It strikes me, as we approach the final two single issues of the first year of the
nu52 (both written by
Geoff Johns, both late...
maybe we should stop blaming the artists?), one thought strikes me: Geoff Johns is the
last person who should be in charge of universe-building.
That's not to say he's a bad writer. And that's not an attack on any of his predilections for
ultra-violence,
overuse of splash pages, and
glacially-paced stories. That's more a matter of taste, and it sure doesn't seem to stop his books from selling.
No, the problem is, Johns is the wrong person for universe-building because he seems not to care one whit for
what's actually going on in the shared fictional universe. He's just not
interested in the project.
And now that a second Justice League title,
Justice League Of America (ooh, how
creative) has been announced, this first anniversary is an appropriate time to look at how JL fails at its stated task.
When
DC announced JL as the lead-off title of the nu52, they said it was going to be the
lynchpin of the new, rebooted universe. Written by DC's
Chief Creative Officer, and drawn by DC's
Co-Publisher, it was widely expected that this book was going to be integral to the new post-
Flushpoint DC Universe.
Except, of course, the first 6 issues were going to be set
five years in the past. Well, OK, fine. That seems a funny way to set up a new universe, but fine.
But as the title continued, the story and characters continued to be
completely isolated from the rest of the nu52. I ask this only semi-rhetorically: has
anything that has happened in the pages of Justice League been referred to in
any of the solo titles of the teams' members? Or
vice versa?
Don't get me wrong--I'm not talking about niggling miniscule continuity points like "how can
Flash be in this story when in his own mag he's..." (Although, I must admit that I would really
love to see Geoff Johns explain how
Hal Jordan's current escapades in his own mag allow him time to participate in JL's adventures).
But somewhere, somehow, shouldn't there be
some acknowledgement over how the heroes' experience with the JL impacts their lives, their own adventures? And, of course,
vice versa? Some
tiny sense that these are the same characters who are appearing in other DC titles? That this is a shared universe, and not loosely connected fan fictions?
Take, for example,
Wonder Woman. In Justice League, Johns has given us a lot of hints and teases about how
Steve Trevor met
Diana, how they had a relationship but it failed,
Etta Candy, etc. The only problem with that? Not one
single syllable of that has appeared in Wonder Woman's own comic. Meanwhile, in her own comic, Diana has faced a year-long quest against (some of) the gods, discovered her origin was a lie, found out some unsavory truths about the
Amazons, died, almost married Hades...and yet again, not
one nano-particle of this was deemed worthy of mention in JL. It's as if they're supposed to be two different characters.
If it were just Wonder Woman, we could dismiss it as just another DC writer who didn't get Diana--hardly a unique problem. But it's all the other characters, too.
Superman and
Batman surprise the rest of the JL by announcing that they've been working together on cases outside the League. Of course, not a
scintilla of a hint of that in any of their books. In JL, Batman badmouths the
JLI, and demands they be disbanded, while in JLI itself, Batman works with the team, praises them,
encourages them, and even funds them! In his own mag, Flash has made discoveries about the nature of the
Speed Force that might limit the use of his powers, and
Barry Allen is believed dead; in JL, not a mention, as the character remains just a comic foil for
Green Lantern. (And nothing the other way, either. As cops and the press in
Central City rail against the Flash, not a line about his famous public allies also drawing ire...)
And speaking of Hal, JL has seen not a mention of
Sinestro, or Hal's ring not being his own, or color wars, or...nope, Hal is just the team's
mouthy clown boy,
Hawkeye with a ring.
So when Johns says the new
Kal-El/Wonder Woman hook-up will have "
seismic" effects on rest of the DCU, based on what we've seen so far, it's
50/50 that the romance won't even be
mentioned outside of Justice League, even in their own books.
In and of itself, none of this is wrong. If Johns and
Jim Lee want to present the Justice League as some sort of
ur-version of all of these heroes, not tied to anything else, that's fine.
Grant Morrison did that, and yet, even though he's got a reputation of not playing well with others' continuities, he
didn't ignore
Electric Blue Superman, for example.
But the series was presented to the public as the focus of the
all-new, all-different DCU, and even though two of the top dogs are in charge of the strip...so far, it bears
so little resemblance to that universe it might as well be set on
Earth-Q. There's zero evidence Johns & Lee have even read any of the other nu52 titles, or that they care about consistency in the universe.
Again, there's nothing inherently wrong with that--Justice League titles have often been not too tightly tied to the rest of the shared universe. It's just odd that DC's most popular writer, the one they promoted to push their universe, seems to be so little interested in that universe...
Now Johns is leaving
Aquaman to write Justice League Of America. If things run to form, fans of
Green Arrow,
Katana,
Martian Manhunter, the
new Green Lantern,
Stargirl,
Vibe,
Hawkman and
Catwoman need not worry about missing anything that impacts their favorites characters--Johns will be writing
different, Earth-Q versions of those characters.
This is kind of confusing, so follow closely: due to indecipherable magical shenanigans, Johnny Blaze's mind/astral self/whatever has been cast out of the Ghost Rider body, and placed in Doctor Strange's body!!
How's that working out for you, Johnny?
But the internal battle is distracting the demon a bit...
so...
...and...
This one is for the ladies!!!
SOKK!!! Face of bone--meet fists of stone!!
