The Future of the Justice Leagues? What I’d Do With The Teams Following Forever Evil (WARNING – SPOILERS FOR TRINITY WAR)

So it’s been a while since I talked about what I’d do with the New 52 given certain situations, but this one just kinda hit me now. As most of us know, following Trinity War, there’ll be a massive event called Forever Evil. According to solicits for DC Comics in September and October, the Trinity War will end with the “deaths” of the Justice League, Justice League of America, and Justice League Dark, along with nearly all of their members, with the Secret Society of Evil going on a rampage and taking over the world in the absence of the world’s greatest heroes. Now of course, we can kinda gather that this’ll likely turn out to be a ruse of some sort by the Justice Leagues to take down the villains all at once, or that they’re simply put out of commission temporarily and find a way to return to action. Still, it makes one wonder what exactly will be the shape of these three teams following the event.

My personal vote, if it had any meaning whatsoever? I’d say have the Leagues come together to be three distinct teams of a single Justice League. They would continue working as they have been, with the Justice League operating as the #1 response team to the biggest threats to the world, the JLA as the government controlled team, and the JLD as the response team to supernatural threats, but they would also be actively assisting each other wherever possible. Heck, they could even change-up certain members, even add a couple to their ranks, then form a sort of counsel of one or two members from each team to form a leadership role for the group on a whole.

So who would I move where? Well, for starters, I think I’d move Zatanna back to the JLD for the purpose of being its team leader (because I can’t frakking stand Constantine), possibly bring Element Woman with her, bring Amethyst back to the team, and if it turns out that Doctor Light is still alive, I’d move him there too. Also, if he isn’t already, I’d make Swamp Thing a full member. I’d probably swap Cyborg and Martian Manhunter between the teams, as well as Firestorm and The Atom (remember, The Atom is a spy from the JLA right now). Finally, provided she can get away from the DOA, I’d put Batwoman on the JLA, maybe bringing along Goldrush, and I’d finally bring back Hal Jordan to the Justice League, have Shazam stay on the team, and possibly bring Vixen to the team.

I swear to God, DC, if you kill Dick Grayson…

So, with all that said, the teams would look like this…

Justice League

Superman, Wonder Woman, Batman, Hal Jordan, The Flash, Aquaman, Martian Manhunter, The Atom, Shazam, and Vixen

Justice League of America

Steve Trevor, Green Arrow, Katana, Hawkman, Catwoman, Vibe, Simon Baz, Cyborg, Stargirl, Firestorm, and Goldrush

Justice League Dark

Zatanna, Constantine, Frankenstein, Deadman, Madame Xanadu, Swamp Thing, Doctor Light, Element Woman, and Amethyst

…Anyway, that’s just my thoughts. Lemme know what you think below, and I will see y’all next time. Ja né!

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Why I Don’t Buy Marvel, And Why I’m Sorely Tempted To (PLEASE GIVE FEEDBACK)

…Okay, I’m sure that at this point, anybody who has talked to me in person can tell someone who only reads my blog on occasion why it is I seem to have a favouritism toward DC comics over Marvel. I’m sure I’ve talked about this topic before, but I pretty much need to lay my reasons out right now. Why? Because…well, I’m getting REALLY tempted to start buying a certain Marvel book, and I need to decide if the pros out-weight the cons here, and also to get everyone else’s feedback. I should also make it clear that I don’t hate Marvel or their characters. Heck, the X-Men was my favourite superhero team as a little kid…except that nowadays, there’s like a hundred of them whom I’ve never heard of, some of whom are actually evil now. So let’s first talk about the reasons I’m tempted to begin buying.

1. NO REBOOTS. I know that there has been plenty of good to come out of the New 52, but it also has discarded a lot of good that it already has. Marvel NOW, as I understand it, seems less a reboot than it is a plan to bring new people in. Basically, by launching new #1 issues and having them re-explain the characters and their motivations for anyone unfamiliar. They don’t try to change what happened in the past, but rather show how these characters continue to move on in their lives and the various scenarios they’re placed in.
2. The characters are a bit more relatable. They act more like real people. Now granted, some of the characters in DC have been changed to be more relatable since the reboot, but I think it was done in a somewhat misguided way, and not often handled all that well.
3. Marvel stories can be dark, but not for the sole reason of being dark. I tend to agree with Linkara in that DC did an overall darkening of their stories as a means to compete with Marvel, thinking that was the key to their increased popularity, wherein it was really because they were generally just better thought-out most of the time. Oh, and before you start, I’m well aware that Marvel has copied DC in the past to compete with them too, I’m not playing favourites here. Seriously, can’t both organizations just do what they do best on their own without trying to copy or one up each other?

So that’s what makes me tempted to get into Marvel books, but what makes me less than thrilled with the idea?

1. Although the fact that they keep their continuity intact is generally a good thing, it sometimes can get SO long and SO historied that newcomers can get overwhelmed by the mass amount of events that occurred and the huge roster of characters. Even with the internet to keep up to date, it can get hectic and stressing, though not impossible and potentially worth the sweat.
2. While seeing more relatable characters is usually a good thing, some of these characters seem a bit more fallible than others, to the point where I’d risk being put in the hospital to deck these guys. In particular, I’m referring to Cyclops and Mister Fantastic, both of whom, the more I hear about them, come off more and more as straight up villains than good people doing bad things.
3. The event comics are just BAD. Every other year, there’s an event comic where the heroes fight each other instead of the bad guys, and it’s kind of annoying after a while. You can do it once in a while, but every other year just seems like it’s milking the idea dry. And if that isn’t bad enough, it’s made worse by events like Avengers Arena (actually, not 100% sure this is an event comic, but I’d hate to think it was planned to be ongoing), where the sole idea behind it is to kill off scores of the younger heroes. To be fair, though, it’s not like DC never did event comics where lots of characters died, and it IS looking like Trinity War is a heroes vs. heroes vs. heroes story.
4. And ultimately, I come to the biggest reason why I don’t read Marvel, and anyone close to me can attest to this being my reasoning: The reason I don’t read Marvel is Spider-Man. And if you honestly have to ask me what he has to do with this, well, there’s this…

And this…

And oh so magical THIS…

Just remember, Peter, you gave up life with your wife to the devil for life with your Aunt, who is about to rape you. WOW, that decision just keeps getting smarter all the time, eh?

…Now, I’m sure someone will probably say “Well, why don’t you just avoid Spider-Man and event comics?”. And they would have a point…but then, there is this argument that has kept me from buying Marvel for quite some time: If they could do this to Spider-fucking-Man, a superhero who, for a lot of years, was top dog at Marvel, a character who was the hero for a lot of people, myself included, and they could do this to him, NO ONE in Marvel stories is safe. You can call me paranoid for thinking this way, but I really do think it could just as easily happen to any of them. Hell, as I alluded to before, Cyclops and Mister Fantastic have both tread across that line more times than I’d like. Even Iron Man has done some horribly morally questionable acts in the past.

And before you bring up any morally/ethically ambiguous decisions made by DC heroes, let me just point out that I know about some of the worst of them, and to the best of my knowledge, none of them have made literal deals with the devil. Granted, it looked as though Damian would at some point in the future, but it turns out that’s not the case.

Anyway, that’s my arguments for and against buying Marvel. If I decide to go for it, you’ll learn pretty quick which comic I’m looking to begin purchasing. And no, it’s not Deadpool, though I AM occasionally tempted to buy it just based on all the crazy crap that happens in that book. lol Either way, do me a favour and leave your thoughts on the situation below, regardless of if you’re pro Marvel, pro DC, like both, hate both, correcting a mistake in my information, or just wanna help me out. Ja né!

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Interesting News on the Trinity War

So BuzzFeed apparently got to have a little talk with Geoff Johns (writer of Justice League and Justice League of America) and Jeff Lemire (writer of Justice League Dark) over the phone. The topic? The summer crossover event Trinity War.

For those that don’t know, be it you were hiding in a cave or have amnesia, Trinity War is a massive event where the three Justice Leagues are fighting each other. So basically, nearly every annual Marvel event for the past several years, wherein the good guys fight each other. But hey, this is just three books a month for two months, not including the tie-ins that’ll occur in Trinity of Sin: Pandora, Trinity of Sin: The Phantom Stranger, and Constantine, so not complaining too much. Also, apparently Zatanna joins the Justice League, so clearly it’s not all bad.

Oh, and she’s also getting her more traditional costume back, THANK GOD.

Anyway, the name ‘Trinity War’ has a few different meaning. It relates to the three Justice Leagues, it relates to the Trinity of Sin (Pandora, The Phantom Stranger, and The Question), and it relates to DC’s Trinity (Superman, Wonder Woman, and Batman). The plot will revolve around the plans and schemes of the three members of the Trinity of Sin, it will revolve around a murder that occurs near the beginning (which I think is the person who dies in Justice League of America, not sure), it will revolve around the JLA learning of their existence as a fail-safe against the Justice League, and it will revolve around the relationship between Superman and Wonder Woman.

Speaking of that last bit, Geoff Johns had something interesting to say after being asked Wonder Woman and Superman would make it through this story with their relationship intact…

And I quote…

“I think the bigger question is will you see any of these characters make it through. The thing about Wonder Woman and Superman is when their relationship ends, it’s going to end badly. There is no good way for this one to end. And then there’s other concerns. When those two start acting out together, people get nervous. Not because they don’t think they’re heroes, but because they have such incredible power, and who could stop those two?”

Now, I’m aware I’m not the first to take note and make mention of something in that paragraph, but I felt like adding my two-cents. You’ll notice he said “when their relationship ends”. Not if, WHEN. I have a question: Was the plan always to split them up here, or were the complaints just getting to be too much? Also, please dear God tell me that this means Diana is gonna stay single for a while. Don’t pair her up with Orion, because since the reboot, Orion’s kinda bugged me, especially given what happened recently in her book. You remember…

Yeah. That. Funny story, in the most recent issue of Wonder Woman, she decided to get back at him, BY ALMOST CRUSHING HIS BALLS IN HER FIST. Now, a lot of people were just as offended by this as they were THAT. Me personally, I choose to take it as a sign not to mess with Wonder Woman like that, as if we needed one.

So that’s all for now, and here’s hoping that Trinity War will at least be decent. Ja né!