Tales from the Library! - Justice League International Volume 1

This installment of “Tales from the Library!” has been brought to you by the “evil” known as Sallie Mae… yes, I have college loans to pay and they suck so much.

Don’t worry; it’s not a new segment. This time, I’m talking about old books I don’t own. For the 1980’s, I decided to visit the public library for this one. Today, I’m looking at a version of the League done by Giffen, DeMatteis, and Maguire. I’m sorry I left out Justice League Detroit. I just couldn’t get past the break-dancing hero known as Vibe. Now, this version of the League was actually formed in another crossover called Legends. I talked about that crossover a while back. At the end of the crossover, Dr. Fate asked those selected heroes if they would want to restart the Justice League. Only a few accepted the offer.

The writers are Keith Giffen and J.M. DeMatteis. Giffen has worked on many books including Legion of Superheroes, Lobo, Blue Beetle, and other Justice League books. Giffen is also an artist  and was on books like OMAC and 52. DeMatteis has also worked on a lot of books including the Spider-Man books, the Defenders, and other Justice League books. He’s also the one who decided that that this series would have a comedy vibe. Kevin Maguire is the artist and he’s been on too many books to list.

Graphic Novels - JLA: New World Order

Well, it looks like I had to skip a decade for this post. Don’t worry because I will eventually venture into the time known as the 80’s. Today’s post is going to look at a version of the League from the 90’s. No, it’s not EXTREME JUSTICE nor is it Justice League Task Force. Today’s post is going to talk about the first four issues of Grant Morrison’s and Howard Porter’s JLA series. Now this is the League I remember from my youth. It’s the Big 7 and it might be my favorite version or my second favorite version of the League. This version of the team was actually formed in a story called Justice League: A Midsummer’s Nightmare. I haven’t read it, but I might one day.

They’re the heavy-hitters. While there aren’t any lesser known characters here at the time, more characters do come to fill in the ranks. I was actually able to read a lot of this series thanks to my hometown’s public library. They have all four volumes of Morrison’s and Porter’s JLA omnibuses. I’ve read all four of them, but I haven’t set out to buy a lot of the issues in them. I did find this four issue trade at McKay’s and I found the storyline, Rock of Ages, through 50 cent bins.

The writer for the book is some Scot named Grant Morrison. You might have heard of him. The man’s done it all from Animal Man to the X-Men. While I like his stuff, he can be… weird. Just read his recent Action Comics run. The penciller is an artist named Howard Porter. He’s drawn on books such as The Flash, Trials of Shazam, and the upcoming Justice League 3000. He’s alright in my book. John Dell does the inks and according to Comicvine, he’s done inks for a lot of books. So, let’s see if this is pretty good.

TV Talk - Justice League/JLU: Favorite Episodes

Favorite Episodes

Now, it’s time for the hard part. Here are my 20 favorite episodes of both Justice League series. I bumped it up to 20 because there are so many good episodes. Also, I had an “honorable mentions” list that just got too big, so 20 became the magic number. When looking through both series, I realized that Season 2 of Justice League was freakin’ awesome. You might see a lot of love towards that season. I’ve also grouped some episodes together for reasons you’ll find out below. Well, let’s get to it!

20. Legends 

In this Season 1 episode, some of the League members get accidentally transported to another Earth where they run into John Stewart’s comic book idols, the Justice Guild of America. This team was supposed to homage the Justice Society of America. I don’t know why they decided to do this instead of actually use the JSA. It would have been pretty cool. It might have had to do with the big twist at the end about the world the League was transported to. Either way, it’s a nice two-parter. I especially liked the contrast between the two teams.

19. This Little Piggy

This is a pretty hilarious episode from Season 1 of JLU. The episode revolves around Wonder Woman being transformed into a pig by Circe. Yes, that happens sometimes to these characters. Zatanna guest stars and we get the ridiculous looking B’Wanna Beast. We also get some nice bits between Batman and Wonder Woman. We even find out that Kevin Conroy has a nice singing voice.

18. The Ties That Bind 

This is a pretty cool episode that involves the Fourth World characters. Oberon, Mr. Miracle’s mentor and friend, is kidnapped, is kidnapped. Mr. Miracle, Big Barda (great name), and the Flash have to go rescue him. This is a cool one because it does involves some of the New Gods and this was Flash’s first official episode in JLU. 

17. Comfort and Joy

This is a Christmas/Holiday episode. That’s right, folks! they actually had one of these episodes. While it’s not in my top ten, it’s pretty cool. It shows most of the League having a break for the holidays. Clark and J’onn go to the Kents for Christmas, Green Lantern and Hawkgirl continue to get close as a couple, and Wally helps out some kids. It’s a pretty funny, light-hearted episode. The placement of this episode is also a little weird for John and Shayara because it’s right after “Wild Cards” and right before “Starcrossed.”

16. Doomsday Sanction

This episode from JLU 2nd season furthered the whole Cadmus arc. We also get an origin for this show's Doomsday. The biggest thing about this episode is the fight between Superman and Doomsday. While we did get a small fight between Doomsday and Justice Lord Superman in "A Better World," this is the real Superman here. It's a pretty good episode with a bit of a dark edge.

TV Talk - Justice League/Justice League Unlimited

They will never know that I was the one who stole the cookies from the cookie jar!

So, here it is. Approaching a show like this is kind of hard. I mean, it’s perfect! It had great stories, great voice acting, and awesome animation. It was the culmination of everything that came before with DC’s Animated Universe (DCAU). Without a doubt, it is one of my favorite shows. Let’s get to it.

Background

I came across the show on Cartoon Network in 2001. I remember that the show came on in the evening which was pretty awesome. After it shifted in Justice League Unlimited (JLU), I was only able to watch some episodes. I was in college and Cartoon Network keep airing the show randomly at this time. Later on, I was able to get caught up on episodes through YouTube and other video sites.

When I found out the show(s) were on Netflix, I didn’t really care mostly because I’ve seen just about every episode. After a while, I decided to go through both shows. I mostly wanted to see ones I haven’t seen in a while. I haven’t completely finished watching both shows, but I’ve seen them enough. For simplicity’s sake, I’m putting both shows together on here. Heck, JLU’s just Seasons 3, 4, and 5 of Justice League.

Tales from the 50 Cent Bin! - Justice League of America #164-165

This installment of Tales from the 50 Cent Bin has been brought to you by the late, great Jim Kelly:

“Man, you come right out of a comic book!”

Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to a little thing I call Justice League Month. As the title suggests, this month is going to be dedicated to one of my favorite superhero teams. I’ve got a few stories I want to go through this month and all five of them are from each decade. Today’s two-parter is Justice League of America #164-165 from the late 1970’s. Now, I have a little history with the second issue. My uncle used to have comic books in his youth. I remember someone (maybe my mom) saying he lost them one day which definitely sucks. Luckily, I was able to find a couple of stragglers around my grandmother’s house. One was JLA #165 (which still holds up physically) and another is a remnant of a Man-Bat issue (didn’t hold up so well). When I decided to do this month, I searched for and found #164 at The Great Escape.

I don’t know too much about the creative team behind the book. I’ve heard of Gerry Conway’s name since he’s known for being the writer of this book at the time. The actual team featured is what some dub as “The Satellite League”. This version was comprised of the popular heroes like Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, and Flash. It’s also has lesser known heroes like Red Tornado, the Elongated Man, and Zatanna. It’s really not a bad make-up for the team. Well, enough with the preamble! On to the issue!!!