The Languishing League
Okay, I read a lot of comics each week. And a lot of them are great. Some of them are not. One of the not great ones has been, for a while at least, Justice League of America. I keep reading it because there is some good meat in there, but honestly, the constant changes to the DC status quo are ruining this book.
McDuffie is not a bad writer. There are a lot of people who say otherwise, but he's really not. He gets these characters in a way few do, and he writes some excellent bits of dialogue to prove it. The problem is not McDuffie. For a while now, he's been telling this story about Black Canary leading the League, and no one respecting her leadership. This is a solid foundation for a story. Dinah is a good leader and an interesting focal point of a team book. There was an amazing issue where she confronted Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman in their secret meeting room about her status as team leader. There was a good issue where she slapped some sense into Wally about his constant absence from the League. McDuffie was clearly going somewhere with this. But in between all of this, we get the Salvation Run tie-in, which ruined two issues and the Vixen tie-in which ruined another two. Keep in mind that this has already set his story back by 1/3 of a year. Now, suddenly, as we're finally getting back on track, Hal Jordan is forming his own Justice League? Now, McDuffie has to write a bunch of exits for characters I'm sure he'd rather have kept around. I sort of understand Hal's motivation, and he hasn't been important to the League in a while, so that's fine. Of course, Green Arrow is going to follow Hal, given their history. Superman is on New Krypton, fine, whatever. I'll even give you Red Arrow, he's got some personal shit. But Wally? The fucking Flash? If you look halfway up this paragraph, you'll notice that I referenced an issue where they got Wally back onto the team, FOR REAL THIS TIME. Guess what? Eh, it's not working out. He has to be with the Titans. Nevermind the fact that he could go from the JLA satellite to San Diego and back a dozen times in the time it took me to write this sentence. Goddammit, DC.
All right, I'm sick of this rant already. My only point is this: how can DC expect JLA to be one of its cornerstone books if they keep taking everyone from it whenever they fucking feel like it? What writer can possibly tell a coherent team story if they're forced to shuffle their lineup every two months and participate in every tiny event? Is McDuffie masochistic or does he just need money that badly? These are questions that will probably never be answered, and that's truly unfortunate. I love the Justice League.
P.S. - What was up with Davis' pencils in the latest issue? They're really solid for the entire issue, then the last page is just ass.
McDuffie is not a bad writer. There are a lot of people who say otherwise, but he's really not. He gets these characters in a way few do, and he writes some excellent bits of dialogue to prove it. The problem is not McDuffie. For a while now, he's been telling this story about Black Canary leading the League, and no one respecting her leadership. This is a solid foundation for a story. Dinah is a good leader and an interesting focal point of a team book. There was an amazing issue where she confronted Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman in their secret meeting room about her status as team leader. There was a good issue where she slapped some sense into Wally about his constant absence from the League. McDuffie was clearly going somewhere with this. But in between all of this, we get the Salvation Run tie-in, which ruined two issues and the Vixen tie-in which ruined another two. Keep in mind that this has already set his story back by 1/3 of a year. Now, suddenly, as we're finally getting back on track, Hal Jordan is forming his own Justice League? Now, McDuffie has to write a bunch of exits for characters I'm sure he'd rather have kept around. I sort of understand Hal's motivation, and he hasn't been important to the League in a while, so that's fine. Of course, Green Arrow is going to follow Hal, given their history. Superman is on New Krypton, fine, whatever. I'll even give you Red Arrow, he's got some personal shit. But Wally? The fucking Flash? If you look halfway up this paragraph, you'll notice that I referenced an issue where they got Wally back onto the team, FOR REAL THIS TIME. Guess what? Eh, it's not working out. He has to be with the Titans. Nevermind the fact that he could go from the JLA satellite to San Diego and back a dozen times in the time it took me to write this sentence. Goddammit, DC.
All right, I'm sick of this rant already. My only point is this: how can DC expect JLA to be one of its cornerstone books if they keep taking everyone from it whenever they fucking feel like it? What writer can possibly tell a coherent team story if they're forced to shuffle their lineup every two months and participate in every tiny event? Is McDuffie masochistic or does he just need money that badly? These are questions that will probably never be answered, and that's truly unfortunate. I love the Justice League.
P.S. - What was up with Davis' pencils in the latest issue? They're really solid for the entire issue, then the last page is just ass.