Blue Jay 1971 - 2009

Forever in our hearts.

Okay, enough of that. Now if I may be serious for a moment:
this whole thing is starting to get ridiculous.

Now, I've said before that I have no problem with characters dying. And that hasn't changed at all. But there must be a better way to kick off a new story than simply killing off another also-ran.

I guess what I'm saying is this: I wouldn't have a problem with killing off character left and right if it hadn't been done anymore. It doesn't seem to shock anymore; now it's just lazy writing.

That said... I enjoyed most of the rest of this issue pretty well. And though the death makes me go "meh" the mystery really entices me. I love a good mystery and that's what Robinson and Bagley seem intent on whipping up for at least the first couple of issues of their run.

Who is the mysterious murder? Why did he take Despero? What is his connection to the Justice League?

And where did he get those awesome shoes?

Bold New Directioning

So James Robinson and Mark Bagley are taking over Justice League of America. Is anybody else breathing a sigh of relief?

First of all, I'm thankful that I won't have to look at Ed Benes' art any longer. Some people may like his work, but it's certainly not my cup of tea. And how nice will it be to have a JLA monthly with a monthly artist. Bagley's one of the guys we know will be able to pull it off.

Secondly I'm thankful for James Robinson. His return to comics after that hiatus he took is one of the best things to happen to DC. JLA has been a bit of a mess lately, but it's not entirely Dwayne McDuffie's fault. He's been dealt some bad cards and some annoying editorial fiats.

But he knew that was the way things work. There's no point in complaining if the bosses tell you who you can and can't have on your team. You just have to work with it. After all, look what Keith Giffen and crew managed to do years ago with JLA and a team of second stringers. People still talk about that.

And James Robinson is the kind of guy who can do almost anything with anything. Look at Starman. Gaze in wonder at what he's managed to do with the Guardian and Mon-El. You think he can't take a team of whoever and make them interesting.

I guarantee you there won't be any sitting around at tables looking at photos in the Robinson/Bagley Justice League...

Awesome

Further proof that Trinity is going to be the rockingest thing since sliced bread: next week's issue is titled "A Personal Best At Giant Robot Smashing."

It's gonna be a fun year...

Trinity

Okay, so Trinity starts tomorrow (or today, depending on how you look at it; the time zone change always befuddles me). I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that Trinity will be better than 52. Way better. I did not make a similar prediction about Countdown. Thank Highfather I didn't!

Anyway, here's why Trinity will be better than 52 (and by extension Countdown): Kurt Busiek and Mark Bagley.

Now what exactly do I mean by that? Am I saying that Mr. Busiek and Mr. Bagley are better at what they do than the people who worked on 52 and Countdown? Not all all. The reason why Trinity is going to be so good is continuity. And not the kind that tells us the history of the DC Universe.

Week in, week out, we're going to get a comic written and drawn by the same two storytellers. Every single week. That's like getting a monthly comic weekly. That's going to have a very different feel to me than 52 and Countdown -- both of which were primarily "events."

Everything points to Trinity being different. All the signs say that this comic is not going to be about events. It's going to be about one solid story. It's not going to have crossovers. It's not leading up to anything. It's just going to be solid, beautiful superhero storytelling starring three of the greatest fictional characters ever conceived.

What more could we ask for?

Unsurprising

So, DC has announced their next weekly as Trinity. Kurt Busiek, Mark Bagley, Wonder Woman, Superman, and Batman. Here's the thing, though: I knew this was what it was going to be.

You can believe me or not, but I guessed quite a while ago that this is what we were going to get. In fact, I bet a lot of you out there guessed the same thing. The signs weren't exactly subtle. Hell, I even managed to guess the title.

There are bigger questions, of course, that we don't have answers to. What sort of comic is Trinity really going to be? How connected to the DCU? And of course, how will it be related to the next inevitable event that DC does?

My hope is that Trinity will be more or less a stand alone story. I think there's a lot that can be done with the Big Three as a team. Keith Giffen gave us a taste of that in Four Horsemen.

But me? More than anything I'm looking forward to the backups that'll introduce new characters. I love that sort of stuff.