The Cranky Old Reader

I'm a Goodreads refugee, looking for a new home. Old books for children, science fiction, fantasy, mysteries, and humor are my main areas of interest. I've little interest in books that were written after 1975 or so, and prefer books that are older still. There are, however, a few still-living authors that I respect.

Justice, Vol. 1

Justice: Volume 1 - Jim Krueger, Alex Ross, Doug Braithwaite I'm glad I got this out from the library, because I'd have been pretty annoyed if I'd paid for this utterly uninspiring and unmemorable piece of work.What is it about DC and Marvel that they simply CANNOT publish a memorable or well-written comic or miniseries unless one of a very small number of writers is part of the project? At this point, if it's not by Alan Moore or Neil Gaiman, my expectations are virtually nil.I read the whole series - volumes 1, 2, and 3. What was it about? The bad guys (primarily Lex Luthor and Brainiac) get together and screw over the good guys (the usual cast: Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, and the rest of the Justice League of America).Look, the art is the usual brightly-colored eye candy. And the characters are the same old classic characters who can be magic in the hands of a decent writer, but are leaden and uninteresting in the hands of the usual DC gang of incompetents.Worst of all, the whole damned thing was confusing. Was it just that the original comic book miniseries assumed that the readers were all desperate fanboys who were reading everything that DC produced, and so left half the plot out of this series because it was all covered elsewhere? I doubt it. All I know is that for much of the novel I didn't know what was going on. And worse, I didn't CARE.Confusing, poorly written, uninspired. I read it two or three days ago, and the ONLY memory I have from it is Wonder Woman looking like a zombie because she was poisoned and was therefore turning back into earth. I didn't know she was made from earth to begin with - I'm pretty sure that's just something the writers added for this particular series - but from three all three volumes that's the ONLY thing I remember. And it's not really WORTH remembering.And I have a good memory, mind you!Sad. Just sad. I don't understand why DC won't or can't get decent writers. Someone should smack them with a clue-by-four.

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