Wednesday, August 03, 2005

The JLA is still fun; you just have to know where to look.

Not many comics at all this week! Does that mean fewer fun comics? Let's find out, shall we?

JLU #12JUSTICE LEAGUE UNLIMITED #12: This comic is fun. Kids who don't know there was a Flash before Wally West (hey, haven't you kids read Crisis on Infinite Earths?) don't believe that Jay Garrick is the Flash. Wally West and Jay team up to stop the Mirror Master, learn from each other, and we all find out (even the obnoxious kid from page one) that two Flashes are better than one! That's about it, but it's bright and colorful and while it's one of the kids' DC comics, it's definitely not just for kids only! (And even me, a little stuffed bull, can tell you that!) If you're looking for a comic book with the fun and wonder and variety and excitement of the Silver Age DC Universe in a modern-day setting, only place you have to look is these comics based on the cool Cartoon Network show, where every DC Universe hero could possibly appear. (Even poor dead Blue Beetle!) In a day and age when the "real" JLA is getting their throats cut and murdering people, I'd much rather hang out with these guys, thankyouverymuch! That's why JLU #12 is the most fun comic of the week!

JSA #76JSA #76: This comic is not fun. I'm a big fan of Geoff Johns's recipe for a decent comic book: one part nostalgia, two parts continuity, a dash of drama and a big chunk o' Wildcat. The trouble with JSA this month is too many cooks and that the restaurant Johns is cooking for suddenly decided to stop serving...oh, shoot, that metaphor jus' isn't gonna work. Let's start again. The trouble with JSA this month is "Countdown to Infinite Crisis" and its "OMAC Project" tie-in. I'm jus' not interested in this miniseries and its spin-offs. Maybe I'll regret later on not leaping aboard what seems to be DC's big universe-recreating project this summer but everything I've peeked at about it is not fun: heroes getting murdered, heroes murdering, heroes not being very heroic anywhere you look. Ick. No thank you, Johnny DC! JSA's too tied into "OMAC Project" this month to be of interest to me (or even understandable). There's two nice pages in the whole book wrapping up the Atom-Smasher storyline: Al proves whatever he's done, he's a hero who takes responsibility for his actions, and Stargirl realizes it. But two pages does not a fun comic make.