I admit that I am more classic League than JLI, but I always respected the latter for what it did with what it had. My understanding was that editor Andy Hefler wanted to bring back the classic lineup, but most of them were tied up in their own reboots at the time and thus unavailable. Denny O'Neill allowed Batman on the team as a solid. For what JLI lacked in power and grandeur, it made up with character and humor. I doubt Ted Kord/Blue Beetle and Booster Gold would've had as much a following without JLI or the Martian Manhunter becoming so integral to the League. One has to remember that he was absent from the team for the entire Bronze Age.
JLI only faltered after Giffen, DeMatteis, and Maguire left the series. Then again, it had been a over decade since Gerry Conway booted the A-listers to make way for Justice League Detroit so I think fans were ready for a return to the (mostly) classic lineup when Morrison took over the franchise in 1996.
Justice League Detroit could have worked if they'd gotten better writing imo. It feels like it could have been a pseudo-Teen Titans type of scenario where the young heroes get mentored and etc. Shame that the detroit era is just a bad meme, but at least Vixen's still sorta remembered due to her DCAU appearance in the JLU show. Gypsy's kinda never been seen much.
Also, like, the whole 90s Justice League stuff before Morrison took over was kinda iffy at best. You had Gerard Jones trying to use Superman/Wonder Woman as big names but that never felt too good. Extreme Justice also existed. . . I think I only read that for Beetle/Booster and that wasn't worth it.
Mags knows how to network insofar using Twitter and DEI initiatives to cut the line and deluded himself into believing that it was because of his talent. When you look at his mainstream work, it is essentially just scraps that Marvel, DC, and IDW tossed at him and he has NO career-defining run on any title. Mark Waid may be a blubbering man-child, but his 90s run on Flash made Wally West the definitive Flash for a generation and he can still turn in decent work whenever he gets over himself.
My running theory was that DC looked at what Megan FitzMartin (another nobody writer) did to Tim Drake, who already altered an established and well-regarded character to suit her ego, and BTFOed Mags. What I see it as indicative of is that DC created a glut of legacy characters and it was the Young Justice cohort (Tim, Conner, Bart, and Cassie) who got pushed to the wayside in favor of "newer models" like Damian Wayne, Wallace West, and later Jon Kent and Yara Flor. Altering Tim drove the old fans away, didn't bring in the mythical "modern audiences", and basically now regulated him to the background and the odd guest spot. Trooning out Conner would have cranked that up to eleven and rendered the character unusable.
Tim Drake's alteration seems to be their equivalent of "playing it safe" because they're just saying he's bisexual. This can be dragged back any time.
DC's legacy characters need to be seperated at this point. It was barely manageable before Flashpoint, because you'd at least see them spread out and there were mostly enough team books for dudes like Jay Garrick, Alan Scott, Kid Flash, etc. Flash/GL are the obvious ones, but even the Bat-Family at least got spread across multiple books and even then. . . it was barely something I was able to keep up with. Nowadays, we have all this shit with a half-dozen new legacy characters tossed together over the 2010s in both companies that they've tried to push. (I'm not counting shit like the Batman Inc. dudes like Gaucho or Teen Titans like Flamebird. They're just existing characters from forever ago that've been revamped and given a space.)
Like, don't get me wrong, but the whole Jon Kent changes ruined both him and Conner. Adding more Superman family people after the Warworld thing (the twins) also fucks up stuff because it feels like a halfassed attempt at getting "young kryptonians" or whatever, but then we somehow get young jon kent stories still being published? Can't we just de-age Jon and forget about this bullshit.
The Bat-Family is also kinda way too bloated at this point too. Before Flashpoint, it was manageable. Babs was in Birds of Prey, Nightwing had his thing, Tim was Robin/Red Robin in his book, Detective Comics/Batman ran the usual main stories. Damien had his Batman and Robin book and other tales. Jason eventually got to get his own book. We also had Batwoman pop up, dunno if she was any good. Cassandra Cain popped up here and there as the modern Batgirl. . . until the N52 forgot her?
And then they fucked up by adding like a fuckton of new Gotham capes. Bluebird? Duke Thomas? What? Then we just keep escalating the number of these new characters, but then they feel the need to alter existing ones like Tim to push an agenda? Then we make Barbara Gordon able to walk again? Then the original Batwoman comes back alive. . . but we don't see the original Batgirl (Flamebird) pop up? I know Batman is DC's biggest IP, but can we just focus on the good stuff again?
Don't care about Wonder Woman's legacy characters as much because she only gets like one new addition per decade or so. Yera Flor needs some screentime in the right way, but I doubt we'll ever get that.
As for other bloated legacy characters in DC, I'm just more pissed at the whole Flash Family and the need for DC to keep introducing human GLs. There's a fucking prosthetic using genderqueer aborigine woman that's a speedster and they tried to attempt to shill her. The whole Justice League of China and all these Chinese superheroes got introduced in the 2010s. I get it, new heroes are fun to introduce and attract an audience. The problem is that the last 20 years of DC comics have slipped quality so far that I'd say the majority of these introduced legacy heroes just aren't standing the test of time. Fucking Flash comics have been kinda shit because they decided to throw Wally onto a bus with his kids (and Bart too) while introducing a fucking black teen wally west.
I can count, on one hand, the number of legacy heroes from DC that aren't complete dogshit (and have been pushed in other media). Damien Wayne, Young Jon Kent (before the . . . age up thing happened. . .), Miss Martian, Jaime Reyes, and maybe the Jessica Cruz GL? I'd throw in the Ryan Choi Atom and Jason Rusch Firestorm as things I'm kinda just neutral towards?
Honestly, just give the fucking rainbow mafia their own Universe to write in for the big two. Call it the YAverse and let these wannabe YA authors write soaps. Fucking retcon Spidey to pre-One More Day. Make Jon Kent a kid again. Bring back the proper JSA and Justice League.
Fucking Fall of X seems to be on track to. . . something. I hope Orchis isn't just shafted after this. Please don't fucking character assassinate all the classic X-Men. . .
The Simone Batgirl run is being put out in Omnibus format because the trades sold well even with all of the controversy relating to her run (some of which wasn't Gail's fault but editorial) and the fact that those trades are now OOP and putting everything out as an omnibus lets them make a quick buck and see if there is a market to do a regular trade re-issue of the run down the line. Which is standard policy these days in that a series will get an omnibus run first and if it doesn't sell, then you don't get a proper affordable trade of it.
Simone is kinda a hack writer, but she's at least readable. I can't stomach a lot of the current-era's young SJW writers. Fucking hell.