Justice League #1

In a way, I feel bad for Geoff Johns and Jim Lee, because there was no way Justice League #1, the launching point of DC Comics's sorta-but-not-really reboot, was going to live up to the hype. Not to say that they get a free pass on what is, at best, a lackluster comic, but they also never really had a shot. So I'm trying to be somewhat sympathetic.

It used to be that the relaunching of this, the company's undisputed flagship title, would be an earth-shattering (by comic book standards, anyway) event, but DC has pulled that rabbit out of the hat so many times, it's lost any thrills that once existed. The '80s Justice League #1 was notable because it was the first time it had really been attempted, and the unexpected comedic tone took everyone by surprise. When Grant Morrison's JLA #1 came out, it had both the benefit of the mystique of a writer known mainly for his Vertigo work, as well as a pretty kick-ass opening story arc. Next was Brad Meltzer's Justice League of America #1, and that's when the wheels started coming off of this particular gimmick. It wasn't bad, but nor was it especially memorable. Giffen and DeMatteis had the League stop a terrorist attack on the UN, and introduced the mystery of Max Lord. Morrison opened with a Martian invasion. Meltzer had Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman sitting around a table, discussing who should be on the team. Well, I guess maybe readers who work in HR found it to be exciting.

Now we have what should be the most ambitious relaunch ever, as Johns and Lee aren't just restarting a title, but the entire DC Universe. And so far, it's off to a slow start.

The benefit of kicking off the new DC Universe with the Justice League is that everyone knows who all the characters are. I mean, these hypothetical new readers, for whose benefit this whole thing is being done in the first place, might not be familiar with all the different types of Kryptonite, or know that a year ago everyone thought Bruce Wayne was dead, or have heard of the Guardians of the Universe, or know what Themyscira is, and so on, but they know the basic concepts behind Superman, Batman, Green Lantern and Wonder Woman. So there's something to be said for jumping in with both feet and just giving us a balls to the wall opening story featuring all of DC's big guns.

Instead, we get Part 1 of who knows how many, an extended meeting between Batman and Green Lantern as they chase an alien through Gotham. And we meet a soon-to-be-Cyborg Vic Stone in a fairly cliched scene from every high school sports movie ever. And Superman pops up at the very end in his new ugly costume. And...it's all perfectly competent, but this was DC's chance to go big, and instead, they went prologue. There wasn't much stuff for longtime readers (my own initial reaction: "Darkseid? Again?"), and if I were a new one, would I be so intrigued by this issue that I'd want to wait a month to pay $3 to find out who this Darkseid guy is? I'm not sure I would. In these days of comics being produced primarily to fit in a TPB collection, the ability to tell a complete story in one issue is something of a lost skill among comic book writers, but if ever there was a time to rediscover it, this was the time. Speaking for myself, after five months of Flashpoint and James Robinson's seemingly interminable Justice League of America run, I'm not especially enthusiastic about yet another long story arc, which I'm guessing is what we're in for.

The art is also a problem. Don't get me wrong, Jim Lee is one of the best artists in comics. But his stuff is so big and in your face, it can easily overwhelm a comic. To a degree, that's what happened here. I would have rather seen more story and fewer widescreen panels.

To be fair, it wasn't all bad. If Johns had to kick this thing off with just a couple of characters, I'm glad he chose Green Lantern and Batman, as their relationship is a reliably entertaining one between two characters who are constantly trying to prove who has the biggest dick. In particular, Hal's realization that Batman doesn't have any powers and is just a guy in a bat costume, was excellent.

But in the end, the issue seems like style intentionally done at the expense of substance. Which would be acceptable if this were Justice League #357 or whatever, but in an issue specifically designed to lure in readers who have either never read a comic before or been away for a while, it seems like a bit of a letdown. The reaction on Twitter seems fairly positive, but I'm wondering how much of it is genuine and how much is caught up in the excitement of something new. In other words, will people still be as jazzed when Justice League #4 comes out? History would say no, in terms of both sales and enthusiasm.

I'm not any more or less sold on the merits behind the DC Reboot than I was before reading this. In the end, the deciding factors in whether or not this works or not won't be found in Justice League, they'll be found in the smaller series like Fury of Firestorm or Hawk and Dove, where the real departures from the old continuity will be found. But DC definitely could have gotten off to a better start here.