Who Was Who Is Who #38

So for want of anything better to write about on a Monday, I'm going to go through all my copies of Who's Who and see if I can predict who will make it over to the new DCU by the end of 2012, who might make it and who hasn't got a Roving Ranger's chance.

THE RED TORNADO AND THE CYCLONE KIDS - while Ma Hunkle had something of a revival as the housekeeper for the reformed Justice Society, I can't see her making an appearance in the new Earth-2 series.

RED TORNADO - he's an android! He's blown apart! He's the Tornado Champion! He's blown apart! He's the Tornado Tyrant! He's blown apart! He's a wind elemental! He's blown apart! He glimpses the multiverse! He's blown apart! Blimey, poor old Tornado's had it rough over the years. Don't think we've seen him yet (I'm writing this at the start of April) though hints about his creator T.O. Morrow were dropped in Justice League early on so while he may show at some point, I don't think it'll be before the end of 2012.

Jurgens League #1 - A Spectacular Rebirth

And here we go again, casting our eyes back over an older incarnation of the Justice League, this time from the early 90's when Dan Jurgens was in charge. With that in mind, I had to call this the

JUSTICE LEAGUE SPECTACULAR #1 - written by Dan Jurgens and Gerard Jones with art by Dan Jurgens, Ron Randall, Rick Burchett and Randy Elliott.


JUSTICE LEAGUE AMERICA #61 - #62 - written by Dan Jurgens with art by Dan Jurgens, Rick Burchett and Jackson 'Butch' Guice.

Before we delve into the issues, a quick bit of background as to how we got here. The Giffen / DeMatteis (and Jones) runs on Justice League America and Justice League Europe came to an end with the Breakdowns storyline which saw both branches of the League dissolve after facing various foes. The one-off Justice League Spectacular featured new writers Dan Jurgens, who would take over the American branch, and Gerard Jones who was now writing the European team without Giffen.

Justice League Detroit Redux - JLA Classified

Largely pilloried at the time of their original publication in the mid-80's, the Detroit League were given a much stronger outing in 2001 in JLA Incarnations #5 (as shown last week) and it wasn't too long before they cropped up again in the pages of JLA: Classified from 2006.

JLA: CLASSIFIED #22 - #25, written by Steve Englehart with art by Tom Derenick and Mark Farmer.

JLA: Classified was used to tell tales of the Justice League that weren't always set in the present so it was no surprise that the Detroit League showed up in its pages eventually. After John Ostrander's take on the team (again, see last week) Steve Englehart - writer of one of, if not the definitive Batman stories - should have done wonders with the team. Instead, it's a step backward as we join the League just after their defeat of Amazo and find J'onn J'onzz has brought them to Canada to go camping and Steel, for one, isn't happy:

"Second-stringers, third-stringers, and rookies" is how he describes the League. It's no wonder nobody likes them if they don't like themselves.

Friday Night Fights - I Didn't Touch Her!

Friday Night Fights - where the bad guys win this time round. That's what Spacebooger demands, so that's what Spacebooger gets!

Softened up by a burst of light that leaves her "dazed and dazzled" Wonder Woman's in no state to deal with a giant playing card smacking into her!

Oh, but she's good! She can't see it, but she can still scruunch! it in two! And who's that leaping off the card?

Ah, the King of Spades of the Royal Flush Gang, the perennial Justice League bad guys!

But what's this? Without even laying a hand on her, the King has forced her to her knees! "It's what makes a king a king!"

And with a smack on the head with the flat of his sword, it's all over!

Remember to head over to Spacebooger and use the new poll system to vote for your favourite fight.

This damsel in distress was originally shown in Justice League of America #203, cover dated June 1982, written by Gerry Conway with art by Don Heck and Romeo Tanghal.

Who'd Like A Cocktail? #51

The weekly round up of what I picked up from my local comic shop:

• Blackest Night: Superman #1 - didn't Pete Ross used to be the Vice President? And now he's working in a general store? How the mighty have fallen. Either way, good opening issue.
• The Brave And The Bold #26 - great idea (ghosts killing ghosts) but utterly dreadful, leaden dialogue.
• Final Crisis Aftermath: Dance #4 - finding it hard to care what happens to the Super Young Team, to be honest. And am I the only one who reads @MOSEXSBAT as Mo Sex Bat?
• Justice League of America #36 - still the Royal Flush Gang? Still with the bad card puns? Still a boring fill-in story? Looks like it.
• Power Girl #4 - finally! Fun comics! Cracking dialogue! Excellent art! Power Girl and Terra hanging out together! Why do I think this title's going to get cancelled before long?!
• Project Superpowers: Meet The Bad Guys #1 - and the award for the longest title this week goes to... As with Brave and The Bold, nice idea but clunky dialogue.
• Punisher #73 - this story might just be rising above the raft of clichés it's built on, plus Goran Parlov's art is still excellent.
• The Stand: American Nightmares #5 - still a good solid adaptation.
• Wednesday Comics #7 - "Great Thanagar! Of all the islands in all the oceans on planet Earth -- why did we have to crash-land on Dinosaur Island?" - quote of the week comes from Hawkman, without a doubt!

And what made me smile this week:

Ah, Power Girl - this title's consistently one of my favourites thanks to Jimmy Palmiotti's and Justin Gray's writing and Amanda Conner's artwork. If you're not buying it, do so now!

He May Not Be "Into It" . . .

. . . but there's no reason Booster Gold wouldn't hit a woman if he had to.

This week's Booster Gold #20 sees our time hopping hero come up against Task Force X, the 1950's Suicide Squad and, within moments of arriving, he's confronted by Karin Grace who attempts to take him in quietly. Booster, never the most subtle of heroes, suggests he just flies away:

Grace calls him on that decision, challenging him by raising the point that he'd have to hit her which duly gives Booster pause:

and he reluctantly goes with her. After all, it's better than hitting a woman, right?

But as we're dealing with a time-travelling hero, what say we wind the clock back some twenty odd years, back to the late 80's when Booster was still a relatively new character. With the Justice League having been revamped, Booster was brought in to audition for membership in Justice League #4. While he was rejected at first, he ended up battling the Royal Flush Gang, earning a place on the team and even winning approval from Batman.

The Royal Flush Gang was made up of the Ten, Jack, Queen, King and Ace of Spades. Having dispatched most of them, Booster went looking for Ten:

Yeah, Booster, you wouldn't hit a lady, would you? You know, one that isn't attacking you or even armed?

Actually he would because in the future "equality of the sexes is a given so we can hit anyone."

Now I'm not saying Booster should have smacked Grace and high-tailed it out of there, but he shouldn't have agreed to go with her just to avoid hitting a woman.

And the even more annoying thing? Both stories were written by Keith Giffen!