Who'd Like A Cocktail? #257

The same could be said for many things.

Who'd Like A Cocktail? #228

Jonah Hex asks the important questions

DC's May Solicitations

Rather than do a straightforward Don't Ask post, I thought I'd take a look at a few titles this month.

 

The Green Team and The Movement . . . I'm sort of tempted by these, mostly because of Gail Simone's involvement if I'm honest. A pair of possibles, I think.

When Did Steel Die?

Last year I did a series of posts looking back at the much maligned Detroit years of the Justice League of America, running from their formation to their less than heroic end and also including their few appearances since that series finished.

I guess with Vibe being in the news at the moment, there's some interest in the JL Detroit; coincidentally or not, Todd recently posted a question on the last storyline of the original League:

I have a question for you. As you said, at the end of issue #260 Commander Steel turns off Steel's life support and Steel dies. That would be confirmed by the flat line shown but i've read web sites (Inluding DC's) that states that Steel didn't actually die until Justice League of America #38 when Despero returns to earth and finds Steel's body in the chamber and rips it to pieces. Justice League #260 indicates that he died once the life support is shut of but Justice League #38 indicates that Steel didn't die until Despero took him out of the machine and ripped his body apart indicating that Steel was just comatose the whole time but still alive. What gives? Which is it?

I knew the issues Todd was referring to so figured I'd go back to them and see what they say.

Who Was Who Is Who #11

So for want of anything better to write about on a Monday, and with DC's New 52 well under way (how long are they keeping that title do you think?) I'm going to go through all my copies of Who's Who and see if I can predict who will make it over to the new DCU by the end of 2012, who might make it and who hasn't got a Demolition Team's chance.

DAILY PLANET - yes it's in place, no I'm not counting it. Why? It's a newspaper, people!

DARK CIRCLE - Legion villains, I'm pretty sure they're not coming back any time soon but that's where Dave Sopko, the official COEP Legion go to guy comes in. He says "Doubt we'll see them in the near future, short of a conversational mention here or there. I think that they will show up eventually, but probably a few years down the line."

DARK DESTROYER - villain from Atari Force. Do I have to say anything more?

Justice League Detroit - Adam

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 #255 - 257, written by Gerry Conway and J.M. DeMatteis with art by Luke McDonnell, Bill Wray and Bob Smith.

With Despero vanquished (as seen last week) and the Detroit League finally having pulled together to overcome such a powerful foe, you'd think the troubles of the much-derided team would be over.

I'm afraid not.

Justice League Detroit - Despero The Destroyer

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 #251 - #254, written by Gerry Conway with art by Luke McDonnell and Bill Wray.

Last week's run down of issues #246 to #250 ended with a couple of revelations - Batman rejoined the League and Despero was revealed as the new menace on his way for vengeance. Despite the cover of #251 showing Despero clutching the League in his hand, he actually takes a while to get to Earth so the story moves to concentrate more on the team members than any great threat.

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 #3

Having a superhero team lay defeated before their enemies is a staple of comic covers so I've called this week's meme Team Defeated. Putting the covers together, though, made me realise that if your team is the Justice League, you're going to feature quite heavily, regardless of what iteration of the League you're in.

So here's Team Defeated Justice League #1

People give the Detroit League a hard time but they've been taken down by Despero. The uber-League were defeated by a freaking spider spirit.

The poor old Red Tornado should almost have a meme of his own - how many times has he defeated the League?

Who'd Like A Cocktail? #100

The Ultra-Humanite displays his "legendary impatience"

Blimey! 100 Cocktail posts and the vast majority of them completed and published every Sunday at 1pm. Okay, enough patting myself on the back - time for comics!

• CROSSED: FAMILY VALUES #4 - as I mentioned last time, Javier Barreno's art here has just become a little too cartoony to take seriously which is a shame when you're dealing with a subject matter of this sort. The violence loses its shock when the characters are edging towards human versions of Wile E. Coyote. So people get shot to bits, so characters get run over, so what? It doesn't matter that much when they look like cartoons. A shame as the story's okay but the art let's it down; I'm not saying it's bad, just not the right style.
• GREEN ARROW #4 - so Martian Manhunter visits briefly, just like he did in Brightest Day #9 - actually the first few pages of this issue are basically a retread of that issue's visit which explains my sense of deja vu! Aside from that, there seems to be a new bad girl in Ollie's city who's threatening his new friend Mary. Certainly not terrible, but this series seems to be treading water a little.
• JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA #43 - this, an epilogue to the recent cross-over between Justice Society and Justice League, was easily the best issue of the lot. Robinson crafted a discussion between Green Lantern Alan Scott and Obsidian that was heartfelt and genuine without being melodramatic or saccharine. Of course, establishing a rule that Obsidian and his sister Jade can't come within half a mile of each other runs the risk of another writer or artist simply putting them in the same place together at some point down the line. And once that happens, the internet will scream its indignation! Seriously, though, this was a really nice issue.
• JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA SPECIAL #1 - this, on the other hand, was a little bit messy, wrapping up as it did the storyline from the recently cancelled Magog series. A little sprawling, perhaps due to a four or six issue arc being crammed into one issue, it still ends on something of a cliff hanger which, in all likelihood, won't get picked up ever again. Ah well.
• TEEN TITANS #87 - for the first time in months, an issue of Teen Titans that I really, really enjoyed. Not that I read it, simply that it's the last issue with Henderson writing. I skipped over pretty much the whole thing and can't wait for JT Krul to take over next issue. Anything has to better than the last year or so.
• Co feature - COVEN OF THREE - nicely wrapped up even if the three protagonists are shown to be in a worse emotional state than when they started.
• TIME MASTERS: VANISHING POINT #3 - while I prefer the dorsal-finned, bulked up, UN flag wearing version of Despero to the lateral-finned version here, it's nice to see the guy back in business. Not to mention the Linear Men - I'd been wondering where they were for some time. You can count on Dan Jurgens for some straightforward storytelling (and trust me, that's not a complaint) along with some lovely art and this series continues to supply both.

And what made me smile:

Rock in the face!