Justice League: Cry for Justice
Grumpy Old Fan: Separate but equal?
Batman Beyond
The more I thought about it, the more pleased I was that DC will be publishing an ongoing Batman Beyond book. Sure, the series ended over eight years ago; and sure, the episode of “Justice League Unlimited” which served as an epilogue (helpfully called “Epilogue”) is also fading into the mists of history.
To me, though, a new commitment to Terry McGinniss’ alternate future signals — whether DC realizes it or not — a renewed commitment to the Multiverse. Remember, the “Beyond” future (or something remarkably similar) was officially made part of the post-52 Multiverse as Earth-12, and barring a radical departure from DC, Earth-12 is where I expect Terry’s adventures to remain. Put simply, the BB mythology is based on the continuity of DC’s various animated series, from “Batman” through “Justice League Unlimited”; and while that continuity isn’t radically different from the comics’, it’s different enough. Bruce Wayne’s caped career ends rather ignominiously, for one thing. (Also, no Jason Todd; maybe no Golden Age superheroes; and the histories of the Flash, Earth’s Green Lanterns, Hawkgirl and Hawkman, and Wonder Woman each diverge in significant ways.) Besides, if DC really wants to drop hints about how its modern-day characters ended up, it can always use the farther future of the Legion of Super-Heroes.
- March 18, 2010 @ 02:00 PM by Tom Bondurant
With a rebel yell…
Grumpy Old Fan
By the time this post goes live, you may be quite sick of hearing about Justice League: Cry For Justice #1. Back on Sunday, I said I didn’t hate it; and I suspect mine was one of the more positive comments. Yes, the script has many questionable moments, including an apparent lack of irony where Hal Jordan and Ray Palmer are concerned. I complained more about the staging of the first scene, which I felt sacrificed common sense for capital-D Drama!. And yes, the idea behind this series was a bit tired fifteen years ago when it was called Extreme Justice.
And yet … it’s movement, you know? It’s light at the end of the tunnel — the hope that almost three years into Justice League of America Volume 2, the book will at last gain its own direction and its own identity, free from crossover intrusions and editorial dictates….
… well, as free as any corporate superhero title could be; especially one designed specifically to use characters who already appear in other books. To me, writing Justice League is sort of like competing on “Iron Chef” — you don’t have total control over all the ingredients; and more likely than not you’ll have to bring new life to old standbys like salmon or Hawkgirl. Accordingly, as Rich Johnston pointed out last week, this has produced a particular cycle of retooling and rebuilding, such that it takes just the right combination of characters and circumstances to keep the League stable.
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- July 9, 2009 @ 03:24 PM by Tom Bondurant