Justice League International: The Later Years, Part II: Blue and Gold / Fire & Ice

(I find the use of different forms of "and" in this post title very aesthetically displeasing!)

My feeling is that comics kind of suffer from cyclical nostalgia. It works like this: You have some people who create a character or concept, let's say Potato-Salad Man. Later, Potato-Salad Man gets reinvented for a new era. Still later, the people nostalgic for the original incarnation of Potato-Salad Man become the employees of the comic book company and bring him back to his original version. But then even more later, the people who grew up on the reinvented Potato-Salad Man become adults and they bring that version back.

I think we're hitting that point with Justice League International. In the 2000s we saw the rise of the Geoff Johnses and Grant Morrisons and Mark Waids of comic bookdom, who brought back the classic seven-member JLA they grew up on, and the JLI characters of the 1980s and '90s were shunted off-stage for the most part. But now people like me, who read the JLI version when they were young and impressionable, have become the creators and purchasers of comic books. We haven't hit the point yet where there's a proper JLI title again (though apparently the main Justice League comic these days takes its cues from a different League incarnation people of my generation are nostalgic for, the Justice League Unlimited cartoon), but the last five years have seen three different miniseries bringing back classic duos from the JLI era: a Blue Beetle and Booster Gold reunion comic, and two Fire and Ice reunion comics. I'll be closing out my reading of JLI comics (for now, anyway!) with these series.

from Blue and Gold #1

"Application Denied" / "Pink Slip" / "Omnizon" / "Splittin' Image" / "Fist of the Empire" / "Timely Solution" / "Beetles Abound!"/ "UnMasked At Last", from Blue and Gold #1-8 (Sept. 2021–June 2022)
written by Dan Jurgens; art by Ryan Sook, Cully Hamner, Kevin Maguire, Dan Jurgens, Phil Hester, Eric Gapstur, Paul Pelletier, Norm Rapmund, and Wade Von Grawbadger; colors by Chris Sotomayor, Ryan Sook, and Steve Buccellato; letters by Rob Leigh

This books reunites Blue Beetle and Booster Gold... in the hands of Booster Gold's original creator, Dan Jurgens! I was a bit trepidatious about this going in because it seemed to me that Jurgens treated Booster more seriously during his JLA run (see items #9-11 on the list below) than Giffen and DeMatteis did in their run that created the duo. Could he recreate their dynamic when he hadn't been particularly interested in the original version of it to begin with?

Well, I need not have worried. He very much leans into the goofier version of the characters—but in a good way. Here, they have decided to form a superhero team accessible to "regular" people, unlike the Justice League up in space (very much like in a previous JLI reunion book, see item #16 below). But with Ted no longer in command of the Kord Industries money (he loses it here; I didn't know he had ever got it back, though, because last time I heard he had lost them... though admittedly that was the late 1980s!), they need to find crowdfunding!

It's a fun way to reinvent the fame- and money-obsessed Booster Gold for the twenty-first century. The book is peppered with comments from people watching the livestream of the duo, and I enjoyed this a lot; there's a lot of good interaction and cute hijinks. Some hope they do well, some think it's all faked, some are women stanning for one character or the other, some hope they die... and one is Guy Gardner just there to say mean things about them! But the book is not as cynical as some takes on Booster and Beetle have been, even ones penned by Giffen and DeMatteis. The two bicker, but they fundamentally get along; they seek fame, but it doesn't make them craven or obsessed with money. At their root, they're people trying to do good, and the book leans into that.

Maybe a little too much; I didn't want the book to put them through the wringer per se but it seemed to me it didn't quite challenge them to the extent it might have. But that's clearly not what Jurgens is up to here. The book is obviously meant to just be a light and charming return of some classic characters, and it succeeds perfectly at that.

from Blue and Gold #4

Overall, I enjoyed the art by Ryan Sook and various others. Sook has a light, expressive style that communicates character very well, which is perfectly suited to Jurgens's writing. But why did Ted suddenly acquire black hair? This is redhead erasure! (Also on my collected edition, Kevin Maguire gets cover credit for drawing one-third of one issue. Nice work if you can get it, I guess.)

The first five issues weave in and out of one big story, about Ted and Michael fighting an alien warlord who has an ancient claim on the Earth. There's lots of room for side stuff, though, like a fun issue where Ted and Michael retell the story of how they first worked together, and they have very different memories of it. And it turns out that Guy Gardner of all people knows how things actually went down! (This is the story Maguire helps draw; he does the Beetle-narrated flashbacks while Jurgens himself does the Booster ones. Perfection. They've both still got it of course.)

After this, we get a shorter story about them going up against "Black Beetle." One thing that annoyed me was that throughout the series, there would be explanatory footnotes pointing you to issues you'd literally just read (e.g., "see Blue and Gold #2!" when reading issue #3) but when Black Beetle turns up, the characters talk about encountering him before... but I'd never encountered this guy before. I looked him up later, and he previously appeared in Booster's late 2000s ongoing... a comic from fifteen years prior. Why didn't that get a footnote?

(My other continuity question: How did Blue Beetle come back to life? Based on my research, it seems like the answer is he kind of didn't. Ted was of course killed in "Countdown to Infinite Crisis." Later, when Flashpoint simplified the history of the DC universe, Ted had never been killed because the events of Infinite Crisis just hadn't happened in the "New 52" history. Still later, I guess, much of the post-Crisis pre-Flashpoint history was reinstated... but things like the death of Blue Beetle just weren't, so somehow the post-Crisis history all happened, but Blue Beetle is alive! I think, anyway; I'm not very au fait with continuity changes since 2015's Convergence, when I largely stopped keeping up with DC comics. I did note that though in publication time, Booster and Beetle served in the Justice League from 1987 up to at least 1994, and though in my post-Crisis DC universe timeline that's from "Year Twelve" to "Year Fourteen," here we're told they were only in the League for "months." It must have been some very busy few months!)

Unfortunately there hasn't been a second mini about these characters, nor even (as far as I can tell) any further substantive appearances by them. C'mon, DC, give me that full-fledged JLI nostalgia book!

from Fire & Ice: Welcome to Smallville #1

"Hot Water" / Welcome to Smallville, from Power Girl Special #1 (July 2023) and Fire & Ice: Welcome to Smallville #1-6 (Nov. 2023–Apr. 2024), reprinted in Fire & Ice: Welcome to Smallville (2024)
written by Joanne Starer, art by Natacha Bustos, colors by Tamra Bonvillain, letters by Ariana Maher

This story brings back the JLI's other well-loved duo, Fire and Ice a.k.a. Bea and Tora, the boisterous Brazilian swimsuit model and the demure Scandinavian ice princess. Here, Bea's impetuousness causes problems, so Superman basically exiles them to Smallville to get their lives under control. This, to be honest, seemed a bit contrived to me.

It's basically fine, but the whole book is brought down by Bea feeling somewhat off. She continuously has zany schemes... but when did she ever have zany schemes before? Bea's thing was a temper and the fact that she saw herself as more of a model than a superhero... but she wasn't fame-obsessed to the extent of say, inviting supervillains to participate in a reality show set in a Smallville hair salon. That's the kind of thing, well, Blue Beetle and Booster Gold would have done. I like the extended cast of characters here well enough, particularly some of the D-list supervillains who sign up for their reality show, and the use of L-RON and Ma Kent. Natacha Bustos is a strong artist, but Joanne Starer's comedy writing isn't strong enough to pull this off. It's more "occasional mild chuckle" than "laugh out loud" even if it is clearly going for the latter.

(Continuity-wise, I guess there was a point where everyone on the Earth knew Superman's secret identity. Was this the Truth storyline? This was later erased, but according to this book, Fire and Ice retained their knowledge of it because of the telepathic link J'onn J'onnz created when the characters all served in the JLA together. But back in those days, Superman's secret identity was a closely guarded secret, not known to even his fellow League members! Also, when was Kooeykooeykooey destroyed? I don't remember this at all. (Ah, the DC wiki says it happened during a post–Zero Hour JLA story, after I stopped reading.)) 

from Fire & Ice: When Hell Freezes Over #2

When Hell Freezes Over, from Fire & Ice: When Hell Freezes Over #1-6 (June-Nov. 2025), reprinted in Fire & Ice: When Hell Freezes Over (2025)
written by Joanne Starer, art by Stephen Byrne, letters by Ariana Maher

I did not think the second one of these minis was as good as the first. The basic idea of Fire and Ice switching powers, and later bodies, is a decent one. The best part is of course how they each dress very differently in each other's bodies. And though I like the idea of a "monkey paw" wish backfiring is a fun one, I don't buy that Fire would be so dumb as to do it in the first place.

The story mostly splits Fire and Ice from their new supporting cast; Fire and Ice go on a quest into Hell to undo the bodyswitch, while their supporting cast deal with their own bodyswitches back in Smallville. But I just don't care enough about these supporting characters to keep track of who is in whose body! The quest in Hell is better, but moves quite slowly, and why use Etrigan if you don't want to write rhymes for him? That's his whole gimmick! Overall, this kind of fizzles out. Still, some decent jokes here and there; I particularly liked the gag about how when the former supervillain with mind-control powers gets bodyswapped from her original black female body into one of a white man, she doesn't need the powers anymore. Also the bit about how Ma Kent instantly recognizes a bodyswap because she spent so much time in weird situations because of her son is good too.

(Continuity notes again: Kord Industries is a sponsor of the new casino in the new Kooeykooeykooey, so has Ted gotten his fortune back since Blue and Gold? Also, it turns out that Bea's father was abusive and trained her as a deadly assassin; again, I would have appreciated a footnote! It doesn't fit at all with what I remember of her Secret Origins story by the Bierbaums. Some research informs me this idea comes from when she was in Checkmate in the mid-2000s; I will have to hunt it down for the full details, I guess.)

Anyway, all three of these stories were fun enough... but when will the JLI nostalgia give us what I really want? Bring them all back in a new ongoing! C'mon, DC, you cowards!

This is the penultimate in a series of posts about Justice League International. The next covers a reading order for the comics. Previous installments are listed below:

1. Justice League #1-6 / Justice League International #7-12 (May 1987–Apr. 1988)
2. Justice League International #13-21 (May 1988–Dec. 1988)
3. Justice League International #22-25 / Justice League America #26-30 / Justice League Europe #1-6 (Jan. 1989–Sept. 1989) 
4. Justice League America #31-36 / Justice League Europe #7-12 (Oct. 1989–Mar. 1990)
5. Justice League America #37 / Justice League Europe #13-21 (Apr. 1990–Dec. 1990)
6. Justice League America #38-50 / Justice League Europe #22 (May 1990–May 1991)
7. Justice League America #51-52 / Justice League Europe #23-28 (Feb. 1991–July 1991) 
8. Justice League America #53-60 / Justice League Europe #29-36 (Aug. 1991–Mar. 1992) 
9. Justice League America #61-65 / Justice League Europe #37-42 (Apr. 1992–Sept. 1992)
10. Justice League America #66-69 / Justice League Europe #43-50 (Sept. 1992–May 1993) 
11. Justice League America #70-77 / Justice League Task Force #1-3 (Jan. 1993–Aug. 1993) 
12. Justice League America #78-83 / Justice League International #51-52 / Justice League Task Force #4-8 (June 1993–Jan. 1994)
13. Justice League America #84-85 / Justice League International #53-57 / Justice League Task Force #9 (Aug. 1993–Feb. 1994) 
14. Justice League America #86-88 / Justice League International #58-64 / Justice League Task Force #10-12 (Nov. 1993–May 1994) 
15. Justice League America #89-92 / Justice League International #65-68 / Justice League Task Force #13-16 (June 1994–Sept. 1994)
16. Formerly Known as the Justice League / I Can't Believe It's Not the Justice League (Feb. 2000–Aug. 2005)

Faster than a DC Bullet: All-New All-Different DC, Part XI: Blue Beetle: Reach for the Stars

Comic trade paperback, 166 pages
Published 2008 (contents: 2007)
Borrowed from the library
Read March 2017

Blue Beetle: Reach for the Stars

Writers: John Rogers, J. Torres, Keith Giffen

Pencillers: Rafael Albuquerque, David Baldeon, Freddie Williams II
Inkers: Rafael Albuquerque, Steve Bird, Dan Davis
Colorist: Guy Major 
Letterers: Phil Balsman, Pat Brosseau

Yesssss. Blue Beetle is still the quintessential teen superhero book, as John Rogers shows all lesser writers how to balance character, humor, superheroics, and teen angst. Road Trip ended on a cliffhanger, with Blue Beetle making first contact with the alien Reach, responsible for the creation of his mysterious scarab; Reach for the Stars follows that up with a series of standalone one-issue stories, as Jaime tries to convince others that the Reach isn't what it seems. I wish more writers followed Rogers's approach: his done-in-ones are perfect at balancing individual story and character beats with the ongoing plots and narratives of the series, meaning that this slim volume feels like it does more than many fatter comic collections.

The book features a lot of tie-ins to the larger DC universe, with appearances by Guy Gardner and Ultra-Humanite, Superman and Livewire, Traci 13 (the Architects did keep their promise in Architecture & Mortality and fold her into the post-52 universe), Bruce Wayne/Batman, Lobo and the Teen Titans, and Giganta (not sure how her operating as a mercenary here fits with her being a professor at Ivy University in The All New Atom, but maybe I'll find out). These are well-done crowd-pleasers: who doesn't like Paco and Brenda quibbling over the belly shirts all the female members of the Titans wear?

Batman might knock Guy out in one punch, but Jaime's mother doesn't even need one.
from Blue Beetle vol. 8 #14 (script by John Rogers, art by Rafael Albuquerque)

But where John Rogers and his collaborators always excel are the moments of character. A real highlight is a story where Jaime must stop a storm-creating supervillain from devastating a coastal Mexican community. His suit lets him know how many life-signs are active in the community, leading to this devastating page:

Faster than a DC Bullet: All-New All-Different DC, Part VIII: Blue Beetle: Road Trip

Comic trade paperback, 143 pages
Published 2007 (contents: 2006-07)
Borrowed from the library
Read February 2017

Blue Beetle: Road Trip

Writers: John Rogers & Keith Giffen

Artists: Cully Hamner, Rafael Albuquerque, Duncan Rouleau, Casey Jones
Colorist: Guy Major 
Letterers: Phil Balsman, Pat Brosseau, Jared K. Fletcher

This book is still a blast. Co-writer Keith Giffen departs halfway through the volume, but John Rogers is so good on his own you wouldn't even notice. The book opens up with a semi-flashback issue that clarifies exactly what happened to Jaime leading up to the One Year Later gap for those who didn't read Infinite Crisis (or those of us whose memories are vague). As always, some of the best bits are the jokes:

This book made me realize that I miss these versions of these characters.
from Blue Beetle vol. 8 #7 (script by John Rogers, art by Cully Hamner)

That's not the only trip into the past here, as soon Jaime and Brenda are on the road with mysterious-gruff-and-lovable mercenary the Peacemaker to find out about the history of the Blue Beetle from Danielle Garrett, granddaughter of the original Blue Beetle. The book is good about dolling out both solutions and mysteries-- everything Jaime learns about the mysterious scarab fused to his spine only leaves him with more to learn.

Faster than a DC Bullet: All-New All-Different DC, Part V: Blue Beetle: Shellshocked

Comic trade paperback, 140 pages
Published 2006 (contents: 2006)
Borrowed from the library
Read January 2017

Blue Beetle: Shellshocked

Writers: Keith Giffen & John Rogers

Pencillers: Cully Hamner, Cynthia Martin, Duncan Rouleau, Kevin West
Inkers: Cully Hamner, Phil Moy, Duncan Rouleau, Jack Purcell
Colorists: David Self, Guy Major
Letterers: Phil Balsman, Pat Brosseau

Many people were mad and/or sad when the Ted Kord Blue Beetle was killed off in "Countdown to Infinite Crisis." But if you ask me, it was all worth it because it gave us the new Blue Beetle, Jaime Reyes. Jaime is an ordinary Latino high schooler who discovers the Blue Beetle scarab sometime after the death of Ted Kord (as seen in Infinite Crisis itself). The first couple chapters of this volume alternate between Jaime's life leading up to his involvement in the fight against Brother Eye in Infinite Crisis, and his return to Earth a year later, apparently during the timeframe of 52. Giffen, Rogers, and Hamner do great work here. The opening fight between Jaime and Guy Gardner (Guy is drawn to fight the Blue Beetle, but doesn't know why) is dark and intense, while Jaime's interactions with his friends (Paco, who learned six languages just to insult people in on-line FPSs, and Brenda, whose Dad hits her and wants to go to law school) are fun. Jaime wants to make extra money working at his dad's garage, but his dad wants a better life for him.

Really, I could have scanned almost any page of Jaime/Brenda/Paco dialogue.
from Blue Beetle vol. 8 #1 (art by Cully Hamner)

Much like Ms. Marvel a decade later, this is the perfect archetypal teen superhero comic: humor, good characters, fun dialogue, a little bit of angst but not too much. Jaime feels like a real person with real friends; take this exchange between a villain and Jaime's friends while Jaime fights a tree monster:

Gotta love an over-educated villain.
from Blue Beetle vol. 8 #4 (art by Cully Hamner)

I laughed a lot throughout this book, which is the mark of (one of) the kind of superhero comic I look for. Giffen & Rogers recreate the classic formulas while also providing new variations: I like that Jaime's armor speaks to him in an alien language, and that there are aspects of it he doesn't entirely understand. I like the sense of a superheroic universe this story builds up, instead of being an ordinary universe with superheroes grafted on: La Dama, the local crimelord, doesn't just kidnap people, but specifically magic users, and the gang Jaime's friend Paco falls into is entirely made up of people with powers-- but they need the powerless Paco because sometimes they need someone who won't attract attention. There's a real sense of a world that's a lot like our own (I like that the story takes place in El Paso and not a fake city, and that almost all the characters are Latino), but not like ours in some logical ways. There's also some good twists on the usual formula-- Paco's gang has some redeeming value, the Blue Beetle comes to an understanding with La Dama, and I especially like that Jaime's family and friends know what he is right from the off. There's no lying to your loved ones stuff here.

That didn't take long for them to figure out.
from Blue Beetle vol. 8 #3 (art by Cynthia Martin & Phil Moy)

This is a winning mixture for a superhero comic, and I hope to see it continue from strength to strength.

Next Week: Another new old hero-- the All New Atom debuts in My Life in Miniature!