Who'd Like A Cocktail? #139

Power Girl may need to brush up on her compliments

This Looks Like Another Job For...

There's been one major thing bugging me about the New 52 / DC Relaunch / Reboot / DCnU or whatever it's being called this week and it can be summed up in one word:

Continuity.

We've learned that the new stories from September will take place five years after the dawn of the superhero - five years from the start of Superman's adventures and the formation of the Justice League.

But we've also been told that many things that have happened over the last few years in real time are also part of the timeline. Obvious examples are The Killing Joke and Identity Crisis but there's also been mention of the more recent Blackest Night still being part and parcel of DCU history.

What about the original big summer event, Crisis on Infinite Earths? Did that still happen? If so, did Infinite Crisis happen? Then there's a whole bunch of other things - Batman's crippling by Bane; Superman's death by Doomsday; Wonder Woman being turned into a goddess; were Dick Grayson, Jason Todd, Tim Drake and Stephanie Brown all Robin within those years?

It's a whole mess of things which fanboys like myself will bitch and moan about. The Killing Joke's in continuity but the Justice Society aren't?

New Judge Dredd Pictures

Just a quick one - images from next year's Judge Dredd movie have appeared over at Superherohype.

I'm liking the battered, worn look to the helmet/uniform - gives it a sense of realism.

Open Letter To Dan Jurgens

Dear Mr Jurgens

I appreciate you're probably really busy at the moment so I'll keep this nice and brief.

As you're the writer for the new Justice League International book that's coming out with the DC relaunch and able to affect or rewrite any continuity that's gone before, could I ask a simple, small favour?

Could we please get rid of this Ice:

and have this one back, please?

Thanks very much.

Gary

Justice League Detroit - No Place Like Home

Over the next few weeks on a Tuesday, I'll be working my way through the Justice League of America titles from 1985 to 1987, trying to work out if the Justice League Detroit era really was as bad as we think it was. Why am I doing this? Why the hell not.

JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #246 - #250, written by Gerry Conway with art by Luke McDonnell and Bill Wray.

As we come out of the Crisis crossovers seen last week, it's been over a year since the new League was formed. The old guard had handed over to them, they'd started to come together against a powerful old League enemy and had managed to survive the Crisis. True, some readers were still vocal in their dislike but others were supportive.

It seems odd, then, that the first captions of #246 are these:

Conway seems to be admitting the Detroit League are not "the World's Greatest Heroes" and that those old guys might come back; his words could be taken as agreement with those who have been arguing that Vibe, Steel and the others are not worthy to be the JLA. Perhaps after a year of negativity, he's beginning to bow to pressure which might explain the next few issues.

Monday Memes #30

Superheroes are like bulls in china shops - everything ends up broken and Shattered:

And if it's not something as simple as a mirror, it's the very fabric of reality itself:

These guys . . . so clumsy . . .

Voodoo's Not Terrific

Apologies for the dreadful punning post title.

On Wednesday, I posted the above cover to Voodoo #2 and mentioned the left hand character's resemblance to Power Girl or, more correctly in the new DCU, Karen Starr.

It seems unlikely, though, that it is her as this came out during a DC panel earlier this weekend:

The next question was about a statement earlier in the day that Karen Starr would appear in "Mr. Terrific." Confirming the fan's suspicions, [Mr Terrific writer Eric] Wallace said, "Power Girl may or may not exist in this universe, but Karen Starr does."

So Karen Starr's going to be in Mr Terrific and may or may not be Power Girl. Another comment Wallace made was kinda interesting:

Wallace then spoke about the difficulty of writing "Mr. Terrific." "I'm not the second or third smartest person in the world," he said. Wallace again cited James Bond, but also said there's a huge science fiction aspect to it. "'Anything can happen' has sort of been our motto from the start," he said, adding that the character goes into space "rather quickly."

I suppose the "science fiction aspect" and Terrific heading "into space" could both lead to a Power Girl appearance but, again, I guess we wait and see.

No Cocktail This Weekend

Didn't get a chance to get my comics this week which means - as I'm currently in London helping celebrate two 40th birthdays on the same weekend - no Cocktail post today.

But hey, just all the more to look forward to next week, eh?

Lois Lane's New Boyfriend

From the DC Source blog:

"This week, everyone’s been talking about the new take on Clark Kent and Lois Lane’s relationship in DC Comics-The New 52 this fall. Today comes the first look at Lois’ new boyfriend, a co-worker at The Daily Planet named Jonathan Carroll."

Ummm . . . Jonathan Carroll?

The novellist?

Did no-one at DC think to check that?

Superman: One Time Only

Regular readers know that over the last few weeks I've been looking back at the Justice League Detroit era of the Justice League of America and writing up reviews of the stories. The latter half of the run takes place post-Crisis and I came across something that, in light of the forthcoming reboot, gave me a chuckle.

At the time, Dick Giordano would write a column called Meanwhile which highlighted what's coming up in various titles along with hints of the future direction for DC.

Here's the Meanwhile from Justice League of America #251:

Green Lantern #2 (And Power Girl?)

Renegade Green Lantern Sinestro sets a course for Korugar with one purpose: To free his homeworld from the scourge of... The Sinestro Corps?!

Kinda hard to pick something from the full DC solicitations but Green Lantern caught my eye along with this:

Justice League Detroit - Crisis On Infinite Earths

Over the next few weeks on a Tuesday, I'll be working my way through the Justice League of America titles from 1985 to 1987, trying to work out if the Justice League Detroit era really was as bad as we think it was. Why am I doing this? Why the hell not.

INFINITY INC. #19, written by Roy Thomas with art by Todd McFarlane and Steve Montana;
JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #244 - #245, written by Gerry Conway with art by Joe Staton, Mike Machlan and Luke McDonnell;
JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA ANNUAL #3, written by Dan Mishkin with art by Rick Hoberg and Mike Gustovich.

With the revelation in Justice League of America #243 that Steel's grandfather was the World War II hero Commander Steel (shown last week - you are reading these, right?) we pick up the story in the pages of Infinity Inc #19 where we find the Commander, with the aid of the mysterious Mekanique, has headed over to Earth-Two in order to recruit the Infinitors:

Commander Steel isn't exactly being honest, describing JL Detroit as "a bunch of super-powered young criminals" that he wants the Infinitors to defeat. Note the red sky in the background - the Crisis on Infinite Earths has begun making this one of the last times that Earth-Two would appear.

Monday Memes #29

What's worse? Facing a bunch of angry Communists in battle armour or your former team-mates who are more than a little pissed off at you?

Either way the Justice League have the answer.

Sometimes a Face Off takes more than one cover:

A two issue Face Off! Notice how Martian Manhunter is the only one not to have a doppleganger . . . unless it's the moon!

Who'd Like A Cocktail? #138

Lady Mechanika points out the obvious to an alcoholic.

Whatman?

Just a quick one from me today - away for the weekend so you'll have to make do with another link:

Click that to get the rest and enjoy.

Lady Mechanika #2! Finally!

One of the best looking books in recent times finally, finally gets it #2 issue this week . . . at least that's the plan.

I won't believe it till it's in my grubby little hands some time this week.

38.462 Per Cent Of 52 New Titles

That's how many I'm ordering, folks - twenty of the 52 new DC titles will be in my pull list come September as I had to hand in my order to my comic shop on the weekend.

Justice League Detroit - Come Together

Over the next few weeks on a Tuesday, I'll be working my way through the Justice League of America titles from 1985 to 1987, trying to work out if the Justice League Detroit era really was as bad as we think it was. Why am I doing this? Why the hell not.

JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #241 - 243, written by Gerry Conway with art by George Tuska and Mike Machlan.

This is Slick Jake MacGregor:

He's a prospector in the Canadian Yukon and not a good one, either. A miserable sod who blames everyone in the town of St Jude for his failings, a drunk with a mean heart.

And he's not having a good day:

Monday Memes #28

Reflections are often used to show the dark side of whatever's being reflected but here's a mixture of both that and the good guys as reflections:

Now I know that the Countdown issue could be classed as a homage but I thought it worked best against the original. True, it would have worked better if the reflections hadn't been cluttered up with loads of other Wildstorm characters, but there we go.

Reflections are also a nice way to have the main character appear without really appearing if you see what I mean:

Ahh, Martian Manhunter - what a series that was.

Who'd Like A Cocktail? #137

Because, you know, a man of science would really be worried about his soul.

Stop It!

A couple of days ago I asked for some webcomic recommendations (thanks to those who responded) - one of those I already read is Let's Be Friends Again! which is usually good for a chuckle.

This one, though, made me snort tea out of my nose!

Click the picture to head over to the site for the rest of the strip - it's worth it!

This Sounds Promising

Over at the DC Source blog, Dan Jurgens answers a few questions about the new Justice League International series that he's writing along with the Green Arrow series that he's illustrating. Regarding the latter he says:

"GREEN ARROW will see sort of a “Team Arrow” approach. Given the nature of where we are in terms of communications and technology, it’s reasonable to assume that Oliver no longer operates alone."

With Roy over in Red Hood And The Outlaws, who else could be on Team Arrow? Mia as Speedy is a good bet, I think, but my real hope is that Conner Hawke is somehow coming back as a second Green Arrow.

It may be too early to call at the moment as the status of legacy characters isn't exactly encouraging from what we've learned but I'm hopeful.

Webcomic Suggestions

As much as I like getting comments posted by readers of this blog, I don't often find myself actively seeking them out. Sure, I run the occasional poll now and then but usually I'm happy for you guys to comment as and when you want to.

I would like to get some comments on this post, however, specifically recommendations for webcomics that are worth reading / subscribing to.

I'd prefer something ongoing that I can get my teeth into but am happy for superhero, horror, humour, or whatever genre.

So at the risk of sounding like I'm asking you to fix me up for a date with a friend of yours, who's got some titles and/or links they'd like to share?

From the Adventures of Dr McNinja

Justice League Detroit - Passing The Torch

Over the next few weeks on a Tuesday, I'll be working my way through the Justice League of America titles from 1985 to 1987, trying to work out if the Justice League Detroit era really was as bad as we think it was. Why? Why the hell not.

JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #237 - #239 written by Gerry Conway with art by Chuck Patton and Mike Machlan.

When Jason Todd took over from Dick Grayson as Robin, readers didn't much care for him and we all know how that ended up. Tim Drake, though, was embraced from the outset and the most oft-cited reason for that is that he had Dick Grayson's blessing.

With the introductory arc over (see last week) the new League was coming to terms with itself, the members beginning to gel as a team though there was still plenty of work to be done. However there was one thing that still hadn't been addressed: most of the old League were there when Aquaman disbanded it but where have Superman, Wonder Woman and the Flash been?

#237 starts with Vixen and Aquaman discussing the fact that his wife Mera has recently left him, giving us an insight as to why he's been acting like such a jerk recently. But the whereabouts of his three former team members has also been weighing heavily on him. As luck would have it, his old friends turn up at the remains of the satellite headquarters pretty much on cue.

Monday Memes #27

I may be British but that doesn't stop me from saying a hearty "Happy 4th of July!" to my American readers with a vaguely topical Monday Meme:

Good old Uncle Sam!

Of course, sometimes slightly less savoury characters co-opt this pose as well:

Have a great day, my friends.

Who'd Like A Cocktail? #136

Something tells me the Challengers of the Unknown aren't taking things seriously any more

Perusing Previews - July 2011

A quick run through July's issue of Previews and see what caught my eye . . . and it was mostly costumes this month:

While I've never been a huge fan of Ghostbusters (which I know is almost sacrilege tor some people) I have to admit this is a superb costume!