Anybody reading Justice League Elite? I keep browsing through it at the stands and it looks pretty cool.

Have to say, I really liked it when Vera (the tough butch leader) told Wonder Woman to "strap it on." Okay, she was saying use the magic lariat for a truth test, but you know...

Also the backstory was very angsty and interesting. Hard not to respond to a little girl in pigtails who's had her hands lopped off.

At last! Somoene else is reading JL Elite. I've been reading from the beginning because of Green Arrow's involvement (he's back to bein' a ho, but thet's how Kelly wrote him in JLA, so it's not surprising). The Batgirl revelation was surprising, but there hasn't been any follow up (and I doubt theer will be, to tell the truth). I've been finding it interesting, but it seems to exist outside the DCU.

Steph, I see where you're coming from, but I think Bats has lept ahead because of the repurcussions from Identity Crisis.

P-C, not only is Ultimate Nightmare followed by another book (Ultimate Secret), there is a third series after that (unnamed yet). The whole thing, all written by Warren Ellis, is refferred to as the "Ultimate Trilogy" in Marvelspeak.

He's not capturing motion for shit, although his poses are pretty.

A common criticism of Greg Land's work. He's also been thought to rely on photo-reference a little too much (i.e. accused of virtually tracing pictures). When he was on the CrossGen title Sojourn, I found the same problem. Still, some of the most beautiful scenes I've ever seen in a comic book were found in that title.

He's also been thought to rely on photo-reference a little too much (i.e. accused of virtually tracing pictures).

THANK YOU.

I mean, I've heard similar criticism of Alex Ross, but I think the difference is one of talent and dynamism. Or Alex uses better models. Whatever. Greg's women are luminous, but they're neither heroic nor moving.

I can't stand Alex Ross, myself. Land I can take or leave (okay, I think he does nice covers), but at least his unfortunately static people don't look quite so over-endowed in the jowl department.

There's a certain sameness to all the faces Ross does, male or female. And they're all lifeless.

I like the jowliness. This may be because I first noticed his art of older heroes, and it was nice to see someone who'd done more than silvered temples to show age.

Yeah, though I think he needs to figure out how to work backwards from his Superman and Batman models now that he's painting present day stuff instead of Kingdom Come. Ross does a good job of capturing motion, IMO.

I think the main difference between Ross and Land is that Ross has actual people in costume that he uses for his reference, so his depictions are limited to the physical attributes they carry. Land seems to pull his stuff from magazine pictures (I remember seeing a cover of his for Sojourn analyzed and shown as a reversal of a Sports Illustrated swimsuit picture (dfferent hair and clothes, but exact pose)

Oh, damn. What's he thinking?

That was the example I remembered. I couldn't google it up yesterday. I was thinking it might have been something I read in a forum.