InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "A lot can change in a week."

superfan1 (superfan1) wrote in scans_daily,
@ 2009-05-31 02:54:00

Entry tags:

char: doctor light/kimiyo hoshi, char: firestorm/jason rusch, char: green lantern/john stewart, char: hardware/curt metcalf, char: icon/arnus/augustus freeman, char: paladin/bruce wayne, char: starbreaker, char: vixen/mari jiwe mccabe, char: zatanna zatara, creator: dwayne mcduffie, creator: rags morales, publisher: dc comics, title: justice league of america

JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #33
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	freezer818 2009-05-31 03:15 am UTC (link)
	Um... What? (Reply to this)

batcookies
2009-05-31 03:41 am UTC (link)

For those confused:

Starbreaker's trying to kill Dharma, which is a Very Bad Thing, since Dharma's the one making the merger of the Milestone Universe with the regular universe possible. Without him, bad things will happen.

Anansi is going "Save Dharma, but remember he's one of those 'Ends Justify the means' guys, we need him but don't get chummy."

To help Vixen, Anansi brings to life an alternate Bruce Wayne from a dreamworld: Paladin.

(Reply to this)

	khaosworks 2009-05-31 03:47 am UTC (link)
	Poor Zee. (Reply to this)

	yaseen101 2009-05-31 03:49 am UTC (link)
	Who did the art? The lack of ass-shots tell me it's not Benes. (Reply to this) (Thread)

	statham1986 2009-05-31 04:11 am UTC (link)
	I don't know, but Benes has wandered off to do Batman and whatever else. He's being joined by McDuffie, if the headlines at Newsarama and other spots are to be believed. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	arrlaari.livejournal.com 2009-05-31 05:35 am UTC (link)
	So if I follow you correctly, Benes is getting pulled off the book to draw other books, and then McDuffie is also getting pulled to write the same books Benes will be drawing? (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	statham1986 2009-05-31 08:14 am UTC (link)
	Ahhh, no. McDuffie's just being booted off JLA period, and from what I can tell, has no real plans for other books at DC. It's apparently because he was being a little too public in what he was saying about editorial and whatever. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	yaseen101 2009-05-31 07:07 am UTC (link)
	I did see some previews for his art on Batman but I didn't hear that he was leaving JLA. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	statham1986 2009-05-31 08:13 am UTC (link)
	From what I've read in Didio interviews, I think he's meant to be heading for one of the Titans books. I could be wrong, but I don't think he's going back to Justice League anytime soon. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	yaseen101 2009-05-31 09:01 am UTC (link)
	I'm not sure his stint on Batman is permanent either, because after his Mark Bagely is doing a guest stint on the title and I don't know whose doing the art after that. I've seen some previews and Bagely's gone a long way as an artist. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	statham1986 2009-05-31 09:52 am UTC (link)
	Well, Bagley'll do better now he isn't being made to do 16 pages a week, or 44 a month like he was on Trinity and Ultimate Spider-Man, respectively. I always thought his work suffered because of the massive workload he had. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	scottyquick 2009-05-31 04:30 pm UTC (link)
	He was doing 44 a month with USM? (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	aaron_bourque 2009-05-31 06:17 pm UTC (link)
	They were doing like 16+ issues a year. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	statham1986 2009-06-01 01:45 am UTC (link)
	At least, from what I recall. It was on a bi-weekly schedule during the later part of Bagley's run, so given the average issue was about 22 pages, he must've been doing at least 44 each month. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	perletwo 2009-05-31 05:40 am UTC (link)
	Rags Morales pencils, John Dell inks. It's not perfect, but compared to Benes, me likey! Particularly their Vixen and John Stewart. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	yaseen101 2009-05-31 07:07 am UTC (link)
	Thank you. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	wonderwomanhero 2009-05-31 07:31 am UTC (link)
	Yay! Dr. Light returns! But, having not really caught up on JLA, why is she there? Will she join the team? (Reply to this) (Thread)

skjam
2009-05-31 07:51 am UTC (link)

Metatextually, Dr. Light is there because someone in editorial told McDuffie to put her on the team.

In-story, Dr. Light is there because Starbreaker disabled the Shadow Cabinet's teleport system, and Dharma hatched a roundabout plan to fix it. In exchange for getting her powers fully restored, (they've been off and on, thus "explaining" her contradictory appearances in different books), Dr. Light fixed the Shadow Cabinet's teleporter. At the end of that, Dr. Light wound up in JLA HQ, and since they were having a bit of a personnel shortage, the Justice League invited her to stay.

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	wonderwomanhero 2009-05-31 08:09 am UTC (link)
	Oh wow! I hope she becomes a full fledged member! (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	stig 2009-05-31 04:12 pm UTC (link)
	Urgh, why? Apart from her connection to Dr. Rapester, her character basically consists of 'angry Japanese woman'. There's no depth to her at all. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	scottyquick 2009-05-31 04:31 pm UTC (link)
	She takes her job seriously, and can provide some actual conflict without turning into the Bombshell of the JLA. (Reply to this) (Parent)

bluefall
2009-05-31 04:47 pm UTC (link)

That's not at all true. She's a mother, who's fiercely protective of and surprisingly compassionate with her children, an interesting contrast to her hardass indifference with her colleagues. She's a very serious and competent professional, who constantly weighs her responsibilities as an incredibly intelligent scientist and an incredibly powerful superhero to determine which has a higher claim to her time and whether or not she owes the world the services of either. She's a selfish and impatient woman who carefully guards her reluctant but real affection and respect for her teammates, and is brusque and insecure about any acknowlegement of her genuine heroism. She's proud and self-reliant and nearly cripplingly afraid of the dark.

That's more depth than, say, Billy Batson's ever had. (Not that the Marvels need much depth; the simplicity of "a good kid who can become a good man" is a virtue in itself. Just saying, if he can carry a story, she's got more than enough to do the same.)

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	thandrak 2009-05-31 06:51 pm UTC (link)
	She's also got an allergic reaction to diet soda, if you ask me. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	bluefall 2009-05-31 07:11 pm UTC (link)
	Augh. That whole arc is very firmly discontinuity in my house, thank you. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	tahngarth 2009-05-31 08:48 am UTC (link)
	Has McDuffie's successor on JLA been announced, now that he's been fired from DC for his online posts? (Reply to this) (Thread)

thokstar
2009-05-31 09:15 am UTC (link)

Short term, he's being replaced by Len Wein. (I think McDuffie gets one more issue to wrap up this arc, then Wein does an arc.) After that Didio's going to announce a new writer: the rumor mill has Johns or Morrison, possibly with Jim Lee with art. Given the editorial problems with this book, at this point is would basically have to be one of those two to make it workable.

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	tahngarth 2009-05-31 09:16 am UTC (link)
	Yeah, I don't think anyone except those two and Morrison have the clout to manage a title without massive editorial interference right now. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	jlbarnett 2009-05-31 09:29 am UTC (link)
	Final Crisis didn't exactly work as well as expected, I don't think. So I'm not even sure Morrison would. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	tahngarth 2009-05-31 09:37 am UTC (link)
	I'm kind of curious what the original ending was like, really. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	jlbarnett 2009-05-31 09:50 am UTC (link)
	Oh, is that the thing where he totally destroyed New Earth. Despite the Sinestro War claiming New Earth was the key to the new Multiverse? I'd actually forgotten about that. I was just referring to not being able to reach the top selling book even against the second issue of a Marvel event and taking about four to six months longer than expected to finish. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	milleniumrex 2009-05-31 05:01 pm UTC (link)
	I think it'll be Johns, for the simple reason that the DCU is all him for the next year, and if anyone can coordinate the JLA with Geoff Johns' stories, it's Geoff Johns. XD (Reply to this) (Parent)

	04nbod 2009-05-31 10:29 am UTC (link)
	Bruce and Zee are perfect together. I love them (Reply to this) (Thread)

	aaron_bourque 2009-05-31 06:20 pm UTC (link)
	Cowboy Bruce and Zatanna works better. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	yaseen101 2009-05-31 09:47 pm UTC (link)
	Uh no, normal Bruce and Zee works better in my books. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	aaron_bourque 2009-05-31 11:42 pm UTC (link)
	They don't fit at all. Brooding emotionally distant gritty urban defender + bubbly well-balanced sexy magician/witch = they would never work. Punchy cowboy urban defender + bubbly well-balanced sexy magician/witch = they have a chance, if they could take it. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	yaseen101 2009-06-01 09:27 am UTC (link)
	Opposites attract. I may not be the romantic type but Zee brings out his emotions in a way. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	runespoor7 2009-06-01 09:49 am UTC (link)
	The most emotion she brought out of him was anger and mistrust after the mind-wipe debacle. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	neotoma 2009-05-31 10:34 am UTC (link)
	There's a canonical Cowboy!Batman ?! (Reply to this) (Thread)

readeriif
2009-05-31 11:49 am UTC (link)

Depending on your definition of 'canon'. This is Paladin, a Bruce Wayne from a fictional reality- well, fictional within the DC universe itself. Basic story is that instead of Zorro, Bruce was taken to a cowboy film by his parents That Night, and from there he adopted a rather different persona and approach.

I'm not that enthused about the rest of Duffie's JLA run so far, apart from the return of Dr Light, but Paladin was a rather nice idea.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	thokstar 2009-05-31 02:28 pm UTC (link)
	Including him here is somewhat meta. Given that McDuffie has said that Anansi represents himself, including Paladin is McDuffie seemingly saying that "Even if I can't have Batman in the JLA, I'm going to figure out a way to have Batman in the JLA, because he's important to the team." (Reply to this) (Parent)

	volksjager 2009-05-31 10:48 am UTC (link)
	Something tells me this book will mire in shitville for a few years. (Reply to this) (Thread)

aaron_bourque
2009-05-31 06:09 pm UTC (link)

Honestly, JLA has always been a rather schizophrenic title. Since the 80s, it's had ebbs and flows of quality. The Detroit Era wallowed in inconsequence, then COIE, and the Giffen/DeMatteis League, which had years of good stuff before it just couldn't contain itself, and then the League limped on until Morrison revitalized it, and then it started falling apart again just before Infinite Crisis, and apart from Johns' part of the Lightning Saga, it hadn't been readable until McDuffie took over. His has been hit or miss, but hopefully this has just been the beginning of the flow rather than another ebb . . .

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	seawolf10 2009-05-31 09:09 pm UTC (link)
	McDuffie's been hit or miss mainly because editorial kept interfering. I rather wish they'd left him alone, since he'd probably have done a much better job without them. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

yaseen101
2009-05-31 10:01 pm UTC (link)

His experience speaks for itself. He was one of the driving forces behind the JLU, Teen Titans, Batman Beyond and Static Shock and wrote episodes like Question Authority, Flashpoint,Panic in the Sky, Divided We Fall and Epilogue. He was the one behind Milestone company and I've heard he's got an Emmy. That's more than enough reason to leave him alone. I think Paul Dini, Dwayne and Peter Tomasi together could have done some real magic together at DC.

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statham1986
2009-06-01 01:56 am UTC (link)

The problem was that they wanted to use JLA as a centerpiece for some of the big stories they were telling, like Final Crisis and Salvation Run and whatever else, but they went about it the wrong way and just used the book as a launchpad, when really, a writer as skillful as McDuffie can be could have worked those stories as arcs of JLA alongside the writer of those events and made it flow a lot better without damaging what he's aiming for with the characters.

Or maybe that's just my perspective on these event books we keep on getting told we must fork out on. Why not make them storylines of a particular title and promote the hell out of them? Final Crisis in particular could've been told across a set of the DC books, as could Secret Invasion. That way, you get people picking up a regular, continuing series, and if they like it, they might stick around to read it.

But regarding McDuffie, I'm kind of divided over how I feel about him getting the boot, but I still don't think he's entitled to spill company secrets and talk about his boss and his work the way he has, at least not in such a public fashion. If I, for instance, talked trash about my boss on the internet and dissed the company I work for and they found out, I'd be dismissed too.

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	bluefall 2009-06-01 12:21 pm UTC (link)
	He didn't trash-talk his boss or company. All he did was tell the truth, and in fact in his comments he went out of his way to defend DC and say things like "crossovers sell, so DC arranging its storytelling around crossovers is the only smart thing for them to do." He made them look bad, sure, but that's because they were doing stupid shit. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	vicky_wayne 2009-05-31 11:57 am UTC (link)
	Paladin's reply to "What's your story?" will never stop making me laugh. I love a simple and honest yet completely absurd answer. (Reply to this) (Thread)

	perletwo 2009-05-31 12:20 pm UTC (link)
	Hardware's comeback to that was kind of nice too. "Green guy said he'd bust me up if I didn't help." I could stand to see more of those two bouncing lines off each other. (Reply to this) (Parent)