Justice League International- After several years of flagging sales and a failed revamp, the premiere super-team of the DCU received a major overhaul at the hands of Keith Giffen, JM Dematteis, and Kevin Maguire. Mixing new characters, lots of action and some bizarre humor must have seemed like a long shot, but readers embraced the new League, making it one of the most popular comics of the 80s.


Superman- When DC decided to give Superman a major update, they turned to the hottest name in comics at the time, writer/artist John Byrne. By first rebooting the character in the Man of Steel miniseries, then working on both Action Comics and a new Superman title, Byrne breathed new life into the character and laid the foundation for a successful Superman line of comics for many years to come.

That's very good to know, Kevin.

But I'm confused..if John Byrne is so great, then why do people here on the forum make fun of him and call him nasty names that I can't repeat?

I thought at first he was a murderer or escaped convict when I first read posts about him...but he's a famous artist.

Come on.. JLI was innovative, MOS was a reboot.

Understatement.

*** Weeps ***

JLI. This was a close call as both started out with a lot of enthusiasm and lost their luster in under 2 years. I like them about equally, but I give the edge to JLI for being more innovative and daring than the safe bet of Byrne on Superman.

I've gotten bored and not finished the Man of Steel mini every time I've tried to read it. I'm also much more a fan of the "Strange visitor from another planet" Superman of the Silver Age and All-Star Superman than I am of the "Big blue Boy Scout" that Byrne introduced.

JLI is the first comic I read that made me laugh out loud on more than one occasion, took a group of seemingly lame characters and showed that they weren't lame at all, and through the humor of the characters (which was the hallmark of the series - it didn't make fun of them, the characters just had senses of humor) had one of the most three-dimensional groups of superheroes I've ever read.

Maguire's contribution can't be overstated. So much of the characterization comes through in the body language and facial expressions, and he's still one of the best artists I've seen doing that.

I also think the distinction that can be made between what the book was and how it's been mischaracterized is that it wasn't so much a "funny book about superheroes" as it was a "book about superheroes that are funny". It's a fine line, and one that, for the first few years, they walked masterfully.

At the time Man of Steel all the way. Not even close. But it doesn't hold up and over the years JLI has moved ahead of it, and thus gets my vote.

Superman. I liked and bought both, though.

Not even a contest for me.

JL/JLI's only highlight was the art by MacGuire-- the book wasn't funny at all.

JLI, not only introduced Maguire, Adam Hughes had his first long run on the book. Also, Bart Sears made his name on it.

Maguire.

I fixed it. Thanks!

Superman, even though it's the JB version.
I wonder who'd win in a Superman (Bates, Maggin, Swan) vs. Superman (Byrne) faceoff.

I concur.

I loved JLI. That was my first DC series, and opened up a whole new universe to me.

I still wish they made the Blue and Gold book

They were both reboots. Both came after Crisis On Infinite Earths.

Nope. Superman restarted the character from scratch. JLI was a continuation from Pre-Crisis. The Martian Manhunter was a member of the JLA during Legends, which begat JL, which begat JLI. The Justice League didn't get a reboot until JLA Year One.

Superman. People seemed to care again

and JLI ran out of steam. The joke became too long.

However, both have seriopus flaws.

MOS remains a great work, but the Super reboot in retrospect had some lousy villains

I really prefer though the idea that Clark is the real guy and the getting rid of the Great Rao crap and all the superfluous kryptonians

At first, I was put off by the humor in JLI. Super hero comics were supposed to be serious, by my reckoning.

However, in the third issue or thereabouts, Batman deadpanned something, which prompted Blue Beetle to blurt out "Batman made a funny!" For the first time ever, I laughed out loud reading a comic book. From that point on, I was a convert.

And the whole "one punch" thing between Batman & Guy Gardner just cemented things.

They were both reboots. Wonder Woman was never a part of the JLA in the continuity that was rebooted with JLI #1. Neither was Superman.

Not as total a reboot as Man Of Steel... but a reboot nonetheless.