80s Suicide Squad vs 80s Justice League International

I don't think JLI is really forgotten? It still seems to be fondly remembered, newer comics still reference it, whenever there's a poll for "best DC comic runs" it rates rather high, etc. And it seemed the biggest reason why people got so mad about Blue Beetle getting killed in Infinite Crisis was the memory of this series.

Suicide Squad looks like it's finally about to get rehabilitated, and not just because of the movie, but because DC is finally collecting it in trades (though that's probably largely due to the renewed interest caused by the movie), after the aborted attempt a few years ago. Agree with Sic that it retained its quality far longer, pretty much for the entire run. Too bad the art is mostly so mediocre (though not as actively "early-90s bad" as it could have been), otherwise it'd be an undeniable masterpiece. Maguire was obviously a much better & distinctive artist than McDonnell & co, though I haven't really read any of the later stuff that came after him, so I'm not sure how much worse the art got?

both are among the best post-crisis superhero comics but voted for the squad for its unique tone, which is adult without drifting into the cliches of allegedly 'mature' comics, and it was more consistently good across its run than jli.

also amanda waller chewing out batman is a better scene than batman taking out guy gardner with one punch and fuiud frankly

SS also managed to pull a great feat by taking Barbara Gordon, ruined by Alan Moore's fridging, and reviving her into a more interesting and unique character than she'd been before.

meh, wake me when it's vs Secret Six.

if there was ever a time for an ambush bug movie, that time is now.

whenever I think about JLI it reminds me of the ilx thread where ppl were talking about how this photo of Obama looks like a Kevin Maguire picture:

https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yvDas6gJUt0/V12jsiLbnWI/AAAAAAAAcJ0/ktiMsd2CXtkuYiWq-qTbM95MOtyA8i4CwCK4B/s640/obama-cell-phone-facebook.jpg https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/55/df/97/55df978a55c1334f3ef63c7f5adf0e46.jpg

uncanny

what's the Beetle picture from? very over-muscled for Maguire

the Obama definitely looks like Maguire, though

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/53/b6/29/53b6293efb73b4f2e7f7cee77f1946cc.jpg
http://www.81.net/uploads/allimg/160217/23-16021G42P1-50-lp.png

The weird thing is, if you think about the influence JLI had on Joss Whedon, and the influence Whedon has had on popular culture and the way people speak (both in the late 90-00 with Buffy, and in the 2010s with the MCU) - then, in an admittedly indirect way, we all live in a world with Giffen/Dematteis in its DNA. (And also, I guess, Larry Gelbart - JLI is essentially the M*A*S*H TV show with superheroes.)

If only Barry was a secret JLI fan.

I voted SS because it was consistently awesome; the art wasn't always excellent but the story carried it. JLI at a certain point (maybe around #45 or so?) lost the plot and while I still have the issues a little past the point when Dan Jurgens (I think?) took over, I never feel any need to re-read the late ones.

(And I guess you guys are right, these series aren't forgotten. But then again I don't really fuck with post-1995 DC comics.)

JLI is terrific for the Adam Hughes and Kevin Maguire runs, sort of middling to ropey the rest of the time. But I was 11 and I liked science fiction and bad comedy, so it was perfect for me. I reread them to death over and over again, and DeMatteis's hippy dialogue - humanist, anti-authoritarian, corny as shit - has probably informed my way of being as an adult in a way that (I realise now) borders on the creepy.

Also: Gerard Jones - odd writer.

I haven't read suicide squad - have them on the iPad and excited to catch up.

"Ram the building, Scott."

JLI at a certain point (maybe around #45 or so?) lost the plot

#46 is where the General Glory storyline starts, which is a different tone to the series prior, but interesting to see how early they thought a corrective backlash to grim & gritty was required - before 1963, before Big Bang Comics, before the Busiek Spider-Man series, almost ten years before America's Best Comics... #50 has the Kyle Baker story about how JLI is written, which is fantastic, and then #51 was the final Adam Hughes issue, a straight sitcom and one of the best issues ever. In my filing, I have all the spinoffs and annuals and JLEs mixed in together in chronological reading order, but I've stopped re-reads at #51 more than once.

#52 is the start of Breakdowns, which was tragic to read as a kid who'd rolled his eyes at the morons writing in to this comedy book with heartfelt characters -- "You should do more crossovers!" "You should bring back (x) so they have a real threat to face!" "This should stop being funny, superheroes are serious!" "Why don't you have more people die?" -- and Giffen & Helfer decided to leave the stage by giving that audience exactly what they'd been bleating for.

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-EJKZhfxYMLw/UeJhmE89JNI/AAAAAAAAKBQ/GntxWROivxA/s1600/cerebus_066_throwing_babies2.jpg

i love them both but i guess it has to be jli to me since "identity crisis" was the point where i said "you know what, dc comics? fuck you."

The last issue of Breakdowns with Maguire is very good - a perfect ending, really (although undone a week later by the next issue of JLE )

Need to dig out my old JLE/JLI collection out, in storage at my mom's. Admittedly it's been a few years.

Breakdowns WAS great, as I remember it, though there were stronger moments preceding it - when the series pulled away from the chuckles and went dark it was a sucker punch for sure. Thinking of the first appearance of Despero in this run - which, oh my fucking God - and also Beetle vs Guy.

(Really struggling to remember the twists and turns in JLE and losing track.)

I'm hoping to get to Cerebus sometime in the near future, thanks for the reminder, sic!

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Ha!

A draw!

fair