Site Updates

Outwardly it’s bit quiet around here recently – I’ve got a huge pile of stuff I’ve been trying to get ready for posting, but I’ve been caught up with other concerns. I’m also off on a training course for the next couple of weeks so and after that I’m going to be on my summer holidays until mid-July. I’ll try and post as much new material as possible (if and when I get chance), but normal progress should resume in about a month. Cheers.

Just putting together my pull list for my local comic shop (Other Realms in Urbana-Champaign) when I realised that I was very close to breaking a total of 50 items per month from Previews. And that’s not including the stuff that isn’t out that month (Ultimates, Ultimate X-Men, PvP Online) and various bits and pieces my friends have recommended! No real point to this post, but thought I’d share the list with you.

Updated: Ah… now I’ve gone and added Powers and Alias.

Well desktop pattern fans version two of the Unofficial JLA Desktop is now up and running. We’ve got a new funky database-like front end that speeds up load times and organises the images into nifty and handy categories. Plus Jerry has supplies another batch of really cool wallpapers that doubles the number of wallpapers. Let me rephrase that it DOUBLES the number of wallpapers! Watchya waiting for Justice Fan: check it out!

New Feature: A new feature I’m experimenting with here at the JLA Homepage is expanding sidebars. Many of you will have noticed the righthand sidebars that provide extra information on the majority this site’s pages. I use a smaller font with the sidebar test, but I fully understand that some readers may wish to view it at the normal font-size. I have therefore created an “Expand Sidebar” link at the top of each sidebar. This link loads the sidebar content in the main panel with a back link that restores the previous page.

New stuff:

• Links Section – A bit sparse at the moment, but I need somewhere to collate the urls that I mention from time to time.
• Profile: Chronos – David Clinton (Chronos I) was the Atom’s arch-enemy and one of the main stays of the Silver Age villain groups. Check out this profile by Jerry.
• Profile: Imperiex – Imperiex the Hollower. Not a dental nightmare, but the bad guy from the OWAW cross-over.
• Posting Archive – The posting archive now show’s the first couple of lines of each post and I’ve added a list of the last 5 news posts to the sidebar.

Coming Soon: Lex Luthor, Dr Light, a redesigned wall paper section, and August Previews.

Just a couple of minor widgets I’ve added to the page.

• The front side bar now has an “Out Now” panel that auto-updates each week showing which titles were released that week and the previous week as well as those due the following week. It’s designed to move forwards on each Wednesday. Hopefully it won’t slow load times too much — I’m currently looking at ways to cache the results.
• CSS Switcher – at the bottom of the About This Site page you’ll find a little script to switch the style sheets for this site. There are currently four styles Blue (default), Red, Green and Classic. Its not quite finished — I haven’t decided whether to set the cookies expiration dates yet.

Nothing major this time around — just a bit of spring cleaning around the font area and the addition of a new posting statistics page (under Misc > Stats). If your using Mozilla or one of the other browsers that allows alternate stylesheets then you can now experience this site in full retro-glory by selecting the stylesheet “Classic V3″. I’m still working on a way to let IE users access it and to make it persistant.

You lucky people you! We have not one, but TWO new articles for you this update! First up is mite-y fine profile of the JLA’s resident Tiny Titan provided by Jerry Whitworth (with a few additions from muggins). Be sure to check out Jerry’s new batch of wallpapers in the JLA Desktop section. Secondly, I have finally been able to track down a copy of THE KENTS mini-series by John Ostrander and can now present a near definitive history of the post-Crisis Kent family.

Previews – I’ve had a chance to start a revamp of the quotes, previews and issue index section. These will now be collected under the banner of the JLA Index. This, Rao willing, will build into a near definitive database of new JLA related comics and merchandise. At present it includes Michael Weyer’s classic quotes and details for Previews from April through July. So far I’ve only got the comicbook previews displaying.

It amazing the amount of back-end code that has to be rewritten so users don’t notice any change in the front end of a website. BTW the archives will be playing up until I have time to drag them into the new site wide template.

It is (or more correctly has been) a lovely sunny spring day in Illinois — pity muggings here is stuck in an inside office. No window . But also NO distractions! So I have quite a large update for you today. The management – the aforementioned muggins – would like to point out that no part of this was actually conducted during office hours (need to put that in just in case the boss catches this). It is a sunny way in Metropolis (Illinois that is), coupon day in Bagdad, Plastic Man’s on Monitor Duty and the bees are buzzing in the trees.

Two major additions to the site this update. First off is a brand new section called the JLA Comicbook Index. Long time readers may remember this from the first incarnation of the site when it was called the JLA Casebook. It’s a database of the post Midsummer Nightmare (1996) JLA comics based on the old Official DC Indexes that appeared during the 80s. I’ve spend most of my time on the backend of this section, but it has allowed me to bring Michael Weyer’s Classic JLA Quotes section across to the new site. Over the coming months, nay years, I’ll be adding the odd synposis, cover scan, annotation, creator credit, etc. The plan is to create an IMDB for JLA comics.

The second major addition to the site is a brand new Manchester Black profile. While he’s never faced the League Black is an important character in the Superman titles. He first appeared in ACTION COMIC #775 and was created by the current JLA team of Kelly, Mahnke and Nguyen. He was a counterpoint to Superman – a violent vigilante patterned after the Authority’s Jenny Sparks – who served as a moral counterweight to Superman’s brand of superheroics.

Lastly and my no means least, Jerry Whitworth continutes his flood of JLA wallpapers. This batch of additions includes a few Alex Ross scans and a couple of new DC promo-images.

Jerry Whitworth has been kind enough to send in five more live action desktop images. This batch includes images of Supergirl, the Ray and a group shot from the ill fated JLA TV pilot.

On a minor note I’ve also reformated the Q&A section to conform to the look of the current front page.

A couple of new additions to the site this week. Jelly Whitworth has been kind enough to send me a collection of wallpapers he made depicting the live action incarnations of his favourite DC heroes. You can find these images in our new Wallpaper Section. I’ve also put together an expanded archive section for the posts on the main page. You can now list them by category and by month in the new Archives Section. By default the front page will only show the ten most recent posts, but the rest are still accessible from the archive.