I'm pretty excited about James Robinson's Justice League: Cry For Justice.

I'm pretty sure by now you've read what it's about. You've probably seen the preview that G-Man posted, with Hal delivering what I believe could be the very same declaration that Batman delivered in Batman and the Outsiders #1! In fact, Hal's Justice League is reminiscent of a bunch of other versions of the Justice League over the years. J'onn J'onzz formed a Justice League: Task Force. I never read it, but this could be like Extreme Justice, what looks like an armored version of Captain Atom, Booster Gold and Blue Beetle. there was the recent Justice League Elite. I'm stills cratching my head over that one. Of course there was the Justice League Detroit, that Aquaman led following the Martian Invasion and destruction of the satellite. The Bwa-ha-ha-ha-ha Justice League that sprung out of Legends, following COIE. Batman abandoned his Outsiders for that one...I feel like I'm missing a League somewhere...

Before all these weekly series and events with a capital Eve, remember when there was something called a fifth-week event? Instead of kicking back and resting on laurels, DC would put together a series that stretched over the course of a five-week month.

That's the only way I could tell that a month had an extra week.

The Justice Society Returns! was one of these fifth-week events. Classic team-ups in new first issues of All-American, Adventure, Hit and other Golden Age style books. Ironically, the book ends were written by James Robinson and David S. Goyer.

Another one of these fifth-week events, maybe one of the last ones - if not the last one - before all the madness of weekly comics and unending event mini-series was Justice Leagues. I don't think this has ever been collected, if it has it may be out of print. It had the typical bookends, and the three issues in between. Maybe you remember it. The gist of the story is that this alien insect queen wants to repopulate Earth, and hires the Advance Man to do some legwork to make Earth ready for her and her seed. the Advance Man arrives, and the first place he goes is Hector Hammond's cell. Hal Jordan is either Parallax, or maybe just come back looking for redemption as The Spectre. The Advance Man directs Hammond to broadcast a message to forget the Justice League of America, to break down Earth's defenses and smooth the way for Plura, the alien insect queen. Realizing that it means all life on earth will die, Hammond sneaks a message to remember the "Justice League of A -!" before the Advance Man can stop him. There are no less than eight new Justice Leagues that spring up over the next three issues. The funniest is Plastic Man's Justice League of Anarchy, featuring The Creeper, Harley Quinn and 'Mazing Man. This is one of four - half the new Leagues - that is shown only in passing. (Plas and his League get only one panel in Justice League of Amazons 1, in my opinion probably the weakest of the bunch.) Kyle pulls together a Justice League of Air, with Black Condor, Captain Atom, Dr. Light, Firestorm, The Ray and Red Tornado, in the same issue that Mikaal Tomas (interestingly referred to only as the Starman that fell to Earth) turns down J'onn J'onzz' invitation to join his Justice League of Aliens featuring Guy Gardner, Lobo, Orion, Starfire and Superman. Guy gets in an inapropriate homophobic jab before Mikaal leaves.

Each of the League members know that something is not right, but can't put their finger on it. Batman and Nightwing debate the point as The Dark Knight assembles a Justice League of Arkham! - what the? - featuring Catwoman, Poison Ivy, The Riddler, The Joker and The Ventriloquist. You gotta admit this is pretty imaginative stuff to come up with a League that starts with an "A"!

The coolest part of the Justice Leagues fifth-week storyline is that, from Hammond's broadcast, each of the original Magnificent Seven found a League that reflects them. Okay, so Aquaman brings together all of the undersea characters; but, Wonder Woman brings together both sides of her personality, warrior and emissary. Batman does the same with his Arkham League, and so does Plastic Man. Most of the other Leagues fit the same pattern, except for maybe the Alien League. And this seems to be one of the reasons that each one of them knows something is wrong. In the brief moments when each of the Leagues interract with each other they don't get along. The personality clashes are obvious.
 











And now, Hal gets to form his own more pro-active Justice League of Anger. Should be interesting to see the team dynamic...I'm torn over being okay that it's only a mini-series and not an ongoing. Maybe the response can affect that...               

By day, I'm the midday guy at a Country radio station. "We play both kinds - Country and Western!"

I've been pretty lucky in my radio career...I got a chance to meet Garth Brooks on his final tour before he retired. I got to meet Shania Twain on her one and only monster tour. I've met a bunch of other really cool Country artists. I've met a lot of my favorite comic book creators. Christopher Jones and Terry Beatty from the animated Batman books; Terrance Griep from Scooby Doo; Tom Nguyen and Doug Mahnke; and, Gordon Purcell from Star Trek, just to drop a few big names. 

Maybe you remember when Bill Maher was on network television. He had that show Politically Incorrect. I think, if I remember the show right, the concept was to bring people from different backgrounds, and have a discussionof some topic. Some times it worked better than others. It was a spin on the idea of a celebrity dinner. If you could meet any one - who would it be. I managed to find someone I'm a big fan of here on Facebook and - "believe it or not!" - got a chance to talk to him!

William Katt, star of The Greatest American Hero series on ABC for three seasons in the '80's. Mr. Katt is writing a new ongoing monthly comic based on The Greatest American Hero series. He is self-publishing it. You can find details on the book here - http://catastrophiccomics.com/news/. I've read the first two issues that adapt the two-hour series pilot, and I enjoyed it. I can't wait for the next issue. Actually, I can't wait for issue number four. That's when I'll get to read original stories based on the series. That'll be nice.

Hey, if you want to hear the interview, check it out on my page here - http://www.1025thefox.com/

Yeah, I tend to judge a comic book by it's cover. But, I'd like to think that a cover is only 25% or 30% of the total package. Kinda like the icing on the cake. Man, I tell you, my Mom made cake from scratch; and she's let me lick the batter from the bowl. Then she'd clean up and start to work on the frosting. I got to lick the mixmaster beaters, the bowl and the spatula when she was done. I'd almost forget that there was actual cake in the future. 

I pretty much know what characters and books I'm going to be reading. The cover just enhances that experience. A good or great cover makes an equally good or great story better. A killer cover can make up for a bad story. Just look at some of the covers for Trinity. Whether you like the story or not, you have to admit that some of those covers - the Jim Lee ones - have been really cool to look at. Maybe Alex Ross isn't going to win any awards as a writer or plotter, but his art and his covers are killer. The New Teen Titans and X-Men have succeeded or failed mostly because of the covers. I know it was a delight to pick up Titans, knowing that under Perez' killer cover was some great stuff from both him and Marv Wolfman. So far, the covers for Green Lantern have been pretty good. I'm not really sure about the whole Faces of Evil gimmick. That seemed like Marketing coming up with some late, last minute idea and then waiting for the issues to be produced and then shoehorning the idea together. The Green Lantern cover with the Red Lantern on the cover had absolutely nothing to do with the story inside. It wasn't old from her point of view, which was what the gimmick claimed - unless I read that wrong. The Faces of DC covers from the '90's was better. I actually went out and bought extra copies to frame and hang on my wall. I especially like The Power of Shazam cover, with the flashes of lightning in CM's eyes. I got an extra copy of the Impulse issue, because it was so hilarious.     

I sure wouldn't want to get my powers by accident!...







I'd hate to be struck by lightning or doused with chemicals charged with electricity! Or bitten by a radioactive spider, or exposed to radiation. But then, I wouldn't exactly want to have to train or excercise to maintain my abilities. I guess I'd rather be J'onn J'onzz, or Hal Jordan. Either come to Earth with my powers and be able to eat all the Oreos I want, or have some dying alien give me a ring so I can have all the Oreos I want...Better yet, Own three-fouths of the real estate on the planet and be honed by the depths and pressures of the undersea world, and be able to break water and kick butt.

Maybe you're like me; in addition to ComicVine, there are a few other place comic-related sites on the interweb that you visit. For me, there are maybe five. I usually save the best for last, and come here to update my page. Yesterday, I happened to see a top ten list posted of Green-SKINNED characters in honor of St. Patrick's Day. I'll admit, I was reading it at work, and that means I was in the control room, on the air, looking at the phones and over my shoulder in case anyone came in to interrupt me while I was, *ahem*, working. That happens from time to time. Somebody needs something and they'll stop in. I don't really want it to look like I'm not busy, in the middle of something important - then it'll become more of a habit than it already is. My plate's already heaping. 

As Peter David would say, but I digress...

So, I'm skimming through the list. It's a pretty decent, diverse list. A little something from everywhere. I didn't see Gar "Beast Boy/Changeling/Beast Boy" Logan on the list - I did see Fathom, and I didn't realize she was green-SKINNED - I saw J'onn J'onzz in the top five - I think he was like third or something. Being that it was a green-SKINNED list for St. Patrick's Day, just who would you think would probably show up at Number One. If you guessed The Hulk, you would be right. Number one on a list that included Savage Dragon, Fathom, and J'onn J'onzz. But not Hal Jordan or Oliver Queen. The criteria, that I had skimmed over, was that it was a green-SKINNED list in honor of St. Patrick's Day. 

Wouldn't you know it, the first post under the list - which isn't there anymore, thank the Maker, by Crom - was from some troll who ended by dropping the F-bomb. There were other trolls below that moaned and whined about Hal and Ollie being left off the list, along with Gar and some other characters I had never heard of. I skimmed over the back and forth, even the moderator chimed in. And I suddenly felt very old. 

It was a brief flash of something that I felt, wondering what I was doing in the middle of that crowd. I had two thoughts. The first was, what am I doing here, and the second was, why would I ever want to come back. I don't frequent Forums or Message Boards. Mainly because opinions are like holes - either belly buttons or something else. And everybody thinks theirs is so sweet. And that means, my opinon(s) matter/don't matter.

That I guess is the true matter/anti-matter equation.

Personally, I'm happy to be dumb. I'd rather go through life thinking as I do, than have someone tell me in plain, graphic terms what a dumb @$$ I am for the way I am. The site has changed quite a bit over the last few months to be more of a pop-culture site. Movies, television, games as well as comics. The site doesn't have COMICS in it's name, so I guess their entitled. Since I'm not a gamer and I don't watch Lost or Heroes anymore; and I DVR Smallville and 24 for a marathon viewing coming up at the end of each season, there's really little appeal there for me now. I've grown tired of all the trolls calling for Dan Didio's head (I've always voted with my money). 

I once tried the DC Message Board. That was worse. I lasted five mintues. Long enough to sign up and have a look around. From what I learned from the DC Board, the Marvel Board is worse. 

So, I'll keep my opinions to myself, post reviews on Starman and other back issues that I re-read, and stay clear of the message boards and forums. And maintain my addiction to Facebook and MySpace. If you want to look me up there, I'm Dave Berg. If not, that's fine, too.