As I said: "... and, then: there's the reality."

The Mark Waid with whom Unca Cheeks has corresponded, online, has never proven himself one dram or drachma less than a courteous and congenial individual; unstinting in his willingness to sit still for "just one more quick interview, please"; an invaluable fount of four-

color knowledge; and -- frequently -- falling-down funny, to boot.

None of which, of course, has jack-all to do with the man's proven ability to write great, looping Immelman turns around the vast rank and file of his present-day comics contemporaries.

DC Comics could have tapped pretty much anyone to follow in Grant Morrison's size eleventy-gazillion footsteps, re: their plum JLA flagship property.

Notice how they (demonstrably) did not opt, ultimately, for any of the self-styled, self-adoring geniuses from the rac* message boards.

Unca Cheeks believes that's what commonly known as a "reality check."

UNCA CHEEKS: It's 1960, and you've just been handed the assignment to come up with a "try-out" issue of THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD for a (potential) ongoing series -- working title: "The Justice League of America." (... and with you being so young, too...!)
You're given (comparative) free reign, insofar as team line-up goes: ANY seven DC characters of the day...
... but: only seven.

Query: do you pick the same original "five plus two" heroes (Aquaman; Flash; Green Lantern; J'onn J'onzz; Wonder Woman; plus -- occasionally -- Superman and Batman)? Or do you opt for one (or more) of the other character(s) within the DC Comics stable of said era (e.g.: Adam Strange; Captain Comet; Congorilla; Green Arrow; Robin; Supergirl; etc.), in place of one (or more), instead? And -- if so -- why?

MARK WAID: Given the advantage of 20/20 hindsight, I can't imagine why anyone would ever actually put Aquaman on the team from the get-go, if he knew JLA would last another forty-plus years. Don't get me wrong, I like Artie just fine--but scratch me down on the long, long list of JLA writers whose greatest monthly struggle is giving him SOMETHING TO DO.

Might have been fun to go with Green Arrow from the start, even though he was a poor man's Batman. Adam Strange and Congorilla and Blackhawk would've been too limiting, and having Superman and Captain Comet on the same team is redundant. No, by and large, Julie [Schwartz] and Gardner [Fox] can't be second-guessed on this one.

CHEEKS: There is a minor (but vociferous) segment of comics fandom which holds to the position that teams such as the JLA work best with line-ups comprised chiefly (or entirely) of characters not "tied" or "beholden" to their own regular, ongoing series' ; that "characterization" for said protagonists can never be meaningfully advanced, in the same way that (ostensibly) it can be for characters appearing within the pages of the team's title, solely.

There is a larger faction within the comics readership, however -- particularly as regards the JLA (as well as Marvel's THE AVENGERS) -- which feels that said teams best live up to their baseline premises when comprised chiefly (or entirely) of the "Big Gun" characters of their respective companies; and that it is this (more than anything else) which differentiates JLA (or AVENGERS) from the likes of -- say, THE X-MEN, or THE TEEN TITANS.

Which of these views (if either) do you lean towards; and why?

MARK: I certainly lean towards the latter, and here's why; true, you're not gonna make any life-shattering changes to, say, Superman outside his own book--but to leave those characters out cheats us of great and unique scenes between, say, Aquaman and Plastic Man, or Batman and Wonder Woman. Sixty years, and I don't think Batman and Wonder Woman even HAD a conversation before KINGDOM COME, and believe me, I'm not gonna let them go another sixty.

Len [Wein] was the first writer to really do great bits between the characters--I'm thinking specifically of #111's scene of Elongated Man, insisting the JLA divvy up villains by putting names in a hat, and Batman throwing a fit.

Bottom line is, these characters are just so rich and so well-formed that they make magic between them--and that's the fun of it.

CHEEKS: Okay: you're probably good'n'sick of being asked "How's It Feel To Be Following Grant Morrison On the JLA?" -- I mean, no one ever inquired of him: "So... what's it like, walking in the footsteps of Gerard Jones?"

-- so: let me ask, instead, a few questions focusing upon the future. (Whilst simultaneously rendering said queries "vague" enough not to imperil any major surprises you may have planned, of course.)

First: I seem to recall reading an interview with you once -- and please: correct me if I've fudged this up, in fuddled memory, betwixt then and now -- where you stated something to the effect that you either "don't care much for the Batman," or (possibly) "don't care much for the Batman as a JLAer."

Assuming that I'm not completely (albeit unintentionally; I swear -- !) misinterpreting the comment in question: I was wondering how this might alter the chemistry and/or "feel" of the series, under your guidance; given that Grant was (clearly) highly enamored of the character, and elected to make him one of the "prime movers" of the series, as a whole. (We diehard "Bat"maniacs just like worrying, is all.)

MARK: Well, I love GRANT'S Batman... <g>

I've made my peace with this issue--but more than that, I cannot say at this early juncture (he teased).

CHEEKS: Along (somewhat) similar lines: there are a handful of characters -- some of them former Leaguers; some <not -- whose names keep surfacing on the various message boards and suchlike as much-desired members (or perhaps just "reserve" members) for League inclusion.

With your kind indulgance, then; a few quick impressions, perhaps, on whether we might (or might not) see any of these individuals sporting JLA Signal Devices, anytime in the forseeable future...?

a.) BLACK LIGHTNING --

b.) BLUE BEETLE (... please, God... noooo...) --

c.) HAWKMAN --

d.) METAMORPHO

MARK: Black Lightning, no. [Tony] Isabella writes him better'n I ever could, so there. Blue Beetle as a super-hero doesn't add much to the existing team, but I wouldn't be surprised to see Ted Kord from time to time. Metamorpho says "NO!" And Hawkman...

... ah, Hawkman...Magic Eight-Ball says, "Ask Again Later."

CHEEKS: An odd question, admittedly (in three parts, no less)... but:

a.) What (if anything) do you feel the character of "Snapper" Carr added to the original series conceptualization of the JLA?

MARK: Nothing. No one liked him--not Gardner, not Julie--but he was Whitney Ellsworth's idea, and was forced on Julie. Still, to Snapper's credit, for the first nine years of the strip, he was the only one with a personality.

CHEEKS: b.) Would said addition (if any) have worked as well, in your estimation, if Gardner Fox had opted, instead, to utilize a pre-existing comics "sidekick," instead? (e.g.: Thomas Kalmuku; Steve Trevor; Jimmy Olsen; Robin; etc.)

MARK: Problem there is that it "skews" the book a little towards one hero or the other. No, Snapper was the lesser of these evils, IMHO.

CHEEKS: c.) Is there (to your mind) anything the concept of the whey-faced and powerless "sidekick" might conceivably add to the storytelling "mix" of the JLA today; or is this an auctorial notion whose time has -- for whatever reason(s) -- come and <gone?

MARK: It's worth exploring. I'm very much interested myself to see what the role of "sidekick" would mean in the 21st century. I have no plans...but you've given me an idea...

CHEEKS: The post-CRISIS JLA is (demonstrably) a very different breed of four-color animal than was its Silver (and Bronze) Age predecessor. Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman are no longer "founding members" of the team; two other of the team's founders were killed off, and replaced (with varying degrees of controversy accompanying) with younger "legatees" (if you like); Hawkman's backstory became so hopelessly snarled, DC pumped a bullet into his brain (figuratively, I mean <g>) out of sheer desperation; and so on, and so on, and yadda yadda yadda.

Over the past few years, we've seen DC (seemingly) revisiting -- albeit in cautious, measured steps; to wildly varying degrees -- essential "core" aspects of the baseline pre-CRISIS concepts and conceits: your own examination of the Hal Jordan/ Barry Allen relationship, in THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD; Grant Morrison's tilted "take" on Gardner Fox and Len Wein, re: his JLA tenure; (again) your "Hypertime" concept, re- integrating (literally) thousands of previously discarded pre-CRISIS stories into the DC canon; the Silver Age-flavored JLA: YEAR ONE; Karl Kessel's unabashedly "Kirby"-centric SUPERBOY; the redemption (in part) of Hal Jordan; and so on, ad infinitum.

The question (finally!): do you see any/all of the foregoing as admission on DC's part -- tacit, or otherwise -- that the wholesale changes engineered in the wake of CRISIS went "too far," overall? Or is it (perhaps) the synchronicity of a handful of writers all attempting to "recapture" the essential feel, re: the comics of their youth? An attempt to reach out to older, disenfranchised comics readers? All of these? None of these?

MARK: Honestly? I just think DC knows the comics industry is in such freefall that they're grabbing any ripcords they can find. I guess it helps a little that we've pretty successfully buried the DC 1980s publishing philosophy of "Everything You Know Is Wrong," but I wouldn't count that as a "DC apology" so much as a shifting of the winds. Still, they approved Hypertime...

CHEEKS: What is the one thing, above all else (in your estimation), that any writer absolutely MUST know, in order to "do" the Justice League right...?

MARK: That Gardner did it right.

CHEEKS: Final query:

You're stranded somewhere in the darkest, most God forsaken bowels of Apokolips.

You're being stalked by a frighteningly well-armed horde of ravening Parademons.

They're herding you, inexorably, towards Darkseid's palace...

... and you have absolutely NO way of getting back home.

You can summon one -- and ONLY one -- JLAer to bail you out of this mess.

Who you gonna call...? (Other than the Ghostbusters, I mean.)

MARK: It depends.

If seconds count, then Superman.

But if I can give him time to plan, Batman.

Batman can do anything.

The Justice League of America: THE SILVER AGE (Page Two)
The Justice League of America: THE SILVER AGE (Page Three)