The JSA title is all ABOUT the history, though, so it's cool. In the right hands, comics history is fun. Otherwise, it just makes stories tedious.

I think that the OMAC Project and the Villains United things both look rather interesting.

Is that a way for them to play with pre-Crisis continuity? Because I *did* know my JSA characters (from all the reprints they used to do in the 70s).

It's all post-Crisis: There was never a Superman or Batman in WWII, Hippolyta was the original Wonder Woman, etc. But beyond that, it digs pretty deeply into the span of the old stuff, going all the way back to DC's roots and into more recent stuff like Infinity Inc. and the like. It's pretty nifty.

Is that a way for them to play with pre-Crisis continuity? Because I *did* know my JSA characters (from all the reprints they used to do in the 70s).

Sort of kind of? But, not really. You'd sort of have to read it to understand.

JSA's really not like most team books, for a few reasons. One is that the characters include a lot of older characters, and the other (probably bigger) is that it doesn't contain a lot of characters who have their own titles, so it has the luxury of going into further depth with them in the team book than most team books do.

Sort of kind of? But, not really. You'd sort of have to read it to understand.

Or, you know, just wait for Victor to explain it all proper-like. *g*

it has the luxury of going into further depth with them in the team book than most team books do.

Exactly, and in doing so, it has a neat metatextual tool to really pick at DC's own history. the characters wrestle with the mantle of the legacies they've adopted, and are used to explore what made some of those old characters great, and to find value in a lot of what was otherwise forgotten or underrated.

That's interesting because I've been wondering how they handled the introduction of Superman and Batman as later characters. They were two of the very earliest superheroes created, but if they're arriving later in the timeline then you have to do something else to establish their primacy in the canon. Sort of like Gretzy arriving in Hockey's history well along into the game and then blowing past many of its most hallowed records within the first couple seasons. If Batman's arriving after Wildcat et al, then he's got to really be distinctive even among the superhero community to be THE BATMAN.

Ple, have you been happy with Nightwing: Year One? I've seen your grbbble a bit in DC Watchtower comments, but would be curious to hear your thoughts.

Ple, have you been happy with Nightwing: Year One? I've seen your grbbble a bit in DC Watchtower comments, but would be curious to hear your thoughts.

Yep. I have a theory that Dixon should be restricted to writing retcon origin stories, because that's really his strength.

I'll only have deeper thoughts, if I have them, when it's done.

If Batman's arriving after Wildcat et al, then he's got to really be distinctive even among the superhero community to be THE BATMAN.

A lot of it is that the capes were pretty much quiet for decades after the JSA got shut down in the McCarthy hearings, and while a few were creeping around still, they mostly kept to the shadows. Then Superman appeared and heralded a whole-new era.

Batman and Superman are generally held in high regard by all the heroes around them because they are seen as being that good, even by the old-timers in the JSA, although Bats gets on a lot of people's nerves from time to time, particularly the Golden Age Green Lantern's. (And incidently, Wildcat was one of Batman's teacher's.)

(And incidently, Wildcat was one of Batman's teacher's.)

I knew that! But I didn't know about the McCarthy hearing element, which is a good twist and really sets up the whole new era.