posted December 13, 2002 09:11 AM               

"Yes, there's a JLA Archives coming in 2003 as we cover issues #61-70 with an intro by Denny O'Neil, as he waxes nostalgic on taking over from Gardner Fox."

Excellent news!

This will finally finish off the Gardner Fox run, including his last JLA/JSA team-up. That has the intro. of the android Red Tornado. This also finishes off Mike Sekowsky's run, with a return appearance of the Key.

The beginning of Denny O'Neil's run was a bit shaky IMO, but historically speaking at least 1 landmark event will be included - the resignation of the newly de-powered Wonder Woman.

And the last story features a truly bizarre run-in with Steve Ditko's then new creation, the Creeper.

I know DStepp was hoping they'd end this volume with #71 - the departure of the Martian Manhunter. This also would have set up future volumes a bit better, but I guess they'll deal with those early Friedrich stories in a couple of years.

posted December 13, 2002 10:16 AM            

quote:

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Originally posted by Carsda:
did he tell you this in a personal email? regardless, if true, it's great news. it seems like forever since vol. 7.

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posted December 13, 2002 12:48 PM               

O'Neil-through-Wein is my FAVOURITE era of JLA EVER (after Steve Englehart's!).

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Rock a little,

posted December 13, 2002 02:17 PM               

Bring it on, DC!

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Rock a little,

posted December 13, 2002 03:19 PM            

quote:

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Originally posted by Steven Utley:
...Once Greene departed and Joe Giella began embellishing Dick Dillin's pencils, however, there was no ignoring the fact that this was no longer quite the same feature I'd been following since its debut in THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD.

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I'm reminded of a quote I heard a few years ago, but which I can no longer remember verbatim -- the gist of it is: "Any legend that does not adapt to the culture of the time is destined to fade away."

Yes, it's sad that our favorite runs don't last forever, and there's a certain disappointment in having a complete set because there ain't no more. But there are two things to consider: on the average, comics have a high turnover rate among the audience (fanboys not withstanding) a comparably high turnover rate among the creators. It's inevitable that a book will eventually reach a point where it's no longer collectible to any one individual, while it simultaneously becomes someone else's favorite. (Hal/Kyle. 'Nuff said.)

One of the things that's most interesting to me as I read sequential archive volumes is how the characters/stories/writing/art evolve, even when a new creative team comes in. The original runs were popular enough to continue in spite of what some of us see as problems -- I'd like to see exactly how they played out, one issue at a time.

quote:

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Originally posted by Steven Utley:
When, in the winter of my life, I write my own damn history of comic books and get to the section on The Fanboy Age of Comics, to be entitled, "And Just Whose Jackass Idea Was That, Anyway?" I'm afraid I shall have to devote some few paragraphs to the post-Fox JLA.
But not as many as to Hal Jordan the mass murderer, at least, or the gay Rawhide Kid ....

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Before we go criticizing Rawhide Kid, shouldn't we actually see the book in print first? All we have to go by now are soundbytes and highly misleading press releases. Yes, it's clearly a publicity stunt, but I'm willing to withhold judgment on the book itself until I see how it's executed.

posted December 13, 2002 06:39 PM            

I have most of the O'Neil JLofAs but not quite. Given O'Neil changed so much in the League (and often simply for the sake of change without any good reason), there are still certain issues I've never been able to get (Diana's resignation, Snapper's "betrayal) I guess because they're highly collectable.

I used to moan to myself when O'Neil did his bad writing. Back in the day, Denny was the greatest comics writer on the planet (or so some of us believed), and seeing him do bad stories was very painful. But the positive press for O'Neil became so exagerated, that I began to get a wierd pleasure from seeing him write badly.

As some fans insisted O'Neil was a god and every other writer should be just like Denny, it was refreshing therefore to look through Denny's JLofA and see the spectacular failures he concocted.

posted December 13, 2002 09:00 PM               

I see it shaping up like this:

posted December 13, 2002 11:16 PM               

-Steve

posted December 13, 2002 11:27 PM               

But Friedrich, O'Neil, Wein.... those are my favourite JLA writers after Englehart!

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Rock a little,

posted December 14, 2002 03:04 PM            

I then got all the back issues of Friedrich (and the Kanigher one, and a lot of O'Neil's). So I'll be happy when the archives get to Friedrich, but we'll have to get through Denny first. Not entirely such a bad thing since I love the team of Dillin and Greene.

posted December 14, 2002 07:45 PM               

I slightly prefer Wein to Englehart and both to Fox.

But honestly that's probably because JLA # 95 was my first issue. Fox's stories were fun, but already looked antique when I read them in the 100 page super-spectaculars. Still, compared to the late #90's of the JLA title, Wein and Fox both looked like literary geniuses!!

And I preferred Fox's Hawkman stories. . .

Nostlagia is so fickle. . . .

posted December 16, 2002 01:59 PM            

And, though Denny did as he pleased with the JLA, his issues (and others of this era) are worth taking a look at...

(Not to mention, so we can get to the Seven Soldiers and Freedom Fighters, we need to get through these...)

(And, hey, Steven Utley points out at least TWO comic events that ARE worse than the "relevant JLA"...)

posted December 16, 2002 06:29 PM            

But both to his credit and to his fault, Wein owed a great and sincere debt to Fox.

Virtually every Wein story is an homage to what Fox did in some way. And not to read Fox, leaves the reader in the dark about just what Wein is trying to accomplish.