HUGE Justice Society of America fan here.So, why am I not reading it?
Can't really lie, neither JSofA or JSA All-Stars writers Bill Willingham or Matt Sturges are clicking with me. There's still time for them to wow me but my wallet just isn't large enough anymore for that particular grace to happen.
I've collected JSA in nearly its every modern incarnation from All-Star Squadron to the Strazewski/Parobeck Justice Society of America to the Geoff Johns era JSA and after years of waiting and wanting, The JSofA is franchised out in order to give us The All-Stars and...
It all feels a bit *meh.*
I like my JSA on the same page, literally and figuratively. I don't particulary like having my favorite characters not interacting because of a generational/attitudinal rift.
I'm all for storytelling but in my mind, certain characters are there to do certain things. The JSA is there to show others how to work through things and get the job done. The division that brought about the JSA All-Stars' creation just doesn't feel very "JSA."
It's simple, really. Really simple.
I like my Stargirl fighting alongside Wildcat, not against.
That's just how I like to see the JSA.
United.
Not to raise the red flag of fanboy entitlement but in dividing them, DC lost a chance at getting into my wallet, twice.
It's cool. I know I'll be back, eventually.
Are there any books out there you really want to read but for one reason or another, you can't bring yourself to do it?
9 comments:
Thank you! I agree completely! I get that Willingham and Sturges want to leave their own stamp on the book. But I don't think coming in and immediately turning the team against one another is the way to do it. The book's whole appeal is teamwork - joyful teamwork - spanning the generations.
I am so glad that Marvel is rebooting the Avengers, once the whole New Avengers/Mighty Avengers/Dark Avengers/Initiative Avengers started up, I just got completely fed up. I thought the Avengers would be completely homogenized, but then I see they are also coming out with Secret Avengers, which just sounds dirty. I hope its like an X-Factor-like take on Avengers which won't have much effect on the main team.
Blackest Night (I decided to trade wait and the anticipation is killing me), all the Superman books (James Robinson is just not a very good writer, and he's spoiling the entire Superman line for me), everything Keiron Gillen and Jonathan Hickman are doing at Marvel because I rrreeeally don't care about Thor or the FF and SHIELD and Secret Warriors seem waaay too tied into the main crux of the Marvel U which I'm not following.
Devon totally nails it on JSA. I've followed Willingham since he was writing modules for Villains & Vigilantes-and while he's capable-he's also always been very cynical. JSA isn't about being cynical-its about hope and the positive parts of superheroes. So, meh until they run that well dry and someone else does it.
I never read the Bendis Avengers-I was too outraged at what happened. But after a few years I went back-and I liked it. That said, on the whole, Bendis is a much better writer then Willingham.
Hickman's doing some good stuff with FF and all the Secret Warriors stuff. and while I admit Robinson's work with Superman isn't my favorite-I don't think its awful. Personally, I think he's a very talented writer and has done some very memorable things-including the early issues of the JSA reboot, but even Alan Moore doesn't hit every ball out of the park.
I would love to see Robinson or Tomasi on JSA. Give Willingham & Sturges the Outsiders or some book nobody cares about....I don't see how they could make Outsiders anyworse then what Didio will do to it...
Plus, god please get rid of Magog as a "super hero". He was okay with Kingdom Come because he was the stereotyped 90s hero as villain. Playing him as the star is like trying to blood out of a turnip.
@ Chris
The whole "Rise of Magog" thing is just so stupid.
It's DC basically going, you liked Gog back in 1996, right?
Well, he's back and better than ever in the pages of his own mag!
Magog is the comics equivalent of the fruitcake.
Just because you saw me nibbling at it once doesn't mean I need it jammed down my gullet.
have you seen John Siuntres' recent post on "What's up with the JSA"??
I think you are going to hit lightning with this one....
I mean, the first issue of Willingham's JSA had some guy in a flag costume stab Mr. Terrific in the back. And isn't Terrific dead now or something?? Whether he did that deliberately or not to get a reaction-that's NOT what I buy JSA for.
Magog served his purpose in Kingdom Come. DC should let him be.
Just read it.
Echoes alot of what I feel on the JSA split.
I just feel that certain writers shine on their own projects. Willingham's Fables is a personal work of his so he's entirely invested in it.
With something such as JSA, no matter how much one may say they love it, they will never be as invested in it as their own works.
Another great post. I'd like to see a post that tackles the opposite question: what books do you think you'd never read and now love?
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