Big(gish) News From The Big Two

I was expecting a big announcement from Marvel and/or DC to come out of Fan Expo, similarly to how a new Alpha Flight book and Justice League Canada were announced at past Expo events. Of course, Alpha Flight was scaled back to a mini and Justice League Canada was stripped of much of anything that made it Canadian, so any news would be looked at with a suspicious eye anyway.

Instead, the news came within the last 24 hours or so but predictably involves both of those properties.

First things first, Justice League United is done as of December.

Written by JEFF PARKER
Art and cover by TRAVEL FOREMAN
On sale DECEMBER 9 • 32 pg, FC, $3.99 US • RATED T • FINAL ISSUE 

Artist Travel Foreman returns for this “trippy” trip to the House of Secrets to reveal at last how Adam Strange came to be trapped in the Zeta Beam! And just what will that mean for the mysterious, reality-warping Breakers that have brought so many disparate heroes and villains to the team?

Can't say I'm crushed, but I'm somewhat surprised. That I knew of, the book was selling well and DC had just installed a new creative team with issue #13. Perhaps early reactions to that new team and direction were not encouraging?

In any event, Equinox ultimately feels like a huge bunch of wasted potential and while I loved the Adam/Alanna Strange designs, I couldn't really think of them as Canadian. I'm sure they'll pop up again somewhere at some point but I won't agonize over it in the meantime.

And following JLU's exit comes yet another comeback by Alpha Flight. In some form, anyway. The Captain Marvel News Twitter account shared some info gathered at the Long Beach Comics Convention.

Let's get some specific quotes from the Comic Book Resources article referred to in the top tweet above.

"[Marvel] wanted to give her a specific mission," (co-writer Michele) Fazekas continued. "I think they wanted to give Carol her own thing that was hers, separate from the Avengers." 

This mission involves Carol being on a space station above Earth -- with some unexpected teammates. "One of the things that's exciting about the space station," (co-writer Tara) Butters said, "is Carol is starting to be Earth's first line of defense -- on the station with Alpha Flight."

Some familiar members, some new ones. Marvel's record with new Alpha members hasn't been very good over the past 20 years or so (Murmur, Flex, Radius, Yukon Jack, Centennial, Earthmover, etc, etc), so I can't help but be a little apprehensive there too.  But honestly, I'd pretty much given up on Alpha Flight so the bar is set pretty low at this point.

Ironically, as Marvel bends over backwards to provide "diversity", Alpha Flight is probably the most diverse team they've ever had. Yet they have been given little attention or respect throughout Marvel's newfound age of enlightenment. Go figure.

Justice League Canada concludes

Justice League United #4 came out yesterday, closing the fledgling book's initial Justice League Canada storyline.

I was originally excited about the book when it was announced as Justice League Canada last year, less so when the name was changed to JLU and the JLC handle was shifted over to the first story arc.  Now the team won't even carry that name going forward so I think we can pretty much set it aside altogether.

Yes, of course it would.

I can't say I hated the book entirely.  Not at all.  In fact, if the expectation of a Canadian team had not been set well before its release, I'd probably be pretty happy with it.

But as I read it, I can't help but notice how little Canadian content there actually is and it irritates the hell out of me.  I'm reading Amazing X-Men right now for the Alpha Flight appearance and even that team has Canadians Northstar and Wolverine among its lineup, so as many Canucks as the JLU includes.

There may be third but without giving too much away to those who have yet to read #4, the story makes it sound like we'll either get her OR Adam Strange.

Admittedly, Alanna Strange could be quite cool.  And of course, there's also our new, much-celebrated Canadian rookie in Equinox...

...who was by and large non-existent throughout the entire story.  In issue four, she appeared in a little more than three pages, which sadly is pretty much her recent average.  Mind you, she does finally get a spotlight in issue #5, due in October, including (main) cover treatment. Her previous cover starring moment was in a variant.

This issue (#5) spotlights the newest member of the team: Equinox of the Moose Cree First Nation! As a rite of passage, Equinox must take down a mystical beast that’s terrorizing her people!

Speaking of covers and the likely disappearance of the JLC name, I won't complain if we lose the so-called Justice League Canada variants.  I made no effort to acquire them because in my opinion, they're weak.  All right, they changed the logo to read "Canada" but so what?  It's otherwise just the same cover with a different background colour, and often not even including the very few Canadian characters in the book.  Big damn deal.

On the flip side, I admit to getting a huge kick from this variant:

It's fun, it's entirely different from the original, it includes a little Canadiana...And it figures, it was done by Montreal's Karl Kerschl.

So what can we look forward to from this team?  Well, September's issue is a tie-in to Future's End, a story which speculates as to the DC Universe's status five years from now.

In the concluding chapter of the epic story that began in this month’s JUSTICE LEAGUE: FUTURES END #1, the armies of Mars rise against the unsuspecting population of Earth – and only the combined might of the Justice League and the Legion of Super-Heroes can stand against them!

Oh, look!  Alanna Strange disappears!  Just like nearly every Canadian aspect from this title!

That's followed by #5 in October, described above, along with an annual.

The Infinitus Saga begins as the Legion of Super-Heroes arrive with the shocking news that the 31st century has been destroyed! Now it’s up to the Justice League United to save the future!

The November solicitations should be available soon, and we'll see what that brings but at the moment I don't know if I'll continue with this book, at least on a regular monthly basis, beyond #5.  I've enjoyed the portrayal of Martian Manhunter and Stargirl but the characters that I buy the book for have too little of a presence for me to bother.

I'd be all over an Adam/Alanna Strange book though...

Meeting Equinox

Because this blog is so awesome ;-) you've known for a while what DC's new Canadian character to appear in Justice League Canada United would look like (roughly, because it was quite a small picture).  Sure, DC Women Kicking Ass got credit for it, but I posted it about it more than a week before they did (but their image was far better, granted).

In any event, the young lady in question, code-named Equinox ("real" name, Miiyahbin), was introduced to the world this morning in a CBC article. And damned if she doesn't seem pretty great.

Oh, if you click on the CBC article link, avoid the comments section.  Just the standard narrow-minded sarcasm from the miserable people who frequent those areas of the cbc.ca website.  Trust me on this; your brain will thank you.

Comic Book Resources' Kevin Melrose describes her thusly:

Code-named Equinox, Miiyahbin is a 16-year-old from Moose Factory, Ontario, whose power comes from the Earth and changes with the seasons.

And I love that. I can't think of another character who has an ability with that specific "limitation".

With this revelation, the cover to the issue #0, due in stores on April 23rd, has been updated accordingly.

Supergirl is far less prominent now, which might explain her absence from the cover to #1.  It may be that her involvement is actually quite limited but that's just a guess.

I admit to still being disappointed in the name change from Justice League Canada to Justice League United and with the scarcity of Canadian characters on a team based in northern Ontario. Our new Cree teenager was really the main source of my optimism in regards to this book (I couldn't care much less about most of the rest of the cast) and in that regard, the creative team has nailed it, in my view.  I can't wait to get her complete story.

One last thing: Bleeding Cool clearly has no clue as to what the word "Keewatin" means, apparently because it is spelled slightly differently in the preview material (note the extra "h") and because if Google can't answer the question, no one can (since it's obvious that was the extent of their research).

It means "north wind", which appears to be entirely appropriate to the character, and makes for a nice touch.  Pleased to meet you, Equinox.

A small look at DC's new Canadian character in JLU.

DC Comics released their May 2014 solicitations earlier in the week, including the cover to Justice League United (previously Justice League Canada) #1.  I was excited to have a look at the Canadian character writer Jeff Lemire had promised, but she was blacked out on the cover I saw displayed.

Yet oddly enough, she is not blacked out on the DC Comics website (and there she is at bottom right). Unfortunately, I have yet to be able to find a larger picture than the one at right, but it gives a pretty good idea of her appearance.  I don't why she remains a mystery; hopefully it's because they plan on making a big deal out of her introduction.

Got to say, Adam Strange looks pretty cool in this image.  And I know it's somewhat irrelevant, but...I can't help but notice that Supergirl is not on this cover as she was on the cover of #0.  Perhaps our noob takes her place?  We'll find out in April/May.

JLoC and the Teachings of the Seven Grandfathers

The Toronto Star has been quite supportive of Jeff Lemire's upcoming Justice League Canada work.  It may be coincidental, but the majority of articles that I find in regards to the book (coming in May) are from that publication.

Lemire appears in their "people to watch" section this morning and a few additional details are revealed about JLC.  The complete version is right here.

The action takes place in northern Ontario, in the largely Cree communities of Moosonee and Moose Factory, just south of James Bay. Isolation, a theme that runs through Lemire’s work, is a fact of life in these towns, which are not accessible by road.

Lemire won’t reveal the complete makeup of the superhero team just yet. Animal Man and Green Arrow will be there, and the big three — Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman — won’t. The iconic characters that do appear will be helped by a new Canadian superhero Lemire has created.

She’s a 16-year-old Cree girl attending a Moosonee high school. It’s too early to divulge her powers, name or costume, but a recent trip Lemire made to the area gave him the idea for her qualities.

He discovered what First Nations call the “Teachings of the Seven Grandfathers,” based on the words wisdom, love, respect, bravery, honesty, humility and truth.

“I thought, Oh my God — that’s the archetype for a great superhero,” he says, sitting in his cosy Toronto studio in Leslieville.

“If I’m going to do something in Canada, addressing our First Nations is important because it’s a side of our Canadian identity that’s often overlooked,” adds Lemire, who has a 5-year-old son. “I also felt that First Nations youth could use a positive role model — they have so many hardships.”

The article goes on to mention that "so far" he has produced six issues of Justice League Canada (or Justice League *of* Canada, whatever). Now I don't know that anyone expected this to be a permanent change, so six is probably the most anyone could wish for. The speculation is, and I hope it turns out to be accurate, that this will lead to a number of regular Justice League books based in different countries / areas. And perhaps Justice League Canada can then become a book of its own.

In terms of the cast, it was announced earlier in the year that Adam Strange would be "reimagined" as a Canadian character so there's no question that he's in the book, if not an official member.

What I'm still waiting to see is whether Booster Gold is involved.  The New 52 version of the character was said by DC Comics editors to also be Canadian but, that I know of, this was never confirmed in-story.

This would seem like a good opportunity to do that, but based on the articles and interviews I've read to this point, only Strange and Lemire's new character will be Canadian.