Against My Better Judgement

I'll start the year off with a column that I would like to call popular, but would be a bit of a stretch even by the largest amount of the imagination. Although I do know that one of my friends likes it a lot and would like more. Maybe I'll get back on track with more regular updates. I don't know. Here we go.

Justice League 3000

I gave this the benefit of the doubt because I loved everything that Keith Giffen and JM DeMatteis have collaboratively written since 1987.

This goes against my better judgement because it is simply awful after two issues, and I do not buy awful books.  Yet I'm continuing to buy this for as long as I can stand. The reason being that I don't think it's Giffen's and DeMatteis's fault that this is bad. There are obviously editorial changes since longtime collaborator Kevin Maguire was fired from the book last minute. And you can tell that a lot of the first issue was written for him. There's a two page spread of 18 panels (not sure if that technically qualifies as a spread) of dialog and facial closeups. 

Also the plot should be a lot funnier: The wonder twins (Terri and Terry) clone the Justice League with DNA stolen from Cadmus. Although they fuck up and the clones are brain damaged and their powers don't all work right. Also, Batman and Superman bicker a lot.

This is classic Giffen and DeMatteis humor and it all falls way flat. What keeps me holding out hope is that DC did not want both Justice League and Justice League Europe to be humorous, and within a year or two of each series, they turned full vaudeville and bwa ha ha. I'm also happy to see that Howard Porter is not penciling issue five. He's still on the series as far as I know but at least he can't do more than four consecutive issues even with lead time. I'm not sure what kind of terms Magure left under, but maybe they'll get him back on at some point.

What you should get instead if you don't want to wait it out like me (And you don't have to. I'll update if JL3000 gets better) is Larfleeze.  Giffen and DeMatteis with Scott Kollins (and sometimes Giffen) on art. Though not their best work, this is classic dialog and snappy humor. This is my favorite DC book right now (although I am only reading three and I hate one of them). Very enjoyable.

Muchos Melvins

Just kidding.  See what I just did?  I went the other way this time.  I'm actually going to do a Book of the Week.  Serious, this time.  Here we go:

Book of the Week
            or
International Incident 2: Electric Boogaloo

5-12-10

I mentioned this a while back when it was first announced, and I'm happy to say that Booster Gold 32 lived up to my expectations.  In true Giffen and DeMatteis fashion, this book is hilarious.

The humor counter-balances surprisingly nicely with some real serious, heart-breaking moments.  Being a time traveler, Booster (mistakenly) jumps to Daxam in the midst of The Great Darkness (for those of you who don't know, we're talking about genocide).

Anyway, its a great start and seems to leading into some great stuff.  I should also mention that Chris Batista's artwork is great.

On the other side of that coin, I feel like I should mention Justice League: Generation Lost, the twenty-six issue miniseries written by Giffen and Winick starring the JLI kicked off the same day.  Unfortunately, this book isn't nearly as good as Booster Gold.  It's played serious, and Maxwell Lord is like the most dangerous villain in the DCU, and I just don't think the characters work well like that.  Bummer.  I guess you can't win them all.

International Incident

I've always said that the Vaudevillian Giffen/DeMatteis/Maguire Justice League is one of my all-time favorite runs in comic book history. Although, Maguire didn't draw all of this, I'm including Justice League (later retitled Justice League International and Justice League of America), Justice League of Europe, Formally known as the Justice League, and I Can't Believe It's Not the Justice League.

Kieth Giffen and JM DeMatteis have since become known for telling superhero stories in Vaudeville tradition. In fact, I think that there were like three JLI covers with Blue Beetle saying to Booster Gold, "This is another fine mess you've gotten us into."

The trio also made a Defenders series a few years back, and recently were doing Metal Men backups in Doom Patrol. When those were cancelled, I was so upset that I dropped every DC book I was buying. Kind of. Doom Patrol was the only DC book I was buying. Unless you count the two Vertigo books.

Anyway, as you can imagine, I got a huge boner when I looked at DC's May solicitations. First off, Giffen and DeMatteis are taking over Booster Gold with issue 32 with a Kevin Maguire cover.

Also, the Justice League International will be returning in Justice League: Generation Lost. Although, this one, I'm not quite sure of. First, it's a Brightest Day thing, and I couldn't finish Blackest Night. Secondly, I think its something like a 26 issue mini. But mostly, its written by Giffen and Judd Winick, who I don't dislike, but have never read anything of his that I really enjoyed. Hopefully, it will still be funny. I guess we'll just have to wait and see. Either way, I'm happy to see the characters.