When Saturday Morning Lasts Twelve Months
Remember that "Super Friends" where the aliens come to Earth and find out the heroes couldn't stop the end of the world? Judging from the opening pages of Justice #1, Alex Ross does.
As everyone knows, "Super Friends," in all its various forms, was Hanna-Barbera's long-running, non-threatening, animated adaptation of Justice League of America. The twelve-issue Justice miniseries (issue #1 came out this week) represents Ross's valentine to "Challenge of the Superfriends," the 1978 TV iteration which pitted the JLA against a group of arch-foes, organized as the Legion of Doom. "Challenge" is seen by many as fairly faithful to the comics, all things considered. It even showed the origins of a few Leaguers and Legionnaires, in sequences which satisfied no less an historian than Mark Waid (who contributed to the "Challenge" DVDs).
You'd think there wouldn't be far to go from a typical TV episode to a typical 22-page issue. After all, wouldn't a serious take on "Super Friends" be pretty close to an ordinary JLA adventure? However, Ross's aim as plotter and painter (having enlisted Earth/Universe/Paradise X collaborators Jim Krueger on script and Doug Braithwaite on pencils) is clearly to tell the biggest, baddest JLA/Legion of Doom throwdown ever. Justice #1 starts with the end of the world; but then the pace slows and the second half of the issue is essentially a big fight between Aquaman and Black Manta. The TV show had a half-hour (minus commercials and credits) to tell a story that included several characters, a world-threatening setup, and a few big action sequences. Justice knows it has a lot more room to spread out, but it needs to be careful not to take 12 months to tell a 30-minute story. If this had been the TV show, we'd be about to the seven-minute mark, despite issue #1 taking 29 pages of story to get us there.
There's also the obvious question of tone. Many other creators might have taken a more ironic look at the Super Friends. Joe Kelly's Manitou Raven, introduced in JLA's "The Obsidian Age," was a cleverly-disguised Apache Chief, and when Christopher Priest reintroduced Zan and Jayna in Extreme Justice, he made them much more alien. Even when Ross infused Kingdom Come with "Super Friends" references, it was with a wink.
Instead, Justice takes place in the past of the modern DC universe (Barry Allen is the Flash, and Luthor is a corrupt billionaire), tweaking its history where it conflicts with the basic "Super Friends" setup. Accordingly, Ross establishes that this is a JLA adventure featuring the Legion of Doom, not an untold story of the Super Friends. Of course, mainstream DC looks like Vertigo compared to the original "Super Friends" cartoons, so it's no wonder Ross prefers the "real" JLA.
Honestly, I can't fault Alex Ross and DC for wanting to do this series. He is one of the most visible and recognizable artists working in comics, and he makes a good living painting superhero scenes. When Justice is collected, it can be sold at Warner Bros. stores and Barnes & Nobles right alongside Mythology or Ross' ubiquitous collector plates. It certainly appears to be aimed at the casual reader, and DC would love it to be a "gateway book" to the harder stuff. In other words, Justice is the kind of comic grumpy old coots like me complain nobody ever publishes.
Justice also benefits from having Doug Braithwaite lay out the art and Ross provide the finished paints, because those roles play to the artists' respective strengths. Braithwaite is a better storyteller, but Ross has built a career out of giving superheroes a veneer of realism, ostensibly bringing out the characters' inherent gravitas. In a way, Justice represents yet another attempt by DC to bring dignity to its characters through "realism" -- only instead of having them measure the cost of heroism in an Identity Crisis or OMAC Project, the art does the heavy lifting.
"Heavy" is right, because so far Justice feels ponderous -- but at the same time, oddly inconsequential. I didn't notice the extra pages, and not just because DC has declared war on page numbers. To be sure, there are some good ominous moments, such as the "prophecy of doom" which apparently leads Luthor to gather together his villainous band, and the not-quite-introduction of the Hall of Doom itself. The doomsday images which open the book are also effective, for the most part. Still, it remains to be seen whether Ross and company will remake the Legion of Doom in their own image, or just be content to replicate childhood memories with adult eyes.
As everyone knows, "Super Friends," in all its various forms, was Hanna-Barbera's long-running, non-threatening, animated adaptation of Justice League of America. The twelve-issue Justice miniseries (issue #1 came out this week) represents Ross's valentine to "Challenge of the Superfriends," the 1978 TV iteration which pitted the JLA against a group of arch-foes, organized as the Legion of Doom. "Challenge" is seen by many as fairly faithful to the comics, all things considered. It even showed the origins of a few Leaguers and Legionnaires, in sequences which satisfied no less an historian than Mark Waid (who contributed to the "Challenge" DVDs).
You'd think there wouldn't be far to go from a typical TV episode to a typical 22-page issue. After all, wouldn't a serious take on "Super Friends" be pretty close to an ordinary JLA adventure? However, Ross's aim as plotter and painter (having enlisted Earth/Universe/Paradise X collaborators Jim Krueger on script and Doug Braithwaite on pencils) is clearly to tell the biggest, baddest JLA/Legion of Doom throwdown ever. Justice #1 starts with the end of the world; but then the pace slows and the second half of the issue is essentially a big fight between Aquaman and Black Manta. The TV show had a half-hour (minus commercials and credits) to tell a story that included several characters, a world-threatening setup, and a few big action sequences. Justice knows it has a lot more room to spread out, but it needs to be careful not to take 12 months to tell a 30-minute story. If this had been the TV show, we'd be about to the seven-minute mark, despite issue #1 taking 29 pages of story to get us there.
There's also the obvious question of tone. Many other creators might have taken a more ironic look at the Super Friends. Joe Kelly's Manitou Raven, introduced in JLA's "The Obsidian Age," was a cleverly-disguised Apache Chief, and when Christopher Priest reintroduced Zan and Jayna in Extreme Justice, he made them much more alien. Even when Ross infused Kingdom Come with "Super Friends" references, it was with a wink.
Instead, Justice takes place in the past of the modern DC universe (Barry Allen is the Flash, and Luthor is a corrupt billionaire), tweaking its history where it conflicts with the basic "Super Friends" setup. Accordingly, Ross establishes that this is a JLA adventure featuring the Legion of Doom, not an untold story of the Super Friends. Of course, mainstream DC looks like Vertigo compared to the original "Super Friends" cartoons, so it's no wonder Ross prefers the "real" JLA.
Honestly, I can't fault Alex Ross and DC for wanting to do this series. He is one of the most visible and recognizable artists working in comics, and he makes a good living painting superhero scenes. When Justice is collected, it can be sold at Warner Bros. stores and Barnes & Nobles right alongside Mythology or Ross' ubiquitous collector plates. It certainly appears to be aimed at the casual reader, and DC would love it to be a "gateway book" to the harder stuff. In other words, Justice is the kind of comic grumpy old coots like me complain nobody ever publishes.
Justice also benefits from having Doug Braithwaite lay out the art and Ross provide the finished paints, because those roles play to the artists' respective strengths. Braithwaite is a better storyteller, but Ross has built a career out of giving superheroes a veneer of realism, ostensibly bringing out the characters' inherent gravitas. In a way, Justice represents yet another attempt by DC to bring dignity to its characters through "realism" -- only instead of having them measure the cost of heroism in an Identity Crisis or OMAC Project, the art does the heavy lifting.
"Heavy" is right, because so far Justice feels ponderous -- but at the same time, oddly inconsequential. I didn't notice the extra pages, and not just because DC has declared war on page numbers. To be sure, there are some good ominous moments, such as the "prophecy of doom" which apparently leads Luthor to gather together his villainous band, and the not-quite-introduction of the Hall of Doom itself. The doomsday images which open the book are also effective, for the most part. Still, it remains to be seen whether Ross and company will remake the Legion of Doom in their own image, or just be content to replicate childhood memories with adult eyes.
posted by Tom Bondurant @ 4:42 PM
3 Comments:
Wow. When you say "Mainstream DC looks like Vertigo compared to the original "Superfriends" cartoons, so it's no wonder Ross prefers the 'real' JLA." you really impress me. Most so-called fans don't seem to realize that and I feel are not really comic-fans in a high sense and are actually just consumers waiting to be titilated.
Today's comix are garabage and have been for about 5 years, I think. Maybe even longer. It's so exciting and an extreme breathe of fresh air when guys like Alex Ross try to keep comic books alive and save it from the gratuity today's comix is so much in selling.
Also as you write " instead of having them measure the cost of heroism in an IDENTITY CRISIS the art does the heavy lifting" you hit the spot. All of today's comix including these animated-crap series have no soul to them and have the intent of getting reactions out viewers, making them give demanded respect, so to speak.
Real comics and just the Superfriends in general never had such insecurity and always moved by it's own theme. The way these people are acting in the story of Identity Crisis are certainly alien to the characters they're suppose to represent. The characters of the JLA trust each other almost unspokenly as you would easily sense from the Superfriends show and any given comic during the time. I think the last good comic was Young Justice, by Nauk and David. The end of that title was the official opening of crap comix, however that is not to say one two good comix come every year. Obviously such as Ross, and things like Wildguard, or Marvel Age Spiderman, Marvels Inhumans. So there are a few.
I think the time comix really turned sour was when Mark Waid took over JLA and most strongly when Jeph Loeb started being hired frequently. Waid actually began JLA with a great start and a big exciting bang. And he also did an amazing job on a previous JLA issue regarding the Atom. But when he took over by his 3rd iss there came a twist and things went a wry. For some reason the Superfriends did not know that Batman had the ability to take out meta's! Even if they were weapons or techniques for the JLA'ers themselves the Superfriends would've already known that Bat's has such things ready because they could get mind-controlled or they could have evil doubles, etc.
Mark Waid allowed bullsh*t drama probably because he was getting cold feet to deliver so he did so on the cost of the characters.
Anyway, JUSTICE is the best thing out there right now and hopefully with it's real Aquaman and the sight of the Hall of Doom it will get comic "fans" and talents of the industry thinking.
You make a great post here, Tom. Good to know, some fans have logic and common sense. Just like the Superfriends taught us to!
Rather disputable.
Yet you don't dispute it, Arlen.
What say ye?
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