CON JOB (Covering Convention News: Wizard World L.A. Part 4: The Quest for Peace)
Updated with added Caleb . . .
I’m glad that James Robinson is coming back to the DC fold in a big way. I loved Starman and Golden Age, and he did a great job helping to bring back the JSA. But his new Justice League title, covered at Newsarama . . . I’m not so sure.
The main hang-up I have with it is the constant failure of books that strive to do the whole “proactive” thing. It works for an arc or two, but it never carries onward in any constructive capacity. Perhaps Robinson is the guy to do it, but I’m not sure.
It’s like this: the super-hero, almost by nature, is a reactive beast. Kind of like your local fire department. Sure, the FD can educate people about fire prevention, but they do their BIG WORK when something is burning. Same with super-heroes. They can patrol the hell out of their respective cities, but they do their main thing when the aliens arrive, the volcano erupts, etc.
Therefore, proactive is hard to write. If the world’s greatest detective (Batman) still finds himself showing up after crimes, then, no offense, how are Hal and Ollie going to get there first?
And, of course, let’s say that you run out and capture, say, Gorilla Grodd before he turns L.A. into a town full of ape-women. What then? The heroes KNOW that the bad guys always come back anyway. Do they start smoking them left and right? We know that Ollie’s killed before, and the Lanterns have the (pun intended) green light on killing any enemies thanks to Geoff’s Law #2. If that’s not the ultimate extension of being “proactive”, what is?
I’m hoping that Robinson really pulls off something special here, but I’ve gotta say that I’m a skeptic. If it’s great, I will happily admit to it in review form.
CALEB’S TAKE:
http://www.newsarama.com/WWLA/08/DC/countdown.html
Kind of bummed out to hear about the James Robinson Justice League book. In part because I think it’s
going to end up diluting the brand a bit, in part because it has the ultimate name for a Justice League
book (I think the “of America” doesn’t really work with the team any more) and in part because it sounds
like the same pitch for a team we’ve heard a couple thousand other times.
I mean, the pro-active team concept is what the current Batman and the Outsiders book is, isn’t it?
And the previous Outsiders? And Justice League Elite? And Extreme Justice? And Justice League Task Force? And hey, that’s just the DC books…
The line-up sounds…odd. I’m also pretty bummed out to hear Freddy Freeman will be in it as “Shazam;” I can’t wait for DC to outgrow this whole phase they’re going through with the Marvel Family.
However, it does feature Congo Bill, according to Comic Book Resource’s report
(http://www.comicbookresources.com/news/newsitem.cgi?id=13378), so that’s certainly one for the plus column…
March 16th, 2008 at 10:26 pm
That the main JLA book is so hit or miss right now is what has me the most apprehensive about a spin-off.
I’m anxious to see who’s handling the art assignment. I do appreciate enough of Robinson’s work to have some reserved faith about this, but we’ll just have to wait and see.
March 17th, 2008 at 7:44 am
I’m more optimistic about it than you chaps. While the concept doesn’t sound that great, or even like anything that Robinson would be interested in writing, I’m kind of excited about the fact that there might a JL book I’m actually interested in reading. Plus, I’ve been waiting for Robinson to resurface in the industry, because I’m a big fan of his work.
Of course, if he gets teamed with Joe Benitez, you can fucking forget about it.
March 17th, 2008 at 8:00 am
I’m torn between my appreciation for James Robinson’s past work and the simple fact that nobody has ever written a good Hal Jordan story ever (well, Denny O’Neil did, I guess, but Hal was a total tool in those stories). I suspect that JUSTICE LEAGUE will - at best - rise to the level of books that I hear good things about, and would probably check out if time, budget and apartment space were of absolutely no concern, but never actually read.
March 17th, 2008 at 9:26 am
I can’t believe the number of stupid statements made in that panel:
DiDio talked about the impending end of Countdown, and plugged DC Universe #0. “It’s our way of saying thank you for supporting us with the weekly series,” said DiDio of the book.
–Maybe you should say “thank you” by offering full refunds on Countdown.
“The idea of Batman being a New God actually is kind of cool, as far as being the most psychotic thing possible,” DiDio added.
–So, is being a New God now the equivalent of the Captain Universe power? Whoops, all of a sudden, now Angleman is a New God!
“He’s not The Atom, but he still has the costume, and he still shrinks,” Robinson says.
–OK, that’s helpful. That’s like saying that Batman still has the costume and he still beats up bad guys, but he’s not Batman… really!
“Hal Jordan decides that he wants a pro-active team,” said Robinson.
–Does this mean that Hal is pro-registration? HAR HAR HAR Seems a lot like Iron Man’s behavior to me…
“Will you bring back Barry Allen?”
–Can’t we let the dead stay dead? And without all the time travel and paradoxes, etc? The cosmic treadmill = slingshotting around the sun at this point.