at hand.)

Its funny to me, because I have no real great affection for Blue Jay. He's more of a footnote to me when I try to make a complete list of all JLAers of all eras.

But it seems Robinson, whose work in the 90's was like a beacon of hope, is taking on so many of the horrible qualities that the worst comics of the 90's had to offer. I hope thats not the case, but the evidence is starting to pile up against him.

I hope this is proven wrong, of course. I want the JLA to be good. In fact, I want it to be great, something I feel it hasn't been since in its current relaunch since Meltzer's #1.

Did I say Robinson/Bagley would be the new Waid/Hitch?

I was being too kind. Once again, my low expectations were still too high.

JLA # 38 is awful. Awful, awful, awful. Even worse than Cry For Justice, with which it shares the Grade-Z dialogue and the sluggish pace!

One single solitary postive: Bagley's art is almost as good as expected, although his current inker (who I've never heard of) diminishes Bagley somewhat.

Robinson has talked about wanting to improve Kimiyo's standing. So why does she do nothing but hit Despero with a puffball blast when she has power levels that once floored the Anti-Monitor??

Using a "real" Leaguer as a deus ex machina is lazy writing to begin with, but to make it Zatanna adds insult to injury. The only time I've ever liked Zatanna was during that brief time in the 90s when she didn't have that stupid stage magician outfit and didn't use those stupid all-purpose backward spells. And Robinson makes her even more smug and annoying than usual.

And that cheap shot and Young Justice almost makes me want to inflict bodily harm on Robinson and DiDio.

But the worst offense has got to be the last-page cliffhanger.

<span class="spoiler_containter"><span class="spoiler_wording">Click Here For A Spoiler</span><span class="spoiler_text">They're going to face the Black Lantern-ized Arthur Light?? It's been five years now since Identity Crisis, and I think even DiDio would admit -- albeit only if someone put a gun to his head -- that its overall effect on DC Comics, including the almighty $sales$, has been negative in the long run. So why do they keep referencing it?</span></span>

This is the last straw. I'm finished with the 21st Century DC Universe. Next time I go to the store, I'm crossing JLA and Cry For Justice and Power Girl off my pull list, adding Adventure Comics, and I'll spend the next few months hoping upon hope that Levitz doesn't screw up his return to the Legion.