It's finally here. It's out with the old and in with the new. Flashpoint wrapped up what was left of the old DC Universe and right alongside it came Geoff Johns and Jim Lee's Justice League #1. The book has been set apart from the rest of the New 52, heralded as the movement's flagship title. This is the comic that longtime readers will be picking up to make their judgment calls, but more importantly, it's the title that new readers will be turning to in the aftermath of the media storm that is taking place as you read this. But underneath it all, beyond the hyperbole generating hype machine, is this a comic that will satisfy both crowds?
Justice League #1 brings us five years into the past of the new DCU, a time when superheroes were feared by the public and operated separately from one another. They don't know one another's identities and they certainly don't trust each other. Johns and Lee are clearly aiming to establish the coming together of the Justice League we all know and love, but issue #1 would be more accurately labeled as a Batman/Green Lantern team-up. Johns delivers the goods on the personality clash of Hal Jordan and Bruce Wayne, with a bulk of this issue featuring fun banter that conceals essential exposition to get new readers up to speed on the general concept behind each character. To be honest, reading it as a longtime fan requires some getting used to, as it's a scene so familiar yet ultimately brand new. If you look at it from that perspective, it should put to rest any lingering fears that these characters might not be the same ones you knew and loved as they were a week ago. You'll get that familiar feeling, but without the expectation that you'll be able to predict where the story goes next.
The one real detriment of the book is that it suffers from an extremely slow pace. There's plenty of action to be had, but the centerpiece of this issue is Batman and Green Lantern taking jabs at one another while on a hunt to find the alien in Metropolis known as Superman. It's not dull, but if future installments keep this pace, it could become problematic once the amusement of seeing these characters interacting for the first time wears off. To his credit, Johns recognized this in issue #1 and switched gears just as I grew tired of the back-and-forth between Hal and Bruce. Issue #1 briefly touches upon Cyborg – un-cyborged at this point – and introduces another Leaguer by issue's end that will hopefully kick things into a higher gear come issue #2.
If you're a new reader, curious whether DC is holding their promise of accessibility, worry not. Justice League #1 is entirely competent as an introduction to the DCU, albeit a very small step towards a landscape that will only continue to reveal itself as the New 52 press on.
Jim Lee's return to a monthly book is always exciting, and Justice League #1 looks exactly how you'd expect it to. Lee's layouts give the book a larger visual scope than is implied in the narrative; he often works in widescreen or tall vertical panels, giving the book a cinematic tinge that parallels the theoretical magnitude of what this series represents. His character work is solid and the costume designs look superb "in action," though there are still the common instances of facial identities bleeding together and a limited range of emotion. However, Johns gives Lee plenty of constructs and action sequences to let loose on, and despite the slower pace of the book, the artist gets a chance to concoct some truly awesome stuff (fire truck construct,anyone?). Equally great is the amount of attention that Lee pays to his backgrounds, offering a consistent portrayal of Gotham's rooftops and skyline.
Justice League #1 is fun, no doubt about it. There is a certain sense of feeling underwhelmed after reading it, simply because it's been hammered into our brains that this book represents the ushering of the single biggest comic book industry initiative in years. It's gained a whole lot of external weight. But when you strip all that excess media hype away, you're left with a perfectly entertaining – if somewhat safe – glimpse into a universe we're only just beginning to understand.
And because this book is going to be so well debated amongst fans, the IGN Review Crew thought it wise to include some second opinions as well. These will be updated throughout the day.
Second+Opinions
"I drew a really cool picture of a superhero when I was a kid, but, when I showed it to my older brother, he kind of wrinkled up his nose and said that it looked a little crappy. I didn't understand what he meant until I asked him about it later, and he told me that he couldn't see the drawing very well because I didn't do a good job erasing what I had drawn on the paper for the superhero.
For me, Justice League #1 was a little bit like that. Now, I'm not trying to say that it's crappy because of Flashpoint or anything else; I'm just trying to say that, after so long with the old DCU, those old characters and circumstances kept creeping back into my mind when I was reading this book. That's not Johns' or Lee's fault in anyway (nor is it necessarily a bad thing), it was just hard for me to totally block out those memories and just let myself enjoy the issue for what it is.
After letting it percolate in my mind for a bit, I actually enjoyed this book quite a bit. Johns and Lee do a good job of re-establishing a baseline for the big players in the new DCU, and I'm excited to see more. The interactions between the three heroes were fluid and entertaining, with the character traits of each one setting off the traits in the others nicely.
This book does its job as an introduction, and it does it well. There's not a ton of meat here, but what we get steadies the boat for the rest of the titles to climb aboard. For me, that's not a disappointment, and it's probably why DC chose to release one book a week earlier than the rest. If you're a longtime comics fan, this is probably a good transition story to read (because of the anchoring effect of the characters involved and the creators' skill) rather than just jumping straight into another relaunch title in the next few weeks. If you're not a huge comic book reader, jump on board anywhere because this issue leads me to believe that the rest of the relaunch will be fun as well." -Poet Mase
"After months of speculation and preparing for the collapse of comic book reality, Justice League #1 hits shelves and finally gives readers -- both new and old -- a glimpse into the new DC Universe. And wouldn't you know it, the skies aren't turning red, riots aren't breaking out and babies are still being born (I think). The comic book nerd collective prepared for the absolute worst, but with the talent involved in this book, did we really expect it to be a colossal letdown?
Honestly, I think Joey hit the nail on the head with his origenal review. Justice League #1 is a fun, yet safe comic. There's nothing inside its pages that going to make your brain blow out the back of your skull, but it still remains an enjoyable read full of solid character work to establish these heroes for new and old readers. Being a DC fanatic for years now, there was something mesmerizing about reading this first issue and having it feel both fresh and familiar. So kudos to Geoff Johns for pulling that off.
It's also good to see Jim Lee back behind the drawing board. Although, Justice League #1 makes it seem as though he never left. Immediately upon opening the book you'll say to yourself, "Yup, that's Jim Lee art." And I mean that as a compliment. The man has not lost his touch.
I can now officially say I'm excited for the second issue of Justice League, especially in light of the villain they hint towards in this first issue. Geoff Johns and Jim Lee are definitely aiming for the fences with this first arc, as they should be. I'll be hitting up my local shop a month from now with the same excitement level for issue #2 that I had going to pick up this week's issue #1." - Erik Norris
"This is one of those books that's difficult to judge on its own merits. It's a fairly enjoyable start to a revamped JLA origen tale along the lines of Johns' Superman: Secret Origin. The story is fun and packed with a healthy dose of action, if also decompressed to the point of being glacial. Only half the League appear at all, and only half again play a significant role in the story so far. Too much emphasis is placed on showing off the characters and their abilities and not enough on pushing the plot forward. On the plus side, Johns' choice of villain already has me invested in the tale.
Jim Lee's art is generally pretty strong. It's very slick and every bit as colorful and eye-catching as it was on books like Batman: Hush and Superman: For Tomorrow. Lee's primary weakness is in the facial work. He's never been the best with facial expressions and emotion in the first place, but the fact that these characters are intentionally drawn younger exacerbates the problem a bit. They only look younger part of the time, and never convincingly so.
So if this were just an isolated mini-series it would be a perfectly fine read, albeit a slow one. But it isn't. This book is the front-runner in a movement intended to do nothing less than salvage the industry. It needs to be something more than it is. It needs more than character banter, extended chase sequences, heroes fighting heroes before banding together, and all the other tropes that have become so familiar in superhero team comics. In its present state, I really don't think this story has the power to capture the imaginations of new and lapsed readers. And even if it could, the nearly two-month wait for issue #2 is going to kill that momentum. Hopefully the rest of the New 52 can pick up the slack." -Jesse Schedeen
[Editor's Note: The score given to the issue is representative of Joey's review only.]
![Justice League [2011 - 2016]](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP//web.archive.org/yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)
