Justice League #38

[history79]

Comments

[qalchemist]

WTF?

He gets engaged and all of a sudden he's kissing everyone in the JLA?

[mistersandman]

This is an editorial problem. Someone should have said, "Batman is having a near-office romance in his own title, he can't smooch GL in JLA."

Unless editorial is deliberately trying to undermine the marriage before it starts. Still, you'd think they wouldn't go to the same well in every title.

[lucean]

I feel this also reflects on of the big problems with the engagement. While there are writers who are really big on the Bruce/Selina love story, I've always felt that majority of the Bat, and other, writers don't really care that much for the relationship. Which leads to stuff like this.

[q99]

And editorial should step in.

[lucean]

But by the same logic one could argue that the editorial should in that case avoid forcing a large scale Bruce/Selina story like this considering the multiple signs that a lot of writers just aren't interested in supporting it.

[oakie620]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but my understanding is that editorial is supposed to make sure the stories are in line with continuity and true to the characters. Whether a writer likes the current direction or not, that's one thing. But using that as an excuse to neglect previous stories is something else, and editorial shouldn't be tolerant of such petty behavior.

In this case, I can't judge fairly with only a few panels to go by, but as far as first impressions go, I'm not exactly thrilled. The scene comes out of nowhere and has no apparent purpose aside from triggering readers. I do hope it's a fake out.

[lucean]

Different editorials, the Bat-books have their own editorial and usually exist separate from the Justice League books. A bigger example was during Snyder's Superheavy Arc where JLA just ignored that Bruce wasn't Bats anymore. They literally had to write a story in the Batbooks about how the JLA reacted to Bruce becoming normal and requesting Gordon's help.

Because of that separation, the only way the JLA editorial would be expected to enforce that relationship is if it came from the very top or if the writers themselves wanted to do so. And this isn't petty behaviour, that would be if King actually expected everyone else to be as in to Bruce/Selina as he is.

[q99]

The very top *should* send the word down- and King doesn't need others to be as into it, just not write their own BruceRomances at the same time.

[lucean]

...So the very top didn't feel the need to enforce Snyder sidelining Bruce, but they should enforce Bruce/Selina?

Also, King hasn't written the end game yet nor has there been a marriage where they are crowned as the greatest love story or whatever. Once that new status quo is truly established, I agree the top down editorial should be heavier on the subject, but until we get to that point, I feel they should let the other writers do their own stories.

However, I feel it should be pointed out that the editorial in the Batbooks themselves is pretty weird. During the Snyder run, the Bat-books actually connected pretty well, but the King run feels like a completely isolated story from what is happening elsewhere. It's also one of the reasons the editorial mandate on the JL books would feel heavy-handed for me.

[q99]

-...So the very top didn't feel the need to enforce Snyder sidelining Bruce, but they should enforce Bruce/Selina?-

They should do both- and the prior is easier to explain by skipping over time (the earlier JLA stories at the time can take place before the swap, later after) than this one, but yea, not paying attention to continuity leads to story problems, and them not doing it was a problem then too, if not as big as this one.

To compare, Morrison's famous JLA run incorporated stuff like Superman Blue and Hippolyta Wonder Woman and in one issue Walter West (alt-Wally). That was actively including stuff, while this would simply be not including a contradictory romance.

-
Also, King hasn't written the end game yet nor has there been a marriage where they are crowned as the greatest love story or whatever. -

So...? Like, this storyline has been going for a long time. "Ok, I'm going to shove in a romance, which can't fit before the Selina/Bruce engagement because that happened too far back, and oops, they ended up not breaking up, now my story just doesn't fit period." is the problem.

And if they were involved it doesn't work out, then it's "Oops, I'm spoiling that it doesn't work out."

Bad call either way.

-However, I feel it should be pointed out that the editorial in the Batbooks themselves is pretty weird. During the Snyder run, the Bat-books actually connected pretty well, but the King run feels like a completely isolated story from what is happening elsewhere. It's also one of the reasons the editorial mandate on the JL books would feel heavy-handed for me.-

Like, the disconnectedness is a problem, and having editorial make a simple mandate as "Peeps, *don't have Bruce smooch people*," is company editorial 101 stuff. It's not heavy handed, it's the basics of the job.

That weirdness is the issue, and it says someone in editorial is not very good at what they're doing.

[q99]

Editorial choices are not done by writer democracy, especially of people doing secondary-books of the character. That'd be a good way for a mess/traffic jam whenever opinions divide, and writer-warring is good.

Editorials job is, once a call is made, to make sure things are on the page, and veto things that contradict it- other writers can use it or avoid it as per their preference, but flat out making clashing stories looks bad in front of the readers.

[lucean]

Again, different editorials. And the JLA book isn't a secondary Bat-book, it's one of the primary books which means the writers there have a lot of latitude with their stories.

Also, as a I pointed out above, King's run hasn't yet established the new status quo, it's just building towards something. Until that new state is reached, I don't see why they should force it on outside writers.

[oakie620]

The very discussion in this page is why. This is a shared universe. The characters in Justice League are ostensibly the same characters starring in their solo titles. This mandates communication between creative teams to ensure that any shared characters are portrayed consistently, otherwise readers who follow multiple books will be alienated by clashing visions. Fans generally don't react well to inconsistencies in fiction, and this isn't limited to comics.

[q99]

They have their own section editors, yes, but there's still an overall editor above them, and there's no way the JLA writer should not have been informed of the marriage.

As for why they should 'force it,' shared universe- note this is forcing something in return, that King's run has to deal with this happening and/or have a contradiction. It is bad storytelling to have the same character do such contradictory events so close. As the Catwoman thing has been going for awhile, that means it's a bad call on this writer's/editorials/etc. part because they chose to shove in a contradiction that they knew didn't fit with a long-running story.

[bruinsfan]

This makes me wonder how that double date with Clark ended.

[deathcrist2000]

Well, obviously Bruce kissed Clark right after he got that home run. (Then again, there is some bad blood between the two of them they need to get past before they feel comfortable kissing again [think more Marceline and Princess Bubblegum than Garnet].)

[thenicochan]

Which is super annoying.

Unless he kisses Clark too.

Then I'm super intrigued. (And Selina might be too. Mrrrow)

[mistersandman]

I feel like Batman can go years without so much as a love interest, but since the engagement it seems like everyone's looking for a little Bat-love.

[q99]

Yea, there's two *non Selina* Bat romance stories in the last few months, isn't there?

[strejdaking]

Is this including the recent story arc in Kin¨s Batman?

[q99]

The one with Wonder Woman and Batman fighting in the alternate dimension where time works differently is the other I'm thinking of.

[sanjuro]

Well that's lame

[joetuss]

This is another fake out. Shes just removing a rouge eyelash from Bruce's face.

[dcbanacek]

Tonsil check... with her tongue.

[shadowpsykie]

next issue... Bruce kisses Barry, Selina meows, Clark cries into the sun.

[lordultimus]

"This is going to be complicated"

NEXT ISSUE:

"Hey, Jess, thanks for taking care of that zit."