Justice League Unlimited

In the summer of 1979, the big cross-over event at DC Comics looked like this:

It was quite a morbid cover for the late 70s (the late 60s and early 70s were quite another matter). The victim was  <SPOILERS !!>

the original Mr. Terrific, a very minor member of the JSA, who had previously appeared in just two of the annual summer team-ups with the JLA. This story was unusual in that there was no earths-shaking crisis- it was a murder mystery and as such, a departure from the traditional format.
This morning, I read Alan Moore's Newsarama interview, in which he said that the comics industry is in its death throes, cannibalizing characters and stories from the last century for an audience of nostalgists (like me). DC Comics' Retroactive imprint would certainly support Moore's argument.

 On the other hand, we could look at this "lost story from the 70s" as a love letter to a point in time when DC Comics were shifting from a frothy, campy tone to mimic the angst and tragedy of Marvel- in fact, the point when publisher Jeanette Kahn hired Steve Englehart to write the JLA like the Avengers.

Except that's not quite what we have here. The cover is a homage to the floating heads of the Len Wein period in the early 70s but the presence of pony-tailed Zatanna locks it into the late 70s. The comic's also written by Cary Bates,  another member of the pool of scripters who wrote JLA in those post-Infantino years.
There are tropes from the period: Adam Strange is a castaway on Earth-Prime, the Earth we live on, and his co-creator, editor Julie Schwartz, helps the JLA to find the Champion of Rann. The verisimilitude snaps at one point when Zatanna comments cattily on Wonder Woman's "mod" wardrobe.

The back-up feature is a reprint of the first half of the 1975 JLA/JSA team-up, showing the inspiration for the lead story. Scripter Bates travels to Earth-2 where he becomes a super-villain but the knowingness of the premise and the self-indulgent "comedy" with co-scripter Elliot S! Maggin overshadows the super-heroics. This would have frustrated me hugely as a kid because this JLA line-up includes several of the lesser lights who appeared very infrequently- Hourman, Dr Mid-Nite, Johnny Thunder and the adult Robin ( in his 60s Bat-craze costume,one that's lambasted now because it's campy to depict Dick Grayson honouring Batman, apparently). To add insult to injury, we see very little of the Injustice Society, particularly the likes of The Gambler. The compensation is classic Dick Dillin pencilling- The Batman, Black Canary and Green Arrow as I best remember them.
The Superman Retroactive issue has an identical format: a self-consciously campy story by Martin Pasko with murky modern colouring and a reprint, again by Bates; again set on E-2; again with villainy by the Wizard but with truly beautiful pencils by Curt Swan. The inclusion of "Superman Takes a Wife" might almost be a metatexual comment since it's the story of the marriage of the Golden Age Lois and Clark- not the Seventies characters at all -and homages the Fleischer cartoons.
However, nostalgia aside, the new material is disappointing for the oldsters in the audience like me and for younger people, the reprints are hardly representative of the ground-breaking work of the decade. In two weeks, DC Retroactive: JLA- the 80s will feature a story of Gerry Conway's controversial Detroit team. More on that  in a moment.

Of course, comics readers may feel these vignettes of times past are just marking time before the launch of the New 52. Just before the original announcement of this confusing reboot/relauch, I had suggested that what the Justice League title really needed was less Congorilla and more Brian Bendis.

Then, yesterday, I saw this variant cover for the New 52 Justice League. I don't like Scary Superman much or Lap Dancer Wonder Woman but this looks like a case of Be Careful What you Wish For! As a reminder, here's the microhero version of my Urban Noir JLA:

 ...and these were the guest stars:

 Batman Inc has the best cast at present!

I was also interested in a new direction for Superman, drawing upon the original character who fought corrupt politicians and financiers. I've reworked a few Moon Knight blurbs from Marvel to help set the tone:
"Superman wages war against organised crime. But who is the head of Intergang in Metropolis and how does Clark Kent plan to bring him down?
"Why do criminals cower at the feet of media mogul, Lex Luthor? How far is Superman willing to take his war on crime?
"With the aid of his Justice League allies, Superman is one step closer to finding out who Lex Luthor is but Lois Lane is one step closer to finding out all of Clark Kent's secrets.
"Luthor has brought the fight to Clark Kent's door and now Superman unleashes hell on the Metropolis underworld in his race to smash Intergang".
That's what I'm talking about! Here are the villains from Superman: Year One:

 Media baron Alexei Luthor and Intergang chief Roulette

 
 Intergang armourer Toyman and hitmen Livewire and Parasite

However, although all this speculation and fan-fiction was a response to the audience who bought tickets for the Wolverine,Thor and Green Lantern movies, many of the teens I know think superheroes are cheesy. It's the much younger kids of my acquaintance who are into them.And the New 52 doesn't cater for them. This is where I both agree and disagree with Alan Moore: comics creators probably are fixated on the days when comics sold in huge quantities but they're not marketing the characters who sold those comics to a new audience in ways that appeal to them. I'm thinking of the A1 Comics shop in Braehead which has a large stock of toys and action figures...and a smattering of comics and a shelf of off-putting trade paperbacks. Will kids even notice the new League?

 I was dismayed to read recent comments on Jim Shooter's blog that dismissed writer Gerry Conway a hack, someone who squandered his talent. In my opinion, Conway certainly Marvelised DC in the 70s- Firestorm duplicated Peter Parker's New York milieu while Steel was a wartime amalgamation of Iron Man and Captain America. Conway wasn't a favourite of mine on LSH, what with that dreary circus story and the Dark Man arc in which Timber Wolf became a imitation of Wolverine. But the guy who killed Gwen Stacy and the Green Goblin also wrote a globe-trotting conspiracy thriller for Wonder Woman And month after month, he followed Steve Englehart's lead and returned action-packed JLA stories which eschewed the smirking campery of the mid-70s for Marvel-style melodrama and conflict. Finally, the Detroit League-love it or loathe it (and most commentators are in the latter camp) was the most daring change in the JLA's history. Yes, it was an unsuccessful attempt to recapture the success of the New Teen Titans and by extension, the Claremont/Byrne X-Men. But it also heralded new faces, new leaders and a new HQ. It's the Conway League I return to for an all-ages take on the JLA

 and here are the villains:

 Ultraa from Earth-Prime and The Star-Tsar, Richard Rigel

 Finally, for the all-important summer Crisis :

 The League Stands!


 The Legal Bit: All images are presumed copyright of their respective owners, in orbit 22,300 miles above the surface of Earth-One.