JLI Podcast – Meanwhile… in Justice League Quarterly #3

Steve Givens joins The Irredeemable Shag to chat about Justice League Quarterly #3!  It's "Honey, I Shrunk the Justice League", with a little dash of JLA YEAR ONE, and a lot of laughs! Plus YOUR listener feedback!

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13 responses to “JLI Podcast – Meanwhile… in Justice League Quarterly #3

  1. Morning all, what a great show this was and how amazing to be able to listen to it on the day of release! I actually set an alarm on my phone today, not to listen to the podcast, but as it turned out the show gave me something to listen to as I was making the pack lunches for the family (Dolphin Friendly Tuna supposedly. I wasn’t sure if that’s Dolphin from the DCU and if she was friends with the Tuna am I now in trouble?).

    Anyway where was I? In the Kitchen making sandwiches, but that’s not important.

    What was important was that I have little recollection of this issue of JLQ at all, apart from the occasional group shot of the Justifiers and I can’t figure out if that’s because I couldn’t remember the book or if I never actually read it. Of course it’s not available online on DC infinite for reasons we all know about. So I honestly am not sure if I have a copy in the attic all bagged up that I read or if it was panels reproduced on character database websites when I was reading up about the world of Angor. Which is a shame as I suspect if I have read it I would have enjoyed it as it has my favourite element of Time Travel – a causation loop (that might not be the technical term but lets go with it). I’ll try and hunt down the possible copy in my attic later on this week as I’m due to get the LEGO up there (after the last show) and get the Halloween Decorations down and at the same time move the Christmas decorations to closer to the hatch.

    What did strike me about the review of the issue was that this story was one of the few times that the JLE and JLI actually crossed over and mixed up the teams for a proper adventure. It was great to hear about Beetle, Fire, ice and Guy interacting with Cap, Power Girl, Flash and Silver Sorceress. Normally the crossovers seemed to not be adventures so much as major battles etc. Sure in this case it’s world shattering outcomes, but since that had already happened in the past this didn’t seem to be as big stakes as those. I got the impression this felt more like the old JLA/JSA crossovers which is something I always felt JLA / JLE didn’t manage to land as well, perhaps because of two different books with different scripters – but I always felt there should have been more crossovers even if it was just one team member showing up in the other book for part of a story or just to hang out in the rec room. The JSA/JLA crossovers were of course normally only in JLA so you didn’t need to service more than one readership at the same time.

    I also liked the line up of the group that eventually got shrunk down as that’s actually an excellent team which would have been a solid book in itself. Indeed if the post Bwah-ha-ha era had been this line up for one of the books I think it would have thrived. But we all know that’s not going to work out soon due to reasons. Still I would buy this line up particularly if it was more an adventure style book similar to the 70’s JLA stories. But I digress.

    From what I can see of the art published on the site for review, I think we could certainly see how McKone’s style was evolving and I liked it, even if he did seem to be trying to ape Bart Sears more than Maguire. What was staggering for me to discover was this was an 80 page issue. That’s a lot of pages and for McKone to do them all (I presume so) I wouldn’t be surprised if his style evolved on the job – after all it’s 4 issues worth of a monthly. Shag and Steve talk about how the JLA Year one Era looks like it would be in that book and I wonder if Kitson looked at this book before he tackled Year one 8 years later?

    Anyway enough of my commentary on the actual show and issue I’m here for references to UK reprints, Publix Ice Cream and Edinburgh Comic Con – want to make something of it?

    Keep up the good work! I will now return to Who’s Who for my running sound track since I’m all caught up with JLI ! (However the promise/threat of two episodes in November seems like it could be an excellent birthday treat for me).

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  2. Waring a WAY too serious take on this issuse UM would’nt GREEN Lanterns have Serious rules about time travel? Was’nt korna’s time travel the cuase of all evil?
    Ratzi’s was big word at Timely when they were fighting Nazi before the rest of America

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  3. Excellent episode, gentlemen. Tbh I generally found JLQ’s quality control sorely lacking, to put it mildly, but there are a couple of very bright spots, this issue being one of them (and the IVO story in #5 being the other one – also drawn by Mike McKone, perhaps not uncoincidentally). This absolutely ridiculous Honey-I-Shrunk-Marty-McFly tale is a joy from start to finish, but does indeed have a surprising amount of heart, too. And I *love * this early period of McKone’s art, as rough as it is in places. He undoubtedly improved over the years, but I think the quote-unquote “better” he got, the less it appealed to me. There’s something about his line, his sense of motion, that’s just really captivating.

    As an aside, I have a degree in philosophy (just sayin’, like…) and I once described the plot of this issue during a tutorial on time travel, causality and the grandfather paradox. My fellow students were super-impressed and absolutely blown away by my citation of such an authoritative and insightful source. Either that or they looked at me strangely in mortifying, mildly disgusted silence and we never spoke of it again. My memory is a little hazy.

  4. I own and read this issue, yet I remember NOTHING about it. Not even the recap sparked a memory. And I see how you enjoyed and talk about other people enjoying it. Enough for me to search the longboxes, at least for the JLA Year One feels.

    The cover is Mckone, definitely, and for one I’m glad you addressed some of the issues with his art. I understand you want to keep it positive in the comments, specially when it comes to art, but boy, I do not like McKone, and the JLI office kept using him over and over.

  5. I have finally caught up and now commenting on here, the website, where I promise I will not write as much as others because well, I don’t feel like it. Anyway, while I had to go through the dark web to read this issue as I only have the 2 omnibus (omnibui?) and Comixology and the DC app (even with the upgraded ultra mode) do not have this issue for the obvious reasons, I really enjoyed this issue.
    I do have to say just to keep the Publix talk going, I may or may not be an employee of the place with the chicken tender subs and the deli lemonade which is the best lemonade your taste buds will ever touch. I do hope you made it through Ian well, I had only a power outage as I live just outside of where it hit.

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  6. This was another fantastic Meanwhile… episode. It was great to hear Steve torment…. *ahem, I mean, being playful with Shag. It’s this kind of banter that I expect from the JLI, errr… I mean, the Bwa-ha-ha podcast. I better start watching what I type!

    You guys took the words (or the feelings) right out of mouth. It was a more somber issue than the regular series, but well done. To see the reactions of the regular JLI members to seeing the original JLA members hit me in all the feels.

    I’m just not a fan of McKone’s art. That splash team shot page has some serious problems with Power Girl’s legs and Silver Sorceress looks warped. Having said that, I can admit he has gotten better than previous issues. The splash page of the Justifiers is pretty nice and, like you both mentioned, I feel he really shines with random technology. And Liberty the dog looks amazing! But I’ll say it again; why does Beetle have marbles in his mouth on the cover?

    Well done everyone! Looking forward to the Bart Sears interview. I hope it’s shiny! Keep up the great work!

  7. Oh Shag and Steve, you guys were hilarious this episode. Thank you for the laughs. You know Shag, maybe there’s a downside to the Irredeemable moniker, like it’s a dare for the guest to try and be even *worse* than you. We had Paul Hix upping the bar as well. Just a thought. Heh-heh.

    Unlike other listeners, I do remember this issue quite well, but that didn’t stop from rereading my analog copy. Is McKone my favorite JLI artist? No, I’m afraid not. Does his style work with the era? Absolutely, so that’s what I go with. He has been much better in recent memory, and kudos to Mike for growing as an artist.

    Now a big moment in this issue: General Glory, Silver Sorceress, and Blue Jay all in the same room! The Marvel analog characters are all together, and … nothing. No sly remarks. No strange looks, No gags. Honestly, I didn’t think there would be, but on this reread, I was so hoping I was wrong. Alas, no! But I’ll be looking really carefully as we go.

    I totally agree that this story homages “Honey, I shrunk the kids”. I just graduated college and saw the movie in the theater. Quite a blast at the time, and put DIsney live action movies back on the map, much like The Little Mermaid did for their animated films. But it’s not like superhero comics are a stranger to shrinking the heroes. How many times *have* the Challengers of the Unknown been minimized anyway?

    Oh, but the Justifiers were the highlight of this issue, and the parody was brutal! And I’ve been buying Avengers comics monthly since 1980. Yes, up to the present. (Sure, there’s a little gap here and there, but not much. *cough* Heroes Reborn *cough*) Giving them the Assemblers the full on JLI treatment was hilarious. Oh wait, what is their team name again? Justifiers in this issue, but I’m sure I remember them being called Assemblers earlier. Hold on a minute. (*music* moooooon riveeeeeer) I’m back. JLE #19 on page 2, but Mitch and Sorceress refer to the team as the Assemblers. Now, does it bother me? Heck no! I kinda hope that the team would have a completely different name in every appearance as a running gag! Maybe I should check the Countdown to Final Crisis mini-series Lord Havok and the Extremists. (NO NO I’M NOT DOING IT YOU CAN’T MAKE ME NEVER AGAIN NOOOOOOOOOOOO!) Or not.

    Did someone say they thought JLQ had a more serious tone? Really? How soon you forget last issue’s Mr Nebula! BWAH-HAH-HAH!

    Well, apparently I’m not denimjedi because I did *not* keep this brief. Thanks for another great episode, and anxiously looking forward to the Bart Sears ep!

  8. Another great episode and on a random note .
    In our house we have three dogs and a cat and sassy sue the cat is the boss . Over Kai = Huskie , Reese = is a mix his pop was lab and his mom was and is a small weiner dog , and Yuki a yellow lab pup and is the second Yuki as the first was my grandma carols cat .
    Also I’ll ask the question best pet or what kind of pet do you have now . Also shag sounded so excited about the interview . Like a kid in the comic store in the 70’s that just got twenty bucks from his grandma as a birthday present. Also thank you to grand parents every where.

  9. Impressive podcast most impressive. The cover is pretty cool. Having the justice league Europe and some of the justice league America shrunken down and seen only by a magnify class, but still pulling off the Maguire pose. Which at this point had become a Tuesday. Since at this time everybody was copying this cover. Granted this was back when comics had covers not just people posing. I’m pretty sure power girl is either checking out guy gardeners guns or Capt. Adams buns. Which seems to be a regular thing for women in these comics. Seems Capt. Adam has some sort of magnetism. And that’s regular firearms looking or at flashes joystick’s. Everyone else in the cover looks pretty good as well. The group Meetup thing was pretty good. But, this might be the character version of general glory people don’t like. And they just for whatever reason hadn’t read when he was written properly. Speaking of bizarre characterizations that don’t fit the character hey look it’s the flash. Him getting encased in ice is funny.

    Fire doing the bit behind him also. But, I’m not sure what alternate Earth version of Wallace West this is. But, having read him as the flash since the badger guy was writing the flash. To quote Lex Luther when he looked at Wally West in the mirror I have no idea this is. That was in that cartoon where they switched bodies. And Lex as the flash acted more like the flash then whoever this is. It’s kind of sad this the last issue we see the silver sorceress in. Still, she had a decent run. As for Mr. miracle being out of character. Maybe it was laundry day and he borrowed a different costume. Even when zooming in and it’s hard to tell the skin color around his eyes. Which would be a dead giveaway on which version of Mr. miracle it is. I think it’s the second got but I’m not sure. Even when I zoom in on my phone I can’t tell if he’s African-American or not. Since if he is a white guy then that Scott. If not then that is the second Mr. miracle. Unless they did a coloring error.

    At any rate the bit with the robot reminds me of that Eddie Murphy movie. Where he was from a race of aliens that were deluxe more than human beings. And they made a giant Mac that they all travel around and it looks like him. It also had odd movements. Though I am shocked that Shag saw this and did not make a Dr. Who reference. Since a Mac like this with miniaturized heroes in it was used in let’s kill Hitler. And to greater effect the the marriage of River song. When the doctor used it to trick a fixed point in time. It’s not a beaker beat bit, but I would think that would get a reference. Though this does fit more along the lines of that bit in that Eddie Murphy movie.

    It is kind of sad that he ends up causing the very catastrophe he went back in time to stop. Though I guess it is kind of poetic. Seeing the original justice league together again is kind of cool. Granted this is the reboot justice league that was put together since the big three were not part of the original league thanks to crisis and what not. Or was it the zero hour? I never got confused by the multi-universes. But I did get confused by the singularity created to make it just one universe. And get rid of all the confusion. That somehow spawned into multiple different resetting continuity universes to fix a problematic they thought it was to have multi-universes. Moving along its interesting to see flash and Barry interact. I’m glad that used to give him all the respect, but I did enjoy it better when Wally West was the flash. It makes sense the way guys acting. After all Hal Jordan is such a class act.

    That when Guy Gardner went into a coma and his good friend Green Lantern went to visit him he decided the best thing to do is to steal his girlfriend. While he’s in the hospital visiting Guy Gardner’s. The whole parallax thing. When they all went after guy for some reason to make you come back to the Corps. Or when he would lecture Guy Gardner on his bad behavior and yet he went and killed all of the Green Lantern corps to take their power. To temporarily bring back his city. So after he got all the power did he ring back Star city? I don’t remember. Software Rob Kelly smiling since Aquaman is featured in this comic. The artwork in this is pretty good, but I definitely don’t like what they did to power girl’s hair. So guy accidentally get eaten by the dog and the only way out is to become part of the new 52. That cat is crazier fact that Ingres was willing to pick him up is shocking. You exactly going to packing close to herself. Animal is a little bit dangerous. As much as I like Cats. This one annoys me about as much as that movie. That was based on the Broadway play called Cats. And the dog is pretty cool so it makes sense that helped him.

    At any rate can’t wait to hear the next podcast.

  10. Shag, Millar is pronounced Miller, but I did enjoy your brazen certainty as you told everyone something completely & utterly wrong. Don’t ever change you beautiful idiot!

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  11. I liked the JLA/JLE team up in this issue, and that Captain Atom got to be the leader, and that Ice was included…she got left out of a lot of stories. Also, I wondered why Bluejay didn’t go on the mission. Like Silver Sorceress, he’s from Angor and could’ve been helpful as a guide. But the more I thought about it, with the story’s central gag being they got shrunk, sending in the mission a guy who can already shrink maybe was a story wrinkle the creators didn’t want to get distracted by.

    I actually thought the Mitch Wacky robot’s funky walking was pretty funny. Given the overall 1970s vibe of Angor, I thought maybe he was supposed to be mistaken for doing a disco/Superfly strut! He was wearing a leisure suit, and a passerby says, “Yeah, man! Keep on truckin’, man! HEAV-Y!” Actually, that passerby’s comment is amusing to me, too.

    Wally seeing Barry and wanting to talk to him was so touching, as was it causing Ted to reflect on the seldom-mentioned Dan Garrett.

  12. Thanks for a stonkingly good episode, I’ve heard Steve on the network previously, but he was epic here! The dynamic with you, Shag, was huge fun. One thing though, Mr Precision English Teacher Givens, it’s Catherine Cobert, no L, you’re perhaps thinking Claudette Colbert.

    I do remember this issue well, it’s great you both enjoyed it. As with other book-length tales it would benefit by being cut by a third, but as has been noted, what a treat to see the members mingle. And at last a bit of a spotlight for Silver Sorceress and the brilliant Bluejay, he of the sexy receding hairline. And yes, Mike McKone was still the tyro talent, but he was developing fast.

    ‘Racist’ seems a tad strong for General Glory’s daft comments on the Russian people, his heart was in the right place. And besides, we all know it’s the Irish who are obsessed with potatoes. (It’s OK, don’t hit me, at least half my DNA is from across the Oirosh Sea…)

    Bring on Bart!

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  13. As that film about that Wandjina knockoff shows it is hard to mix tragedy with comedy, but I think this issue just about pulls it off. I do kinda want a more in-depth character study about the three ANgor survivors dealing with survivor guilt, but it’s a little unfair to judge a comic on what it’s not!

    Pee Gee’s amazing surprise at how others think of Stinky reminds me of Nanny Ogg from the Discworld book. Both have cats that are tough no nonce beasts, and both one-eyed orange cats to boot, whose owners think they’re big softy pussy cats!

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