J.L. Ay Yi Yi

I just finished reading the complete series of DC Comics' latest attempt at a Justice League International comic.  And, by complete, I mean Justice League International #1-12 and Annual #1, because the series has been cancelled.  With good reason.  It sucked.  

Gone are the days of 1987's classic Justice League International series as written by Keith Giffen and J. M. DeMatteis, with art by Kevin Maguire.  The new JLI in DC's New 52 boasted Booster Gold, Fire, Ice, Rocket Red, Guy Gardner, Vixen, August General in Iron, and Godiva.  It was a decent line-up and actually had a lot of countries/continents represented (USA, Brazil, Norway, Russia, Africa, China, and England).  Unfortunately, the stories were all too lame and didn't capture the spirit or comradery of the original series.  The new series failed to use this generous diverse group of characters properly.  There was no personalization, no character development, and no decent interaction between any of the teammates.

After OMAC's comic was canceled with issue #8, the pseudo-Hulk joined the team on their lame adventures and brought them down even further.  And did I mention Rocket Red is killed, while Fire, Ice, and Vixen are hospitalized, taking all of them out of commission for the remainder of the series? Way to win over the female fan base, DC.  Incapacitate all of the superheroines and bring in more males.


The best part of the whole series was at the very ending of Annual #1 when it was revealed (spoiler alert!) that Booster is too late to stop Superman and Wonder Woman from sharing a kiss, thereby affecting future events...

Now if only one single issue of this series could have been as intriguing and mysterious as this scene, they may have been able to survive cancellation.

The Return of Amethyst (but probably not for long)

DC Comics announced today four new series that will begin in Fall 2012.  One of them features the return of Amethyst, Princess of Gemworld (happy squeal!). 

When I was a teenager, I loved the 1983 twelve-issue maxi-series of Amethyst, followed by the sixteen-issue monthly series.  After Amethyst became this weird mystic and Lord of Order, though, Amethyst's subsequent appearances (and mini-series) were pretty lame.  She was no longer youthful and innocent.  She was just another other-worldly being.  She was at her best being this teenage girl who (like Billy Batson) became an adult superhero.  Her situation was different than Captain Marvel/Shazam's in that she only became Amethyst when she stepped into another dimension, the dimension of Gemworld with its twelve individually gem-themed kingdoms.

From DC's press release:

SWORD OF SORCERY – Writer: Christy Marx. Artist: Aaron Lopresti.
Featuring the return of Amethyst, Amy Winston leads a strange life on the road with her mother and resents it. She’s about to learn it’s all been necessary when she discovers she’s the lost princess of Gemworld—and she’s being hunted by her murderous aunt. With a back-up story written by Tony Bedard with art by Jesus Saiz, set in a post-apocalyptic wasteland, the monstrous warrior Beowulf is charged with finding and defeating the evil Grendel.

My first impression?  The comic's title sucks.  A good title is the first key to success.  I get that DC is trying to revive their old, old titles (and probably keep their copyrights), but this title alone will drive it into cancellation.  Example: the first Sword and Sorcery from 1973 only lasted five issues. 

Worse than that, there's a back-up story, which means the comic will most likely cost $3.99 instead of $2.99.  How many $3.99 comics out there survive today, other than X-Men or Batman-related titles?  

With all these obstacles stacked against her, DC isn't even giving Amethyst a fair chance to start.  I also hope they don't fuck up her origin/story like they have with so many other characters during this recent New 52 reboot.  I have too many fond memories of the Princess of Gemworld.