Dying Is Easy, Comedy Is Hard
It is probably a coincidence that JLA Classified and The OMAC Project have shared ship weeks. Why else would DC show Blue Beetle and Max Lord yukking it up in one series, while simultaneously putting out a book where one is dead by the other's hand? You'd think that reading one right after the other would at least be confusing, if not tasteless.
This hasn't been much of a headache for me, because somewhere along the line I decided that the Giffen/DeMatteis/Maguire Justice League International reunion stories really had no bearing on the post-Identity Crisis DC mainstream. Not that they weren't hugely enjoyable -- they were certainly a lot funnier -- but they represented their own little corner of wackiness in an increasingly bleak superhero landscape.
(There's a great scene in the Evan Dorkin-written World's Funnest, when Bat-Mite and Mr. Mxyzptlk, battling across Hypertime, end up in the mainstream DC universe. Bat-Mite to this point has absolutely idolized every version of Batman he's encountered -- even as he and Mxy have wreaked unimaginable havoc -- but he's actually frightened of the current Batman and wants to get as far away from such a scary plane of existence as possible. Anyway....)
The original JLI also carved out its own niche. As a sort of response to, and repudiation of, Gerry Conway's "Justice League Detroit," it was advertised as the return of familiar, big-name heroes to the League. (Not unlike the Grant Morrison revamp 10 years later, in fact.) The last few issues of Justice League of America saw Detroit members dying and retiring, and the new team was officially born in the wake of Legends' anti-superhero riots. Thus, the indelible stamp of grim 'n' gritty '80s realism, a la Watchmen and Dark Knight, was an important part of the new League's origin.
Accordingly, I don't know whether it's appropriate, ironic, or just sad that the grim 'n' gritty finally caught up with the former JLIers. There are some subtle, bittersweet commentaries on Beetle and Max in the concluding chapter of "I Can't Believe It's Not The Justice League!," but there doesn't seem to be much anger behind them. It may be the creators' way of saying goodbye to these characters, but I hope not. The attitude of both "ICBINTJL!" and its predecessor, Formerly Known As The Justice League, was to use current continuity as a springboard for comedy, but not to be bound strictly by that continuity. The cohesive, shared universe is itself a bit of fiction requiring its own suspension of disbelief, so it's easier (and more pleasant) to imagine a happier, funnier alternative than it is to picture those carefree adventures smothered in a wave of gore and death.
And who knows? Grim 'n' gritty gave us Justice League International almost twenty years ago; and grim 'n' gritty may well do it again this time.
Until then, I am hopeful that DC will want more JLI-style work from these guys in the future. It's obviously not impossible to hold two competing versions of a character in one's head, even in the same week.
This hasn't been much of a headache for me, because somewhere along the line I decided that the Giffen/DeMatteis/Maguire Justice League International reunion stories really had no bearing on the post-Identity Crisis DC mainstream. Not that they weren't hugely enjoyable -- they were certainly a lot funnier -- but they represented their own little corner of wackiness in an increasingly bleak superhero landscape.
(There's a great scene in the Evan Dorkin-written World's Funnest, when Bat-Mite and Mr. Mxyzptlk, battling across Hypertime, end up in the mainstream DC universe. Bat-Mite to this point has absolutely idolized every version of Batman he's encountered -- even as he and Mxy have wreaked unimaginable havoc -- but he's actually frightened of the current Batman and wants to get as far away from such a scary plane of existence as possible. Anyway....)
The original JLI also carved out its own niche. As a sort of response to, and repudiation of, Gerry Conway's "Justice League Detroit," it was advertised as the return of familiar, big-name heroes to the League. (Not unlike the Grant Morrison revamp 10 years later, in fact.) The last few issues of Justice League of America saw Detroit members dying and retiring, and the new team was officially born in the wake of Legends' anti-superhero riots. Thus, the indelible stamp of grim 'n' gritty '80s realism, a la Watchmen and Dark Knight, was an important part of the new League's origin.
Accordingly, I don't know whether it's appropriate, ironic, or just sad that the grim 'n' gritty finally caught up with the former JLIers. There are some subtle, bittersweet commentaries on Beetle and Max in the concluding chapter of "I Can't Believe It's Not The Justice League!," but there doesn't seem to be much anger behind them. It may be the creators' way of saying goodbye to these characters, but I hope not. The attitude of both "ICBINTJL!" and its predecessor, Formerly Known As The Justice League, was to use current continuity as a springboard for comedy, but not to be bound strictly by that continuity. The cohesive, shared universe is itself a bit of fiction requiring its own suspension of disbelief, so it's easier (and more pleasant) to imagine a happier, funnier alternative than it is to picture those carefree adventures smothered in a wave of gore and death.
And who knows? Grim 'n' gritty gave us Justice League International almost twenty years ago; and grim 'n' gritty may well do it again this time.
Until then, I am hopeful that DC will want more JLI-style work from these guys in the future. It's obviously not impossible to hold two competing versions of a character in one's head, even in the same week.
posted by Tom Bondurant @ 9:37 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home