Sunday Splash Page #285

 

"Public Works Disaster," in JSA Classified #1, by Geoff Johns (writer), Amanda Conner (penciler), Jimmy Palmiotti (inker), Paul Mounts (colorist), Rob Leigh (letterer)

Again, on my first attempt, I typed it as "Geoof". The universe clearly wants me to lean into it, but I do try to avoid typos.

JSA Classified was an earlier attempt to get two titles out of the Justice Society, following in the footsteps of JLA Classified. Rather than splitting the cast into two teams, JSA Classified tended to give characters a solo spotlight. I bought one arc, the first four issues.

On the plus side, you have the Amanda Conner/Jimmy Palmiotti/Paul Mounts art team doing good work. Conner's great at background details that help it fell like the story takes place in an actual world with people and things that have their own lives going on, and also can add a bit of levity. The body language Conner gives Power Girl - alternately confident and fragile - does a lot to try and carry along the story.

On the negative, you have Johns twisting himself into knots trying to resolve Power Girl's conflicting origins.

Except, not really. Because while he does provide an answer - she's not from the future, not Atlantean, but a Kryptonian from a dead universe - he doesn't really spend any time on why that matters. Lots of pages on Power Girl insisting she doesn't care where she came from, when Conner's art reveals she clearly does. Because Johns saves the reveal for the very end of the fourth issue, during a whole thing with Psycho Pirate that feeds into Infinite Crisis, he doesn't show us how this knowledge affects Power Girl. Does it make her feel happy, to finally know (or remember, maybe?) Is she sad, that (almost) everyone she knew is even more dead than she thought?

She's a strange artifact of a multiverse that no longer existed. She hasn't had much success building a new home or life on Earth, and now it seems there's no previous home left to go back to. Seems like that might prompt some sort of reaction. To the extent there's any of that, it's buried under Old Earth-2 Superman yelling at Earth-1 Superman to get off his lawn, while Superboy-Prime and Alexander Luthor do their thing.

Oh, this is also the story where Johns tries to explain the boob window in Power Girl's costume as being because she never decided on an appropriate emblem to put there. I suppose it could tie into the way her origin had drifted for years, leaving the character looking unsuccessfully for something to anchor to, but it doesn't really fit. She's had costumes without a logo that also didn't have any sort of window over the chest. The (in-universe) explanation up to then seemed to be, "it feels comfortable to her, and she's confident enough to rock the look." That was probably good enough, unless the writer was fixing to give her a logo, which Johns evidently was not.

Sunday Splash Page #284

 

"Carry a Big Star Rod," in JSA All-Stars #10, by Matthew Sturges (writer), Freddie Williams II (artist), Chris Sotomayor (colorist), Pat Brosseau (letterer)

Justice Society seems like the Fantastic Four. It rarely can sustain two titles, but that won't stop their respective publishers from trying whenever they think they can get away with it. And so, JSA All-Stars, started up in 2010 because Justice Society of America's roster swelled to such ridiculous proportions DC needed two books to even pretend they might use them all.

As it is, there are members of this squad that get basically no focus in the 18 issues the book ran. Wildcat's kid, who was a cat-person and I think also codenamed Wildcat, for one. I can't remember much of anything happening with Judomaster. Sand showed up with some premonition dreams and kinda hung around. Hourman was starring in a back-up feature in the book with his wife, Liberty Belle (who stayed on the other roster), and that accounted for about 90% of him doing anything. It was still just too big of a roster for Sturges to give everyone a chance to demonstrate what they brought to the table.

As this was one of those times where DC gets a hard-on for Kingdom Come, Magog was co-leader with Power Girl - for about 5 issues. Then he decided they were being too soft on criminals and stormed off to be an antisocial dick and hopefully get erased from history. But, pages wasted on a character that apparently wasn't going to stick.

The book didn't even long enough to be canceled by the New 52, as it was one of a handful of titles canceled three months earlier to clear space for various Flashpoint-related mini-series. An ignominious end if I've ever seen one.

Sunday Splash Page #283

 

"Enter the Sandman," in JSA #63, by Geoff Johns (writer), Jerry Ordway (penciller), Wayne Faucher (inker), Hi-Fi (colorist), Ken Lopez (letterer)

DC has this long history and vast backlog of characters, and how they deal with that varies. JSA came out during one of those times when DC apparently decided to lean into the decades of history. Funny to note they tried a Justice Society book in the early '90s and it ended after 10 issues, but flash forward about 6 to 7 years and you've got this book, which last 87 issues, plus various annuals tie-ins and ancillary series.

Maybe James Robinson's success with Starman convinced DC to try to actualize utilize the characters they had just lying around. Fans - a subset of them, at least - liked seeing things connected. Characters with the same codenames tied into a (theoretically) coherent legacy. Like No-Prizes (yeah, it's a different company, I know) come to life. The kind of stuff Geoff Johns seemingly lives to write (dismemberment optional, but highly recommended.)

Or that might have nothing to do with it. I didn't pick up any JSA until years after the fact, and it was due to positive word-of-mouth when I did. Some of the guys at the local comic store liked it, and Kalinara talked about the book a fair amount on her blog, as I think she was a big fan of Sand, aka Sanderson Hawkins, aka Sandy, the Golden Boy, aka whatever the fuck '70s fever dream is going on up there.

Plus, it seemed to be a book that was trying to do something with Power Girl, letting her kick ass and not take any crap from Wildcat, so what the hell. I bought trades of the first couple of arcs, then scattered issues that looked interesting. Sometimes it works for me. There are a couple of done-in-ones around issue 40, one focusing on Power Girl, another on Dr. Mid-Nite, that I like. The insistence on making Black Adam a more-violent Namor, some morally grey guy with noble intentions behind his dismembering of people? Eh, I could take or leave that on its own, but it seemed like it was Johns' in to indulge more graphically violent impulses.

That said, sometimes the stories might as well be gibberish. Sand having powers that gave him control over the earth because there was a story once where he got turned into a big sand monster? OK, sure, fine. But then Johns tries to work in prophetic dream stuff that's either part of weird '70s Sandman or Vertigo Comics Sandman Mystery Theater and it all starts to be a bit much. How many things is Sand supposed to carry on from his mentor? Pick earthbender or pre-cog. Plus, that story has all this stuff about Hector Hall (the new Dr Fate) and his wife Lyta (who is a Fury, or the Fury, I don't know) that I couldn't make heads or tails.

Johns is trying to connect dots that aren't even in the same activity book. Props for the effort, I guess.

Random Back Issues #101 - JSA All-Stars #11

Another victim of the insidious "volleyball stuffed with talcum powder" gag.

JSA All-Stars! Because DC got it in their heads the market would support two JSA books! The team is trying to deal with a bunch of orphaned children who had been cared for by Brainwave Jr. in the nation of Parador. Except the kids have merged/evolved/been possessed by some ancient gods and come to Los Angeles to build a new temple. Power Girl tried to fight the lot of them by herself the issue before.

It did not go well. I know, a Kryptonian fighting magic, and it ended poorly? Go figure. Citizen Steel's attempt to come to the rescue got him smacked towards the ocean. Fortunately the rest of the team's able to catch him in their jet while Atom Smasher gets big and tries his hand at god-fighting.

Right about the time he's getting pummeled, Cyclone shows up, throwing whirlwinds around. She'd been feeling sick lately, which I think would be resolved in a few issues, and involve clones. The team's not really getting anywhere like this, and citizens at risk of being crushed as they rush to pray to these gods for the restoration of things they lost.

So Brainwave asks everyone on the team to think of something from their past they need to let go, and just, you know, do that. He takes the effect and somehow spreads it among the crowd, and it breaks the gods' hold. They shrink back down, but when Brainwave demands they return the kids, he finds out they are the kids. There's no going back. Uh-oh, sounds like someone's got a regret they need to let go of, but it's time for beach volleyball!

This was during the stretch when DC was doing back-up features in some of their books, and JSA All-Stars' involved Liberty Belle and Hourman chasing some "staff of life." They started in competition with Injustice Society members Tigress and Icicle, but they'd teamed up by this point.

There was someone else after the staff too, who could transform into a blue cloud? Blue flame? (Man, I do not remember any of this storyline.) Anyway, he turned solid long enough to try and stab Tigress, but Hourman took the hit instead. The blue cloud's guy dad has similar powers and manages to get the staff away, although the effort kills him. But the staff keeps Hourman alive to get treatment, and he sneaks it away later on to make sure Tigress doesn't have any complications having her and Icicle's kid.

[6th longbox, 70th comic. JSA All-Stars #11. "Apostasy: Glory Days Part 4", by Matthew Sturges (writer), Freddie Williams II (artist), Richard & Tanya Horie (colorist), Pat Brosseau (letterer). "The Inheritance: Pass It On", Jen van Meter (writer), Travis Moore (penciler), Dan Green (inker), Allen Passalaqua (colorist), Pat Brosseau (letterer)]

Did You Request A Chaperone? No? Me Neither.

During the Johns/Goyer JSA run, did the JSA know Captain Marvel was a teenager named Billy? I know Stargirl did, because she and Billy were sort of starting a relationship (and that's what lead me to wonder), but what about the rest?

I came into JSA late, long after it was ended (and then restarted as Justice Society of America), so I was under the impression they knew the deal with Captain Marvel. I had been reading JLA, and during Kelly's Obsidian Age story, Captain Marvel was one of the heroes Batman tried recruiting for the replacement league. When his little messenger spheres (the design for which he swiped from Mr. Terrific) approached Cap, he was at the JSA headquarters, as Billy. He said Shazam, and the Wisdom of Solomon apparently told him his place was with the JSA. Then another sphere asked Hawkgirl if she'd join up, she did, and away they went. I just assumed this meant the team was in on his secret.

Reading some JSA, it seems they weren't. Stargirl was surprised to meet Billy Batson, and Jay Garrick broke them up because he thought it was inappropriate. I'm guessing he didn't know Captain Marvel's a teenager in a grown-up body, and so he thought it was an adult hitting on a teenager. Which from the outside, does look iffy.

So why didn't Billy clue them in? The group clearly isn't adverse to having youngsters on the team, judging by Stargirl and Jakeem. Everybody seems to know everyone else's secret identities anyway. Surely the idea of a kid who speaks a magic word and transforms into a superhuman isn't that strange to a team that had the Spirit of Vengeance among its members.

I suppose Billy may have opted not to tell the rest of the team because it was between him and Courtney, something private that didn't involve the rest of the team. If that's the case, they should have told Garrick to butt out, that there were things he didn't know, and no, they weren't gonna tell him, because it's not his business, that's why.

A Look At Some DC History According To Chase

Chase #6 provides some history on both Cameron Chase and the DC Universe in general.

From the story we learn that by the early 1960s, most of the JSA had retired or were moving that direction. At that time, though, a new group of costumed vigilantes showed up. Mostly they seem to have been people treating it almost as a hobby, something fun to do with friends. Some people became heroes, some became villains. It was beer league softball between the local heating and cooling company and the fire department, only with costumes and silly death traps. Then a woman was killed in the crossfire of a battle, no one was brought up on charges, and her grieving husband became Doctor Trap, devoted to killing heroes and villains alike. He was pretty successful until a few of the JSA* donned their costumes and brought him in. According to Cameron, that was it for super-heroes for about a decade.

A few things that stood out:

- The JSA members being regularly active into at least the late 1950s, possibly even later. I remember seeing something online about how after World War 2 "mystery men" types started facing more government scrutiny, being asked to unmask and reveal their identities to the government**. If I'm remembering that right, did the rest of the JSA unmask for the government, so they'd be allowed to continue working without antagonizing the government? Or did they try to be quieter about their work, sticking to shadows so all the cops would have is a criminal's word they were captured by the Green Lantern?

- Chase's description of heroes in the '60s seems to be describing DC's Silver Age, but minus the recognizable heroes, since Crisis on the Infinite Earths reset things so Superman, Batman, and such didn't show up until the '80s. Or was it the '70s? I have this other vague recollection that in the post-CoIE timeline, Bats and Supes had been operating for about ten years by the time the new stories picked up (though Wonder Woman was just leaving Themiscrya at that point, so she could be portrayed as naive about the ways of the outside world, I think). If so, that would correspond to Chase's comment about superheroics not starting up after Doctor Trap for a decade. Figure he was brought down in the mid-1960s. Ten years later, Bats and Superman pop up (along with probably Hal, Barry, Ollie, Dinah(?), I don't know who else). Ten years after that you get to where things picked up post-CoIE.

Sorry. I'm giving myself a headache, so I can only imagine what it's like for you trying to follow my line of reasoning here. Anyway, the heroes in the '60s are being heroes because they enjoy it, they all seem to be friends, they may even be friends (or were friends) with their villains. That would be reminiscent of Superboy and Luthor being friends until Superboy accidentally made Lex bald. Perhaps hero-villain feuds of the time started over arguments about lawn maintenance, missing bowling night too often, or the hero getting the villain's promotion at the office. At any rate, there were "rules", so civilians were rarely in danger, and even more rarely harmed, and the "death traps" weren't really all that deadly.

Actually, it reminds me of the cartoons with the sheep dog and the coyote, Ralph and Sam? They're set against each other, but it's cordial, and there's a pattern to things. The coyote tries for the sheep, gets caught at it, gets pummeled, but seems to recover soon enough, so no harm, no foul. When the day's done, the dog picks him up, dusts him off, maybe helps him make it home and they bid farewells until tomorrow, when it all starts again. None of it really means much of anything, the coyote may not even need the sheep he's trying to steal. He brings a lunch pail with him, and maybe his sandwich is mutton, but maybe it isn't, and even if it is, that's no guarantee it's from a sheep he grabbed. Ralph and Sam are dancers, going through their routine, but there's no urgency behind it, it's just a paycheck.

- The safe nature of things up until then is why the death of Caroline Trap is such a shock. It's not supposed to go that way. Civilians aren't supposed to get hurt, but maybe the costumes changed the venue of their fight to spice things up. I really get the sense the battle between the Justice Experience and the House of Pain was prearranged when both groups escape prosecution for her death. I'd think at least the villains would get tagged, but they seem to have bought their way out of it as well. Or they had the heroes (who again, might be their friends and neighbors) do it for them, perhaps threatening exposure of secret identities if they were prosecuted***? That leads to Doctor Trap, who is a harsher villain, maybe even a Golden Age hero. Batman used to shoot criminals, Superman used machine guns on enemy planes, Starman seems to have sent people to their death****. The heroes of the '60s aren't capable of dealing with this type of threat, and wind up exterminated. it takes the Golden Agers coming out of retirement to stop him.

- I've been trying to decide what the death of Caroline Trap, and subsequent rise of Doctor Trap, represents in comic terms. I've settled on the Death of Gwen Stacy for now. It's the point where Peter Parker being Spider-Man actively started getting people hurt, rather than protecting them, as the Justice Experience fighting House of Pain got Caroline Trap killed. We don't even know what The House of Pain were up to. Were they any threat, or was this just a stupid fight between costumes, that only concerned costumes? Of course, Larry Trap wasn't involved in his wife's death as Peter Parker was, but Trap is described as a brilliant but eccentric inventor, who was a social outcast until he met Caroline. He's worse off than Peter was, but there's a similarity in the situation. Both Spider-Man and the Goblin escape prosecution initially, this despite Spider-Man actually saying in front of cops that he's the one who killed Gwen. But they can't stop him from swinging away, just as they Goblin was able to fly off*****.

- When punishment does come to the Green Goblin, it's not a sound thrashing followed by jail, but actual death (for the next 20+ years, anyway). Peter Parker may not have allowed himself to kill Osborn, the way Trap killed those he held responsible, but he still got to see Osborn die. And Spider-Man's suffered as well. Clones, his best friend's disintegrating sanity, all the times Aunt May nearly keeled over, his death at the hands of Kraven. On and on. It's perhaps not the death Doctor Trap would have given him, but it's been a lot of pain. Peter Parker lost Gwen, who he loved, and Spider-Man pays the price. It just so happens they're the same guy.

- It's not a perfect match by any means. It's a Marvel thing rather than a DC one, but I couldn't think of a DC story that would work, chronologically. Gwen's death seemed to have an effect on comics, or else was a highly noticeable symptom of changes that were already going on. heroes failing to protect people, and that has an effect on those left behind, as well as those that get killed. The truth of her father's life has clearly played a role in Cameron's attitude towards capes, and the fact her mother seems unwilling to deal with it has probably soured the relationship between the two of them. Maybe it's addressed in the issues I don't have, but I'd be curious to see what Cameron laying all this out for Terry did for things between the two sisters. On Spidey's side, you have most notably, Harry Osborn. He loved Gwen too, and not only does he lose her, he loses his father, after learning his dad played a role in Gwen's death, and learns his best friend was there when his father died. And Harry snaps, and even though he'd pull himself together over time, he'd always fall apart again eventually******. Harry even has to face people coming after him because of his legacy, such as the Hobgoblin. The deaths keep hurting people long after they occurred.

OK, I think I'm out of steam. If you have a better suggestion for what Doctor Trap and Caroline could represent, by all means, let's have them. Gwen Stacy was just the best I could come up with.

* The panel shows Alan Scott, Jay Garrick, the Golden Age Starman and Dr. Mid-Nite.

** I think I read about it on Seven Hells!, because Devon Sanders was showing Hawkman's response to the Congressional committee's request he unmask. Hawkman's response was essentially to tell them to come take his mask, if they could, or else stick their request where the sun don't shine.

*** If I'm right - long odds, I know - it would explain the existence of agencies like the DEO. here's an example where not only are the heroes not policing themselves, they're covering each others' butts, and protecting the bad guys as well. Larry Trap wouldn't be the only person angered or concerned about that.

**** The Absorbascon's last post - at this point - is a panel with Starman telling someone 'Death is their only reward'. Even if he's not actively terminating the person, and he may not be, he's not trying to save them either.

***** The Goblin had been ducking punishment from the start. Whenever he lost, he either escaped, or came down with amnesia, and so Norman Osborn was allowed to continue with his life, without facing the consequences of the Goblin's actions. One could argue being forgotten and trapped within Osborn's mind was punishment, but probably not tangible enough for people harmed by his actions.

****** I don't know how Brand New Day changes things, so I'm going to leave it be, and operate off the stories I actually know.

Not As Though You Get Along With All Your Coworkers

There was a scene in the JSA: 80 Page Giant involving Power Girl and Cyclone, where at least part of it revolved around the two of them discussing Power Girl's costume, and Cyclone giving all these reasons why she thinks it works, and so on and so forth*. There are a couple of different thoughts I had that spun out from that page, so let's cover one today, and one tomorrow. Don't worry, neither one is going to devolve into me ranting angrily about anything.

When Power Girl said, 'Most women don't see it that way', I thought she was talking about other super-heroes**. Maybe she was, though considering a lot of the costumes other ladies sport, that would seem a bit odd. I imagine I was remembering the comment Huntress made in JSA Classified #3, when she told Power Girl most of the guys liked her, and most of the girls didn't, which I also thought referred to other super-heroes***.

OK, so clearly I've lost touch with the fact that super-heroes do occasionally hang out with people who aren't costumed vigilantes. It did start me thinking, the heroes are people. Maybe they're people from other worlds, dimensions, times, universes, but still, they're people. They have likes, dislikes, personalities, quirks, so on. It would make sense that some of them wouldn't get along. I don't mean in the sense that Frank Castle doesn't get along with Spider-Man or Daredevil because they have a serious difference of opinion about how to do their crimefighting. I'm thinking more about people who respect each other, can work together, but don't like each other.

I guess Justice League International era Guy Gardner and just about anyone might be an example. His personality rubbed people the wrong way. I feel that Spidey and Daredevil used to have this. They'd work together, but Peter found Murdock to be too serious****, and Daredevil felt Spider-Man was too immature, unwilling to see the grays in the world. I think they may have become closer friends now, at least to the point each is more readily willing to work with the other.

One pair I'd think wouldn't work are Colossus and Wolverine, back in the day. Peter the friendly, naive farm boy, Logan, was well, you know how Wolverine is. Actually, it's kind of amazing Wolverine made any actual friends on that team. I have a similar problem seeing Batman (Bruce Wayne version) being friends with Superman, and maybe they weren't actually friends. I couldn't really tell.

* I think they're having a conversation. The writer, Jen Van Meter, left a comment about the intent of the story on the post at the 4thletter that originally introduced me to the whole thing, and the comment makes me think the conversation might all have been in Cyclone's mind. I haven't read the issue, so I'm just guessing.

** It can be meta-textual even if the writer and artist don't intend that, correct? Van Meter doesn't sound like the aim was to jab at female comic fans unhappy with Power Girl's costume, and I can't speak to the artist, but it can be read that way, regardless.

*** Which could also have been a comment about the fans, couldn't it? I mean, Geoff Johns wrote the story, so it's certainly likely. Yes, I'm incredibly slow on the uptake, this has been well-established previously, let's keep moving.

**** I think Spidey also found Murdock too concerned with the letter of the law, but that's probably that philosophical difference about how to do their work.

Durn Costumed Whippersnappers!

OK, someone who's been reading Blue Beetle longer than I can probably help, at least with the first part of today's post. In this week's issue Will Pfeifer, seemed to be hinting at an age divide when it comes to the citizens of El Paso's feeling about the Blue Beetle. After Jaime halts the second appearance of the demons, as he flies away he notes 'Citizens of El Paso grateful - Well, the younger ones anyway.' Later, during the final monster attack, someone in the school says they don't remember all these monsters showing up before the Blue Beetle did, which may or may not be true. I don't know how much focus El Paso got in the past in the DCU.

Here's my question: Had either of these been going on in the series prior to this, the older people in town not being as high on the Blue Beetle, or people doing the "Is the vigilante's presence bringing these threats here?" bit? I haven't really noticed it, but the issues I've read didn't involve Jaime interacting much with the wider populace. It was mostly confined to people who knew who he was and already liked him, or people he'd helped before and so they know his intentions. If it hasn't been happening previously, do you think it was just something Pfeifer felt like putting in the story (a bit of the Spider-Man style for the character people sometimes compare to old-style Spidey, though more Lee/Romita Spidey, than Lee/Ditko Spidey, right?)? Or is he helping to set things up for Sturges? I know Sturges is planning to have B.B. get involved in the immigration issue early in his run, so might his stance on that put him at odds with the "establishment" in town, who we learn were already less than certain about this super-person?

Something, only somewhat related, largely in the context of the older generation being wary of B.B., perhaps because of how superheroes did things 'Back in the day': What did the Justice Society do during World War 2? Were they actively involved overseas, or did they stay in America and fight crime here? Saboteurs, spies, as well as everyday crooks? If they stayed here, how did they swing that, and avoid getting drafted? Other than the original Red Tornado, I can't see any of them not getting drafted based on physical status, so were they already too old? Were they too prominent? Alan Scott was an engineer, or major industrialist right, so perhaps it was decided he was more important staying here? Or did they get some sort of dispensation as "Mystery Men"? And if that's the case, did that require them to reveal their identities? it wouldn't have right, since that was why they shut down in the '50s, they wouldn't unmask for their version of the McCarthy hearings? I'm not really up on my DC history, such as it is, what with the crises shifting things around all the time.

Well, Some Island Sure Looks Empty Now

This is in regards to the abrupt appearance of an active volcano in the middle of Chicago in last month's Shadowpact.

See I was reading through a recent JSA Classified (the one starring Jakeem Thunder), and the issue had this whole big thing about how magic is about balance, and you can't magically repair one block of housing, without somehow removing the structural stability from an equally large block of housing somewhere else. I guess it's like the Law of Equivalent Exchange from Full Metal Alchemist. Although I believe that concept was always violating the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics, since if you try and make something into something else, you should lose some of the mass as heat energy, but they, supposedly, were not. I think because they were drawing on the life forces of people from a parallel reality (or something, the end of the series kind of lost me, which happens frequently, as they try to explain the batshit insane stuff going on).

Anyway, so if Dr. Gotham "made" a volcano in the middle of Chicago, then it stands to reason he would have drawn the necessary components from elsewhere? Sure, there is magma under Chicago, if you go deep enough, but it isn't a tectonically active area with passages that the magma can use to reach the surface on a regular basis. So Dr. Gotham (that name seems incredibly stupid to me right now, while it really didn't before) would have to make such things occur, and at a drastically accelerated rate. So, long thought short, is there now a volcanically active region somewhere on New Earth (assuming this is New Earth, or Earth-52, or whatever), that, well, isn't volcanically active anymore?

That might not be all bad, if the people living near it have to live in a state of awareness, ready to evacuate when the volcano got active, but people like to visit volcanoes, whether it's tourists or scientists, and with the volcano gone, that could hurt the locale's economy. Though I suppose more people might move in with the threat of lava destroying their home reduced, and the scientists would probably stick around to try and figure out what happened, so maybe it would help in the long run. Of course, if he drew from a volcanic island, it might not exist anymore, which would make what he did a double whammy of murdering evilness. And all just because he got stabbed with a spear (which was seriously oversold as being bad ass, when it couldn't put down a second-rate Mordru?).

Maybe he just drew it from a undersea volcano, and so all he did was prevent the formation of a future land mass. Then again, the earth kind of seems to be in a balance, since there are places where new land emerges, and places where it submerges (subduction zones, hey I remembered something from geology, hooray!), so if he messed with that. . . hmm.

Purchasing Advice

As I may have mentioned, I've been buying a lot of old comics at low, low prices these last couple of weeks, and before I dove back in again (because I've got a pretty slow week on my pull, what with only the hilarity of Cable/Deadpool and the first opportunity to see whether Ms. Marvel can do some p.r. work on herself), I'd thought I'd poll the populace about something.

Amongst the back issues is JSA, from about issue #5, up into the 70s. There's some gaps, as other people have scavenged what they need (a tactic I frequently use myself) , but there's still a lot there. So I was wondering what you'd suggest I should pick up. I will say I don't think I want to get into those Alex Ross cover issues near the end, since that's a lot of Infinite Crisis-related stuff, and I'd prefer to keep that at bay. Stupid Infinite Crisis, it's your fault Marvel did Civil War! Shame!

So prior to that, what would you describe as Essential JSA stories to go for? I know that I like Sand, Power Girl and Doctor Midnite seems cool, but I don't know enough about a lot of the other characters to say I wouldn't like them, if I just read more about them.

So yeah, simple post today, but I've actually gotten back to writing down post ideas, thus preventing my forgetting them, and allowing for a smoother fleshing out, rather than the more slapdash, ragged, all-over-the-place posts I normally provide.

Well, maybe I shouldn't promise the posts will be more carefully planned out. There's a reason I prefer button-masher games to real-time strategy.

Mmm, Frankfurter. Is That Something?

Couple of DC-related things, one from Jeff and two from me.

- When explaining to me why DC feels the needs to cancel JSA, then start over with Justice Society of America about three months later, Jeff mentioned that he thinks he knows who the new Starman is. Ragnell has previously suggested that it might be a time-displaced version of the Legion's Star Boy, perhaps a holdover from an earlier version of the Legion, with gravity-related powers. Jeff suggested that it's "Starman" as in "solar powers", and that it's actually The Ray, seeing as how he's abandoned his codename so that feeb with the new Freedom Fighters can have it. Being a fan of the Ray, I'd really like that, but he doesn't have the connection to those Golden Agers that Damage does, does he? Ah well, time will tell.

- As for me, I was reading Superman/Batman #26 and a thought struck. The title characters feel they must stress how important it is to keep the young Toyman on the right path, emphasizing that 'everyday Hiro Okumura walks the razor's edge between heroism and villainy.' While I'm happy that they care what happens with the kid, I think I may have noticed a trend:

Hiro Okomura - Apparently straddles line between helping the heroes and becoming a villain.

Katana - Works with Outsiders, who do the things that are too morally questionable for the "regular" good guys to get their hands dirty with.

Cassandra Cain - Based on my theory, she's turned the League of Assassins into a criminal-killing organization, meaning she's also on that line between dark and light, at least as someone like Superman or Batman would define it. Or, she's flat out crazy/evil.

Is this just a freak coincidence? Probably, but don't be surprised if we find out the new Atom is using the shrinking abilities for personal gain, regardless of whether it helps or hurts others. Because, you know, "right" and "wrong" probably don't exist at the sub-atomic level.

- Also, do we have any idea if Hiro has survived to One Year Later? I kind of doubt he's that freaky Toyman running around with Luthor. If so, I got a newsflash for him: Bearing a resemblance to that dude there on the left and teaming up with Luthor, is probably not going to net you Raven's phone number. Just a thought.

I don't have a problem with this evil Toyman. He's creepy, and probably dangerous, and that's fine, it's just I'd like for the kid to have survived. Sure he's goofy, and needs to take some medication to get his hormones under control, but damn it, he made a giant Composite Superman/Batman (or is it just Composite Superman?) robot! A character like that must survive! As Len put it 'It's a hell of a lot better idea than bringing back Titano.' Couldn't have said it better.

Of course, I love giant robots, and hate most primates (damn poo-flingers), so you might feel differently, but that's what comments are for, right?

I Like Toast

Especially when the butter melts into it, so it's crunchy and chewy at the same time. Freaking delicious.

In other news, DC may be able to count on taking more of my money this fall. For whatever reason, I am quite excited about the new Justice Society of America book that's going to be starting up. Granted, I don't understand why they needed to cancel the one they had, just to start another one, but whatever floats their boat, I suppose.

Sure, it's written by Geoff Johns, which means it's toast, but still, if the most recent Teen Titans is any indication, Johns is back to making toast I find palatable. Following that analogy, what was Infinite Crisis? Johns' attempt to make toast the center of an elaborate seven-course meal? Or an omelete with toast that went horribly wrong, because the eggs were spoiled or something? Was he trying to do something entirely different, like recreate that banquet scene from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom? You know, with chilled monkey brains and live baby snakes, and. . . I need to go throw up now. Or do we give him a mulligan, since it was an Editorially Mandated Massive Event Mini-Series?

But I digress.

Based on what's known now, the team has Power Girl, Hourman, Damage, and a new Starman. Power Girl is always a plus, since I assume Johns is capable of writing her as the ass-kicker she is. It's nice to see they'll be doing something with Damage other than "Oh yeah, he survived that fight in Infinite Crisis #1. Nope, no idea where he is now." Now a new Starman? Is that because they don't want to mess with James Robinson's stuff, or something else? Does that mean Stargirl has to give him that staff thing she has (that was Starman's originally, right? Damn, I know so little of DC)? Ah well, I guess that will be answered in time. I'll just have to wait. Oh yeah, put Sand on the team. Do it Johns. Don't make me include this plea at the end of every post from now until you actually comply, because I'm just irritating enough to do it.

On the other side of the coin, I'm not real interested in Meltzer's JLA (sorry, Justice League of America *rolls eyes*). What's the over/under on the number of issues before an over-the-hill Mirror Master kills the girl who's supposed to tutor Tim Drake, because Detective Chimp's one-night stand in Tijuana wants revenge?

Can you tell I'm not a Meltzer fan?