Negative Monday 5

Let's try and get this train back on track.

Monday in Michigan is kinda rainy, drab, and gray - perfect for a little negativity!

Remember when there would be team-ups between the Justice League and the Justice Society - the teams would splinter off and you'd wind up with fun clusters of heroes? Issue #6 of JLA Year One provides that electricity with the Doom Patrol sharing the limelight. Aquaman and Robotman team together, as do Martian Manhunter, Black Canary and Elasti-Girl. The remaining trio - Flash, Green Lantern and Negative Man also make a terrific trio, using their compromised abilities to topple their foes.The mysterious group known as the Locus, in tandem with the Brotherhood of Evil, have stolen the powers of the JLA, and in the case Green Lantern and Flash this means they are without their right arm and legs, respectively. Kitson does a good job of creating prosthetics with a Doom Patrol flair as we discover the powers don't make the heroes - their heart does.

Following the return to normalcy (or what passes for such in a book with the Doom Patrol and the Justice League) Waid and Kitson give us a glimpse of the shared world these two teams have.


Alluded to elsewhere since then, Hal Jordan and Larry Trainor have worked together in the past and, hopefully, we'll see more of this in the future. As a fan of comics in general, I always feel a special enjoyment for stories that world-build. Those subtle little nods to the fans of more than one character or more than one book always make me smile. Although not necessarily intended as such, it feels like a shared secret between the creators and the reader. Waid is certainly a master of this art, and this title, especially, hammers that home. If you haven't ever read JLA Year One, do yourself a favor and chase it down, whether it's a copy from a pal, issues from the back issue bins or the copy from the local library. You'll be happy you did.

Elasti-Girl Friday 4

For this week's Elasti-Girl Friday, I decided to highlight part one of the the Doom Patrol's appearance in the phenomenal Mark Waid-written, Barry Kitson-drawn JLA: Year One series.

Rita appears on the cover, treating Black Canary like a Barbie doll. This issue is chockful of wonderful Silver Age goodness, as is the entire series. I urge you to track it down, either in floppies or TPB.

I love how Barry Kitson matched up Green Lantern and Negative Man in the first (and feel free to correct me if that's wrong) team-up between the JLA and the DP. Cliff taking on Martian Manhunter is inspired too.

I'm curious what happened to Aquaman in this struggle as he appears to be down for the count. Flash is also nowhere to be seen.

The story is a very Silver Age-ish affair. The Brotherhood of Evil is stealing parts from people and creating a Frankenstein's monster-like army. The Doom Patrol hits the scene first and are quickly upstaged by the League.

The exchange between the Flash and Aquaman as an expository tool to introduce JLA readers to the Doom Patrol is classic Mark Waid. Bravo!

I especially love how Flash's question just hangs out there for Aquaman (and the reader) to ponder, with Flash completely oblivious to the awkwardness of the moment. I'd love to see Aquaman and the DP team up a little more frequently, as Aquaman frequently seems more apt to be an outsider than a headliner.
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The Other Elasti-Girl. . .

The other Elasti-Girl, now officially known as Mrs. Incredible - at least as far as comics go - found her way to the new comic book shelves this week under the pen of - surprise! - Mark Waid.

The four-issue series, written by Mark Waid and featuring art from was released from BOOM! Studios on Wednesday and will also be available on newstands everywhere.

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. . . and one other thing. . .

Monsters Vs. Aliens opens to day with Reese Witherspoon providing the voice for Susan Murphy aka Ginormica.

Looks like a fun movie to me. The kids are dying to see it.

Let me know what you think about ANY of these topics.