Who'd Like A Cocktail? #219

No, pray tell.

DC's June Solicitations

TRINITY OF SIN: PANDORA #1 - sort of tempted by this but, I have to admit, more from the point of it's a multiversal title, something that feeds into the forthcoming Trinity War and so I'm more interested in how it fits in rather than the character herself. Maybe I'll pick it up, maybe not.

Perusing Previews - February 2013

From the solicitation info:

"What is the one Super Power that is more than a match for Vibe..."

Really? There's just one that can beat Vibe? As much as I like the guy and think the Justice League Detroit really wasn't that bad, I find it hard to believe there's only one super power that can beat him.

New DC Series

It's been all over the net for the last couple of days so this is anything but breaking news, but I figured I'd chime in on the new DC series that were recently announced.

First up is Vibe.

No, seriously, DC are producing an ongoing solo series starring Vibe, quite possibly one of the most reviled characters they've ever produced. Can you think of another single hero that's been hated for so long and by so many? I can't.

But for whatever reason, a new Vibe series has been announced, written by Andrew Kreisberg who, according to this article, will be writing about Cisco "Paco" Ramone - no idea why they've decided to give him a new first name but I won't be picking this up. I only know Kreisberg's work from his run on Green Arrow/Black Canary from a few years ago which I didn't enjoy at all.

The other series is Katana, another minor character that's being given a chance to shine in the spot light.

As with Vibe, it's being written by a writer that I've read books by: Ann Nocenti. It was her god-awful run on the most recent Green Arrow series that made me drop the book, one of only a handful of instances where I've done that. As I've said before, I managed to stick with Teen Titans when Felicia Henderson was writing it so Nocenti's work had to be something else for me to drop it.

With that in mind, that'll be another new series I won't be picking up.

Having mentioned Green Arrow, I notice that with Nocenti moving over to Katana, Jeff Lemire will be taking over Ollie's adventures. Tempting as that is - because I really like his writing - I don't think I'll be rejoining that series either.

It can't be any coincidence that both Vibe and Katana will be appearing in next year's Justice League of America series, not to mention Green Arrow who with his new TV series is getting a bit more attention. That's obviously being used as a springboard for both of them but it's not going to tempt me.

New Justice League Title

So that's why the Martian Manhunter left Stormwatch - to go and front his own, new JLA team.

From the DC blog's announcement about the new book being written by Geoff Johns and drawn by David Finch:

"This is a very different kind of team book,” says Geoff Johns. “On first glance, people might think the heroes of the JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA stand in the shadows of Superman, Wonder Woman and the rest of the JUSTICE LEAGUE, but Green Arrow, Katana, Martian Manhunter, the new Green Lantern, Stargirl, Vibe, Hawkman and Catwoman thrive in the shadows. They're underdogs who have everything to prove and something to lose. They're a team of unlikely heroes who will help one another discover they're as A-List as anybody -- yes, even Vibe."

Thriving in the shadows? What the heck does that mean?

And the line-up: Vibe? Katana? Catwoman for goodness' sake?! For this we lose Justice League International?

Ah, don't get me wrong - I'll pick it up because I mostly like Johns's stuff; it's just a little disappointing that the JLI's gone and we get this in its place.

Trinity War Speculation

DC's unveiled a big picture of the four page gatefold in the Free Comic Book Day issue (which I didn't get - need to speak to my comic book guy)

and Newsarama has a link to an absolutely massive version of it.

Not wanting to miss out on the speculation about Trinity War, I thought I'd have a quick look and see what we've got:

Justice League Detroit Redux - DC Retroactive

And here we are, the last of these articles featuring the Justice League Detroit and we've come full circle.

DC RETROACTIVE: JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA - THE 80's, written by Gerry Conway with art by Ron Randall.

The Detroit League featured in this issue of DC's Retroactive series of one-shots written for the first time since 1987 by the man who brought them together, Gerry Conway. This was a chance for Conway to craft a story as good as the Despero arc, pitting the League against a worthy foe once more and laying to rest the enmity that the Detroit League has garnered over the intervening years.

Sadly, it wasn't to be.

Justice League Detroit Redux - JLA Classified

Largely pilloried at the time of their original publication in the mid-80's, the Detroit League were given a much stronger outing in 2001 in JLA Incarnations #5 (as shown last week) and it wasn't too long before they cropped up again in the pages of JLA: Classified from 2006.

JLA: CLASSIFIED #22 - #25, written by Steve Englehart with art by Tom Derenick and Mark Farmer.

JLA: Classified was used to tell tales of the Justice League that weren't always set in the present so it was no surprise that the Detroit League showed up in its pages eventually. After John Ostrander's take on the team (again, see last week) Steve Englehart - writer of one of, if not the definitive Batman stories - should have done wonders with the team. Instead, it's a step backward as we join the League just after their defeat of Amazo and find J'onn J'onzz has brought them to Canada to go camping and Steel, for one, isn't happy:

"Second-stringers, third-stringers, and rookies" is how he describes the League. It's no wonder nobody likes them if they don't like themselves.

Justice League Detroit Redux - JLA Incarnations

JLA INCARNATIONS #5, written by John Ostrander with art by Val Semeiks, Kevin Conrad and Prentis Rollins.

As seen last week, the Justice League Detroit's original run came to an end with Justice League of America #261. By the end of that issue, Vibe and Steel were dead, Gypsy had reunited with her family and Vixen had resigned. While both women would continue adventuring over the years (Gypsy even re-joining the Justice League in the form of the Task Force) it would be fourteen years or so before the full Detroit League were seen again.

In JLA Incarnations, John Ostrander wrote single issue tales of the Leagues various line-ups and, in #5, he dealt with the Detroit League during the Crisis on Infinite Earths.

Who'd Like A Cocktail? #142

Er . . . yeah, what Hassan said.

Justice League Detroit - The End Of The League

So here we are, at the end of my look back over the Justice League of America title from 1985 to 1987 and at the end of the Justice League Detroit era. This post is a bit picture heavy but I wanted to capture as much of it as I could.

JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #258 - 261, written by J.M. DeMatteis with art by Luke McDonnell, Bob Smith, Bill Wray, Steve Montano and Bob Lewis.

Before we plunge headlong into The End of The Justice League of America a little bit of background is needed to the events of these issues.

Last week's look at issues #255 - #257 ended with Firestorm asking the League for help against a bad guy called Brimstone. This huge fire demon was sent to Earth by Darkseid as part of his plan to discredit the very concept of heroes and was his first wave of attack, along with Glorious Godfrey and Dr Bedlam. All of this was part of that year's summer event called Legends which was a sort-of sequel to Crisis on Infinite Earths but didn't have the same scope and, to be honest, suffered from a frankly saccharine ending. Not John Ostrander's finest moment by a long stretch, though the art by John Byrne and Karl Kesel is excellent.

Anyhow, the League agree to help Firestorm and with him and some help from a time-lost Cosmic Boy, they attack Brimstone and are almost instantly defeated.

By the end of Legends #2, President Ronald Reagan issues an order banning costumed heroes from appearing on the streets. It's after this that we pick up with Justice League of America #258 . . .

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.

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.

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:

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.

Justice League Detroit - Rebirth

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 #233 - #236, Rebirth, Parts 1 to 4, written by Gerry Conway with art by Chuck Patton, Bill Anderson, Mike Machlan and Rick Magyar.

Picture the scene: you're Gerry Conway, you've just relaunched DC Comics' flagship team title in its recent annual and you need a storyline worthy of you're new team, something that will stretch them and prove that they are worthy of being known as the Justice League.

You start your first issue with a one page prologue, showing an ancient disaster, hinting that something or someone was behind the extermination of some of the first complex life forms ever to evolve on Earth billions of years ago. It's not a bad start - a foreshadowing of what's to come.

And then you have your first two-page spread, pages 2 and 3 of issue #233. What are you going to do, how will you introduce your new heroes, the new League?

Justice League Detroit - A New Chapter

The words above come from the end of the review of the first series of Justice League of America in The Slings & Arrows Comic Guide, specifically referring to issues #233 to the final issue #261. That's the era from late 1984 to mid '87 that covered what became known as Justice League Detroit.

I've never hidden my fondness for the Detroit League and with the recent Retroactive posts I've done, coupled with the news about the DC relaunch and both a new Justice League and a Justice League International title, I found myself wondering about that much derided time in the League's history. Has my memory of the stories been clouded by nostalgia or were they a "disaster, creatively" speaking?

Basically, was Justice League Detroit really that bad?

Even though nobody has asked me to, over the next few weeks I'm going to go through the original run of the Detroit League to try and find out.

Who'd Like A Cocktail? #61

Yet another double sized issue this week as I was away celebrating my wife's birthday last weekend. Had I been around, this is what I would have picked up:

• The Brave And The Bold #29 - not a terrible story, but neither did it really do anything either. The Geek's jaded view of the present when compared to the 60's is naive to say the least: the 60's were all peace and love but the present's all gloom and isolation? Nonsense - both the past and the present are much too complicated to be summed up in six panels.
• Justice Society of America 80-Page Giant #1 - I've long enjoyed the occasional 80-Page Giants as the anthology format allows for a good mix of stories, throwing out some gems along with others that are a little so-so. Unfortunately, this whole issue landed on the so-so side of the fence with nothing really standing out as anything special for me. That's also the risk you take with anthologies, I guess.
• The Stand: Soul Survivors #2 - the survivors start coming together as they head for Mother Abigail's place. Excellent art as always but, by necessity, still a somewhat truncated story.

And what made me smile last week:

Black Lantern Turkey!

But on to this week's comics now:

• Blackest Night #5 - man, those last couple of pages? I read those and just said "Holy crap,"
• The Dark Tower: Fall of Gilead #6 - the fall finally came despite the boobytraps and defences the gunslingers put in place.
• Green Lantern #48 - the All Lantern Corps finally gets together and romps straight into the pages of Blackest Night #5. Damn, I'm enjoying this series!
• Justice League: Cry For Justice #5 - Warning! Events depicted on the cover of this comic do not represent the contents of the same! Ollie? You're really going to leave Roy bleeding on the floor just to run off and get the bad guy? Man, you should be looking after your boy first.
• Justice League of America #39 - yay! Vibe's back! Steel's back! Justice League Detroit's back together! (Hey, I liked the Detroit-era League and I'm not afraid to say it)
• Justice Society of America #33 - well, we knew the big split was coming so no surprise there, but the story itself was still satisfying.
• Project Superpowers: Meet The Bad Guys #4 - is that an ED-209 the Scarab's fighting?!
• Teen Titans #77 - you know, I almost feel sorry for Deathstroke with the amount of Black Lanterns he's got against him!

And what made me smile this week:

Heh - Agent Orange may be a psycho but he's funny with it.