Christopher Priest on Justice League!

[SiegePerilous02]

And I question every single one of those individuals b/c JLA is virtually unreadable, Priest questions everything and I'm suppose to believe he's not questioning the JLA and how it's written.

Haha. I mean. Priest is super blunt in interviews, but I doubt that he'd trash a currently working writer, especially one he's friends with. And who knows, maybe he actually really likes it. I don't get it, because I'm with you - I tried the book, and it was painful. But it takes all types!

I bought the first trade, and hardly consider it "unreadable." I liked it enough to get the next one at some point. It wasn't as strong as Midnighter(/Apollo) or Supergirl*, and perhaps not as exciting or big as a title with "Justice League" in it should be, but it's not remotely painful. I think from Priest's first issue his run will likely be better, but as far as unnecessary team books with Batman in them go, JLA is better than others.

*Supergirl is another one I've seen people complain about being bad, but I've yet to see anyone articulate why in a satisfactory manor.

[millernumber1]

I bought the first trade, and hardly consider it "unreadable." I liked it enough to get the next one at some point. It wasn't as strong as Midnighter(/Apollo) or Supergirl*, and perhaps not as exciting or big as a title with "Justice League" in it should be, but it's not remotely painful. I think from Priest's first issue his run will likely be better, but as far as unnecessary team books with Batman in them go, JLA is better than others.

*Supergirl is another one I've seen people complain about being bad, but I've yet to see anyone articulate why in a satisfactory manor.

I just do not enjoy anything Orlando has written. I don't know if I'd say it's bad - I dislike the experience of reading his stuff so much that it's painful even reading it several times to determine quality.

[SiegePerilous02]

I just do not enjoy anything Orlando has written. I don't know if I'd say it's bad - I dislike the experience of reading his stuff so much that it's painful even reading it several times to determine quality.

But...what exactly is painful about it, especially if you can't even say it's bad? Characterization, tone, dialogue, plotting, content? Even if he doesn't knock it out of the park with all of that stuff all the time, I've yet to come across anything that's worse than "okay."

I reserve painful for stuff like Identity Crisis, Grounded, Cry for Justice, Amazons Attack, etc.

[millernumber1]

But...what exactly is painful about it, especially if you can't even say it's bad? Characterization, tone, dialogue, plotting, content? Even if he doesn't knock it out of the park with all of that stuff all the time, I've yet to come across anything that's worse than "okay."

I reserve painful for stuff like Identity Crisis, Grounded, Cry for Justice, Amazons Attack, etc.

As I said, it's a reaction more than an analysis. I've never been willing to rereading his stuff closely enough to get to the level you're going for.

If I had to make a stab at it, it's the dialogue - I know Orlando's fans love his humor, but for me, all of his dialogue sounds extraordinarily false to me.

And yes, I have defended Tom King's extremely stylized, anti-realistic dialogue. So I don't exactly have a solid argument here. Just, as I said, a reaction.

I have no problem with you liking it - I'm glad you do. There should be many books for many people.

[SiegePerilous02]

As I said, it's a reaction more than an analysis. I've never been willing to rereading his stuff closely enough to get to the level you're going for.

If I had to make a stab at it, it's the dialogue - I know Orlando's fans love his humor, but for me, all of his dialogue sounds extraordinarily false to me.

And yes, I have defended Tom King's extremely stylized, anti-realistic dialogue. So I don't exactly have a solid argument here. Just, as I said, a reaction.

I have no problem with you liking it - I'm glad you do. There should be many books for many people.

No problem. I was just curious more than anything else.

Back to Priest's run- the one critique I have of this issue is that Diana seems aware enough of her surroundings to realize one of the terrorists is dead, but she isn't able to prevent the other one from grabbing her sword and killing the older nun. Like I know she was on the ground and probably dazed from the explosion, but she's still Wonder Woman and superhuman reaction time kind of comes with the package.

[millernumber1]

No problem. I was just curious more than anything else.

Back to Priest's run- the one critique I have of this issue is that Diana seems aware enough of her surroundings to realize one of the terrorists is dead, but she isn't able to prevent the other one from grabbing her sword and killing the older nun. Like I know she was on the ground and probably dazed from the explosion, but she's still Wonder Woman and superhuman reaction time kind of comes with the package.

It was my feeling that the terrorist killing the nun was sort of accidental - the blast caused them to stumble into the nun with their sword. Maybe I'm reading it wrong, but that would explain why Diana hadn't finished the takedown yet.

[Bored at 3:00AM]

I enjoyed this issue a lot. The idea of Batman being stretched way too thin is an idea that I am surprised doesn't come up more often. The central appeal to a lot of fans is that Batman, unlike most superheroes, is only human, yet he is consistently portrayed to be inhumanly competent. This is frankly why the character bores me most of the time.

[Koriand'r]

He said he doesn’t want the JL to be Trinity focused.

...but I’d be interested in his take. iirc, he wrote Diana on the issue after Byrne’s run

He wrote one of my favorite Circe issues.


Justice League was great, he definitely presented a different side of the team. It felt fresh and new.

[Alycat]

Finally a good issue. I have some high hopes now after reading it.

[kurenai24]

Haha. I mean. Priest is super blunt in interviews, but I doubt that he'd trash a currently working writer, especially one he's friends with. And who knows, maybe he actually really likes it. I don't get it, because I'm with you - I tried the book, and it was painful. But it takes all types!

I don't need him to trash any writers, that would be harsh, but in the recent interview I posted a couple of pages back, he mentions Cyborg and what DC has done with him, here he is being employed by DC and yet saying that this company has made Cyborg uninteresting by increasing his power so much.

Priest and I are not the same person, but when he talks about writing/reading and most specifically characterization of these characters, I tend to whole heartedly agree.

So it's a bit shocking that he actually likes the JLA book when it lacks so much.

But...what exactly is painful about it, especially if you can't even say it's bad? Characterization, tone, dialogue, plotting, content? Even if he doesn't knock it out of the park with all of that stuff all the time, I've yet to come across anything that's worse than "okay."

I reserve painful for stuff like Identity Crisis, Grounded, Cry for Justice, Amazons Attack, etc.

All of the above.

Characterization: Batman for all he's used in the book, has not had any character development, The Ray, Atom, and Frost, has gotten the most characterization (but it's not very well done) and after Batman they're used the most; after those 4 then it's Lobo and Canary, but they're only used to throw barbs at each which in a way develops their relationship, but it does nothing to develop the individual characters themselves, which leaves my fave character to get the least character development and use, yes Vixen has dialogue, but like the saying goes "There's a difference between saying something, and having something to say". And this recent arc has her being spotlighted but the lack of characterization/development means there is no pay off to this arc and actually feels out of left field, b/c this book has no build up.

Tone: Tone what tone, the lack of build up doesn't give this story any time to set a tone or give an over all mood.

Dialogue: It is so difficult to read, some times I question myself b/c I am so confused by the words Orlando puts together. It's hard to explain specifically what he is doing to make it so unreadable for me but weird science dc podcast properly says how I feel when it comes to this subject. I do want to specifically say that Lobo is like a toy action figure with catchphrases.

Plotting: There is never any build up to any arc, the team is just thrown into things, yes this happens in comics, but all the time... There is no foreshadowing of a hidden threat, there is no break between the arcs that focuses on the team and shows the reader what makes them such a "powder keg"... maybe mismatched, but a powder keg, we have yet to see why that description was used in the first issue, I mean yes The Ray has issues with Batman, and Canary and Lobo have their own issues but that is no reason to label the whole team a powder keg, especially in the first issue.

Content: The overall package of this book makes this an unenjoyable unreadable mess, no offence to the people who enjoy it, if I was hired to be an editor today and this was a book trying to get published, everything I said would be in notes and that and the JLA book would be given back to Orlando.

[dan12456]

Very, very good with a lot of potential. Hopefully the start of a nice long run. Best this series has been in a while.

Bruce made a mistake, and it was done in a believable manner. I can't wait to see further deconstructions of Bat-God in this run that actually make sense.

That's one of the things I really loved. While it was a mistake, it wasn't an unfair mistake. I'm sure 99% of us reading that issue never clued in it was a coastal town from the name. It's an incredibly obscure thing, but also the type of thing Batman would normally get. And because its the type of thing Batman would normally get Cyborg never felt the need to clarify. It was just a really well thought out scenario, that manages to make you feel like Batman is spread too thin without being an insult to Batman.

[TheFerg714]

I really liked Priest's first issue! I think it's a great new beginning for the series and I can't wait to see where it goes from here. I loved seeing the more mundane planning aspects of being in the JL, as well as the degradation of Batman's mental state. Has any comic done that before? Shown Batman to be incompetent?

And just to hop on the current conversation, I would agree with some that JLA sucked. I was really hyped for it after JLvsSS and the Killer Frost one-shot, but the first arc came off as the most generic team-up story ever, and Panic in the Microverse was just bland and boring. I couldn't really connect with any of the characters or plot, stuff just kind of happened.

[Frontier]

Simon and Jessica felt kind of off in this.

I also think Barry was the only Leaguer who didn't get any dialogue.

[Clairaudient Freedom Soldier]

The legendary Priest-Woods Justice League era begins ...

I hope you're ready, my friends!

[BatmanJones]

Loved it. I would have only liked it (a lot) if it weren't Priest and I didn't trust so much in where he's going. I expect it to get better and better as Deathstroke did for a very long time before reverting to the mean.

It's just so great to have a great writer on Justice League. Rebirth has been great in most ways (I mean the DC line since Rebirth Special) but has been horrible wrt JL(A). Thank goodness they've finally given what should be their flagship title a flagship-worthy creative team. Can't wait to see what's next!

I bought a LOT of DC Comics this week, everything I could imagine reading that was new, because I'm laid up in bed lately. Still haven't gotten to Batman: White Knight, GL's, Black Lightning, or Deadman yet but I LOVED Batman and Justice League. They were worth my whole bill. I really enjoyed Superman for the first time during this arc. By re-reading Deathstroke 25 before reading #26 I really enjoyed 26 and liked 25 better than I had on first read.

Those four books--Batman, Justice League, Superman, and Deathstroke--made it a great week in DC Comics for me.

Oh! I also got the Holiday Special. Very mixed, though I'm not all the way through it, only about halfway... A great gem of a Sgt. Rock story from Tom King, Denny O'Neil on Batman, Phil Hester drawing GA/BC again (very festive), and a fun Flash story. That's where I stopped. I'll pick it back up later.

So happy for Priest/Woods Justice League! I hope Priest stays a LONG time even if Woods apparently isn't.

I saw earlier in the thread that people were saying Priest was only doing one arc but I read that article differently. I thought he meant to say the roster wouldn't change until something happened to DCU upcoming so he was focused on the same roster for this arc. I didn't read it as saying he wouldn't be on the next one too. It was hard to tell what he meant there.