Joe Kelly’s JLA (2002-2004)

Joe Kelly’s run on JLA was…, I think interesting is the right word. Some very good stories and some, that while quite ambitious, failed to work. It starts with the Golden Perfect TPB, where Wonder Woman’s action make the universal truth break down. I found the whole idea pretty outre, but not in a positive way. It was more like, what kind of mushroom has he been taking. It already exhibited a typical (and not always welcome) aspect of Kelly’s work on the JLA, a mix of wide-screen superhero action that is used to explore morality where no clear black or white answer is present. Sadly, Kelly solves most of these issues with a high amount of naivety and idealism that feels completely disconnected from the real world. This still worked in Golden Perfect, where the background for the whole moral dilemma was also pretty disconnected from real world issues.

After that followed the high point of Kelly’s whole run, a very long story that saw the JLA travel back to the far past to find Aquaman, but where they instead found an ancient precursor of the JLA that protected Atlantis and thought the modern JLA were harbingers of doom. This was really well done, with Kelly introducing new and unique characters and a perfectly executed parallel plot progression in the present and the past. Collected in the Obsidian Age TPB part one and two. Pretty good stuff, if you want the best of Kelly’s run, it’s here.

Rules of Engagement, that followed after the Obsidian Age, was sadly not so good. Pretty much the low point of the whole run. I can understand Kelly’s interest in exploring morality or even hot issues, but the stories collected here lacked any kind of subtlety and made the whole JLA look like sock puppets for the author. The rule of thumb to not include any real-world politics or problems in superhero comics doesn’t mean it should never been done. It’s merely born from the experience that most writers completely fail at it, since exploring superheroes with a real-world lens usually makes everyone look stupid. There have been a few who managed it successfully, but Kelly’s not one of them. The TPB collected also a fill-in issue by Rick Veitch, which was pretty weak too.

Between Rules of Engagement and Trial by Fire was also the uncollected issue 83. Understandable, as it’s just more of the sock puppet JLA and the whole annoying “it’s just a dream” conclusion that makes this issue pretty much pointless. It also misses it’s target by a wide margin. Invading Iraq wasn’t about the truth, because anyone with a brain could have seen that this was just a bullshit line to sell a war. The real question is whether such an outside intervention could have done anything at all to make the life of the people better by destroying most of their abusive political power structure. Did the killing really solve any problems or did it merely made matters worse.

The last storyline is collected in the Trial by Fire TPB. It’s an excellent story and a grand finale to Kelly’s run. Unleashed by good intentions the Matian Manhunter transforms into some pre-historic Martian that wants nothing else than to burn the world and unleash his children. Wide-screen superhero action that sees the return of Plastic Man (absent since the Obsidian Age) and shows him to be a truly formidable power. After that follows another uncollected story where Wonder Woman tries out a dream machine to get closure for her feelings for Batman, but since the ending couldn’t be anything else than what happened, it’s a bit pointless anyway. And a dream story again, so no point in missing that one.

Wisdom: Rudiments of Wisdom (2007)

a 6-issue mini that is a precursor to Paul Cornell’s Captain Britain and the MI13 / structurally it’s a little bit like the comics of old, where each issue managed to tell a complete story / Wisdom is a fun character to follow, even if his template is pretty cliche, he’s the bastard hero who does the things nobody else has the guts to do (most prominent comic character from that mold is John Constantine) / the last issue is pretty epic considering how short it is (an invasion of Well’s martians from an alternate reality) and shows that you don’t need much space to tell such a story

Eureka S3 (2008-2009)

The first half of the season had an interesting mystery arc going on, the second half of the season was less connected in terms of an overarching arc. The series formula was still pretty much the same as in the first two seasons: a very down to earth sheriff trying to stop the science geeks from killing themselves and everyone else with their comic book superscience toys. One episode that stuck in mind was the two-parter that the lifted the plot from the first Star Trek movie. Nothing in the show is really tickling my technology/hightech/science fiction bone, but due to the sympathetic cast it always manages to be fun to watch.

Iron Man 2 (2010)

mediocre story with a boring villain, but the excellent performance of Robert Downey Jr. makes this fun after all / Mickey Rourke wasn’t that bad as the villain, but given the material he had to work with, there was only so much he could do with it / I was pretty disappointed that they made Penny go the weak female-route in the end, but what did I expect from Hollywood / best thing about the movie was the holographic 3d-interface design, similar to the first part it really captured how computer interfaces could look like in a few years (or at least I wished them to look like)

Adam’s Apples (2005)

very odd movie that defies easy categorization (neonazi redemption arc that involves making an apple pie) / the movie had some truly excellent performances and manages to make a completely unlikeable cast likeable / many WTF-moments, which is good considering how hard it’s to get surprised these days by something else than a special effect / manages to remain pretty lighthearted even with the more heavier stuff, which makes it watchable even if you don’t want to think too much

Clash of the Titans (2010)

spectacle movie that provides exactly what you want from it: big heroic stuff where man battles gigantic monsters in a modernized greek mythology setting / Hades is the big villain with a plan that is sufficiently complex for an action movie that it doesn’t make you feel stupid watching it / the hero isn’t one of the modern heroes who doubts each and every of his own decisions, he’s moderately oldschool with an ass-kicking attitude / the movie is fun; and also smart enough to cover any dialog deficiencies with action when needed

Straczynski’s Thor (2007-2010)

Straczynski’s run on Thor is all about new beginnings. In the space of a few issues he reintroduces classic concepts, like Dr. Blake, Thor himself and Asgard, but all with a slightly new spin. Putting Asgard into the middle of nowhere, letting Thor mingle with very mundane people, him sitting alone in his castle and searching for his people, that was great all around. But while these first few issues read extraordinary well (apart from some very awkward moments where Straczynski tries to integrate real world problems into the the story), after that the run begins to stumble. The new ideas introduced don’t really go anywhere and in a short while it feels like we’re reading just another rehash of classic Thor. Loki is evil and trying to bring the downfall of Thor, yadda, yadda and so on. The last time Ragnarök happened and the endless cycle of death and rebirth was supposed to be broken, so I was expecting a somewhat new direction. Instead we’re back to the same old, same old. Even Simonson’s classic Thor run was much stronger at the beginning than toward its end, but in Straczynski’s run the decline is markedly steeper. So, to summarize, a really strong beginning followed by a sharp decline. Art was really strong from start to the end though.

Mark Waid’s JLA (2000-2002)

Mark’s run on the JLA wasn’t that long, but he managed to tell some really good stories. While quite inventive on his own, his stories weren’t as outre as Morrison’s, but he came pretty close at times (similarly, they weren’t as epic, but only in comparison to Morrison, on their own they were pretty big). Unlike Morrison’s JLA, Waid’s JLA seemed to grow as a team and as individuals. You got the feeling they really developed as characters.

Tower of Babel: While this is the first TPB that collects Mark Waid’s run on the JLA, it actually starts with a pedestrian filler issue by Dan Curtis Johnson. It’s a nice idea (microscopic civilization inside a human), but Johnson integrates a serious issue by analogy (destroying the environment), which make this a rather pedestrian read. Ironically Waid followed it with a four issue story arc, where Ra’s Al Ghul, the ultimate eco-terrorist, tried to destroy human civilization to save the environment. A good start for Waid’s run, with excellent characterization and a villain who feels like a real threat for the JLA. The only sore spot were some of Batman’s lines, which were a bit untypical for the character (I DID THIS TO YOU, Batman loudly screaming to the other JLA members). There’s a bit more stuff collected in the TPB, but none by Waid and none very good.

Divided We Fall: While the previous story arc by Waid was a good use of an established villain, the next two arcs showed that Waid wasn’t merely adept at reusing old stuff to the best effect. First a magical threat with an interesting backstory and then a more science fictional threat with some really cool ideas. Waid’s no Morrison, but here came pretty close. And his characterization was excellent, especially the division of the JLA. This TPB was the highpoint of his run.

Terror Incognita: Waid’s last big story arc, like his first, reused an old enemy (or to be precise, old enemies) with great effect. The white Martians are back (partly a consequence of the last story arc) and more deadly than ever. The way the JLA beat them reminded me off some of the pre-crisis stories, but Waid’s storytelling never slipped into the typical silliness associated with that type of storytelling. The rest of the TPB collects a pretty awful issue (not written by Waid) that was part of the Last Laugh crossover and the last issue of Waid’s run, a whimsical and fun Christmas story.

Turn Coat (2009)

Turn Coat is the 11th part in the Harry Dresden series, about a wizard-slash-private eye. With a series as long running as this, there’s a certain formula that each of the books follow and that makes people coming back for more. Personally, I just love detectives that work in a fantasy setting (Glen Cook’s Garrett P.I., Mike Resnick’s Mallory and the countless urban fantasy/paranormal romances that flooded the market in recent years). That’s just a overly convoluted way of saying that Butcher’s Dresden recent books have changed the formula very, very subtly from a one man at the bottom versus higher powers to something that looks superficially similar but isn’t. Dresden isn’t exactly at the bottom anymore and he isn’t the loner he was in the first books.

Sure, the books still try to paint him like that, but it’s not exactly convincing when Harry regularly clashes with the biggest players in the magic world and manages to stand his ground. When it becomes clear he’s chosen for a higher destiny and easily calls the most powerful magics to his aid. I still like the series, but in Turn Coat I really felt this change. He just wasn’t this mundane Joe anymore, who I could easily relate to at the beginning of the series. Instead he’s just another of fantasy’s misplaced princes with a chosen destiny.

GLA: Misassembled (2005)

The team once known as Great Lake Avengers (and then as the Great Lake X-Men, the Great Lake Champions, the Great Lake Initiative and so on) is a collection of superhero lightweights and losers. That doesn’t stop them from trying to reap fame by beating villains, but apparently few villains are dumb enough to get even close to them. This isn’t a serious book with a humorous tone, like Dan Slot’s She-Hulk, this one is entirely played for the laughs. The humor is silly and never LOL-worthy, but amusing enough to at least read once. It also manages to poke fun at the whole seriousness of most modern superhero comics, the whole rape, murder and death fixation that screams I’M SERIOUS LITERATURE, TAKE ME SERIOUSLY (please).

And it has Squirrel Girl, the best Marvel superhero of all time. Nuff said.