Yours thought about "JLA: Act of God" run?

[LAWtoyoto 432]

What do you about this Elseworlds run where every power-being superhuman got depowered due to the black light that hit the planet earth. Honestly, everyone but Batman and other non-powered leagues was so out of character and poor assassinate wrote. Superman leaves Lois because he can't anything without power. Wonder Woman go to church even though she is an Amazon princess and Green Lantern was super angsty the entire issue run.

I say maybe this would work if Superman could find new job that related with a front-liner like a firefighter, police or social worker. But no, instead he becomes an alcoholic. Even try to make amend the relationship with Diana. What a waste.

Your thought about this run and do you think there is a better way to tell the story?

[Nomads1]

I have a soft spot in regards to it because Dave Ross is one of my favorite pencillers. The story, however, doesn't seem to have much logic, and quite a few plot holes. Ie. the definition of what constitues super-powetrs is quite ample. For exemple, why were natural abilities of other races, such as Atlanteans and Martians considered super-powers. I mean, I can even understand Superman being drained of all the solar energy in his cells, and losing the extra abilities that gives him, but J'onn's Martian abilities are supposed to be as natural to him as seeing or breathing to us (and speaking of breathing, we get to those Atlanteans again). Even if he lost his shape-shifting and desnsity control abilities, wouldn't he native Martian form be stronger then us normal humans, considering that he was bigger and came from a heavier gravity environment than Earth's? Why did Earth technology work and the Green Lantern ring, which is basically alien tech, didn't? There were quite a few artificially powered heroes that were left out, but some villains had a very flexible definition of what was artificial powers (for exemple, Metallo is more than just a simple cyborg at that point. His conscious inhabits his metal bodies, an ability granted to him by Neron. Why wasn't that considered a super-power?) All in all, while not a favorite, I find it an enjoyable, yet quite bitter-sweet, else-world story, despite the story flaws.

Peace

[Stanlos]

I thought that was awful. It seemed like someone wanted to just do an exercise in religious celebration independent of what the deals of the characters were.

[Lukmendes]

It's a story that you can enjoy if you see it as a fanfiction that DC accidentally made a comic about, or a shitpost.

Otherwise, taking it seriously in any way just shows what terrible story it is even if you don't know much about DC, everyone are a bunch of unlikable lil' bitches, near the end there's even a moment where Diana considers killing herself 'cause god ain't answering her prayers, then Supes arrives to talk with her and she reveals she's pregnant... So she was about to kill herself while aware she was pregnant, yeah...

So yeah, better not take it seriously, like that one story where most males from the world disappear, Supes being an exception for some reason, and he leaves a jar of his jizz to be used to impregnate the women while he goes to space for some reason, that one should also be enjoyed like it's a fanfiction accidentally made into a comic or a shitpost.

[TheCasualReader]

It's a story that you can enjoy if you see it as a fanfiction that DC accidentally made a comic about, or a shitpost.

Otherwise, taking it seriously in any way just shows what terrible story it is even if you don't know much about DC, everyone are a bunch of unlikable lil' bitches, near the end there's even a moment where Diana considers killing herself 'cause god ain't answering her prayers, then Supes arrives to talk with her and she reveals she's pregnant... So she was about to kill herself while aware she was pregnant, yeah...

So yeah, better not take it seriously, like that one story where most males from the world disappear, Supes being an exception for some reason, and he leaves a jar of his jizz to be used to impregnate the women while he goes to space for some reason, that one should also be enjoyed like it's a fanfiction accidentally made into a comic or a shitpost.

Man, when I heard about that Superman story, I could not believe it was real. I literally could not believe it until I saw a page from it.

[Gaius]

One of those instances where DC accidentally let someone publish their Batman fanfic.

Happens every so often, they did it again with the Injustice franchise.

[Lukmendes]

Man, when I heard about that Superman story, I could not believe it was real. I literally could not believe it until I saw a page from it.

(JLA: Created Equal#1)

Can't blame ya, the only reason why I didn't believe in it too was because I saw the pages first, meaning, I wasn't prepared for it and that made it even more baffling.

But hey, we have a panel with Diana holding a jar with Superman's jizz, so the idea of how absurd the idea of this being official is worth a laugh lol.

One of those instances where DC accidentally let someone publish their Batman fanfic.

Happens every so often, they did it again with the Injustice franchise.

Funny they only accidentally publish Batman related ones huh? .

[John Venus]

Glad I wasn't the only one reminded of the Super Jizz story while reading the OP. XD

[Timothy Hunter]

(JLA: Created Equal#1)

Can't blame ya, the only reason why I didn't believe in it too was because I saw the pages first, meaning, I wasn't prepared for it and that made it even more baffling.

But hey, we have a panel with Diana holding a jar with Superman's jizz, so the idea of how absurd the idea of this being official is worth a laugh lol.



Funny they only accidentally publish Batman related ones huh? .

I mean anything drawn by Kevin Maguire can't be that bad can it?

[Lukmendes]

Glad I wasn't the only one reminded of the Super Jizz story while reading the OP. XD

They both have a similar idea of "Mysterious X fucks over a bunch of Y", I relate one with the other automatically lol.

I mean anything drawn by Kevin Maguire can't be that bad can it?

It's more respectful than Act of God, since it doesn't talk **** about the characters who died, while Act of God basically mocks anyone who had powers, but that's about it, it's still a weird what if that can be pretty damn boring, but at least, characters actively try to solve this instead of being a bunch of lil' bitches constantly whining, but when reading it, even if I ignore how dumb just the idea of this is, I was generally bored with it, and issue 2 had a noticeable drop of quality too...

[Guy_McNichts]

JLA: Act of God is one of those stories that goes beyond being insultingly bad to just laughably bad--very quickly, too. It's not even worth getting angry about. You just want to point at it and laugh.

As pointed out earlier in this thread, the central premise is inconsistent and nonsensical. "Everyone loses their powers" might seem like an easy hook, but the nature of everyone's powers are very different. Magical beings like Zatanna and gods disappear entirely...but not Wonder Woman. Aquaman and Martian Manhunter lose their powers even though their "powers" are just their natural abilities they were born with. Green Lantern's ring stops working, but tech-based heroes are unaffected. The ring may be alien in origin, but it's still tech.
And so on.

Character assassination abound. Lois dumps Superman because it turns out she only loved him for his powers. Clark then becomes an homeless drunk. Kyle Rayner has a psychotic meltdown and stops showering or even getting out of his costume. Wonder Woman turns to Jesus and tries to commit suicide (while pregnant) when her prayers aren't answered. Aquaman and J'onn and a handful of others become Batman's lapdogs.
And there's something just so...pathetic about Arthur and J'onn (and others) reinventing themselves as Batman-approved pulp heroes with silly gimmick names and themes. Seriously, look at these nerds:


And that's where the real hilarity comes in--just how much this story is built entirely around proving that Batman (and Batman-adjacent characters) are infinitely superior to every other hero in the DC universe. Hell, it literally ends with Clark and J'onn saying it outright.

Specific plot threads seem contradictory at a glance, but they actually form a specific message when put together.
Much is made about how Superman and Wonder Woman were arrogant. They thought there were gods, and it was wrong of them to interfere in human affairs. So you think, okay, the moral is heroes shouldn't take the law into their own hands. But then Supergirl--who's become a cop--laments that she's limited by what she can do because of the law. She wishes she had her powers so she could do things a cop isn't allowed.
That might seem like a contradiction, but it isn't. The moral of the story is: taking the law into your own hands is good, but ONLY if you don't have superpowers while you do it.

But go back to Kyle Rayner, who tries to fight crime without powers and is immediately killed. Well, you see, unlike Supergirl and Flash and Aquaman, he didn't seek Batman's training.
So, the actual moral is: taking the law into you own hands is good, but only if you have no superpowers AND have Batman's personal seal of approval.

Reading it, it quickly becomes evident the author doesn't seem to like anyone in DC who isn't Batman or a similarly non-powered pulp hero. And DC paid him to make a whole story about it.


As for Created Equal...all I say about that is I find it interesting that at no point did anyone question the optics of a story were Lex Luthor single-handedly defeats the entire female superhero population so that Superman can return and rescue them.

Created equal indeed.

[HsssH]

After reading this thread I'm real glad that I never read Act of God or Created Equal.

[Dr. Poison]

Act of God was a great, compelling story. I wish they had made multiple sequels.

[Nomads1]

(JLA: Created Equal#1)

I mean anything drawn by Kevin Maguire can't be that bad can it?

Yaeh, I basically tuned out everything else and just enjoyed the Kevin Maguire art.

Peace

[superduperman]

Now, I haven't read Act of God but I've scrolled through it and based on what little I've seen, it's another "Batman is cooler than everyone else" story. Superman becomes a drunk who hates humanity, WW becomes a drug addict who tries to commit suicide with pills after she gets pregnant with Superman's child, and of course all the non-powered heroes are the only ones who have a happy ending. I DID read Created Equal and it wasn't bad as a concept. But the execution was a little weak. Spoiler or a 20 year old story: Luthor is of course the only other male survivor because he built a suit. And gets inside the heads of all the "sons" of Superman he has with all the super-women convincing them that women should be subservient. Which makes no sense because all their "sisters" have powers too. It's a little too hamfisted on the "sexism bad" lesson. And, yeah, when I first saw the Super-semen container I thought "how long did he have to 'save up' to fill that thing?"