The only other issues of Justice League of America I own are the three issues for the Detroit League throwing down against Despero. I bought them mostly because I was curious about the specifics of the fight, since when Despero returned in Justice League International, he was hellbent on revenge against the Leaguers that took him down.
Beyond that, I pretty much knew this era from all the negative talk about it online. That it was a case of Gerry Conway trying too hard to make the Justice League like the X-Men, complete with giving them a sort of Danger Room for training. That the new characters didn't belong in the Justice League. I guess there's less of a feeling that the b-listers can have a place there than in the Avengers.
It doesn't help that it's a team pulled together by Aquaman, and then he left the book (for reasons I'm unaware of and indifferent to). When the ostensible mind behind it doesn't stick around, not a good look. And it leaves the roster with Martian Manhunter and then. . .well is Zatanna or Elongated Man the bigger name in 1986?
(Although Batman is in this arc, but I don't have the impression that was a regular thing. Batman's like a cat. He decides he wants to be involved, so he jumps in your lap and insists on being included. It's weird to see him go on a date with Vixen as Bruce Wayne. Different era, I know, and Mari McCabe's a well-known model, so not weird for her to be around a billionaire playboy, but seeing Batman that casual with a teammate was unexpected.)
The story itself is alright. It doesn't seem like such a terrible defeat, but Conway establishes Despero shows up wanting revenge on the original League that defeated him, and decided killing the current version was good enough. So him coming back from this loss and doing essentially the same thing is at least consistent.
I don't think Luke McDonnell's really the best artist for a Justice League book. Despero looks alright, and some of the large establishing shot pages are good, but the action isn't very dynamic. The characters don't look impressive. Which, if this was supposed to be demonstrating that a Justice League comprised of more mortal and less gods (2nd-stringers instead of 1st-stringers) can still do the job, then I guess it's a good choice. But you could probably make the characters themselves look almost ordinary, but what they're doing look more explosive than comes across here.
Most of the new characters didn't have much staying power. Vibe got killed, although Geoff Johns tried making him a thing again in the New 52. Steel was basically dead, then john Henry Irons got the codename and was much cooler, and then Johns introduced a new character, "Commander Steel", around the time JSA All-Stars was going. Gypsy, got back in the League eventually, but in the '90s, Extreme Justice rosters. Not exactly a high point, but she also got to be in some Birds of Prey arcs, which is probably better.
Vixen had the most success, since she ended up as one of the heroes keeping the super-crooks on the Suicide Squad in line, and even survived to the end. She's gotten to rejoin the Justice League at least once, albeit I think when Brad Meltzer was writing.
3 comments:
This arc is probably the highlight for the Detroit League, to be honest. I'm actually in the process of bringing over my look back at this League from my old blog into my current one - look out for that in the next week or two.
Batman is in this arc, but I don't have the impression that was a regular thing - yeah, he rejoined at the end of #250 supposedly for his own reasons that would shock/surprise Gypsy... and then that storyline was never mentioned again and he left before the League ended during the LEGENDS crossover.
I quite like that splash page!
Gary: I'm curious to read about this run, I've never seen much of an in-depth breakdown on it. Glad to know I at least had Batman's presence pegged more or less right.
Kelvin: Yeah, looking over these issues, McDonnell does pretty well when he's got space to work with. It's when there's more panels on the page and things get cramped the work seems to lose a lot of energy and eye-catching appeal.
Post a Comment