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

While I love Stargirl, I do wish they'd had her join the JLI instead of canceling that book and possibly replacing it with this lineup.

This seems more like Justice League Black Ops to me, and Stargirl sure seems out of place!

Hmm... maybe DC's going the Avengers route and is planning to have multiple JL teams sprout up too.

Has anyone else looked closely at the image that accompanies this article?

That is not the current United States flag ... at least, not on our Earth.
(It's got the wrong star-pattern: it looks like the pre-Alaska-and-Hawaii 48-star flag)

So, is this:

A) A sign of some previously-unrevealed difference in the DCnU Earth which will be explored in the new series, or

B) A sign of a lazy artist and an incompetent editor?

Place yer bets ...

I think it's just a case of:

c) artistic license

Whoa! Tony Daniel delivered some gorgeous artwork for this week's Justice League #13. One of the most beautifully rendered battles I ever recall seeing between Wonder Woman and the Cheetah. And, I'm pretty sure I haven't missed a WW/Cheetah battle in over 30 years. This was a very personal issue that focused on the relationships and growing friendships of the members. Barry's support of Vic hit all the right notes.

My biggest complaint: Skinny Amanda Waller. Yuck. If she's going to be a regular in this book she needs to be plump!!

Agreed, Tony KILLED this issue. Really makes me look forward to him getting on Action after the Morrison team leaves. I enjoyed the scenes with Flash and Cyborg and the team at the Watchtower telling Diana that they want to help her: the last six (regular) issues of the book were about the idea that to truly protect mankind, they have to become the image, these godly "Super Friends" that the regular public believes them to be, and this really starts them on that path.

As for Waller...yeah, I was annoying with that as well at first, but with the recent reveals that she was more of an active soldier, part of Team 7, I think it makes more sense that she's thinner in this take. She shouldn't be supermodel thin as some artists have made her to look like, but that's just an artist problem across all superhero comics, not just in this case.

Oh--and a little earlier, about the JLA line-up and the complaints on how different it is...I actually love the fact that we're not getting all the standard, safe choices. I mean, this is the "New 52," after all, what's the point if we don't get some new stories and ideas out of it? Why not have Catwoman team up with Martian Manhunter, Hawkman and Stargirl? That's something we haven't seen before, that's GREAT.

A few New 52 annuals were released this week. The Justice League Dark annual took advantage of the extra pages to continue the story from the ongoing, and kick it up to epic level. For those not paying attention, the new 52 has given a lot more detail to the past romance between Constanine and Zatanna. His former mentor and her former lover, Nick Necro is the big bad, and he makes a very compelling villain.

We get some fun guests as well. So the epic battle pits:

Constantine
Black Orchid
Deadman
Frankenstein: Agent of Shade
The House of Mystery
Zatanna
Madame Xanadu
Timothy Hunter
Andrew Bennett, and
Amethyst


against:

Necro
Felix Faust
Dr. Mist
Black Boris
Blackbriar Thorn
The House of Secrets;
and an army of hooded goons.

The action takes place in Nanda Parbat. It's a battle for the ultimate control of the Books of Magic. Black Orchid plays a major role in the outcome. Just as we think destiny has been fulfilled and the danger is past, things take a bizarre twist for a cliffhanger ending.

Comic Book reading just doesn't get any more fun than this.

I only skimmed the issue in the store and put it back, so I may be unfair in my assessment, but given the way the previous issue went this seems consistent. Though it did help crystalise my thoughts on why I'm not digging it. It's too much "Justice League", and not enough "Dark". I can expand my complaint to both Snyder and Lemire's work in the Dark line, it just feels empty to me. I know I keep unfairly harping on the Moore years, but really, that was the last time these characters integrated fully with the DCU and comparisons are inevitable. Moore's stories were about something, maintained a horror atmosphere and still managed to deal fairly with the DCU is a unique and cool way. The current batch of books are all surface plot and nothing else (with the exception of some of Animal Man's family dynamic stuff). Sure Swamp Thing took over Gotham and fought Batman, but the story was about pride, anger, and claiming power in oneself. Rotworld is so far about Swampy and Buddy fighting Rotworld and that's it.

I was excited to see the universes roll into each other once again, but I thought that would serve to bring a unique and mature perspective to a corner of the DCU. Instead it's taken these characters and treated them like any other superhero fare.

I disagree--I think the deeper plot of Swamp Thing is the love story between Alec Holland and Abigail Arcane, and Animal Man is all about a man who is desperate to protect his family, his daughter especially, from the seemingly unstoppable evil that wants to destroy them.

JLD is definitely a little more surface, more of a mystic superhero action story, but I don't see that as a bad thing, especially since there is a lot of interesting character stuff that creates the action, as well as some of the twists/reveals they made in the Annual.

I will say this about JLD, though--Lemire better start making Zatanna useful soon, or I'm gonna be PISSED. Seriously, I don't think she's actually landed a single effective blow this ENTIRE arc.

"GUNS DEATH AMMO NINJAS DECAPITATION" $3.99 every month.

JL Dark Annual was fun. Like a well done action comic.

Frankenstein, Amethyst and Black Orchid explore the House of Mystery.

That's my kind of tagline. Even if I didn't buy JLD, I would if I saw that description.

A fun issue, with some suprises (appropriately). I'm glad Frankie's staying on, because he's a great fit. Deadman's appearance doesn't make sense to me, though there might be some residual magic thing, or an effect of proximity to the House of Mystery that makes him being visible to everyone more beliveable.

We get one of those 'Booster Gold Blackboard' images here, though reliable can it be in a House of Mystery? One with an established sense of humor? Red herring, anyone?

I'm a bit disappointed in Black Orchid. I really like how she was described as maintaining an aura of mystery and being playful with it before she 'joined'. Here, she reads like a pretty stereotypical tough girl, a private in the military, no less. Phantom-Stranger-syndrome striking again?

Well, remember that John's taken up residence there for a while. That's John's board, not the House's--and considering how they've played him in other Dark books, like in Animal Man and Sword of Sorcery, there's no doubt in my mind that he's working on figuring things out.

One thing I noticed there on that board that was really new--in the page talking about Shazam and the Wizards, he mentions "The Apache," and a "new kid" gaining the powers at a Arizonan reservation. First I was like, "Sweet! Home state kid!" Then I thought--what if this is the New 52 version of Apache Chief from Super-Friends?

Not sure if this has been discussed yet, but apparently Vibe is not only getting a new lease on life... but an ongoing as well!

And so will Katana!

I do have to say I'm both happy and disappointed regarding Black Orchid.

<span class="spoiler_containter"><span class="spoiler_wording">Click Here For A Spoiler</span><span class="spoiler_text">It's none of the pre-existing Orchids, but someone named Alba Garcia. However, this leaves as much chance that the other Orchids may still exist in the DCnU.</span></span>

You just know that at least part of the reasoning for Vibe being in the JLA/his own on-going is Johns thinking, "Okay, I've now done a super-successful Aquaman book and now more people think he's cool than ever before. Now...it's time for a bigger challenge..."

Wonder if part of it is to diversify the DCU too? New characters like the new Ray and the new Green Lantern, plus reimagined ones like Jaime Reyes, Katana, Cyborg...

I can't imagine why DC'd do a frickin' Vibe series before they'd attempt a Cyborg ongoing.

Maybe because there is an adult audience, with ready spending money, who grew up as kids with this character? DC wants the money after all.

I dunno. I'm not sure that even among 80s kids there's a whole lot of demand for a Vibe series. And even on that theory, one would still think Cyborg would be much more in demand for a character with his own series. Vibe was only in the Justice League for, what, about 2-3 years? Whereas Cyborg was a member of the much popular Titans, plus he was featured on Super Friends. So the nostalgia seems to favor him over Vibe.

The only way I'll try a Vibe series is if four seperate people tell me its superior to To Kill a Mockingbird or Great Gatsby.

I'd check out a Cyborg series thought. That one only has to beat Grapes of Wrath.

^^Best post of the week.

I guess in Johns' mind, the Justice League series is where a lot of his development's going to be. It also probably helps to have his own character on the group that isn't dependent on another title. Plus, from what I've heard, Cyborg will take on a bigger role during the Throne of Atlantis cross-over, and the solicit for #18 that came out today says it's going to be a Cyborg-focused issue.

If I was still buying DC Comics I'd totally be buying at least the first few issues of this Vibe series.

I love the idea of taking a long-unused and much-derided old character and trying to turn him into a viable, solo-title-carrying success.

Plus, Vibe might have been a bit ill-conceived and very much of his era but he was also likeable, had pretty unique powers and there was a lot of potential for growth there. There are a lot worse characters in the DCU than Vibe IMO. Some of whom have also had their own series'.

My only reservation about this book is that it is latter-career, talent-slump Geoff Johns writing it so it will undoubtedly have his stock story points - deceased parent tragedy, graphic violence, some mysterious secret/threat from his past/origin returning as a villain today, etc.

If it's anything like Geoff's launch on Aquaman, where it seemed like the entire point of the book was to talk directly to the reader about how Aquaman wasn't a bad joke so directly that even fourth-wall-breaking She-Hulk would say, 'Dude, you're not Bruce Willis, stop talking to the audience...,' the first few issues of 'Vibe' will be all about what a stone cold badass he is and how dumb fans are for ever thinking that he was lame.

If Geoff wants to talk *at* the fans, instead of telling them a story, he should spend more time at conventions and less time writing comic books.