Comic Book Geekery -- The JLA/JSA Summer Team-Ups

[kybearfuzz]

After a long and stressful day at work, I decided to stop off at a local comic book store to see what new stuff is out. It isn't my usual comic shop that holds my books for me, so I didn't buy any of my usual comics, but looked to see if there were some one-timer buys for me. I also checked out the back issues for some good buys.



Even though I have all of the Justice League/Justice Society summer team-ups from the 1970's forward, I cannot resist a good buy. I have read some of mine to the point they are near tatters, so when I saw several team-up issues in the back issues for reasonable prices I had to buy them. I found JLA #'s 183-185 (JLA, JSA, and New Gods versus Darkseid and the Injustice Society) and JLA #'s 195 (above) through 197 (JLA and JSA versus the New Secret Society of Super-Villians).

I've loved these particular team-ups. JLA 183 sadly was penciller Dick Dillin's final issue, as he'd passed away suddenly from a heart attack, JLA 184 started a several issue run with my favorite George Perez doing the pencil work, and JLA 195-197 brought some great villians from the 1940's and 1950's to a new generation of readers. Mostly, these issues were favorite moments from my childhood in the early 1980's.

I'll put these copies in bags and boards to file away and continue to read my other issues over and over again, like usual. Hopefully, I'll be re-reading these when I am old and gray and telling those brats on the hovering bicycles to stay off my lawn while shaking my cane at them.

/geek :)

Comments

[cmorley.livejournal.com]

Whatever happened to George Perez, anyway? Every since Teen Titans/Crisis on Infinite Earths, he kind of dropped from view.

Or I dropped out of the comic market.

Hmm.

Maybe both.

[jprtoronto.livejournal.com]

He did the recent JLA/Avengers cross over, and is now doing covers for some new book. Someone said he has carpel tunnel syndrome so he doesn't draw that much anymore.

[cmorley.livejournal.com]

Ouch. Damn, that's a shame.

[kybearfuzz.livejournal.com]

Actually, you can find George's work on Crossgen Chronicles and the Solus series. The artwork is great and most comic book shops have put them in the bargin bins after Crossgen's downfall. I bought a couple of issues of Solus the other day for a quarter each.

[legionbear.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I think it's more that you dropped from the market if you haven't seen him work in a few years. If you don't remember him much since Crisis you've missed some amazing work form him, including the stunning Busiek/Perez run on the previous volume of Avengers. Though he's doing less and less super-hero work, he's still one of the top veteran artists. DC even has him doing the variant covers for this fall's infinite crisis mini. He went through a period from about 1999-2004 that he refused to do super-hero comic work and worked exclusively for the ill-fated Crossgen books. Then he returned and finally unleashed Avengers vs. JLA. He's not doing much more than covers these days since he has severe tendonitis that flares up if he works too much. He is hard at work with Marv Wolfman completing the long awaited Teen Titans "Games" graphic novel that was supposed to serve as the end-piece for their run on Titans all those years ago before DC pulled the plug on it. Some of us have waited 20 years for this book, so a few more won't hurt I guess. I so love this man's art.

PS - Here's a sneak peek at the variant Perez cover for October's Infinite Crisis #1:

[cmorley.livejournal.com]

Oooo, "Games" sounds cool! Yeah, I have been out of the market for awhile now; I went to Vertigo-like titles in the early '90s and then stopped collecting altogether in the late '90s. I've kept up with the market sporadically, but never heard anything about Perez.

I also need to check out the Teen Titans cartoons, speaking of.

[legionbear.livejournal.com]

I simply cannot wait for the "Games" graphic novel as well. George and Marv's Titans run really won me to DC as a life-long fan. If you enjoyed the early days of Vertigo you are missing out on some great stuff now. Y: the Last Man, Fables, Loser and 100 Bullets are all amazing reading from Vertigo these days. All are available in trades so you should be able to catch up easily and somewhat cheaply if you are so inclined.

The Teen Titans cartoon is great! As is the JL Unlimited and current incarnation of The Batman cartoon. I'm really looking forward to next year when DC adds Legion of Super-Heroes to the Cartoon Netwrok line-up as the Justice League replacement though!

[cmorley.livejournal.com]

One problem right now is I live in a town with no comic store, so I can't browse the new titles like I used to.

Also I have boxes and boxes of comics I'm not reading and I hesitate getting more boxes in. But I understand that's a pretty common problem among comic book readers... :D

[legionbear.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I know a few comic fans who have boxes of books they haven't read. I have a short box of Batman material I bought in the last year that I'm just getting around to myself. Having sold all my batman a few years ago when I was in a poor financial situation, in the last year I've replaced everything from Crisis to current and am re-reading it all before I archive it. It helps me make sure that nothing is wrong with each issue I bought, plus reminds me of why I absolutely had to rebuild my collection. Now I'm working my way back through the silver age stuff.

AS far as having no LCS, I'm truly sorry. I've heard that from several former fans. The shrinking market is really hurting the hobby. Have you thought of going with an online ordering house, they usually have decent websites with covers and reviews for issues for you to order and offer much better discounts than most local stores. I think you might want to give that a shot, but I know nothing replaces the excitement of scanning the racks and picking up the issues yourself.

[dendren.livejournal.com]

no way, I hadn't heard that they were working on completeing Games. This is so cool. And DAMN... the alternate IC Cover is gorgeous! Thanks for sharing.

[legionbear.livejournal.com]

NP, I love talking about comics. Perez and Wolfman started re-working games last year, but it's slow going with Perez's tendonitis. It's already expanded past the original 96 pages it was supposed to be so who knows how much large it will be. It be awesome to have enough material that they just turn it just turn it into a huge mini (then we'd get many more covers ROFL).

[dendren.livejournal.com]

I'd way prefer a mini. The GN thing is pretty and all that but a mini is always much more digestible for me. Plus fun to have it spread out for a bit too.

I'll definitely be keeping my eyes open for it. I'd love it if DC would put out some of the stuff they had done or nearly done like the Firestorm Cornona GN, or the Secret Society of Supervillians stuff from Cancelled Comic Cavalcade but it'll never happen I'm sure :(

[legionbear.livejournal.com]

You never know with DC these days, they're reprinting some things most people thought would never see the light of day again. They recently re-printed some of the british stuff that was recalled and they've been working on reprinting the Flex Mentallo stuff from the 90s that is tangled in legal issues.

They also just started an archive line to reprint DC rarities with just such material targetted for inclusion. You might have to pay $50 for the hardcover to see it, but there is a good chance we might see them all someday soon.

[kybearfuzz.livejournal.com]

Ah, thanks for the teaser on the upcoming "Infinite Crisis" cover, it looks like George is in great form. I've always love the intricate detail he puts into his work.

I've been a fan of his for a long time. I don't have any original work of his, but I have some prints that still await framing.

[legionbear.livejournal.com]

I love his work. I have a nice picture of me and Owen making a George sandwich around somewhere. Someday I'll have to get a piece of original commissioned art from him. *sigh* I love me some George