Thoughts on Justice League #1
Last night I went to the midnight launch event at my regular comic book store, House of Secrets in Burbank. The place was more packed than I’ve ever seen it, which was really a fantastic sight. There’s life in the direct market yet.
I hung out and chatted with friends for a while. Drove home. Changed into PJs. Brushed my teeth. Checked my email a few times. It was only then that I finally opened up my shiny new copy of Justice League #1 to read.
Why wait so long (“so long” being about an hour) to crack open the comic? There’s been so much doomsday talk about the New 52 being DC’s last resort and DC as one of the big two being a cornerstone of the entire comic industry/direct market. And DC only launched one new title this weeks. So at 1AM, my very tired brain somehow boiled it down to the fate of all comic books everywhere forever and ever depends on this single issue.
Of course, that’s neither accurate or fair. Still, DC did make a bold statement letting Justice League #1 stand alone. Honestly, I didn’t really feel like the issue is strong enough to justify such treatment (or the $3.99 cover price). But I thought it was a fairly fun read.
Spoilers ahead!
Pros:
- Batman’s first line in the New DC (calling the GCPD idiots).
- Green Lantern using the ring to make interesting, detailed constructs.
- Batman palming the ring and smirking about it.
- Hints of an origin for Cyborg.
- Pretty Jim Lee art.
Cons:
- Some of the dialogue just didn’t work for me, GL’s weird leap of logic to Batman lacking superpowers in particular.
- It just didn’t feel like there was an issue’s worth of story here (my typical issue with decompressed storytelling). Write for the monthly and worry about the trades later.
- Having only one aside to one other character.
I have personal issues:
- Superman looks younger than me now and that’s just wrong wrong wrong.
Overall, I am looking forward to the other new DC titles I’m picking up and I know I’ll be reading a few others that my friends are buying as well. I’ll give Justice League at least one more issue (I doubt I’ll be buying very many monthly books over the long run; I usually prefer to wait for trades). And at the very least, it is nice to see a comic that’s trying to be fun again. I’d definitely be interested to hear what brand new readers think of Justice League #1.
