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The
first "Justice League of America" comic series was quite successful and
ran for 261 issues from 1961-1986.
The Justice League team was then given another series, simply called "Justice League", in 1987. This was pretty much starting the whole legacy of the Justice League team all over again. This time, however, DC wanted to give the team less of a "strictly American" focus. By issue #7, the series was renamed "Justice League International". The series was a hit! It was the perfect blend of humor and heroics, with great art and writing. The "Justice League International" issues, especially, are very readable by anyone's standards. The "International" moniker lasted until issue #25 (1989). Keith Giffen and J.M. DeMatteis were the writers. Kevin Maguire, and later Adam Hughes, were the artists. Those were the good ol' days of the run. Once writers Giffen and DeMatteis left, the series lost its luster.
Writers that followed Giffen and DeMatteis were unable to make the stories both humorous AND heroic, with the very defined personalities that readers loved. So the easiest copout was to make the series serious. And it became VERY serious. The series title was changed to "Justice League America" with issue #26 and stayed that way until the last issue, #113 (August, 1996). It wasn't so much the writers' fault that the series started to suck. It was pretty much the mode of DC comics at the time, and when it's a company decision, it's very hard for writers to fight it. When Superman was killed in 1992, and brought back a year later, EVERYTHING went to h*** in a handbasket. Every major DC character was being killed off and brought back to life to capitalize on the success of the Superman gimmick. So the whole tone of the DC Universe became very dark. That most certainly includes Superman's comrades, the Justice League.
Justice League comics had a pretty rough decade from 1986-1996. This one series, "Justice League", went by a total of three different names to try to keep buyers interested. Ultimately, it didn't work. A number of spinoffs developed, ALL of which were cancelled in 1996.
In 1997, the whole scope of what the Justice League had been for the past decade was scrapped. ALL of the branches of the Justice League, including Justice League International, Justice League Europe, and Justice League Task Force were done away with. There was only ONE team now, the Justice League of America. The series was titled, "JLA". Despite the great comic book depression that began in the late 1990s and continues to this day (2009), the "JLA" series had a respectable run of 125 issues, ending in 2006. Personally, I think the series stinks and doesn't have any of the charm of its predecessors. Too darn serious and too darn boring. It just feels like the "same old thing", over and over.
A second, "Justice League of America" series began in August of 2006 and continues to this day (2009). Pretty much a continuation of "JLA", this series also doesn't seem to be as fun-loving as the comics of the late 1980s. I'd like to someday be impressed by the comic books of the 2000 decade, but as far as I'm concerned, DC, Marvel, and so many other publishers are just beating a dead horse for ideas. They better stick to making feature films and toylines of their characters if they want to survive.
The Justice League team was then given another series, simply called "Justice League", in 1987. This was pretty much starting the whole legacy of the Justice League team all over again. This time, however, DC wanted to give the team less of a "strictly American" focus. By issue #7, the series was renamed "Justice League International". The series was a hit! It was the perfect blend of humor and heroics, with great art and writing. The "Justice League International" issues, especially, are very readable by anyone's standards. The "International" moniker lasted until issue #25 (1989). Keith Giffen and J.M. DeMatteis were the writers. Kevin Maguire, and later Adam Hughes, were the artists. Those were the good ol' days of the run. Once writers Giffen and DeMatteis left, the series lost its luster.
Writers that followed Giffen and DeMatteis were unable to make the stories both humorous AND heroic, with the very defined personalities that readers loved. So the easiest copout was to make the series serious. And it became VERY serious. The series title was changed to "Justice League America" with issue #26 and stayed that way until the last issue, #113 (August, 1996). It wasn't so much the writers' fault that the series started to suck. It was pretty much the mode of DC comics at the time, and when it's a company decision, it's very hard for writers to fight it. When Superman was killed in 1992, and brought back a year later, EVERYTHING went to h*** in a handbasket. Every major DC character was being killed off and brought back to life to capitalize on the success of the Superman gimmick. So the whole tone of the DC Universe became very dark. That most certainly includes Superman's comrades, the Justice League.
Justice League comics had a pretty rough decade from 1986-1996. This one series, "Justice League", went by a total of three different names to try to keep buyers interested. Ultimately, it didn't work. A number of spinoffs developed, ALL of which were cancelled in 1996.
In 1997, the whole scope of what the Justice League had been for the past decade was scrapped. ALL of the branches of the Justice League, including Justice League International, Justice League Europe, and Justice League Task Force were done away with. There was only ONE team now, the Justice League of America. The series was titled, "JLA". Despite the great comic book depression that began in the late 1990s and continues to this day (2009), the "JLA" series had a respectable run of 125 issues, ending in 2006. Personally, I think the series stinks and doesn't have any of the charm of its predecessors. Too darn serious and too darn boring. It just feels like the "same old thing", over and over.
A second, "Justice League of America" series began in August of 2006 and continues to this day (2009). Pretty much a continuation of "JLA", this series also doesn't seem to be as fun-loving as the comics of the late 1980s. I'd like to someday be impressed by the comic books of the 2000 decade, but as far as I'm concerned, DC, Marvel, and so many other publishers are just beating a dead horse for ideas. They better stick to making feature films and toylines of their characters if they want to survive.
Issues: