Building on what RavenProject said, this sounds very much like how the JLA was being handled during what many think of as the Glory days of Grant Morrison. And I’d add that I think that that was what made it possible for Morrison to write good ongoing stories. Other than his own 1,000,000 event, he really did not have to take into consideration what was happening in other books other than being sure that he had the present version (electric superman, for example) of the characters he was writing.
I love McDuffie’s writing style and how he handles the characters. It would be great to see him able to write his own complete storylines with a cast of his own choosing.
I don’t understand why DC seems to be undercutting the success of the book.

“Janissary” comes from a Turkish word meaning “New Troops” (think “fresh meat”), meaning young boys bought as slaves by the Bektashi order, to be enrolled in their ranks. The concept is closely bound up with sodomy, I’m afraid. Couldn’t DC have consulted one Turkish person about the name?

Space story where they team up with Adam Strange and Space Ghost.

A time travel story where Doc Savage and his Furious Five receive the assistance of Iron Munro and Justice League.

There’s probably a compromise to be found between “out of continuity” and “victimized by continuity.”

There’s nothing that says you can’t run a JLA story that takes place “within continuity” without being strictly concurrent with other stories taking place. The DCU is a big place, and even a year-long storyline (other than 52) tends to happen over just a few days story-time. There’s nothing to keep a JLA story from taking place during a gap in the timeline where all the requisite characters are available.

I sort of understand DC’s intent — they want to present a unified front with the DCU whenever possible. But that’s really hurting the League right now. They want the storyline version of the JLA to represent the premier superhero team, but behind the scenes it’s subsisting on crumbs and scraps left behind by other books… and that shows on the page.

-J

Flash (Barry Allen)
Black Canary
Zatanna
Vixen
Doctor Light
Captain Atom
Huntress or Manhunter
Plastic Man
Steel
Green Lantern (John Stewart)
Firestorm (Jason Rusch)
Zan & Jayna

Icon
Knight
Artemis
GL John Stewart
Lady Dr. Light
Firestorm II
Brainwave
Vixen
Dr. Fate

But yeah, Space Ghost in the DCU (for even a little while) would be pretty cool.

It would be nice to add Fire and Ice, since Checkmate doesn’t seem to be doing much, and I love the two of them.

If Batman could be in twelve different books AND the Justice League, then so can Booster. Ted is supposed to be alive…just hiding out, bring Blue and Gold back!

The Justice Society is just BRIMMING with characters, surely, they could lend a few to the Justice League. Like Obsidian, and Sandy, neither one of whom ever seem to get to do much. Throw in the Shade for good measure.

BTW, you take it out of continuity, and sales plummet. Superhero fans don’t want “out of continuity.”

But seriously, DC, you should crack that wonderful Showcase Presents JLA volume 4 you released a couple of months back. You might notice something about all those wonderful Denny O’Neil / Dick Dillin / Joe Giella issues: you need not read any other comic books to enjoy them. Until you figure out that potential readers don’t *want* to know or care about what happens in every single comic you publish, you’re not going to publish any good JLA books outside of the Showcase line.

But barring that, yeah, they should go for Blue Falcon and Dynomutt. They’d have to be more entertaining than just about anything DC’s crapping out lately.

With a vision like that, I’d have expected him to reconstruct not just the Magnificent Seven but the entire Satellite-Era team.

-J

Black Canary
GL John Stewart
Hawkman
Firestorm II
Zatanna
The Question
The Spectre

Now before anyone starts to condemn this lineup, here me out. You have five “classic” characters who have an extensive history with the Justice League in Black Canary, John Stewart, Hawkman, Firestorm II (replacing the original), and Zatanna. In addition, all of these characters hold a special place in many JLA fans’ hearts because of their memorable tenures on the team. So all these characters work, yes? If Hawkman is unavailable (as McDuffie has stated in the past) because of his membership on the JSA, simply give his spot to Zauriel. Zauriel is another character who has a history with the team, and he featured prominently in Grant Morrison’s famous JLA run. Still with me?

Now as far as the Question and the Spectre are concerned, these two characters would represent the seemingly mandatory Superman-Batman dynamic on the team. The Question (yes, the Renee Montoya version) would be a good fit as the Batman-type character, and a spot on the JLA would give her some much-needed recognition in the DCU. If the Question is unavilable because of her co-feature in Detective Comics, however, you can easily replace her with Huntress, another character with close ties to the Bat family. I think that would work too, although I’d much rather see the Question in the JLA.

Now I know I’ll have a much more difficult time explaining my rationale for having the Spectre on the team. First off, despite his near omnipotence, the Spirit of Vengeance is an extremely under-utilized character in the DCU, and I actually believe a spot on the JLA could work wonders with his popularity and prominence. Also, don’t forget that the Spectre was an original member of the Justice Society, so serving on a superhero team isn’t a completely ridiculous idea given the character’s background. Perhaps most importantly, the Spectre is certainly a more powerful entity than Superman, so he can definitely serve as the muscle of the JLA, even though his god-like might has been troublesome for writers in the past. At the same time, the best Spectre stories usually focus on the character’s humanity, and I really think McDuffie would benefit from writing such stories, especially if some JLA members continually question the Spectre’s membership status on the team.

Now by no means is this the ideal lineup for the Justice League. Not by a long shot. But given the situation in the DC Universe (and in the DC offices) at this time, I really think this lineup could work. It’s worth a shot…at least for the short run.

I do feel bad for Mr. McDuffie, I’m sure this experience will make him want to stay in animation for a long while.

Considering the restraints put on him, I think he has the best line-up you could put together. Even Connor Hawke is off the board, he’s over in GA & BC right now. In terms of power level, you’ve got a GL, Firestorm, and Zatanna on there, that’s not terrible. Heck, that would be overpowered in a Marvel book

The problem is he doesn’t really want to write these characters, which means the work suffers. That’s a shame because McDuffie does great superhero team stories.

I guess goes back to the article’s point, though. Guy is tied up with Blackest Night, Booster has his own book, Jaime is in Teen Titans, etc. Plus, Didio hates them.

That said, I would definitely read the “also rans” league. Any opportunity for more Steel.

You know what I’d love to see is a SECOND “Big Seven,” a bunch of also-rans hand-picked by the original Big Seven. The Huntress, Steel, Artemis, John Stewart, etc.