What's the source of the phrase?

mrp beat me to it.

Andy Helfer's Introduction to the Justice League, Part 2 (from Justice League #3)


"So -- ahem -- we were going to tell you how the creative guys behind this book got involved -- and we'd already mentioned the discovery of Mr. Kevin Maguire, and the persistence of Mr. Keith Giffen -- and we were just about to et to the reluctance of Mr. J.M. DeMatteis, and how ye olde editor convinced him to add the JUSTICE LEAGUE scripting chores to his already frantic schedule.

Note that we say SCRIPTING chores -- for those of you who might be unfamiliar with the credit box terminology we ere take for granted so often, "scripter" is the guy who puts the words in the characters mouths after the art is drawn. Now, the aforementioned Mr. Giffen plots the story first -- that is, he sits down with the editor at regular intervals (usually once a month) and figures out the events that will take place in any given issue. This includes both major plots, subplots, character "bits" and anything else the plotter cares to toss in. Usually, the average writer will then hand in a typed, page-by-page breakdown of the story, which the penciler will then illustrate; in Mr. Giffen's case, an uncontrollable fear of typewriters (or maybe just their ribbons) forces him to produce his plots as a set of small, nominally rendered mini-pages, which acts as a layout "guide" for the pencil artist. (Keep this in mind, dear reader -- it becomes more important as we near the end of this tale.)

As we said, once the page is penciled, the entire package is shipped off to the scripter, who dialogues the pages based on the plot. Now, you might think that with the plotting and penciling complete. writing the dialogue would be a simple, if not boring task -- after all, wasn't all that stuff worked out in the plot? Isn't it just a matter of taking the existing ideas and making them sound consistent with the characters as we know them?

The answer, simply put, is NO! A book's dialogue can take the tone and character of a book into totally unanticipated directions -- the scripter is anything BUT a "hired hand." One has only to watch Woody Allen's "What's Up, Tiger Lilly?" to know how crucial the dialogue can be. There, The Woodman (as his friends call him -- no relation to the forthcoming DC hero of the same name) took a straight-faced Chinese spy movie and redubbed it, creating one of the strangest, funniest spoofs ever. It had totally, absolutely, nothing to do with the original movie -- the dialogue alone had transformed it into something completely different.

So, with all that being said, you can understand why we needed just the right person for this job -- and in a moment, you'll know why J.M. DeMatteis was that person.

We'd already admired J.M.'s work -- from his early days writing horror stories for the old HOUSE OF MYSTERY title, through his work on Marvel titles like Captain America and The Defenders. We were awed by his Greenberg the Vampire Graphic novel, and -- you should pardon the expression -- "blown away" by the Epic maxi-series Moonshadow, which, we'll say right here, simply HAD to be one of the top three or four series of 1986 (and we'll let you guess what we think the others were). Styllistically, J.M.'s work runs the full gamut, from straight superhero tales, to profound, heartwarming, and sometimes, downright silly stories about seemingly ordinary people caught up in extraordinary circumstances. But in every job J.M. takes on, he makes you believe you really KNOW the characters -- he has this uncanny ability to use even the smallest piece of dialog to make you FEEL his characters like few other writers can. High praise indeed, we know -- but all you have to do is check out his work, and you'll know exactly what we're talking about.

We were looking for that kind of talent for the new JUSTICE LEAGUE -- and although the resultant work that you've probably just finished reading might seem miles apart from the kind of insightful work J.M. is noted for, it's really not all that different; without J.M.'s input, the members of the JUSTICE LEAGUE wouldn't have half the wit, charm, or even tough-minded arrogance that they now appear to have in abundance.

So now, we were set; all we needed was the inker.

When Terry Austin took a look at the pencils of the first issue of JUSTICE LEAGUE, he flipped. He thought they were great. Ye olde Editor asked him if he'd like to ink it -- he said yes. Plain and simple. We all felt honored -- after all, Terry is acknowledged far and wide as the top inker in comics today -- many people in the field would give their eye-teeth to work with Terry -- some, even if they DID know how painful losing them would be.

So, Terry was set. The only problem was that, at the time he'd seen Kevin's pencils, the aforementioned Mr. DeMatteis had not yet come on board, nor would he for another two months since the production process usually requires the lettering to be done before the inking, the pages sat... and time marched on... and before anyone knew it, Terry had become committed to other, more immediate projects. He DID agree to do the first issue (but then, you already KNEW that, right) and after that...?

Enter Al Gordon, otherwise known as "El Gorderoono," (don't ask us why -- but we think it was editor Mike Carlin's idea). Al's a real talent, who's been in the business for almost ten years. About seven ago, he'd worked with Roy Thomas and Scott Shaw on CAPTAIN CARROT AND HIS AMAZING ZOO CREW, and while Al steadfastly maintains that this was the high-water mark of his career, we prefer his many inking jobs over the likes of John Byrne and Jerry Ordway on the Fantastic Four. In between, he'd done many a job for the competition, which had earned him quite a reputation in the field, and made all of us here at DC jealous that he wasn't doing much work for us. When Al took a look at JUSTICE LEAGUE, however, those days were numbered-- he jumped at the chance to ink the book on a regular basis -- and we're pleased as punch to have him!

Finally..We can't finish this tale without a mention of Bob Lappan and Gene D'Angelo. First, Bob's one of the most distinctive letterer's in the business -- his work looks GREAT! It's inventive, imaginative, crisp, clean...we could go on and on. Bob is, to our mind, one of the most thoughtful letterers we know -- and we hope he stays around a looong time.

Second, Gene's one of three hold-overs from the previous incarnation of the JLA -- that's besides J.M. DeMatteis and ye olde editor, Andy Helfer. Gene is one of the few guys that can take characters of fifty different colors and find a background color that NONE of them fade away against. That alone makes him a valued asset. And hey, if it wasn't broke in the first place, why fix it?"

(Andy goes on to solicit letters for the letter column)

I wonder if Austin was somehow trying to compliment Maguire's unusual style with a non-traditional approach. But no, it didn't really work.



Only now, after reading Helfer's explanation of what everyone contributed, do I begin to understand just how much of that was coming from DeMatteis by this point. In the first issue, Giffen spends a LOT of panels on character interaction, but by #3, it seems like DeMatteis is inserting the gags into otherwise straight-forward action sequences that weren't designed to deliver humor.

Oberon becomes a much more significant presence later on, but we basically don't see Skeets in this title, at least in this incarnation. That always struck me as a bit odd, and I don't think any explanation was ever given for it. Once Booster's solo title folded, Skeets was forgotten altogether for several years until he was eventually, if I recall correctly, found in storage somewhere.

Wow. In three days: 10 reviews, 117 replies, 8 pages, 2,191 views.

Just now beginning to understand how quickly this thread has exploded.