Superhero comic books often eventually punish characters who dont seem to take it seriously enough, this business of dressing in a costume and beating people up. Justice League International was a 1987-1996 series that bucked this trend, featuring Batman and some cheery, less famous heroes who were only competent when they really had to be. Billy did a stint with the group (although he did get brainwashed into fighting its Superman substitute). The comic was a smash hit for a time, but in the mid-00s, two of its stars returned to center stage only to be violated and killed. Whats more, Maxwell Lord, the businessman who organized the JLI, was revealed as one of their killers. He revealed that the teams comical fumbling had all been the result of his psychic manipulation. You didnt think anyone could be sincerely funny in DC Comics, did you? Glad we got that straight. Speedball, another happy-go-lucky 1980s creation whose power was literally bouncing off the walls, resurfaced in 2004 as a reality TV star, organizing fights with super-villains for the cameras. One such fight blew up a school, and hundreds died. The guilt moved Speedball to spend a period as Penance and redesign his costume to increase the pain he felt during battle. He became, as a temporary ally puts it, a broken toy, forced to live in a world he was never made for.
T Campbell has written quite a few online comics series and selected work for Marvel, Archie and Tokyopop. His longest-running works are Fans, Penny and Aggie-- and his current project with co-writer Phil Kahn, Guilded Age.
