 |
| "Bloodwynd vs. Martian Manhunter" from Justice League America #74 (DC, 1993) by Dan Jurgens and Rick Burchett |
The Giffen League that started as Justice League and then became Justice League International, was eventually split into two books - JL America and JL Europe - to better cover the globe with justice. It wasn't the BEST move in the world. JLE was a straighter take, leaving JLA to go for more and more comedy, to the point where the joke wasn't that funny anymore. General Glory, for example? Not funny. The art started to suffer as well, and Giffen eventually ended the series with the Breakdowns event. Of course it went on, and by issue 80 or so was nigh unreadable dreck. But between Giffen and the bad writing/bad art eras, there was a shining beacon of frankly readable comics. Dan Jurgens took over the book and though the team composition was all over the place, he brought a solid superhero look and storytelling style that was perfect for the period's crossover with the Death of Superman, for example. I think it's never been collected, because I often read comments asking for a trade. It's worthy. What came later, not so much.
You know, I did love the old JLI and JLE...but it is true that it became pretty bizarre towards the end there.
ReplyDeleteAnd yet...
I still miss it all. Jurgens stuff was good, and God help me, I even liked the stuff with Gerard Jones and Wonder Woman in her biker suit, and Sigrid, and Obsidian, because it was just SO bizarre, and it still may be the only time that I actually sort've liked Hawkman.