CBR: Guggenheim Tackles Legacies In "JSA" #50

[CBR News]

Writer Marc Guggenheim spoke with CBR News about the over-sized "Justice Society of America" #50, what readers should expect from his next "JSA" arc, the series' new regular artist, Tom Derenick and more.


Full article here.

[Lemurion]

Interesting article, but if I see one more "tear them down to build them up," story I think I'm going to scream. Marvel's been doing that a lot lately - though they often leave out the "build back up" and it's one reason I don't read much Marvel right now.

[Ebon]

As long as you're building, ressurect Damage. And find someone that can actually draw him correctly instead of using Atom Smasher's design sheet.

[Samy]

Is this book any good? I've been underwhelmed by past Guggenheim projects, is he noticeably better than before here?

[Schnitzy Pretzelpants]

Is this book any good? I've been underwhelmed by past Guggenheim projects, is he noticeably better than before here?

The jury is still out for me. I had dropped the book an issue or two after Johns left, and starting buying it with Guggenheim's arc.

Right now, it is how he wraps up this arc and sets up the whole "Society" angle for me.

Truthfully though?

Based on how it has started out, my gut feeling is that it isn't going to work for me.

See, JSA used to be about a bit of brightness - not that there wasn't darkness - but like another poster above, I am getting tired of the 'break it all down to build it up' storytelling a lot of comics have. Right now, that is what this storyline seems to be like.

[Artificial idiot]

I'm holding out to see how he goes about rebuilding the team, but the last issue... Gah, I was just so disappointed. His new villains are really, really terrible. Especially Doctor Chaos, who reminds me so much of all the worst RPGers I used to write with. The character who was always, always had to win - Even in a roundabout way, no matter what and made everyone else look bad in the process. I could've coped with him, but seeing the JSA allow him to blow up a section of Monument Point's citizenship left me feeling a tiny bit sick reading it. Especially seeing as the cavalry came in just moments after he'd done it. I mean, why couldn't Liberty Belle or Jesse Quick or even Power Girl swoop in and grab the detonator before he depressed it? Just makes them all look really, really bad.

I was really hopeful over this new direction, and had been sort of enjoying the ride until the last issue. Sure things looked bleak, but there was still hope for them to pull back. I think with the last issue he broke them down a little too much though, I'm just hoping that after the 50th issue the tone does take a dramatic shift back towards light, inspirational superheroics and he keeps that tone going for the rest of his run. I love the concept of his run, I just want to see the execution match up to the potential.

[Kid Kamikaze10]

Is this book any good? I've been underwhelmed by past Guggenheim projects, is he noticeably better than before here?

No, and No.


Sorry.

[Sean Walsh]

Tom Denerick........glad to see him getting an ongoing, but I hope Bill Sienkiewicz is inking him again; he made Tom's art in REIGN IN HELL really outstanding. With regular inkers, Denerick looks.....well, good, but Bill adds a lot more.

[Starsky_Hutch76]

I've got to say, I've been less than thrilled with the current storyline, as well. I'm not a big fan of the "tear 'em down to build them up again" approach, either. This stuff simply isn't any fun to read.

I miss Johns. Even the aggravatingly drawn out "Kingdom Come" stuff was more entertaining.

[Artificial idiot]

For me, it says a lot about this run that Willingham had a group of Nazi's take over the world, imprison all of the worlds superheroes, thwart even an intergalactic effort to save the Earth's populace... And it was still much less depressing, much more engaging and much more fun to read than the current arch. In fact, right now, I'd happily take Willingham back on the title. He wasn't perfect, and it was a shame he never got to tie up his run properly, but his stories were much better than the Robinson and Guggenheim ones that have followed so far.

[RDFozz]

Just a comment on a couple of things from this article:

First, I think Jay, Ted and Alan are a bit past the point of having a mid-life crisis. Although, admittedly, I can believe that they'll still have them kicking around in the 2090s....

And, WRT Monument Point becoming a DCU city with long-term relevance: Best of luck.

I mean, since Start City, Coast City, Central City, Ivytown, all those cities created for the Silver Age revival characters, what new locations have shown much longevity? Bialya and Qurac, I suppose, but mostly by standing in as generic Eastern European and Middle East countries.

While this may succeed, it's more likely to become the next Haven (not from the SyFy series - the alien space city that landed on the ruins of Coast City). Near as I can tell, this place was hand-waved away in a caption during GL: Rebirth.

[The Cool Thatguy]

I'm holding out to see how he goes about rebuilding the team, but the last issue... Gah, I was just so disappointed. His new villains are really, really terrible. Especially Doctor Chaos, who reminds me so much of all the worst RPGers I used to write with. The character who was always, always had to win - Even in a roundabout way, no matter what and made everyone else look bad in the process. I could've coped with him, but seeing the JSA allow him to blow up a section of Monument Point's citizenship left me feeling a tiny bit sick reading it. Especially seeing as the cavalry came in just moments after he'd done it. I mean, why couldn't Liberty Belle or Jesse Quick or even Power Girl swoop in and grab the detonator before he depressed it? Just makes them all look really, really bad.

I was really hopeful over this new direction, and had been sort of enjoying the ride until the last issue. Sure things looked bleak, but there was still hope for them to pull back. I think with the last issue he broke them down a little too much though, I'm just hoping that after the 50th issue the tone does take a dramatic shift back towards light, inspirational superheroics and he keeps that tone going for the rest of his run. I love the concept of his run, I just want to see the execution match up to the potential.

Dr. Chaos isn't a bad idea, a middle weight screwing up the team when there's a heavy weight around, but yeah, his execution is almost a villain sue.

"Hey, Mr. T, I know what's wrong with you! Hey, watch me beat the crap outta two JSA members who specialize in hand to hand combat, and blow up random citizens and kill heroes without issue! Aren't I awesome?"

[ArnoldoAAD]

Is this book any good? I've been underwhelmed by past Guggenheim projects, is he noticeably better than before here?

kinda =/ and no

BUT, i think it will improve greatly

the Core Concept is great, a city of superheroes i mean is not extremely original(top ten, astro city, i think there are more) but you hear it and it sound interesting and it fits the JSA

now in addition to the core concept we have some additional plotlines

1 Alan Scott was crypled
2 MrT is losing his intelligence for some unknown reason
3 Lighting is dead/dieing and is being saved by the Dr Fate
4 several non-affiliated heroes are coming to the city
5 the senator/exsenator that ban the JSA want them out cause he is covering something

personally i think
1- SUCKS, it just plain sucks, it doesnt have any sense at all and you know that it will be fixed eventually during or after the run is done so there is no drama on it, personally if it was Ted it would have been more dramatic cause then it would have been a desision of kill him or not to recover and that brings a huge sense of controversy and drama but on someone like Alan it just doesnt work, bad concept, terrible execution

2- not bad but not good either, its basically done to take out MrT from the board so he doesnt solve the mystery of the city in 5 secs, and i think to challenge the character which is always positive

3- just like MrT, is not bad but is not very good, it is better than mr T, is also to keep Dr Fate busy but at least it explores more deeply the side of Lighting

4- i like this, this is basically what Johns tried to do on his run but this one is more expanded, bringing ppl that doesnt have anywhere else to go and bringing new characters to, at the same time is exploring the JSA team
now for someone like Johns where he can give the spotlight to a nobody like Citizen Steel and make it a great character and play with the JSA at the same time maybe is easy and entreteining, but will Guggenheim be up for the task? we still dont know but i hope so, there is a huge load of potential here

5- is interesting but i want to see where he is going before i can say that is good or bad

[SilverZeal]

Dis Guggs writer has ruined JSA, SO WE AINT PIKING DIS BUK till an issue is written dat centers on Michael Holt bringing him bak & part of d core cast...till den peace!

[Artificial idiot]

Dr. Chaos isn't a bad idea, a middle weight screwing up the team when there's a heavy weight around, but yeah, his execution is almost a villain sue.

"Hey, Mr. T, I know what's wrong with you! Hey, watch me beat the crap outta two JSA members who specialize in hand to hand combat, and blow up random citizens and kill heroes without issue! Aren't I awesome?"

No, he's not a bad idea at all, just as you say awful, awful execution. I don't buy the claim that he's playing three-dimensional chess while the others are playing checkers for a minute - For starters, people that smart are usually clever enough to stick to the shadows and get other people to do their grunt work for them.