RKMBs Forums .::Robegories::. Comic Books Kelly's JLA

What do you all think? If my math hasn't failed me, he's in the middle of his third JLA story arc now, so I figure now is a good time to ask.

A simple "yay" or "nay" will suffice if that churns your butter. An insanely lengthy dissertation on the subject would be peachy.

Have at it, you.

To be honest, I haven't been overly impressed with the entire JLA series. I've found most of the issues to be difficult to focus on, and very few issues have really interested me.

I think that the problem is the icons. Sure, they belong in the JLA, but to me the JLA is about more than just the Big 7. A balance is needed between the icons and some of the non-icons (such as Black Canary, Zatanna, Red Tornado). The problem with having only the icons is the apparent need to come up with ENORMOUS threats for them to handle. And for me, at least, such grand stories are above my interest level.

And, coming back around to the topic at hand, I can't say that I've been any more impressed with Kelly's version of the team. Faith and whatsisface (Manitou Raven or something like that) haven't much impressed me, and the whole search for Aquaman story (was that Kelly?) left me bored and flipping thru pages.

I think, of the entire series, the only issues I really enjoyed were the ones Bryan Hitch drew. I think Mark Waid was the writer. Actually, that might also be part of my problem. Hitch was the only artist on this series that I liked, and I have a hard time enjoying a story if I don't care for the artist.

I read some of Obsidian Age, it was enjoyable. I'm currently going back and buying all of the JLA trades. Morrison's stuff is great.

Yay.....I liked Obsidian Age. I also like the Bats/Wondy Love Story.....I hope he taps that Ass. JLA is one of my favorite books usually no matter who is writing it.....but Morrison was the best.

I liked Obsidian Age, but I haven't been incredibly impressed with the rest of it.

He's obviously trying to explore current real-world issues in a fantasy setting, which is fine. The outcome hasn't been too exciting,though.

The last really great JLA story I've read was that one-off Bats/Plas issue some time ago.

GOLDEN PERFECT -- I rather liked. Which surprised me as its not the type of story I would usually like.

OBSIDIAN AGE -- Reminded me of old TMK Legion issues. I *HAD* to pay MAJOR attention to what was happening in every panel to keep up, but the payoff for said attention paid was damn good.

WHITE RAGE -- So far so good. I am really liking Faith, Manitou Raven and especially Major Disaster.

I give Kelly's run so far a solid B +.

As far as the ENTIRE JLA series thus far, I enjoyed practically all of Morrison/Porter, liked Waid/Porter, and had my tits bored off by Waid/Hitch (worst. drawn. Flash. ever.). Kelly's run has surprised me.

I hate the art. Mahnke really doesn't need to be on JLA IMHO.

Kelly's writing has been very uneven. Lots of good character stuff, but the plots and menaces just haven't been very memorable. It seems at times if he's trying to write like Morrison.

Obsidian Age took way too long and of the new members to join, Manitou Raven is the only interesting one. The Apache Chief bit was kinda funny.

It is good to see the Atom and Firestorm back in the book regularly however.

The first part of "White Rage" really disturbed me, because I felt I was picking up subtle racist undertones in the story and I wasn't sure if that was intentional on Kelly's part or not. After reading the second issue and discovering that the characters involved were neo-nazis, I felt relieved. I had been concerned (probably needlessly) that Kelly would be writing a propaganda story.

No that was Kelley that wrote Golden Perfect. I just checked.

Most of Kelleys stories I have liked with Obsidian Age and Plasticman/Batman. But lately his writing is starting to bore me. He's trying to fit in all these political things into his stories and it just isn't working for me. I just think that Kelleys had a good run but it should be coming to an end soon.

I'm actually a fan of Mahnke(from his collaborations with John Arcudi on The Mask and Major Bummer), so the art hasn't really bothered me on JLA. I think Kelly has some great ideas, and has the potential to write fantastic stories(like Action Comics #775), but he can easily get sidetracked, and lose any line of coherent thought. I enjoyed Golden Perfect, but the first few issues I read of Obsidian Age completely turned me off, so I'm now opting to read JLA in trades.

In all honesty, I started reading Kelly's JLA for one reason and one reason only - JLA #65. As many of you know, I was once the DCMB's most outspoken Plastic Man supporter back before TOMB relocated to Athanon, having founded PSYCH and serving as a member of PLAS (founded by my fellow Plas-fan, Danny - formerly Rypta Gud'n). Naturally, then, it was the prospect that Plas now had a son (and was practically starring in an issue!) that led me back to the JLA after I'd dropped it since Tower of Babel.

That having been said, upon reading through The Obsidian Age - which, all things considered, was just a fun story (loved Blood, Etrigan, and Manitou Raven; wasn't too keen on Faith or the return of Aquaman, though) - and the follow-up issue, where Plas (along with J'onn, Ollie, Hawkgirl, Nightwing, and Kyle) left the League, I dropped the book like a bad habit. The story-telling was decent from what I read, but Morrison's was just much better. Plus, as much as I knew Kelly liked the Plastic Man character, I wasn't too keen on his use of him, most of the time - spitting off dumb puns and quoting movies rather than going for the good jokes, which were usually left to someone else, sadly. Personally, I was glad to see Plas leave after that treatment. Better he leave than stay and be used as a bad joke, IMO.

I've been meaning to go back and pick up some of Waid's work on JLA, specifically the Superman/Man storyline, which Waid says was his main reason for keeping Plastic Man in the League (exploring the Plas/Eel dichotomy). Plus, I liked Waid's treatment of him in Tower of Babel - not using him as a joker, per se, but actually giving him some substance. I loved the part where Kyle asks him something like "What? No jokes?", to which Eel replies "Not today." Very good.

As a judge of Kelly's work from the standpoint of a fan of Plastic Man - I'm not the biggest fan. However, Obsidian Age was a masterfully told story, and that credit must be given him for that, no matter what.

Kelly gets a B/B- from me..but overall I've liked his run better than Waid's..it's just more bizarre and treads a different path which I'll give him credit for trying to do something a bit diffeent. I liked both Plas/Batman stories and for some bizarre reason I liked the 2 part Kanjar Ro story... Kelly doesn't write as smoothly as waid and morrison, but I haven't been let down by him..that said I wasn't expecting much though..

Morrison is the best then kelly then waid...Waid reallly let me down and quite honestly so did Hitch..Hitch/Waid's best issue was the oversized one shot...

Honestly, the best JLA story I've read in a while was the Elseworld's story by Davis/Farmer...I wish DC would give JLA to them in the actual DCU..I think they could work miracles...they seem to display the british "modern" sensibilities while yet maintaining a love for more classic storytelling and history...

I haven't dropped Kelly's JLA yet so it's OK at worst...


For those of you who didn't know The neo-nazi team in white rage is a revamp of Axis Amerika..a team of Nazi superheroes who plagued The Young All Stars and the Justice Society of yore...

I've always liked Mahnke and Nguyen's art, so I'm fine with their work on JLA. (They certainly draw the sexiest Zatanna I've ever seen. )

Kelly's writing, on the other hand, suffers from the same problems it does on Action; he's extremely hit-and-miss. You get good stuff and you get total crap. There's no in-between. I've been wavering on whether or not I'll stick with it, so I guess you could say I'm on the fence regarding this book.

The Morrison/Porter arc was the pick of the crop w.r.t. JLA issues. I happily bought Midsummer's Nightmare and every JLA issue thereafter (including the terrible JL? issues)... until Kelly came on board.

Every character seems to be a smarmy Kyle Rayner wannabee (shudder) in a different costume with personalities vastly removed from their main titles. What wonder he manages to inject into the stories are sunken under the weight of ten or twenty cheesy one-liners an issue. Sure - the one-liner can be considered a staple of comic writers, but it'd be good if they were actually in character and not mere throwaway lines in search of a cheap... well, I really don't know what kind of cheap emotion Kelly's aiming for. All he got was my apathy, and eventually got me to drop the title.