Comic Book Resources

The new Justice League, working against the clock

Grumpy Old Fan

Although it's been a few weeks since the new Justice League lineup was revealed, I have been slow to post about it. Sometimes even we emotionally-stunted man-children have other obligations, you know?

The new League won't come together until a six-parter starting next year (according to the preview writer James Robinson gave CBR), but this is a rare occasion for me. Normally when I get stuck for a blogging topic I fall back on either Dick Grayson (with or without his Titan peers) or the JLA, so I can't really avoid this.

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Arby's unleashes JLA paper toys on humanity

JLA bobbleheads

And the papercraft kits just keep on comin'. This time it's a set of JLA-themed bobblehead dolls, created by Matt Hawkings of Custom Paper Toys. Better yet, these will be available in Arby's restaurants this week for a limited time with the purchase of a kid's meal. The dolls include Superman, Green Lantern, Flash, Wonder Woman, Hawkgirl and Bizarro (not pictured). You can see more detailed pictures of the figures on Matt's Flickr page.

(found via the Ephemerist)

Box art reveals next DC animated movie

Superman/Batman: Public Enemies

World's Finest posts the box art for the upcoming Batman/Superman: Public Enemies DVD, which reveals the name of the next DC Universe Original Animated Movie they're working on: Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths.

It also lists, as a bonus feature, "two bonus cartoons" by Bruce Timm on the two-disc version. I wonder if these are the animated shorts we've been hearing about, one of which is supposed to feature Jonah Hex?

Superman/Batman is due to come out at the end of September.

Via DVDs Worth Watching

Your Mileage May Vary: Cry For Justice #2

A particular scene from James Robinson's Cry for Justice #2 has sparked a lot of interesting discussion.

Jason Fliegel at Howling Curmudgeons thinks it's boneheaded:

First, I understand that in real life, sometimes people have threesomes. So I'm not going to automatically cry "sexism!" just because some writer decides to have one of his male characters get in bed with two women. There probably is some amount of ... sexism is the wrong word, so let's go with pandering ... there probably is some amount of pandering to the typical readers' fantasies in describing a M-F-F threesome instead of a F-M-M threesome. And while one incident does not sexism make, I'd be willing to bet that if we got 100 threesomes in mainstream superhero comics, damn near all 100 of them would involve two women. So while each of the individual writers describing these threesomes wouldn't necessarily be sexist, it does (I would think) create an environment that probably makes women less likely to read mainstream superhero comics.

Second, this just seems inappropriate for a comic like this one. This isn't even a "mature readers only" comic. Even if it were, I'm all in favor of mature comics, but a mature comic doesn't just throw out sexual references for titilation purposes. If you want to do a "mature readers" Justice League comic that explores human sexuality -- well, I think it's probably a bad idea, but a good writer could make it work. But this is just a one-off crude joke.

Third, it is completely out of character for Green Lantern, it is completely out of character for the Huntress, and I don't know a damned thing about the current version of Lady Blackhawk, but from what I hear, it's completely out of character for her, too. So now we're ignoring the nature of the characters in order to shoe-horn in an inappropriate joke that panders to our readers and helps create a climate of sexism.

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Six by 6 | Six comics that made us laugh out loud

A couple of weeks ago Chris Mautner and I listed the six comics that made us cry. You guys responded with more than 160 comments filled with memories of comics that brought you to tears as well. It was very cool and kind of overwhelming to see that many people open up like that, so from both of us, thank you.

One commenter, cinorjer, suggested we name "six comics that made us laugh out loud." Which we thought was a great idea -- thanks, cinorjer! -- so wipe away your tears and get ready to exercise your funnybone.

Joining Chris and I this week is Tom Bondurant, who was quick to come back with an example when I asked for suggestions. So let's make with the ha ha's and get down to it ... and please share your own favorites in the comments section.

1. "What am I s'posed to do with a whole dollar!?"

I laughed aloud at much of Brian Azzarello and Cliff Chiang's "Architecture & Mortality" storyline from the recent Tales of the Unexpected miniseries. There were the Primate Patrol's obvious (but well-executed) Planet of the Apes references; Traci 13's "paper covers rock" spell; and the part where Infectious Lass says she'll never know the touch of a man, about which I ... Vampire! observes "perhaps if you changed your name...."

However, I particularly liked Dr. 13's first real meeting with Genius Jones, the smartest little boy in the world. He'll answer any question for a dime, but he won't deal with Dr. 13 -- because the Doc only has a dollar bill. "What am I s'posed to do with a whole dollar!?" Genius wonders.

"Tell you what -- I have ten questions," Dr. 13 responds.

"Do you have ten dimes?"

Eyes practically bulging out of his glasses, and beads of sweat leaping off his forehead, Dr. 13 spits, "I have a DOLLAR!"

It goes on like that for another few panels, until the head of the Primate Patrol bursts in: "How 'bout I geev you a nickel saun'wich?" And ... scene!

--Tom Bondurant

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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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Justice League to meet The 99 in upcoming mini-series

The 99

DC's The Source blog announced today that the Justice League will meet Teshkeel Comics’ The 99 in an upcoming mini-series. Fabian Nicieza, who is no stranger to either set of heroes, will write the book (CBR spoke with Nicieza about the project back in 2007). The release date and artist will be announced at a later date.

From the Source:

THE 99 team, which debuted in June 2006, was recently identified by Forbes Magazine as one of the “Top 20 Trends Sweeping the Globe.” Not too shabby, huh? In THE 99 — created by Naif Al-Mutawa — are a team of superheroes, including Jabbar the Powerful and Noora the Light who must collect 99 gems encrypted with the wisdom and power of the ancient Dar Al-Hikma library of Baghdad, which are spread across the globe.

They even have their own theme park, and a cartoon is in development.

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Robinson, Bagley named JLA creative team

Mark Bagley's Justice League

DC Comics announced on their Source blog today that James Robinson and Mark Bagley will take over the flagship Justice League title in October.

Robinson, of course, is no stranger to the franchise, having written the upcoming Cry for Justice mini-series that features a spin-off team led by Hal Jordan and Green Arrow. And Bagley just wrapped up a 52-issue stint on Trinity, which featured, well, just about everybody in the DC universe.

“It’s a thrill to be given the reins of DC’s flagship team book and to know that my partner in crime(fighting) will be the esteemed Mark Bagley who’s dynamic storytelling skills I intend to make full use of," Robinson said. "It’s further exciting/gratifying for me that I can dove-tail the events of Cry For Justice into the main book where post-Blackest Night will emerge a new team and a new exciting direction as they get caught up in the next wave of events building throughout the DCU.”

Robinson replaces regular writer Dwayne McDuffie, whose last issue was #33. As we noted at the end of May, McDuffie was fired from the series. A story by Len Wein is currently running in the title.

Triple playmaker: an interview with Kurt Busiek

Grumpy Old Fan

Although I wrote quite a lot over the past year about DC's weekly series Trinity, I kept coming up with questions that went outside the scope of my weekly notes. Fortunately, writer Kurt Busiek was nice enough to participate in the following e-mail interview, conducted after Trinity concluded (and after he returned from a well- deserved vacation).

We discussed the nuts and bolts of producing Trinity, its connections to a couple of Busiek's other DC projects, a few nitpicky items, and what the year-long series leaves behind.

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Dwayne McDuffie fired from Justice League

Justice League of America #33

Writer Dwayne McDuffie revealed today on his message board that he's been fired from Justice League of America, saying "it was my own doing."

His dismissal came after "Lying in the Gutters" columnist Rich Johnston "ran a compilation of two years or so of my answers to fans' questions on the DC Comics discussion boards," McDuffie posted, referencing this May 4th column. "I'm told my removal had nothing to with either the quality of my work or the level of sales, rather with my revelation of behind-the-scenes creative discussions."

If you look through the column, you'll see several statements that show McDuffie's frustrations with working on the title, from comments on how the Anansi storyline was "about my not having control of the stories in my book" to remarks about how DC's big guns -- from Superman and Batman to Green Arrow and Captain Marvel -- weren't available for his use.

"I'm doing 'Cap's Kooky Quartet'," McDuffie wrote. "Of course, in this case Captain America isn't available, either."

McDuffie did share some "what might have been" thoughts on JLA:

I have to say I'm a bit disappointed, because next summer was planned to feature a JLA-driven crossover, where my book's story line would have been the driving force. I'm distressed by where I left Black Canary, as my intention was to use the current subplot to strengthen her character and relationships with the new membership, and instead I'm leaving her at the bottom of a hole I'd intended to rebuild her from. I was also just about to get a regular artist for the first time since I've been on the book, which would have been nice. That said, I'm sure DC's going to put together a creative team that will generate major excitement around JLA, which is as it should be.

He also said he has a pretty full plate, as he's editing Cartoon Network's Ben 10: Alien Force and the upcoming Ben 10: Evolutions series. He's also working on a new project called Milestone Forever for DC, just finished a video game script, and is writing a direct-to-DVD animated feature for Warner Animation.

As for Justice League, it looks like Issue 33, which came out today, is his last. Len Wein is writing the next few issues, and was doing so initially to give McDuffie a break while he worked on his various TV projects.

What Are You Reading?

Dororo Vol. 1

Welcome to What Are You Reading, where we pull the curtain back and show you what's on our bedside tables. And yes, we have curtains in our room. Don't ask.

Our special guest this week is Miss Lasko-Gross, whose second autobiographical graphic novel (in a projected trilogy), A Mess of Everything, was just released from Fantagraphics.

To find out what Lasko-Gross and the rest of us are reading, click on the link below ...

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You know who else isn't enjoying Justice League? Dwayne McDuffie

Over at the 4thletter!, David Brothers points out this thread on The V Hive from last month, in which Justice League writer Dwayne McDuffie talks very briefly about his work on the book:

Justice League #31

Dwayne McDuffie: I wrote a scene set at their gravesite that I recently had to quickly rewrite into something not very good.

Matthew Murray: Do you actually enjoy writing JLA? It just seems to be constant editorial rewrites and bad art.

McDuffie: No, I don’t.

Between the crossovers and "events" like the return of the Tangent and Milestone characters, McDuffie's run on the book has been bogged down with more stunts than an Evil Kneivel highlight video. And the reviews haven't been kind. It's a shame, as we know from his work on the animated Justice League, McDuffie can tell great Justice League stories. It's just too bad he's having to do it with a hand tied behind his back.

Wein and cheese

Grumpy Old Fan

Len Wein is becoming something of a go-to writer for DC Comics’ superhero flashbacks. After retelling the origin of Libra (a character he created for May/June 1974’s Justice League of America vol. 1 #111) in the recent Final Crisis Secret Files, last week’s comics featured two similarly-styled issues written by the comics veteran. Justice League of America vol. 2 #29, drawn by ChrisCross, was a condensed version of three 1972 issues which introduced Starbreaker, the cosmic vampire*; and it prefaces next month's new Starbreaker story. Meanwhile, Superman/Batman Annual #3, penciled by Chris Batista and inked by Mick Gray and Jack Jadson, continued the S/B Annuals’ pattern of backwards-looking tales by revising the origin of the Composite Superman.

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