*Updated on December 27*
DC bigwig Dan DiDio told Newsarama in his 20 Questions feature today that “The ’80s JLA group is going to be back, and be back with a vengeance, in 2010,” and it got me thinking that maybe a handful of recent comments and announcements add up to something–that something being the reformation of the Justice League International, a development I’ve been expecting since DC announced that there would be two Titans titles and two JSA titles but that the JLA, their tentpole franchise, wouldn’t have the same treatment.
So what’s happened lately that might play into this? Characters like Blue Beetle, Superboy and Kid Flash/Impulse, who have been written with a humorous aspect in the past, have been freed up lately. Also free of obligations right now is Wally West, who served on the Justice League Europe for a while. You’ve also got DiDio trumpeting a “new direction” for Booster Gold in 2010, both as a character and as a title (complete with creative changes). When he announced the jettisoning of Jaime Reyes’ second feature in Booster Gold, DiDio told CBR that the character would be seen as a regular in another title soon, but that he wouldn’t be featured as either the headliner, or the second feature. Of the existing DC Universe teams, the only one that would really make sense for Blue Beetle III to be on is the Teen Titans–of which he’s already a member. Recent comments by Geoff Johns suggest that Martian Manhunter’s life as a character may not end as a Black Lantern–and when I think of his being back I wonder about Aquaman–another character who seems, based on February’s Brave and the Bold solicitation, to be back among the living after Blackest Night.
There was, a couple of years ago, a panel in Booster Gold that depicted a reformed JLI as having played a role in Final Crisis. The story hasn’t yet come to fruition, but it did depict Aquaman on the team and wearing his blue-camo suit. Although it was very short-lived when he wore it in the early ’90s (I think), he does appear dressed that way in a new toy available at KMart. Do the marketing folks know something we don’t?
Not conclusive, I grant you, but all of that tends to suggest that some or all of these characters could be headed in the same direction. Add to that famed JLI artist Kevin Maguire’s recent departure from Doom Patrol’s Metal Men backup–the co-feature was ended when, DiDio said, Maguire had to leave for “another project” and they decided it would be best not to try and go on without him. What project could he be working on? UPDATE: Not this one, apparently. When questioned via e-mail, Maguire responded that he had no idea whether or not a project like this was in the works. “This is the first I’m hearing of Dan’s comment,” the veteran penciller told us. “Whatever’s going on doesn’t involve me.”
To me, if even half of these announcements are connected, they suggest a JLI mini-, maxi- or ongoing series starting in late spring 2010. What say you, ‘Rama readers?
December 24th, 2009 at 11:54 am
An interesting idea, but the upcoming Brave and the Bold Aquaman story actually takes place in the past which may take the King of the Seven Seas out of your equation. I’m also not sure if any of this would jive with James Robinson’s revival of the Justice League line-up in his latest mini-series Cry for Justice. Then again, when was the last time DC had a cohesive idea that connected the dots from point a to point b?
December 24th, 2009 at 12:12 pm
If this is true, I will take back all the bad things I have thought about DC over the last month! If they do this and create JLA Earth One (which at this point seems to be the only way there is going to be “Big Seven” JLA) and the DC Doom and Gloom will be a thing of the past.
December 24th, 2009 at 12:17 pm
Oh my this would be wonderful news.
I haven’t picked up the new collections of that series/era, but from everything I hear they did well, as did the 2 “Justice Buddies” stories from the past few years.
On the DCU forums though, there is a generally accepted notion that Didio hates the JLI.
December 24th, 2009 at 2:07 pm
I just want Jaime Reyes back – he’s my current favorite DC hero; I love Jaime and his family and friends – especially his no-nonsense/kick-butt Mom (she’s the kind of mother I hope I am to my sons).
December 24th, 2009 at 5:13 pm
I am really hoping that Jaime sticks with the titans and we get Ted Kord in this series.
December 24th, 2009 at 8:22 pm
Yeah. You see the survivors of that day – Wally, Booster, Fire, Guy and so on – taking on the greater maturity and responsibility, and the new guys moving up – Jaime, Bart and so forth…
This is a gathering of characters that could work.
December 24th, 2009 at 11:00 pm
I’m really not sure what to think of this. If the JLI did return in some form does that mean that the same writer(s) would take over Booster Gold too? What about his TM job? Or having to remain unknown?
December 24th, 2009 at 11:46 pm
I…I don’t want to get my hopes up, but I really want to see this happen. It’s got the potential to be ridiculously awesome.
December 25th, 2009 at 12:53 am
If DC is going to continually bring back old titles and characters, then I will be glad to see JLI and Ted Kord return. I’m all for moving forward and letting the dead stay dead, but if they are going to keep bringing characters back, it would be nice to have a character I actually like back(Ted). 1984-1992 is my favorite years for comics. Almost all of my favorite books and characters seem to come from that period.
December 25th, 2009 at 1:37 am
I’d like to see a JLI with a touch of the camaraderie and fun of the original, but not be silly. I just don’t want them to resort to the ridiculous, slap stick the title seemed to devolve into after a while.
Team members I’d like to see:
Booster Gold
Blue Beetle(Ted)
Capt. Atom
Guy
Fire
Ice
Animal Man
Flash (Wally since Barry will likely be taking a place in the JLA)
Mary Marvel &/or Supergirl
Blue Devil
Nightwing/Batman(Dick)
Mon-el, since Superboy will likely be in Teen Titans.
I’d honestly like to have Powergirl on the team but I don’t see her leaving the JSA.
As often as the JLA has disbanded and had major member rotation over the past few years I think that people of the DCU would have little confidence in them. The perfect time for a little competition, in steps the JLI.
I think the market can not only support, but needs three Justice titles. JSA needs to stay the old-timers training the kids, more of a legacy team. The JLA needs to stay the “Big Guns” of the DCU. The JLI should be the DCU equivalent of the JLU, made up of a core group of fan favs who are popular, but not necessarily as popular as Superman or Batman. Such as the characters I put on my list.
Besides the core group, other heroes in the DCU that aren’t JLA material should have a rotation in the JLI. Basically I think the JLI should be the heroes who are sick of not being “good enough” for the JLA, deciding to revive the more inclusive league.
The great thing about a global Justice League with multiple embassies, with teams in each embassy is that you can leave the core group alone for multiple issues to cover a story about another team in another country without having to explain why. This give creative teams the chance to try out new characters and not get burned out doing the same ones every month. There is no need for a shake up in the team roster because the team roster changes in every embassy. Plus it expands the DCU. It is a big world, so to speak, but it only seems to revolve around a select few characters most of the time.
December 26th, 2009 at 4:24 pm
I see the comments section soon devolving into posts suggesting what lineup should be used. Uh oh.
Anyway, the blue camo Aquaman was the 80s. Owned the mini. Thought the redesign made a lot of sense, just wasn’t iconic enough to overtake the old.
December 27th, 2009 at 12:50 am
Oh my god. If this is true. . . I’m going to second Danielle; this would be wonderful.
December 27th, 2009 at 3:46 pm
Thanks for clarifying that, Hux! I’ve never been a huge Aquaman fan, having only really read him during the David/Jurgens run.
December 27th, 2009 at 3:52 pm
There are a few errors in the article.
Superboy and Kid Flash may not be freed up. Kid Flash was explicitly confirmed by Didio to be coming back to the Teen Titans, and Superboy is shown battling Holocaust on the cover of the March issue of TT.
Also, B&B is soft canon. The stories are canon, but they happen at various points in DC history. Just because Aquaman is appearing there, that doesn’t mean he is coming back.
December 27th, 2009 at 4:02 pm
In addition to Jaime losing his back up feature but Didio promising we’ll see him around, Black Canary and Captain Atom got the same response when their back ups were dropped at the same time. Both of them were also JLI members. You might be on to something here.
Jaime Reyes, Booster Gold, Wally West, Black Canary, Captain Atom, Guy Gardner, Fire, and Ice and whoever comes back from the dead after this Black Lantern mess.
If Maguire does not know about this, then Giffen may not as well though. Gail Simone is the only person that I can think of to take over the reigns in their place, and her art partner Nicola Scott does expressions second only to Maguire.
December 27th, 2009 at 4:03 pm
If the brought this team back I would be stoked. JLA has sucked since the relaunch.
December 27th, 2009 at 4:05 pm
@Danny – In terms of character being “freed up,” anyone who doesn’t have a monthly comic that expressly takes them out of circulation (ie, into space, dead, or some other huge, status quo-changing event going on) is considered free for use in a team book, as far as I’m concerned. And while B&B may not be a definitive indicator of much, I did say it “seems” a good likelihood he’ll be back–which frankly I think most of us expected before BN started to begin with.
December 27th, 2009 at 4:08 pm
Isn’t the Justice League supposed to get a second title in the form of the rumored Johns/Lee book, featuring a more iconic line-up than Robinson’s?
December 27th, 2009 at 4:16 pm
JLI was my first real ‘must buy’ comic in the 80’s so to get something of that back regularly would be awesome.
It would be a bit tired to see the same gang come together again as they’ve gone through a lot since then and aren’t the fresh, underused characters they used to be.
Maybe they could come back as the JSI with the Booster, Guy et al taking on mentoring roles to younger heroes because the JSA won’t take them. That in itself would be a constant source of humour and inferiority.
I think that the landscape of comics has changed so much that the JLI take on a superhero team has much copied since. I’m not sure it could sustain an ongoing but it would definitely be worth a short, well defined mini series of 4-6 issues. Better to have few issues of quality than a years worth of inconsistency.
December 27th, 2009 at 4:31 pm
i would love the idea of a another jl team to be true but other then martian manhunter living again and guy gardner busy with blackest night plus some of the orginal members of such an incarnation either dead or like shazam off limits. do not see jli returning. though like the idea of a blue beetle on one of the other big gun teams.
December 27th, 2009 at 5:33 pm
But would DC “double dip” the characters by putting them into multiple team books at the same time? Because I can’t see them getting taken out of the Titans so soon, esepcially since they haven’t even “officially” rejoined.
December 27th, 2009 at 5:38 pm
Another re-hash. DC (and Marvel as well) should move FORWARD with their characters. I stopped reading DCU stuff ever since Hal Jordan became GL again. Same old, same old, and I could care less about DC bringing back the silly old JLI. Move forward and do something new and modern. No wonder its mostly old-timers that are reading comics these days.
December 27th, 2009 at 5:39 pm
Would love the JLI back, but not with that title – unless it were to actually have a true international line-up. How about Knight and/or Squire thrown into the mix, along with a player or two from each continent, minus Antarctica?
December 27th, 2009 at 6:37 pm
This book has been rumored for a while: I’d say johns with Reis or another big named artist like lee on a 2nd jla book. The roster will look like this
Supes and WW on rotation
Wally
Ice
New BB
Booster
Martian manhunter
Aqua character
Guy or john
Maybe fire
Firestorm (Jason n ronnie)
Maybe new atom
Black canary
Maybe red star or Russian red
December 27th, 2009 at 7:29 pm
Dan Didio also announced earlier that in 2010 DC would be adding a Canadian superhero to its roster… maybe JLI is where it’s headed.
December 27th, 2009 at 7:31 pm
Another maxi-series under 12 issues? No thanks DC. So how long..5 isues? 6 issues?
Marvel canned Doctor Voodoo after only 5 issues. I know its not an all-time world record but it makes the mark for least 2009.
December 27th, 2009 at 7:34 pm
I’m with you Darkstar. I got into comics during Morrison’s X-men run, JMS’s spiderman run, when kyle was the GL, Hal was Paralax, Barry died a hero and Wally a sidekick shined as bright as his mentor. Time had passed and characters had died and been left dead as other grew up. How can anyone like all this rehashing? We now have the same JLA as decades ago. There is no real difference between this age and the one your grandparents read. Does anyone find this sad?
December 27th, 2009 at 8:06 pm
@abstrakt – It’s something I bemoan all the time; I, also, read comics in the much-reviled (by DC and Marvel) 1990s and many or most of my favorite stories have now been retconned. That said, GL has sold and, in the last fifty issues, Johns has been really great in about 35 or so of them. Given the rarity of achieving both critical and sales success on the same title, it’s no wonder they’re trying to mimic that success.
December 27th, 2009 at 8:28 pm
I am not even interested. The characters that made the book for me are long gone (Crimson Fox and Ralph Dibny are now deceased) and Power Girl is with the JSA. This has to be the statement from DiDio regarding taking an idea with several displaced DCU heroes and throwing that out in favor of returning a beloved displaced team instead. When I saw JLI, I knew right then what would be going on. DC don’t keep rehashing the past, no matter what, to please your readers, they will burn out on the concept quick.
December 27th, 2009 at 9:25 pm
I think DC has more than proven over the past year, that the DCU is more than big enough to handle the original characters as well as accommodate the newer ones. In fact, I’d say that the quality of the DCU has only been enhanced by having the old guard and the new blood coexisting. So, I’m all for this.
And for those of you who came in during the nineties, I understand what you’re saying. It sucks when your favorite character is displaced. We know. It’s how we felt when our guys got replaced by your guys. But look at the bright side, your guys are still going, they just share the spotlight with the returning guys. Our guys were killed and/or villainized for 20 years, so you’re still coming out ahead. So buck up and make the best of it.
December 27th, 2009 at 10:30 pm
well it’s not even that. The thing is I really only read comics for about a few years before the mass retcons started. I have zero nostalgia and read nothing and actually hate the idea of nostalgia in comics. I actually feel it hurts the industry. I also had no problem with Bart becoming Flash and Wally retiring. It’s about progress, moving forward. All these changes are retreads and shows to everyone that there is no change, no growth no progress in these comics soooo why read them in any continuous manner?
I’d gladly have my favorite character displaced to progress the stories and give a new generation their own character but that is not what is happening. I also know there will be major problems once johns is off many of these books. There was a reason why Hal had so many replacements and a reason why Barry died.
December 27th, 2009 at 11:04 pm
Sebastian,
As someone who mostly started with DC in 1986 (it sounded like a good jumping-on point), then many of those characters are NOT “still going”. Byrne’s Superman is gone and most of the supporting cast was changed/reimagined. The WW that Gail Simone is writing about is a completely different character from the one who had been in the DCU starting with Perez. I’m quite happy with GL & GLC because it does seem like they’re the same characters that they were before. But quite often DC has changed, or killed, or made comments to ensure that the readers knew that the current characters were no longer the same versions as the ones that had been previously published.
DC is more than entitled to do whatever they want, but I am also more than entitled to my opinion and to spend my money as I wish. If they don’t want my money then that’s their right. I’ll make the best of it by sitting some of these titles out while I continue to watch their monthly sales plummet .
December 27th, 2009 at 11:27 pm
I agree here, that going back to the well over and over just gives readers the sense that there’s no forward motion being made, and that no matter what happens there’ll never be true change.
That said, I’d buy a JLI ongoing until the day it was canceled.
December 28th, 2009 at 3:40 am
Personally I don’t see a potential second JLI run as retrending the same ground if it has the right writer. Would it really have to be just about jokes? If Booster and Jaime were in it there would already be a good chance for serious and heartfelt stories. Jaime would have to constantly be reminded of the Blue Beetle legacy if he’s around Ted’s friends. Booster would have to balance his TIme Master duties with another team and try to keep it a secret. What would the others make of that? Or Fire having ties to checkmate? A lot has changed since those JLI days.
December 28th, 2009 at 9:08 am
I think this would be awesome. I think the landscape is clear for a reunited team including Booster, Beetle, Martian Manhunter, Mr Miracle, Batwoman(?)
http://runagat-rampant.deviantart.com/art/Justice-League-Reunion-color-53852108
December 28th, 2009 at 10:20 am
I would love, love, LOVE to see a new team book featuring surviving JLI members, and anyone who comes out of Blackest Night back from the dead. These were my introductory characters to the DCU proper, and they are, as a group or individually, my favorite DC characters.
But… two things. First, Didio said the 80s JLA. Reading the latest issues of the current Justice League, I’m seeing a lot of Detroit era Leaguers in play. Vixen has been a member of this JLA for a while, Gypsy is about due for someone to try to make her interesting (I almost said “interesting again,” but I caught myself!), and they’re really playing up the Black Lantern Detroiters. So it’s just as likely that these are the 80s characters who will be getting a new book.
As for Jaime Reyes, you wrote: “Of the existing DC Universe teams, the only one that would really make sense for Blue Beetle III to be on is the Teen Titans–of which he’s already a member.” Actually, I could see him easily moved to the JSA All-Stars book. It’s being written by Sturges, who wrote the last arc or two of Jaime’s book, and the Booster Gold backup feature. He seems to really enjoy the character, so I could see him wanting him there. Plus, Blue Beetle I was a Golden Age character (more or less) and Jaime a legacy to him as much as to Ted. Moreso, really, since Jaime uses the scarab and Ted never did. And there are a lot of young heroes on the team that would be peers to Jaime, just like in the Titans. Whether there is a JLI revival or not, I really expect to see Jaime in the new JSA book.
Now, don’t get me wrong. I will take my JLI characters wherever I can get them. I just can let myself get too optimistic about this.
December 28th, 2009 at 11:05 am
I’m with Robt.: I think the “80s JLA” refers to the Detroit era team. Didio did say JLA, not JLI.
December 28th, 2009 at 11:39 am
Actually, Gordon, he did say Justice League.
December 28th, 2009 at 12:52 pm
WOW, I hope this is the case. I LOOOOOVE the JLI. It would be hard to not see them withought Blue Beetle and Mister Miracle though. Ted, Booster, and Scott Free were so awesome together!
-the Aquaman blue camo suit appeared in a 4 issue mini 1984-1985ish. Though it was used by the villain Thanatos in early Peter David’s Aquaman run. Aquaman was also never used in the ‘true’ JLI. He did join the Justice League Europe, but that was after Giffen/DeMatteis left.
-Dan Didio mentioned quite a few times last year that 2010 will bring out a book featuring alot of the current legacy characters that are not in the spotlight now. (Kyle Rayner and Conner Hawke were named).
-I forgot abou that JLI panel in Booster Gold. If I remember right it had camo-Aquaman, Batman, Fire, Ice, Guy and Booster?!?!
-who REALLY doesn’t beleive that some of the bigger characters who are Black Lanterns WON’T be brought back after BN?!?! C’MON!!! Aquaman, the Hawks, Firestorm, Martian MAnhunter are locks! Tempest, Terra, Hawk look good for resurrections as well.
December 28th, 2009 at 1:05 pm
Also would like to add….
Just watched the tape. dan is indeed talking about the JL,JLI,JLA,JLE guys and NOT the Detroit league.
Quote: There has been alot of discussion as to whether the 80’s JLA group has had a target on their backs. Uh I’m happy to tell you Bifford, that the 80’s JLA group is going to be back, and uh be back with a vengeance : UNQUOTE
Now the Detroit league was decimated 25 yrs ago leading to the launch of the JL/JLI/JLA/JLE era.
Dan Didio has taken ALOT of flack over the past few yrs at DC’s treatment of beloved Leaguers from that time. And he has been accused repeatedly that he hates them. Since Dan has been in charge of DC Blue Beetle, Martian MAnhunter, Batman (heh), Mr. Miracle, Big Barda, Elongated Man, Rocket Red, Sue Dibney, and Booster Gold were all killed (in Booster’s case it was faked). Captain Atom became teh evil Monarch and Fire joined Checkmate and became a little bit meaner. From those times, only Black Canary, and Captain Marvel havn’t been shown disrespect (though in Batman’s case his death had nothing to do with JLI ‘hate’).
Dr. Fate and Ice were disposed of years ago and Ice was resurrected recently and we got a new Dr. Fate as well
December 28th, 2009 at 1:07 pm
Forgot to mention Guy Gardner is fine as well. (no edit button?)
December 28th, 2009 at 1:14 pm
The JLI was the greatest superteam ever, and the idea of bringing them back is so laden with potential it’s ridiculous. My suspicion, however, is that Editorial would prefer to ape Marvel’s success with the Avengers by having a “real JLA” and a “street JLA” – aka the Detroit team.
December 28th, 2009 at 1:21 pm
I disagree with most of you but Robt and Gordon have the right track, I think Dido meant even before the Detroit league. I think by 80s he meant late 70s/80s era. Ie:
Superman
Wonder Woman
Batman
Flash (Barry)
Green Lantern (Hal)
Hawkman
Hawkgirl
Zatanna
Firestorm
Elongated Man
Aquaman
Green Arrow
Black Canary
Atom (Ray)
Red Tornado
Now I realize some of these are dead, but I’m pretty sure, some will be coming back after Blackest night (for instance how will you keep Hawkman dead, if the rumored movie about him gets developed). We may have a satelite era League coming back, which would be pretty sweet. I’m certainly not opposed to a JLI league as I thought it was fun and funny, but I just don’t think its a sustainable idea anymore. I loved it for what it was and would love to see reunions from time to time. Feel free to disagree, I’m just speculating.
December 28th, 2009 at 1:25 pm
Bring it on!
December 28th, 2009 at 1:50 pm
Oh, no, I really DO get it. I wasn’t trying to instigate anything. I’m just saying, at point or another, or we’re all where you are…watching the characters we grew up with getting the short end of the stick.
I disagree about the lack of forward momentum in bringing back the old guard. Both the old and new characters can move forward. Look at the GLC right now, HAL, GUY, KYLE, and this month JOHN STEWART are all moving and growing along with the rest of the Corps. We don’t have that “I’M The ONE true GL” bickering going on. And Alan Scott is doing his thing in JSA. Several generations of GLs all getting to shine, and still room for the rest of the alien members of the Corps.
I think REPLACING characters (new or old) is bad, but having them all up and running just adds to the diversity of the DCU. I’m thrilled to see the new FLASH family, I like having two Wild Cats.
December 28th, 2009 at 2:03 pm
Gordon: Didio was talking about the JL that like the Titans are supposed to have a target on their backs recently. I’m pretty sure that was the Griffin league since the Detroit era hasn’t been killed off in the past few years. And if you want to be technical about it the group went back to being called the JLA later on.
December 28th, 2009 at 2:31 pm
I don’t know…Dan could be talking about the Detroit JLA, sure, but if you look at other interviews he’s given recently, including the earlier parts of this one, he talks about characters like Captain Atom and Animal Man having “new homes” or “appearing regularly” in the new year. Add to that things like Canary disappearing from her shared book with Green Arrow, Wally getting booted out of the Flash backup series, the “new direction” of Booster Gold, the bolstering of Fire and the return of Ice (and their surprisingly prominent appearances in recent Blackest Night issues), James Robinson’s comments about Blue Jay having a “big year,” the re-restructuring of the Captain Marvel/Shazam mythos, and the possible return of J’onn and even Ted…that screams a JLI reunion a lot more to me than Gypsy and Vixen confronting Vibe and Steel (who already has a replacement out there) in three issues of Robinson’s book.
Fingers crossed, the JLI lineup will be back and treated with some respect. And done as a good superhero book with some funny elements, not the bwah hah hah sitcom stuff which, while I loved it back in the 80s, kinda tarnished the heroes when the next wave of writers and editors came.
December 28th, 2009 at 2:48 pm
I think they should have two Justice League titles. One could be the Justice League of America with the satellite era team and one could be Justice League Unlimited with basically anyone else.
December 28th, 2009 at 2:51 pm
A plot beat that’s been largely abandoned, but that might get some exploration in a book like this? Booster and Fire’s tentative romantic chemistry in the OMAC Project mini. Particularly hinky since she’s now a part of the organization that killed Ted.
December 28th, 2009 at 3:30 pm
There is only one response,
Bawwww Haaaa Haaw.
Long Live the JLI,
P.S. does anyone know where the embassy in san diego is?
December 28th, 2009 at 6:25 pm
Russ: Fire/Booster in Omac Project? I really didn’t see it as that since they weren’t close in the mini until Red Rocket died, it looked like Fire was serious injured and Booster was leaving for good. But then again no one brings up her dating Guy Gardner, a relationship which was never mentioned after Warrior ended. If the Checkmate angle was used then J’onns’ part in it could come up too.
December 28th, 2009 at 7:52 pm
@Erin – NOTHING in Warrior has been followed up since the title ended. I loved that title and it bothers me.
@Junior JSA – I’m going to guess it’s underwater someplace, right?
December 28th, 2009 at 8:04 pm
How AWESOME would it be if the Johns/ Lee book was JLI?
December 28th, 2009 at 10:18 pm
Johns?… Lee?… For JLI… Not so awesome… Maguire/DeMatteis/Giffen THAT’S A EPIC WIN
December 29th, 2009 at 12:51 am
Russ: Which is a shame because that’s a situation that could be developed with them and Ice.
AccidentaL: Given how Johns worked with Katz and Jurgens on Booster Gold I trust him with the characters. I was less than thrilled with the minis Dematteis/Griffen wrote. And I thought Griffen said those minis were the last time he was working on those characters?
December 29th, 2009 at 2:53 am
Russ, you and me both on Warrior. But I know I ate up everything DC put out back then and sometimes, upon looking back, realize my taste was a bit suspect. As much as I enjoyed it, man, was some of what they did with the character stretching it beyond recommended lengths.
And I’d very likely be purchasing a JLI until cancellation right there with you, if it had the same kind of approach as the old. Not saying I couldn’t dig a different approach, but I wouldn’t commit “until cancellation” sight unseen.
December 29th, 2009 at 9:32 am
I wouldn’t mind seeing Johns on a title like this. He’s done some good work on some “lighter” stuff in the past, like Stars and S.T.R.I.P.E. and his too-brief run on Booster Gold. After Blackest Night, I’m sure he’d like to get out of the dark for a little while.
That said, if it’s not Giffen/DeMatteis/Maguire then Simone/Scott would have to be a close runner up.
December 29th, 2009 at 1:02 pm
I couldn’t dig Johns and Lee on a title like this because, frankly, they’d never finish anything on time and the book would vanish into thin air after eight issues. It could start as an ongoing, and then when Johns found something more high-profile and Lee stopped drawing altogether because he was three years late, DC would quietly cancel the thing. I don’t like speculating on lineups or creative teams for series, though, unless I see something really clear, which was why I was struck by the sudden, apparent availability of Giffen, DeMatteis and Maguire. Given that Maguire’s not involved, it would be interesting to see who they’d get to replace him, assuming that any of the previous players are involved. I could see Jurgens (who took the writing and art duties over on JLA and Giffen and DeMatteis left, I think) doing pretty well with the art chores.
December 29th, 2009 at 2:16 pm
Jaime must be jettisoned or placed into mothballs. I can tell you my two tween boys HATE the character with a passion. This was reinforced with the character’s depiction in Brave and the Bold (TV Series). I can take or leave it (like I said my kids want him dead), but I think Ted Kord was a much more interesting character.
So, bring back Ted Kord and do something with Jaime – something like how Kyle Rayner was back-burnered for Hal Jordan.
December 30th, 2009 at 12:01 am
@Jake
That’s funny because my brother and I find that Jaime Reyes is infinitely more interesting than Ted Cord. He lives in a place not usual for a superhero (El Paso) and is a younger hero.
Plus John Rogers Blue Beetle series was far superior to the Ted Cord series in the eighties.