Justice League International Appreciation - 2019

[caj]

Thread makes me feel so old. I was reading all those books when they came out they were pretty cheap and at the grocery store near me.

At first I thought I was the only one that liked them, or maybe that it was just nostalgia.

Really dynamic roster, and I like a variation to the justice league, OTHER than the big names that we have now.

But Armageddon 2001 really got me hooked. I was really surprised when the bad guy was hawk, and... didn't know the whole story behind it.

Just enjoying new things as a kid I guess.

One thing is for sure - those writers (along with some great artists) had amazing ideas and pulled it off magnificently each month. JLI/JLA/JLE was definitely some of the most creative superhero books I've ever read.

[caj]

What was your favorite lineup in the Giffen/DeMatteis period:

A. Early lineup - Batman, J'onn, Maxwell Lord, Black Canary, Captain Marvel, Guy Gardner, Mr. Miracle, Oberon, Blue Beetle, Booster Gold, Dr. Fate, & Dr. Light
B. 2nd lineup - Batman, J'onn, Max, Hawkman, Hawkgirl, Guy, Mr. Miracle, Oberon, Big Barda, Blue Beetle, Booster Gold, Captain Atom, Rocket Red, Fire, & Ice.
C. 3rd lineup - Batman, J'onn, Max, Guy, Mr. Miracle, Oberon, Blue Beetle, Booster Gold, Fire, Ice, & Huntress
D. Final lineup - Batman, J'onn, Max, Guy, Blue Beetle, Fire, Ice, L-Ron, & General Glory

I'll go with C as my favorite.

[liwanag]

[caj]

Great post. This almost makes me want to change my vote to B. Great line-up.

[Nomads1]

What was your favorite lineup in the Giffen/DeMatteis period:

A. Early lineup - Batman, J'onn, Maxwell Lord, Black Canary, Captain Marvel, Guy Gardner, Mr. Miracle, Oberon, Blue Beetle, Booster Gold, Dr. Fate, & Dr. Light
B. 2nd lineup - Batman, J'onn, Max, Hawkman, Hawkgirl, Guy, Mr. Miracle, Oberon, Big Barda, Blue Beetle, Booster Gold, Captain Atom, Rocket Red, Fire, & Ice.
C. 3rd lineup - Batman, J'onn, Max, Guy, Mr. Miracle, Oberon, Blue Beetle, Booster Gold, Fire, Ice, & Huntress
D. Final lineup - Batman, J'onn, Max, Guy, Blue Beetle, Fire, Ice, L-Ron, & General Glory

Definitely A. I always thought they made a big mistake letting Dr. Light go.

Peace

[silly]

Isn't anybody a bit wondering why Major Force is casually mingling about 8n this gathering?

[marshal88]

I came about my love for JLI in an unusual way. I never bought any of the Giffen/DeMatteis issues when they originally came out. But when I saw that Superman, Green Lantern, Aquaman, etc... were coming back to JL, I bought the issue above. I became curious as to who Guy Gardner, Blue Beetle, Booster, Fire, Ice, Crimson Fox, etc... were and went back to my comic store to buy some of the Giffen/DeMatteis early issues. It just so happened that The Gospel of Maxwell Lord trade paperback came out around this time. I bought that and the previous TPB of this run and fell in love with the writing and art.

I ended up buying the entire Giffen/DeMatteis run in the course of about 3 to 6 months. So I got a huge dose of the entire five years in a short amount of time. Ironically, I bought very few of the new JLA/JLE books because I found the writing to be so inferior to the previous run. I dropped them pretty soon after the Death of Superman.

i appreciate that jurgens brought superman back into the jla fold since after coie wrote him out of being a full time member. i appreciate jurgens for bringing back some classic pre-crisis jla villains like starbreaker and dr destiny and updated weapon master - although prefer his old pre-crisis look better. the stoyline 'destiny hand' was excellent but sadly, the writer after jurgens , dan vado doesn't want supes and his run was poor.

[Lee Stone]

Isn't anybody a bit wondering why Major Force is casually mingling about 8n this gathering?

It was JLI #24 and they were doing a recruitment drive party.
He was being considered for membership in JLE, as were Starman, Firestorm, G'nort, Atom, Hal Jordan and Creeper.
They ended up picking Wonder Woman, Flash, Power Girl, Metamorpho, Elongated Man and Animal-Man.

Note: Fire had to sit the party out because she was sick from the Invasion gene bomb still.

[silly]

It was JLI #24 and they were doing a recruitment drive party.
He was being considered for membership in JLE, as were Starman, Firestorm, G'nort, Atom, Hal Jordan and Creeper.
They ended up picking Wonder Woman, Flash, Power Girl, Metamorpho, Elongated Man and Animal-Man.

Note: Fire had to sit the party out because she was sick from the Invasion gene bomb still.

Yes, but would Major Force be invited to a recruitment drive?

Well, the same question may apply to the Creeper and G'nort, but Major Force is entirely a different category.

[marshal88]

[Lee Stone]

Yes, but would Major Force be invited to a recruitment drive?

Well, the same question may apply to the Creeper and G'nort, but Major Force is entirely a different category.

This was pretty early in Major Force's career.
He had just appeared in Invasion and after the JLI story, he's sent by Wade Eiling to attack Checkmate in part 3 of the Janus Directive, before teaming up with the other heroes.
Then after Janus Directive, he continues to appear in Captain Atom as his rogue-ish partner.

Eiling probably insisted that Captain Atom take him to the recruitment to try to get more of his fingers in the JLI.

[Nomads1]

Isn't anybody a bit wondering why Major Force is casually mingling about 8n this gathering?

Yes, but would Major Force be invited to a recruitment drive?

Well, the same question may apply to the Creeper and G'nort, but Major Force is entirely a different category.

At around that time, Captain Atom was being ordered to present Major Force as "his good buddy and pal fellow military man super-hero". If I'm not mistaken, there is even a thought ballot that shows Cap's thoughts that he hopes they reject him (or he thanks god they did after the fact. I'm not sure which).

Peace

[SJNeal]

i appreciate that jurgens brought superman back into the jla fold since after coie wrote him out of being a full time member. i appreciate jurgens for bringing back some classic pre-crisis jla villains like starbreaker and dr destiny and updated weapon master - although prefer his old pre-crisis look better. the stoyline 'destiny hand' was excellent but sadly, the writer after jurgens , dan vado doesn't want supes and his run was poor.

I'm not sure it was a matter of Vado not wanting Superman, as he was actually dead for a good part of his run.

[caj]

This. He did some if his best art here and some interesting stories but got ALL of the characterizations wrong. One of the things I loved about JLI was how all of them felt like fleshed out real people compared to the way other comics were written at the time. You felt like you knew them.

That all changed when Jurgens took over. It felt like I was reading about strange characters that I'd never read about before.

Agree. It seemed like Jurgens hadn't ever read the book before - and maybe he hadn't. But he sure got most of the characters wrong.

[Ardennes]

Wow, what a great walk down memory lane.
I started reading comics at the tail end of Crisis. My first love was the Detroit era JLA, with Vibe as my favorite, and then Blue Beetle came out and I had a new hero.
I snatched up these JL issues as soon as they came out but it was sad to watch it wither on the vine at the end.
On a related note, anyone think they will ever get around to a JLI Omnibus vol 2? They've reprinted the first in several tpbs over the years but I'd like to have it all.