Comics Bulletin logo
Search
  • Columns
    Random
    • All The Rage: The Judas Contract

      Dominic Organ
      May 8, 2005
      All the Rage
    Recent
    • Revisiting the Witchblade/Fathom/Tomb Raider Crossover

      Daniel Gehen
      February 8, 2021
    • The Full Run: Usagi Yojimbo – The Wanderer’s Road Part 2

      Daniel Gehen
      December 4, 2020
    • The Full Run: Usagi Yojimbo – The Wanderer’s Road Part 1

      Daniel Gehen
      October 30, 2020
    • What Looks Good
    • Comics Bulletin Soapbox
    • The Full Run
    • Leading Question
    • Top 10
    • The Long-Form
    • Jumping On
    • Comics in Color
    • Slouches Towards Comics
  • Big Two
    Random
    • 3.5

      Micro Review: Dark Nights: Metal #3

      Dominic Organ
      October 23, 2017
      Big Two, Big Two Reviews, DC Comics, Reviews
    Recent
    • 3.0

      Review: X-MEN LEGENDS #1 Delivers A Dose of Nostalgia

      Daniel Gehen
      February 22, 2021
    • 4.5

      DCeased: Dead Planet #7 Presents a Hopeful Future (Review)

      Daniel Gehen
      January 22, 2021
    • Retro Review: Detective Comics #826 Remains a Holiday Classic

      Daniel Gehen
      December 3, 2020
    • DC Comics
    • Big Two Reviews
    • Marvel Comics
  • Indie
    Random
    • Micro Reviews 3/13/2019: A Slayday Celebration!

      Dominic Organ
      March 14, 2019
      Big Two Reviews, Boom! Studios, DC Comics, Image, Marvel Comics, Top Cow
    Recent
    • 4.0

      Review: Beast Wars #2 another chance to change the past

      Stephen Cook
      March 3, 2021
    • 4.5

      Review: THE LAST RONIN #2 Hurts So Good

      Daniel Gehen
      February 19, 2021
    • TIME BEFORE TIME—A HIGH STAKES TIME TRAVEL SCIENCE FICTION SERIES SET TO LAUNCH THIS MAY

      Daniel Gehen
      February 19, 2021
    • Reviews
    • Archie Comics
    • Boom! Studios
    • Dark Horse
    • IDW
    • Image
    • Oni Press
    • Valiant
  • Reviews
    Random
    • 2.0

      Advance Review: Judge Dredd #1

      Dominic Organ
      November 20, 2012
      Reviews
    Recent
    • Singles Going Steady – Vowels, Who Needs Them?

      Daniel Gehen
      March 8, 2021
    • 3.0

      Review: X-MEN LEGENDS #1 Delivers A Dose of Nostalgia

      Daniel Gehen
      February 22, 2021
    • 4.5

      Review: THE LAST RONIN #2 Hurts So Good

      Daniel Gehen
      February 19, 2021
    • Singles Going Steady
    • Slugfest
    • Manga
      • Reviews
    • Small Press
      • Reviews
      • ICYMI
      • Tiny Pages Made of Ashes
  • Interviews
    Random
    • Classic Interview: Elliot S! Maggin - A Three Typewriter King of Guy

      Dominic Organ
      August 7, 2015
      Classic Interviews, Interviews
    Recent
    • Interview: Jon Davis-Hunt Talks SHADOWMAN

      Daniel Gehen
      June 8, 2020
    • Interview: Becky Cloonan talks DARK AGNES and Her Personal Influences

      Mike Nickells
      March 4, 2020
    • Simon Roy

      Interview: Simon Roy on His Inspirations and Collaborations on PROTECTOR

      Mike Nickells
      January 29, 2020
    • Audio Interview
    • Video Interview
  • Classic Comics
    Random
    • Classic Comics Cavalcade: 'Inner City Romance' Resurrects a Brilliant, Earthy Comics Classic

      Dominic Organ
      February 20, 2015
      Classic Comics Cavalcade, Columns
    Recent
    • VISITOR is the Quintessential “SPIRIT” Story

      Daniel Gehen
      March 26, 2021
    • Countdown to the King: Marvel’s Godzilla

      Daniel Gehen
      May 29, 2019
    • Honoring A Legend: Fantagraphics To Resurrect Tomi Ungerer Classics

      Daniel Gehen
      February 15, 2019
    • Classic Comics Cavalcade
    • Classic Interviews
  • News
    Random
    • Exclusive Advance Trailer: Kingdom Of The Wicked

      Dominic Organ
      December 19, 2014
      News, Previews
    Recent
    • TIME BEFORE TIME—A HIGH STAKES TIME TRAVEL SCIENCE FICTION SERIES SET TO LAUNCH THIS MAY

      Daniel Gehen
      February 19, 2021
    • Image Comics and TMP Announces SPAWN’S UNIVERSE

      Daniel Gehen
      February 18, 2021
    • SAVAGE DRAGON IS A FORCE TO BE RECKONED WITH THIS MAY

      Daniel Gehen
      February 17, 2021
    • Press Release
    • Kickstarter Spotlight
  • Books
    Random
    • Collecting Profile: Disney Frozen

      Dominic Organ
      November 22, 2019
      Books, Collectibles, Miscellaneous Comic Book Content
    Recent
    • Collecting Profile: Disney Frozen

      CB Staff
      November 22, 2019
    • Collecting Profile: NFL Superpro

      CB Staff
      August 31, 2019
    • “THE BEST OF WITZEND” is a Wonderful Celebration of Artistic Freedom

      Daniel Gehen
      September 15, 2018
    • Review: ‘Machete Squad’ is a Disappointing Afghan Memoir

      Jason Sacks
      July 31, 2018
    • Review: ‘Out of Nothing’ is the Antidote to Our Sick Times

      Jason Sacks
      July 23, 2018
    • Review: ‘Bizarre Romance’ Shows Rough Edges in the Early Days of a New Marriage

      Jason Sacks
      July 10, 2018
What's New
  • Collecting Profile: Guardians of the Galaxy
  • Collecting Profile: 1990 Marvel Universe Trading Cards
  • Collecting Profile: Red Sonja
  • Collecting Profile: Dr. Doom
  • VISITOR is the Quintessential “SPIRIT” Story
  • Collecting Profile: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
  • RSS Feed
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Google+
  • Contact Us
  • Write for us!
  • Visit Video Game Break!
Home
Columns

DCs JLI – Dead Characters? Just Love It!

Dominic Organ
September 14, 2005
Columns, Comics Bulletin Soapbox

Every 20 or 30 weeks the light of my life, my girlfriend Lynsey (not, as some have speculated, my Blue Beetle costume), will manage to dredge up the enthusiasm to ask a question about comics. My favourite question has to be: “who is your favourite Superhero?” Or if I had to choose another, it would be “Who is the best superhero?” This is, of course, a very subjective question. My response will be different from, Say, Keith Dallas or Ray Tate or any other Soldier in the SBC Volunteers Army. If I were to be asked that question now, I would be torn between Blue Beetle and Booster Gold, though any member of the JLI would qualify. The reason I chose them is because when I was a child, they showed me that it was possible to go out and save the world even though they didn’t along with each other. They made me laugh so hard, it hurt, and I know others out there felt the same. So I find it hard to see the treatment of the JLI at the hands of hack writers anxious to hit a nerve with an increasingly desensitized audience by hurting characters who have touched our hearts, if not our heads.

I speak, of course, of Blue Beetle’s recent murder in Countdown to Infinite Crisis. It’s not the first time DC has gone after the heroes that made many believe you didn’t have to be able to move a planet to be a hero. Some people reading this article may not be totally familiar with the JLI unless they read the recent issues of Formerly known as the Justice League and JLA:Classified. The JLI was a group of heroes brought together by Max Lord in order to deal with threats on a global basis as opposed to within America. Of course, as time wore on, the situation changed and the group changed, but strangely the dynamic always remained. Giffen and Dematteis had limited choices available for the league as so many of the major heroes were tied up in their own titles and the group originally included big names such as Batman, Black Canary, J’onn and Captain Marvel It wasn’t these big names that made the title though; it was the heroes with the characters: Blue Beetle, Guy Gardner, Booster Gold and Fire and Ice (who by the writers’ own admission were allowed to join because no other writer would touch them). They were the JLI that made me laugh and smile and marvel at their ability to fight villains of far greater power while giving us such hilarious moments as:

-Power Girl’s unpopular Cat in the JLE (A joke that still can be seen played on in the JSA today)
-Batman knocking Guy Gardner unconscious with a single punch, contributing to his startling personality change
-J’onn’s Oreo addiction
-Booster Gold and Blue Beetle stealing League funds to open a resort on a remote island
-Guy Gardner’s ice skating impersonator
-G’nort
-Darkseid reading Mein Kampf
-Everyone’s favourite “Bwa ha ha ha ha”

And a thousand others any fan could mention. Thrown into the mix were moments of real character development and incredibly poignant stories. Fire’s power changed, and Ice slowly came out of her shell while trying to hold a steady relationship with the boorish Guy. Booster and Beetle learned a lesson after watching a vampire commit suicide, and Maxwell Lord obtained redemption after being used for so long. All these aspects gave us pause, made us look at what had just happened and think “Wow, I’ve got to remember this.”

In order to look into the past with such reverie, one must look at the current situation and be dissatisfied. The JLI has fallen incredibly far since those glorious days back in the eighties. Ice is dead, and we have DC’s assurance she won’t be coming back. For those of you who don’t know, she died fighting the Overmaster in a pretty tacky story that Mark Waid ADMITS was a mistake. Guy Gardner was killed in Our Worlds at War, but quickly brought back after fans’ outcry (intentional….yeah sure). Booster Gold and Fire are both featured in the cartoon, but you’re lucky if you catch two glimpses of them a year. Relegated to obscurity, you have to remember it’s all about the Benjamins with DC. Nothing else matters but the almighty dollar.

So we come to Blue Beetle and his death. He has been seen most recently in Birds of Prey working with Oracle and fluttering around the edges of the odd JLA story. He also appeared in an early issue of Justice League Unlimited. One of the reasons Blue Beetle was so likeable was his run of the mill-ness. Ted Kord was a technological genius but not the best looking or most athletic or the most heroic guy. He was the guy that I could have been, or you could have been. He was the everyman of the DC universe. What other hero do you know had such a bad weight problem that he couldn’t get his costume down over his stomach? Who harassed Power Girl into a weight losing competition knowing he couldn’t lose? Who nearly wet himself in front of reporters after drinking eight bottles of water? He’s been bankrupt more times than JLA story flops! He’s the lovable failure. For God sake, he’s basically Scottish! So naturally a man who wasn’t actually generating anything other than respect and goodwill for DC would be the FIRST one for the chop. Excellent choice chaps, I wonder if you employ a similar policy with staff, could you get rid of the tosser that came up with this idea? I think a fair number of people would be willing to pay you to do it, and after all, that’s all that matters to you, isn’t it?

 

Comics Bulletin SoapboxDominic Organ

Share On:
Tweet
Comic Effect #43
Royalty Roulette

About The Author

Dominic Organ

Related Posts

  • “The Long, Strange Trip of Deathlok the Demolisher”

    Paul Brian McCoy
    May 22, 2017
  • Classic Comics Cavalcade: “Straw Into Gold: Captain Marvel in Marvel Super-Heroes #13”

    Jason Sacks
    November 13, 2015

Latest Columns

  • Revisiting the Witchblade/Fathom/Tomb Raider Crossover

    Daniel Gehen
    February 8, 2021
  • The Full Run: Usagi Yojimbo – The Wanderer’s Road Part 2

    Daniel Gehen
    December 4, 2020
  • The Full Run: Usagi Yojimbo – The Wanderer’s Road Part 1

    Daniel Gehen
    October 30, 2020
  • Comictober 2020: DRACULA MOTHERF**KER

    Daniel Gehen
    October 27, 2020
  • What Looks Good for the Week of 10/14/2020

    Daniel Gehen
    October 12, 2020
RSSTwitterFacebookgoogleplusinstagramtumblr

Comics Bulletin is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for website owners to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com, audible.com, and any other website that may be affiliated with Amazon Service LLC Associates Program. As an Amazon Associate, Comics Bulletin earns from qualifying purchases.

All content on this site (c) 2018 The Respective Copyright Holders