With the coming of the New 52, DC released a glut of new books on the market. Readers bought far more books then they typically would in the initial excitement in order to sample the offerings of this brave new world.

Unfortunately, that buying pace cannot be sustained. Because so much capital was expended during the buying frenzy generated during the initial hype, fewer titles can be purchased going forward, so the hype ends up detrimental in the long run as it forces buyers to be more selective than they would otherwise have been. And thus this hype cycle ends up damaging sales, not increasing them.

At least that's my theory. I'm also blaming Vixen: so far she's just dead weight.

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In the most recent "International Exchange" interview, Dan Jurgens implied that he hoped to bring some verisimilitude to the pages of the Justice League International. It appears that he is doing something right.

The website of Foreign Policy magazine recently ran the article "The League of Extraordinarily Bureaucratic Gentlemen" by Colum Lynch. The article uses Jurgens' JLI to reflect the historical peacekeeping role of the United Nations and question the United States of America's leadership role in the global environment. Quote:

Jurgens says that while he, personally, has been favorably disposed to the United Nations he sought to portray the world organization as morally ambiguous, neither intrinsically good nor bad, and a target of intense affection and revulsion, much as it is in the real world.

The decision to place the United States in the background was also intentional. "Within this country we're probably arrogant enough to think that the U.N. should be an American-controlled institution. I don't have that thought," says Jurgens.

The article identifies Booster Gold as an American (ignoring DiDio's recent jest that Booster is a Canadian), partially because it fits with the author's supposition about the decline of America's leadership position. Frankly, we could all do a lot worse than replacing "American exceptionalism" with "American Booster-ism."

Agree or disagree, the article is worth a read if only to see how the politically-minded, non-comics reading population interprets the latest politically correct Justice League International. You can find the entire article at foreignpolicy.com.

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This month's installment of Russell Burlingame's "International Exchange" column includes a small sampling of Dan Jurgens' breakdowns for the issue. It also includes a bit of social commentary.

IX: It's funny—Batman's comments about people feeling angry and pushed to the brink by governments they no longer trust is as true in a world without aliens and superheroes and madmen with atomic backpacks as it is in-continuity. Was that an intentional observation or just the way life and art play together?

DJ: Very intentional.

I've made it clear from the start that there are elements of this book that are supposed to reflect the world we live in. Consensus has become an impossibility. Any topic or situation seems divided with one party on one side, the other party on the other. MSNBC take an unreasonable stance to one extreme, FOX News the other.

And the minute one party actually does achieve supremacy and do something, like in Wisconsin, the opposite side goes so far as to try to throw a governor out of office. It's not a question of, "I want government to get moving again." It's more, "I want government to do what I want it to do." There's a big difference.

So, yeah, people are angry. If the DCU is to reflect our own world, there's no way everyone would embrace heroes because there's no way it could happen in our reality. With that in mind, Batman's commentary extends to both worlds.

After DC's last major continuity reboot in 1985, the first major crossover was Legends. At the time, America was embroiled in conflicts ranging from drug wars to class wars, cold wars to cola wars. Reflecting the social and political turmoil, Legends was primarily concerned with exploring both the role of super-heroes in the contemporary DC Universe as well as the public's reaction to them. After all, what good is Superman to a world that ignores or hates him?

It sounds like Jurgens is interested in re-investigating some of the same territory a quarter of a century later in the light of the terrible economic times and divisive political culture of the modern day. Hopefully, Jurgens and his fellow writers don't take reality too seriously. I'd hate to one day realize that the DCnU isn't a nice a place to live, and I wouldn't want to visit there.

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Football questions always tend to bring the weakest poll response. I guess in the Venn diagram between comic book readers readers and sports fans, not a lot of us end up in the intersection. Maybe Booster Gold made the better choice: you sure can be a hero longer than you can play competitive football.

I thought this comparison between quarterbacks was fitting, mainly because both are well-accomplished and both play in large-market teams. (Boston/New York is very much the way I've always envisioned Metropolis/Gotham.) Besides that, their personalities couldn't be more different! So who did the voters pick?

Last week's poll question: Which 2012 Super Bowl quarterback is more like Michael Booster Carter? (21 votes)

Two weeks ago, we looked at who you might want to join the DCnU Justice League International. This week, we'll look on the flip side of that coin. After all, if we want to add Blue Beetle, we'll need to make some room on that roster.

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Whoops! This was supposed to posted earlier this morning! Sorry about that.

Advance solicitations indicate that today's release of Justice League International #6 will be a character piece bridging the gap between the first and second story arcs in the young life of the DCnU JLI. Last week's preview (discussed here) also indicates that the issue will have a strong focus on Booster Gold. Focus on character with plenty of Booster Gold? That's sounds like our kind of comic book!

Buy this issue and make Skeets happy.

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