Piggybacking on Greg's post about the storytelling deficiencies of Justice League of America #1, I have to report that matters didn't get much better in JLA #2. The color-coded narrative boxes continued, although only Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman overlapped. Or should I say, Clark, Bruce, and Diana, because their superhero character names never appeared.
(There will be mild spoilers ahead, so don't continue if you don't want to be exposed to them.)
This is the worst aspect of the issue for me, the lack of proper identification of the characters. The big three are iconic enough that they can survive without introductions, I guess, but that's not true for everybody. We've got another story thread with Green Lantern, Black Canary, and Arsenal, and those names never come up--they refer to Hal, Dinah, and Speedy (which is intended as an insult), but the actual character code names are never mentioned. (I was actually not sure at one point whether it was Arsenal or Connor Hawke--I don't read Outsiders, Teen Titans, or Green Arrow, so I'm not up on the latest activities of either of those characters.) We do get IDs for Red Tornado and Black Lightning, but both of them are out of costume, so you'd really have to be paying attention to recognize them without names. (Of course, Red Tornado is out of costume, but his old android body has been stolen and is shown at the beginning of the issue--it's not identified, either, so some readers may be confused to see him partially destroyed and then making love [out of costume] to his girlfriend a few pages later. If you missed last issue and don't know how he can seemingly be in two places at once, well . . . I guess you can follow Chris M.'s advice and check out Wikipedia.) The only costumed character identified by name is Vixen, which I suppose is because she's not well-enough known to be recognizable otherwise.
All this is annoying to me because Brad Meltzer is supposed to be a conduit for non-comics readers (or lapsed ones) to enter the field. DC been doing cross-promotions with Meltzer's latest novel, and IIRC, JLA #1 was the top-selling title for last month. There's a major effort afoot to get this into the hands of people who otherwise don't follow comics. The storytelling is so inside that only the heartiest of Meltzer fans isn't likely to hang around for more than a couple of issues (I'd be very curious to see how the sell-through on this title changes as it progresses). The Big Three are sifting through possible new members, and at least they're identified by name, but virtually no other information is given out. Their discussion about Nightwing is contentious, but if you don't know that this is really Dick Grayson and that he has a difficult history with Batman, it might as well be meaningless. I don't even get the discussion about Dr. Light. Including her will send a message, apparently, but I have no idea what the message is. Will it prove that they're devoted to diversity by including an Asian woman? Or that if you're a hero and you take the name and identity of a notorious rapist, they'll accept you into the fold anyway? It could be either of those or something else altogether.
Not only is this sloppy comics storytelling, it's yet another missed opportunity.
I blame the editor. It's conceivable that Brad might have had an acceptable brain-fart and type "Ted" in his script where he meant to say "Michael". But any halfway-competent editor should have caught an error like that right off the bat. As well as fixing the problems you mention, but honestly, that typo* making it past editorial said 'sloppy' to me more than anything else.
*Of course, if could just be spoiling/foreshadowing/anteshadowing some profoundly surprising future development in '52'. But I doubt it.
I totally didn't get what the hell they were talking about WRT Dr. Light either (and sadly, Wikipedia was no help on that one).
I was also completely befuddled by Meltzer's referring to Hawkman as a "tank." I know Hawkman's been retconned and re-retconned to hell and back, but I'm guessing he still can't go toe-to-toe with the likes of Colossus or the The Thing on strength alone (does it even make sense to refer a "tank" in the context of the DC Universe?).
Oh, and to piggyback on Greg's most recent post, I'd retcon the whole "Bruce and Dick have problems" thing so that Bruce and Dick made peace with each other at Donna's wedding and then the whole stupid thing was never brought up again because it's LAME and DULL.
Now, the original Dr. Light is...a rapist? I am not looking that one up on Wikipedia! Between Civil War, 52, and that crap about Spoiler and Black Mask I read yesterday I don't think I can handle being exposed to further horrendous garbage writing that I was lucky enough to miss the first time and should never have happened anyway.
It's conceivable that Brad might have had an acceptable brain-fart and type "Ted" in his script where he meant to say "Michael".
I asked about this on Meltzer's own website and he answered that it wasn't a typo; it was deliberate.
Now, the original Dr. Light is...a rapist? I am not looking that one up on Wikipedia!
I take it you didn't read Identity Crisis?
Please don't read Identity Crisis. You'll want to claw your eyes out by the end of it.
Actually, Identity Crisis is a great story to write a thesis on monstrously paranoid misogyny and self-loathing in post-WEF superhero fiction.
Wait, I'm confused. What's this stuff about "Ted" and "Michael"? I'm not seeing it anywhere in the post, and I don't remember anything about it in the issue.
I haven't read this issue and, after foolishly spending my money on the first issue, I have no plans to do so.
I do have one question: do the Metal Men appear in this issue? The world needs more Metal Men.
Hawkman's a tank? Look, just because in a few months you could make a War Mace / Invuln Tank with wings in City of Heroes is no reason to call him a tank. If anything, he's a scrapper. He's nowhere near tough or strong enough to be called a tank. Tanks are big guys like the Thing or Colossus.
post-WEF
"WEF"? Okay, Google tells me this refers to the Warren Ellis Forum. If you really think paranoid misogyny started with Ellis, you've got some rosy-colored glasses there, my friend.
They're looking at Booster Gold's picture, and talking about whether putting some new schlub into his old suit is a good way to honor Ted's memory. (Ted wasn't booster's civilian name, it was the Blue Beetle's.)
If it really was deliberate, then either there is something strange coming down the pike in 52 or the picture-people are actually in a parallel universe, I guess. Without any other clues or general confidence in the meticulous attention to detail of the writer, though, it looks like sloppy writing/editing.
Patrick, I certainly agree re: the Metal Men, but here's the problem. If the Metal Men are brought back in their own series or show up as prominent guest stars, you risk a better than 90% chance of one of the following:
None of these are good outcomes. You're really better off fondly reading and remembering their pre-Crisis appearances and praying that they don't show up in any current DC comics.
If you want Metal Men, read 52, especially week 22. As someone who does read virtually every DC title, I have no problem following what is going on. We'll have to see if he meant Michael and wrote Ted. However, it is up to the editor to catch things like that, however, at DC the editors seem to act more as liaisons between creative team members and the production crew rather than as proof readers and fact checkers.
Dr. Light would send a message, well maybe if she happened to do some serious damage to the evil Dr. Light in retaliation for an attack that occurred a few months ago in Green Arrow. Probably something we'll see in 52. I think DC
expects everyone following their titles to be reading 52 right now or at least keeping up with the events in it via various news sites.
If the argument is that right now JLA isn't for the casual fan, I have to agree. However, I think the expectation is that most of the people picking up the title will have read Identity Crisis, Infinite Crisis, and 52.
Actually, the thought of Tin becoming the Spectre amuses me no end. This just amy be a personal problem, though.
Otherwise, I suspect that you are right, Chris.
My working theory for the Michael/Ted discrepancy is that Batman said 'Ted' because a) he feels personally guilty about Beetle's death, and b) he's so disgusted at the way Booster was acting toward the end of his life that he refuses to utter his name at all, pretending instead that giving the Booster suit to someone is a way of honouring the only one of the two friends that, to him, could be honoured.
When I referred to the storytelling as sloppy in the original post, I may have left the wrong impression. I believe writer Brad Meltzer and editor Eddie Berganza are presenting the book the way they are on purpose. They've made a conscious decision to use these tricks to tell the story, but I think that results in poor and confusing comics.
And Chris M., I envy you your innocence.
Fixing my statement: Paranoid misogyny was always there in superhero comics- it was only after the WEF that guys like Meltzer suddenly felt the need up front, to loudly "rehabilitate" the comics of old. IT was stupid of me to write that like I did.
But I very much feel like Widdle Brad wrote Id-C while looking a the copy of Come in Alone on his shelf, shaking his fist, saying, "They're NOT for kids, you mean old man! They NEVER WERE! I'll show you! I'll show you ALL!"
Don't confuse "willful ignorance resulting from years of suffering" for innocence, although I do appreciate the thought. :-)
I think people had been making comics "more realistic" and "grittier" for decades before the WEF.
Indeed Ralf is correct (hence the "years of suffering" referred to in my previous comment).
Although in fairness, it does seem that there's something that comes along every few years that seems to spur a new wave of "realism" and "grittines."
Yes, Ralf, but this was the point where it's gone totally bugfuck insane, and I think Warren's squarely to blame for that.
Hm. I can see blaming Warren for The Boys, which is clearly Ennis trying to be Ellis (with a soupçon of Bitter Veitch thrown in), but for IC/JLA? Not so much.
However, it is up to the editor to catch things like that, however, at DC the editors seem to act more as liaisons between creative team members and the production crew rather than as proof readers and fact checkers.
Act as liason between creative and production is what editors do. Anything else is extra credit, and most publishing companies don't have the time or budget for extra credit.
In my naivete I thought that what editors did was edit.
People who've written about their writing experiences at DC, like Bates and Maggin, certainly seem to indicate that their editors (particularly Schwartz) acted as story editors, in addition to whatever else they may have been doing.
Also, it seems pretty clear that when DC has strong editorial groups, like Carlin and O'Neil in the early 90s, that they're doing a lot of story-editing.
I have theorized in the past that the increase in production speed made possible by technological is what's primarily responsible: The schedule used to have to have a lot of slack built in, and unused slack was used for story-editing; with modern production techniques, the schedule doesn't need the slack, so there's nothing left for story-editing.
What print editors do is get a project ready to be published. Why do you think that acting as liaison between creative team members and the production crew is not a significant part of that? Proofreaders proofread, fact checkers fact check, and editors edit. As the head of the editorial team, the editor is responsible for all those aspects, but editors are rarely responsible for performing all the tasks themselves. I don't know what DC's set-up and division of labor is, but Kevin is right, as time and budget becomes more limited, it's usually the tasks at the bottom that are allowed to slide.
I think readers decades ago likely thought the creators who were realistic-ifying comics then were bugfuck insane, too.
What do you mean Speedy does drugs? WTF?!? Superheroes wouldn't/shouldn't do that! Etc...