Thursday, November 1, 2007

Welcome to The Justice League Satellite!

sgWelcome to JLAsatellite.blogspot.com, a new blog devoted entirely to the classic adventures of the original Justice League of America!

As a kid, no book was more important to me than Justice League of America--it featured the all-stars of the DC Universe, having adventures that ranged from the small to the (literally) universe-shattering. Even though growing up I normally bought several comics regularly, if I ever found myself with only a little bit of money, a new issue of JLA would be always be Top Priority.

Before we kick off the blog formally tomorrow, I thought I'd answer some questions that are probably on your lips:

What will this blog consist of?

Mainly, it will be a daily examination of each successive issue of Justice League of America. I own every issue--from #1 all the way up to the final, #261, so will be going through them in order.

I was partly inspired by my pal Siskoid's
Herculean attempt to catalog and review every episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, in order. I think the JLA is also worthy of such respect.

Is that it?

Well, no...I also plan to include contemporary ads(like this awesome one for The Brave and the Bold #28), and relevant and/or interesting other JLA-related material. There really isn't that much JLA-specific merchandise around that was tied to the original book, but in some cases we'll talk about it.

Will you be doing interviews like on The Aquaman Shrine?

I sure hope to! One of the most fun things for me doing The Aquaman Shrine(or any of my other blogs) is the opportunity to contact the various writers, artists, and editors whose work has meant so much to me. The internet--aka The Greatest Invention Since Fire--has enabled people like me to have access to people I'd normally never be able to contact and, in some cases, even get to know as friends.

Of course, I'll never have the chance to talk to the giants of the JLA, like Gardner Fox, Mike Sekowsky, and Dick Dillin, but there are still many other fine creative people who I'd love to talk to about their work with The World's Greatest Superheroes.

My God, how many blogs can you have?

I don't know! If there's a limit Blogger hasn't informed me of it yet. I got the idea to do this blog a while ago, since I knew I would bring the same energy and passion that I bring to the other ones, an ingredient that I think/hope makes them enjoyable to read, day after day.

I knew that one of my other blogs, Digest Comics, was coming to a definite end since I had exhausted talking about the ones I loved the most, so I wanted to wait until that happened to start this--it was starting to get a little confusing, keeping track of them all.

Also like my other blogs, I hope JLA Satellite serves as both an enjoyable, reverent-yet-irreverent romp through the JLA fields, as well as a useful historical document of a long-running, influential comic book. I hope that by the time we get to issue #261, this blog will be the place people visit when they want to find out some good, useful, in-depth info on the book.

So why the JLA?

Well, like I said above, it was the book that spoke to me the most growing up--I spent most of my teenage years amassing the entire run(which wasn't easy for someone living off an allowance or a measly Roy Rogers employee salary). Later, during art school, I sold all of my comics(15,000+) to help pay for school, and for a moment I briefly considered the JLAs, too. Luckily, one second after I spoke that idea aloud, my friend Chris Wichtendahl said "You can't do that. Those are the Kelly Family Jewels." And he was right--they were the only comics I kept, and I'm so glad I did.

The DC Universe always seemed like a more fun, happy place than the Marvel one, which is why I always more of a DC kid. And nothing seemed more fun than hanging out in space satellite, 22,300 miles above Earth, hanging out with the all-stars of the DC universe. Heck, I'd even be a mascot--I can snap my fingers as well as anybody else!

sgHere's me sometime in 1982 with my Mom and my two Uncles, and in the background is JLA #206.

...and there's even another shot of me and Mom(somewhere buried in another photo album), and I'm not even bothering to pose or get the heck out of the shot; I'm too busy reading Justice League of America Annual #1.

The book was never far from my life. I never quite got over the book being cancelled and replaced with an endless succession of #1s, to the point that once in a while I'll catch myself doing the math in my head, imagining what number issue the original book would be up to by now if DC had just kept it going(it'd be hitting its 500th issue this year!).

And since those new JLA titles never had the same impact on me, we won't be covering them here. I have no interest in tracking down every issue of Justice League Task Force, thank you very much. Not that there weren't a lot of good--even great--moments in those books, but those occupy a different part of my heart, and that's not the part this blog is coming from(criminy, did I just write that?).

So starting tomorrow, we'll be talking about Justice League of America #1, where the JLA takes on the evil-yet-goofy-looking Despero. I hope my efforts are as interesting and comment-worthy as my other blogs, and I hope they provide the same level of enjoyment.

Thanks to everyone who reads my other blogs and lets me know how much they like them and even contribute things for me to use. I wouldn't be doing all these Exercises in Fandomosity if it weren't for all of you out there reading. I thank every single one of you.

Oh, and one final question...

Will I get something if I contribute to the JLA Satellite the same way I did by contributing something to the Aquaman Shrine?

Oh, yes. My Darlin' Tracy has her F.O.A.M. certificate on a bookshelf, so its a constant reminder to reward when someone goes The Extra Mile.

See you tomorrow, JLAers!

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Awesome! I look forward to this blog, for I share your passion for the JLA. However...shouldn't you really start with B&B 28? Just asking...

rob! said...

youre probably right, only problem is i dont own BB #s28-30, they were just too expensive to find when i was collecting the run.

and one of the things i want to do with this blog is talk about MY personal copies, using my scans, not ones clipped from the GCBD or something like that. like the Shrine, i want the personal and the historic interwoven.

but not including them seems weird, so maybe i'll make an exception and talk about all 3 issues in one day or something like that. they are HISTORIC, after all!

Plaidstallions said...

I read early JLA to my son all the time, so I'm actually prepared for this blog. I sold much of my originals (4 and up) to pay for college, blech!

Scurvy said...

I look forward to reading this! JLA was one of the first comics i bought when I started collecting. Unfortunately for me it was near the end of the run and it is a small collection. I did keep going with JL afterwards (which i did enjoy), but I really wish they hadn't puled the plug on the original. Congrats on the new blog!

They did have some goofy looking villans didn't they? (Kanjar Ro)

chunky B said...

I always liked the team spirit of the Justice League in all the other forms of media, this blog will be an excellent primer in all things JLA the comic!

I look forward to making it a daily stop!

Anonymous said...

Perhaps you can show the Archive Edition of the B&B issues, and tell how you got them there? I had several early JLA issues but not the whole run, so I bought the first few Archives until they mesched (sp?) with my real run. Perhaps you did the same?

Luke said...

Wow! All of them in order huh? Guess I'll have to be real patient in order to hear your thoughts on Steel and the rest of the Detroit crew, heh. That is a herculean task indeed!

I talked about this briefly in my blog a couple of days back, but I never was much of a DC guy until I was older. Looking back now, series like Justice League of America and it's spinoffs would probably have been well received by me as a kid, and I probably would have more sustained enjoyment reading them than I did chasing the X-bug. (The strangest thing about that is that I can only vaguely recall actually liking most of the X-books; go figure. But that's not important.) It's funny how you look back at your habits when you were younger and try to put yourself in your shoes as a younger version. But like you with JLoA, I think every comic fan has one or two series they can point to and say "This has been with me for most of my life" and the flood of memories that entails. And since I absolutely do not have the time (nor money to complete my collection) to do a similar blog for Iron Man, I am very much looking forward to reading your reminiscing. Looking forward to it!

rob! said...

i will be doing B&B 28-30 tomorrow, with scans from GCBD--this one time! :)

Grears said...

Rob,

Really looking forward to this. JLA has always been my favorite (well, tied with the Flash)... If you need a guest writer when you get to the Wein - Bates Era I am your man.

I remember the weird feeling in my gut when I read the JLA / New Gods issue with Perez pencils... I was so happy to see Perez doing the JLA. Then I read the Letter Column and found out Dick Dillin had passed on. I felt so guilty. I think part of my childhood died that day. Of couse the rest of it died when Vibe appeared a few years later!

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...