Justice League: Generation Lost, Volume One (Review)

Writer: Judd Winick

Artists: Keith Giffen (breakdowns), Aaron Lopresti, Joe Bennett, Fernando Dagnino

Publisher: DC Comics

Collects: Justice League: Generation Lost #1-12

Or, How to Write a Good Justice League Story could have been added on to the title of this nostalgic-yet-modern resurrection of Keith Giffen, J.M. DeMatteis and Kevin Maguire's light-hearted Justice League International run, which lasted from 1987 to 1994 and remains critically acclaimed to this day.

Freshly returned from the dead at the end of Blackest Night, former 80s business guy turned mind-controlling supervillain Maxwell Lord is up to his old tricks. Using his advanced psychic powers, he makes the whole world forget about him and his past evil deeds, giving himself a fresh start. The only ones who remember him are some of his "ex-clients" from the JLI: Booster Gold, Captain Atom, Fire and Ice. With everyone on the planet thinking they're insane, they must find out what Max is up to and stop him before it's too late.

Doom Patrol: Brotherhood (Review)

Writer: Keith Giffen

Artists: Matthew Clark, Ron Randall and Cliff Richards

Publisher: DC Comics

Collects: Doom Patrol #7-13

Every superhero fan has that one character or team that they possess an inexplicable love for. Their books might not sell as well as others and they might not get talked about as often, but there's a small, almost cultish appeal that they have.

For me, it's the Doom Patrol. I know they're not household names and their stories are hardly genre-defining, but that, in a way, is what makes them great. They're like those kids at school who don't fit into any of the usual social groups, and are therefore in a group of their own.

But as much as I love the Patrol, I went into Keith Giffen's latest run (starting with We Who Are About to Die) with low expectations. The current and much discussed climate in the world of comics publishing is not friendly to a "middle of the road" type book for a start. On a more personal level, I honestly did not think that Giffen could possibly capture the classic spirit of Arnold Drake's original Silver Age stories, nor the pure imagination of Grant Morrison's 1989-1993 run.

WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD!