The New 52: Justice League
Posted: Wed Aug 31, 2011 7:52 pm
Now, for full disclosure, I am not and have not ever really been a Justice League fan. I like the idea of it, being the world's mightiest heroes and a guy in a bat costume, but I've never really gotten into the book. Even when I was a big fan of the animated versions, my favorite episodes were when the individual characters got solo stories to shine.
That said, I found the Justice League (notice the elimination of "of America," preventing me from shortening it to JLA) to be a bit...bland. It's not bad, it's just not what I had been hoping for.
See, this book is the book. It is the first book of the relaunch/reboot/whatever and has DC's most recognizable creative team working on it, in Geoff Johns and Jim Lee. It is, essentially, the flagship of the new DC. It also sold at least 200,000 copies, a feat that has not been matched in the comics industry in several years. In theory, this is the most visible book that will be read by the most people.
So it was a little disappointing when it ended up being so bland. I know it's an action book, a punch-em-up, and that that's not generally my thing. But even judged objectively as a punch-em-up, there wasn't much action, much punching, or even any real danger.
I won't spoil it too much just yet, since it has been out for a grand total of about 15 hours (if you were at a midnight launch party on the east coast), but the threat is not well-established and is not all that threatening unless you already know who he is from previously reading DC.
See my problem there? This should have been the big hook, the book that gets people to pick up more of the relaunch next week, even if they've never read a comic before...and it depends entirely on prior knowledge to make the threat threatening in the least.
On the other hand, Hal Jordan is back to being brash and over-confident in his abilities, snarking at "the guy in the bat costume" (he actually says this! ) and repeatedly telling Bats that he'll "take care of it." Not only is this fun, it's a good thing, because this is essentially the Hal Jordan people saw in the movie.
Batman gets a lot of screentime, but almost no characterization, so I can't judge yet. I am a fan of his new costume, however.
And Supes makes and appearance in a fairly good hook. He shows up with a flourish and a blaze of bright colors and makes even the most cynical reader (me) grin.
[Edited on 9-7-2011 by Crawler]
That said, I found the Justice League (notice the elimination of "of America," preventing me from shortening it to JLA) to be a bit...bland. It's not bad, it's just not what I had been hoping for.
See, this book is the book. It is the first book of the relaunch/reboot/whatever and has DC's most recognizable creative team working on it, in Geoff Johns and Jim Lee. It is, essentially, the flagship of the new DC. It also sold at least 200,000 copies, a feat that has not been matched in the comics industry in several years. In theory, this is the most visible book that will be read by the most people.
So it was a little disappointing when it ended up being so bland. I know it's an action book, a punch-em-up, and that that's not generally my thing. But even judged objectively as a punch-em-up, there wasn't much action, much punching, or even any real danger.
I won't spoil it too much just yet, since it has been out for a grand total of about 15 hours (if you were at a midnight launch party on the east coast), but the threat is not well-established and is not all that threatening unless you already know who he is from previously reading DC.
See my problem there? This should have been the big hook, the book that gets people to pick up more of the relaunch next week, even if they've never read a comic before...and it depends entirely on prior knowledge to make the threat threatening in the least.
On the other hand, Hal Jordan is back to being brash and over-confident in his abilities, snarking at "the guy in the bat costume" (he actually says this! ) and repeatedly telling Bats that he'll "take care of it." Not only is this fun, it's a good thing, because this is essentially the Hal Jordan people saw in the movie.
Batman gets a lot of screentime, but almost no characterization, so I can't judge yet. I am a fan of his new costume, however.
And Supes makes and appearance in a fairly good hook. He shows up with a flourish and a blaze of bright colors and makes even the most cynical reader (me) grin.
[Edited on 9-7-2011 by Crawler]