Imaginary time capsule

You know I'm not up to date on current comics, I've only been watching this DC reboot from the sidelines. Okay, so here's how I've understood the situation:

Problem: The big mainstream comics of DC and Marvel have gotten so continuity-heavy and convoluted that they scare away new readers.

That's fair, I can see that being a concern.

Attempted solutions: - Marvel created the Ultimate universe, starting from scratch (Oh don't go near that radioactive genetically altered spider, Peter Parker!) and telling stories using these "distilled" versions of their big characters. All the while also making stories about their regular continuity-heavy universe. A bit clunky (what do they do when the Ultimate universe has become equally convoluted?), but all in all a serviceable solution.

- DC, on the other hand, recently seems to have said "SHUT DOWN EVERYTHING. REBOOT TIME!" and erased every character and story arch from the last thirty years that the chief editor personally doesn't enjoy. To mention a few; Clark Kent isn't married to Lois Lane anymore, Barbara Gordon never became Oracle, Jaime Reyes is the only Blue Beetle who've ever existed. In current continuity.

See, I'm used to fandoms where "canon" and "continuity" are slippery terms anyway, so I admit I can't quite get my head around somebody, chief editor or not, saying that this story about superbeings is... I don't know, truer than that story about superbeings. And nobody is gonna break into your house and steal all your Birds of Prey comics, it's not like they never existed. And yet I gotta admit that even I get a bit upset when said chief editor says "Ted Kord was never Blue Beetle, Ted Kord never existed". And that's a character who's been dead in current previous continuity since 2005.

See, I'm not extremely invested in this, I'm still trundling my way through early nineties' Justice League comics so you know I'm not in any demographic here, but it just strikes me as a very poor way to do business, to alienate your current customers in a bid to get new ones, and to erase a lot of dynamic backstory just so you can go back to telling stories that have been told dozens of times over again.

(Also, what's the deal with making Booster Gold Canadian? I've always imagined it being kind of crucial to his origin story that he was born and bred in Gotham, and he's a former quarterback and all. Well he used to be.)

Well for what it's worth, Captain America seems to have gotten me back into the comics groove. Not that I have the funds at the moment to buy comics, but I'm back to haunting those old comic-related sites and blogs.

Hey, remember when I did that small informal list of comic book characters I wanted to acquaint myself with? I just realized I've actually done just that on most of them, so to recap:

( Let's see if they were all they were cracked up to be )

Broadening your horizons: You'll come across some diamonds; some rocks. It's awesome.

Actually I've got another list like that in mind - comics I have some vague ideas about and that I'd like to read some day - that I might inflict upon you one of these days. It'll even feature more DC.

When I delivered my last archeology paper I ordered some dirt cheap volumes of Justice League International as my reward. Aw look at these! Actual paper! I own printed paper with Justice League adventures all legal-like! (Granted the paper is suprisingly low-quality but I suppose you get what you pay for)

But woe, I've got an English exam to study for and no time to read comics right now. Too bad I can't do both at once.

( ALTHOUGH NOW THAT YOU MENTION IT )

Gosh, that was fun! And why the hell not - our English professor told us that she usually picks examples from whatever she's interested in at the time (one year the exam questions all featured dialogue from X-Files).

Hey it might make cramming phonetics and grammar a bit more interesting, that's all I ask for.

Hahaha, Boosterrific.com was pretty much the last place I expected to come across an April Fools gag. Oh yeah, even the URL! This supports my theory that Booster Gold fans are beautiful people.

And now I was going to make you up to date on my Justice League-reading (which is why I was browsing Boosterrific in the first place, it's a great help in figuring out crossover events and continuity from twenty years ago), but it's later than I thought and it involves remembering who on earth were in The Conglomerate and DC continuity is a bit heavy at eleven o'clock at night when you're still coping with a sleep deficit.

To post something though, and keeping with the theme of this entry; Hey look, Booster Gold's going to feature in an upcoming episode of Smallville, portrayed by Eric Martsolf:


I've never watched a single episode of Smallville (in fact my first reaction was "Wow, Smallville? Wasn't that cancelled half a decade ago?") and I can't imagine I'll ever watch this one but HIS SUIT HAS SPONSOR PATCHES D'AWW :3

Things are happening in Justice League International - well they were in 1990. Some of it I don't like, which is a pretty new experience to me when it comes to my beloved JLI.

( #40 - Members dying? In my JLI? The answer might surprise you )

Coming up: Is the JLI going to recruit new members to counter the fall in their number? Is it going to be someone I don't like?

Are Beetle and Booster going to make up? Are they at some point going to say things that, taken out of context (or more often, read in context) sound kinda dirty?

Is the superhero team known as The Conglomerate as moronic as they sound? Is the answer to all these questions "yes"?

Yes!

Okay here's a thing that was pretty much bound to happen.

Remember when I inexplicably started to find the action figure community strangely entertaining? And you've noticed how I've become a devout fan of Justice League International?

I think you can see where this is going.

( Playtime! )

If I knew 100 kroner's worth of plastic could bring me this much entertainment I would have bought them sooner!

(Worst thing is, I'm kinda in love with the technical aspect of the figures too - they have wee little ankle joints and you can pose them in several ways without them falling over and they've got the canonical height difference and Booster's got this wonderful metallic sheen to his costume! - Not to mention a detachable Skeets!)

No no no no no NO NO NO. You can't be serious. You can't cut me off now!

Sure, yes, I know torrenting comics is bad bad bad, but in the case of Justice League International I justified it by the fact that it's from the eighties, hasn't been reprinted in ages and I'll probably wind up buying used copies and so that money doesn't go to DC comics anyway (although, I have been painfully aware all along that I'm going to have to buy JLI for myself, so I can lick the pages read it without getting a headache and also some day force my sister to read it).

But this damn series changed titles like every other month and it's getting harder to find a download - and I'm left on a whopper of a cliffhanger, because in issue 24 Maxwell Lord had his first nosebleed - and I've been waiting twenty issues for that nosebleed! (note to self: Comics make you fucking weird).


And then the "next issue" blurb is all "WHOA DUDE, MAX GOT A SUPERPOWER NOW IT'S GONNA BE SOOO AWESOME, CHECK OUT NEXT ISH!"

But then issue 25 is all about Booster and Beetle chasing a vampire in a sewer plant so they can buy a new CD player (as you do) and then the blurb goes "Whoops hang on, NEXT issue is all about Max and his mysteeeerious new ability!" and that's where I'm cut off. (Of course, I already know what ability Maxwell developed after that bomb went off/alien computer exploded/concussion in that cave-in, but I want to see how he works it out, damnit).


ETA: Whew, found nine more issues. Meltdown averted for nine more issues. Prepare, people.

(I'm REALLY going to have to buy this thing on paper. Gonna check out the score next time I'm in Oslo. No hang on, if I buy them from the US the price is halved!)

You realize I'm still reading Justice League International, it's still the greatest thing since bread and butter and I've come to the conclusion that if I don't let out some fangirl joy I'm going to explode in an unstable burst of primary-coloured confetti.

But instead of erratically listing all the little things that makes me curl my toes with glee as I'm reading, I think the most levelheaded way I can go about this is to tell you exactly why issue 16 and 17 are made of pure joy and angels' laughter.

Well okay so maybe "levelheaded" isn't the word to use.



( 5 reasons, in handy list form )

Gosh, now I remember what it's like reading comics that are entertaining rather than insanely frustrating!

Okay so. So. Justice League International is like. Oh my God. It's so good. It gives me warm fuzzy feelings, I'm not even kidding.

It's way better than anything created in 1987 ought to be! Apart from yours truly obviously (Oh wow the first issue was even published in May! THIS IS FATE).

I'm retroactively wishing it could have been my first introduction to the superhero genre, because it's just so bright and feel-good and funny, this team of dorky superheroes doing their best to pretend they know what they're doing.


After the first couple of issues my exact thoughts were "My God! Somebody actually wrote a story where Batman more or less runs a daycare center for superhero second-stringers." Beautiful. (I guess J'onn J'onzz is going to be the daddy now that Batman's left, so I foresee less punching-as-argument-settling in the team's future).

Right, I've got 127 more issues of this to go. Awww yeeeeah.

HOLEE SHEET. TALK ABOUT SYNCHRONICITY.

So today I post my squee-fest about a certain shiny superhero before I sit down to watch an episode of Batman: The Brave and the Bold (still only working my way through the first season).

AND AND.

WHO DO YOU THINK HE TEAMS UP WITH THIS TIME.


I made a happy-noise only specially trained dogs can hear. Also I'm totally going to start using "Hey how's the cape hangin'" as a greeting. Emulating a character who's supposed to be annoying is in no way a bad idea.

I wasn't thrilled about Skeets' voice, but then again I always get distracted when I recognize a voice from Futurama on this show (how dare they continue to work in the voice acting business). But no matter, because they made Skeets PERFECTLY ADORABLE. "I knew you'd save me, sir!" SKEETS YOU HAVE NO ARMS OR NERVE ENDINGS BUT I STILL WANT TO HUG YOU.

...And whaddyaknow, I'm back to my old Caps-Lock-y fangirly self again. Only needed an unexpected double shot of Booster, YEAH (one is technically a kids' show and I'm technically an adult but BOOSTER YEAH).