Comic news always makes me a jittery Pollyana.

More news from DC, particularly that of another Justice League title.

Quick translation for those who can't read through links: "This book will be about a Justice League performing Justice League activities. And it's in-continuity. 79% of the fans in attendance spontaneously combusted with disbelief following this news."

Positives:

- Written by James Robinson

- There will be a Justice League team doing Justice League things.

- The team will be traveling all over. And there will be time travel! I practically weeped in joy when I read that. I am easily optimistic but I'm already envisioning this book being on the scale of Busiek's Avengers run, with the concern for non-US populations and time travel! TIME TRAVEL. *quivers* (Why Busiek's Avengers you ask? Because I've been rereading Avengers Forever, so that's fresh in my mind as what team books should be.)

- I wasn't sure how I felt about having Hal be the catalyst for this team but then I remembered 52 and his clash over the jurisdiction of a Green Lantern, I think it's a nice progression for him. There's at least something to point back to for Hal being the character in the JLA who's wanting to expand. And of course he's taking Ollie with him.

- After being supremely disappointed that McKeever ejected Supergirl out of the Teen Titans (especially since Tony Bedard did such a nice job connecting Kara's time with the Legion of Super-Heroes with her finding a team to belong to in the present) and being supremely impressed with how she interacted for great justice with League-level heroes in The Brave and the Bold I am delighted that she'll be on this team. Supergirl (especially this current Supergirl) works best on a team and she has by now proven herself to be dependable and competent enough for the League--especially a League without Superman. This also means Supergirl fans such as myself will hopefully get to read comprehensible, fun stories involving her. And I really hope Hal recruits her personally. I'll laugh, I'll cry...it'll be better than Cats.

- Personally, I think the possibility of Kate Kane and Kara being a female Bat-Super team for the modern age is exciting. Kara's maturity is straddling the fence enough that she wouldn't be a kid for Batwoman to mentor. And Kate could develop more as a character and gain a platonic friend in the super-hero world. (Has she been shown interacting with anyone other than Nightwing and Renee Montoya?)

Negatives:

- Every member is American or has strong loyalties to America, with the exception of the alien Starman and possibly the Bill character Robinson is creating. In a book about digging out super-crime everywhere, I'm disappointed to see so few of the (already few) international superheroes involved. I can understand if DC doesn't want this to become a JLI cast rehash but surely they can find a way to add more diversity to the team along the way? (Psst, screw the JLI connection: get Fire out of Checkmate and onto this team.)

- No Martian Manhunter

- No artist assigned yet. Just, for the love of positive representations of female characters, don't tell me Ed Benes is being drafted to this League book.

- The politics could make my head explode. But I won't know until I read.

In conclusion: James Robinson, you had me at Supergirl.

Holy crap, I thought we had killed the 90s.

There are some people who believe that it's not fair to judge a movie by its promo stills.

I, on the other hand, view promo stills as the company and creative team waving their hands in the air and yelling, "Ooh, ooh. Here's a little taste of things to come. Judge us! Judge us!"

So I'm going to judge the Watchmen movie by the photos released to the internet today.

Before we begin, though, I'd like to point out that Dave Gibbons' art is a major reason why Watchmen is such a timeless and powerful story. His art has and will no doubt continue to age well, as well as the character designs which suit the story and personalities well enough that they don't stand out. As heinous crimes against god and nature, I mean.

The movie has drastically changed all that.

*sigh*

Ozymandias: So we've changed from Veidt looking like a Greco-Roman golden god come to earth to...dark, encumbered leather with an eye over his codpiece? Shit! I'm not fooled, people.

Nite Owl: When I think of Nite Owl's costume, I think of a theater major with the power of super telepathy removing the dorkiest apparel designs from the minds of Batman and Blue Beetle and then tossing it all together into the fabric of reality. Because that's just about exactly what it is. When I see the costume movie!Owl is clad in, I think of those god awful 90s Batman movies with the molded nipples and ice skates popping out of Batman's boots. Dan Dreiberg is not 90s! He is classic! He is not Batman, he is Blue Beetle Man.

Silk Spectre: I want the Juspeczyk costume to be something Laurie can look back on and giggle over. If my beloved Polish heroine wore this in her youth, I'd imagine she'd be more likely to break out the booze than titter. And this is me hoping and praying that the still we see is young!Laurie and not the Laurie in her 30s who'd much rather be wearing leather. (Because Laurie doesn't mind the 90s, you see.)

Rorschach: I'm torn here. Mostly, I see it hard to screw this one up and they haven't...but it's another case of "why on earth are they making this into a movie?" when I see the mask. It just doesn't work for me outside of the comic page. I'm not menaced. Whereas, open any page of the comic and I'm peeing my pants. Or fond. Because Rorschach is like that, you know?

The Comedian: I don't have much to complain about on this one except the same general feeling of this being off. Maybe it's the actor's expression. Oh, and raise your hand if you think including the rape plotline is going to make this movie an offensive mess on top of just being a mess!

There. Feel free to disagree but I'm only further convinced that I will not be spending money on this movie. However, if they create a spinoff sitcom called something like "You, Me, and Rorschach"...I'll be there with microwave popcorn!