“It really is the ultimate book.” - Jim Lee
On free comic book day way back in like 2010 I was given a little preview catalogue for all the New 52 titles that were dropping the following year. As I was new to comics and pretty unfamiliar with the pre-52 DC Universe, I thought they looked pretty cool, but I didn’t end up reading most (or any) of them, instead going back to the past and reading mostly pre-2010’s DC, which I’ve become pretty familiar with.
Now, I know the New 52’s reputation, and much of it’s probably deserved, but curiosity is a cruel thing, so I thought maybe it would be fun to crack open that catalogue and read each Number One as if it’s fresh, many of which I’d be doing so for the first time anyways. Without the stigma towards the reboot, largely ignoring what I know about The Before Times, let’s see what these No 1’s have to offer (and let’s see how long I stick with this premise). I’ll be going in the order the catalogue presents them, which is broken up by themed sections:
JUSTICE LEAGUE, SUPERMAN, BATMAN, GREEN LANTERN, THE DARK, THE EDGE and YOUNG JUSTICE. Notice how none of these are WONDER WOMAN or anything truly female-centric. More on that later.
So let’s start with the flagship, JUSTICE LEAGUE #1 by Geoff Johns, Jim Lee, and Scott Williams, which Debuted on August 31st, 2011.
Also I’ll be drawing the covers of each of these for fun.
The premise of this issue is simple; before any plot is expanded upon, we gotta build the team. Superman, Batman, Green Lantern, Flash, Wonder Woman, Aquaman and Cyborg will make up the final crew, and how many of those characters are we introduced to? Four. Batman, who heads up the story, GL, Pre-Cyborged Cyborg, and Superman. I think, right off the bat (no pun intended), this issue’s biggest problem is it’s absolutely anemic pacing, but we’ll get to that.
The initial plot itself is nothing to really write home about. Batman is chasing what appears to be one of Darkseid’s Parademons across the Gotham rooftops while a SWAT team chases him in helicopters.
Green Lantern intercepts him, (and just kind of casually crashes this helicopters into populated areas? This is never remarked upon again) and the two begin to investigate this mysterious, monstrous visitor, determining that it’s alien in origins and do a lot of unfunny bickering along the way. The dialogue here feels very Whedon-esque and I say that derisively. Which is ironic seeing as Joss would go on to bungle his way through some abysmal re-shoots for a movie based on this specific story arc. There’s also this bit where Batman just casually swipes Hal’s ring. Five years in and Bat-god is already in full effect. It feels conceptually a little insulting to all ten Green Lantern fans out there, and raises questions about the stability of a weaponized ring that only stays on a finger via “concentration”, but it is pretty funny.
Batman also spends a noticeable amount of time just insulting Hals’ intelligence for no real reason. Again, very Whedon-esque to just bicker and insult each other after meeting. Everyone is twelve.
A transformer? Like Optimus Prime Transformer? New 52 Hal Jordan would love the Michael Bay movies tbh.
Somehow, I guess cause Hal’s kind of a racist, (typical Bayformer fan trait) they decide to go confer with Superman, not because he’s any particular expert on aliens, but because he himself *is* an alien, and they could be connected. I guess.
It’s worth noting this is the first time any of these characters are encountering each other. Public super-heroics have only been reported on for the past five years, and apparently in that time none of those superheroes have thought to hang out or get lunch. Batman, until this point, seems to have been in full urban legend mode, with Lantern not even realizing that Batman is a real guy. Time moves fast when you’re punching space bugs or killer clowns. This was one of the big criticisms of the relaunch, but on paper I don’t mind it. The problem is going to be when I get into the larger universe and it begins to dawn just how impossibly dense in events the last five years have been.
Hal and Bruce, on their way to Metropolis, pass over a football game where Vic Stone, soon to be Cyborg, is a star player suffering from twee “my dad never comes to my games because he’s doing Science” syndrome. At least Vic’s in this issue. It’s a strange change moving him from The Titans, where he’s traditionally a member, to the JL, but as someone with little Titans familiarity, I don’t mind it too much. Adding a tech-based black character to an otherwise white, “traditionally” powered team does a lot to balance it out.
That said, if I hadn’t actually read this issue, I’d have never known he was on the team if I were to just go off the catalogue alone, cause Vic got Mike Wazowski’d:
Catalogue image to the left, final cover to the right. Besides the obvious coloring/background gradient changes (plus Wonder Woman has PANTS!), Cyborg gets entirely obscured by the completely unnecessary addition of a double-page spread of Batman swan-diving that’s so small you can’t even see Lee’s insane pencil work. There’s also not a single named female character with a speaking role in this entire book. Discrimination Comics strikes again.
Anyways, Bruce and Hal make it to Metropolis where Superman proceeds to just beat up Green lantern. I know scrappy, upstart Superman was a staple of the New 52 era, and I’m going to reserve judgement on this incarnation until I get to his starring books. For now though, in a vacuum, it just feels very out of character.
And that’s it! That’s the whole issue!
Also this Superman fit is DIRE.
I can barely determine if this is a good read or a bad read, because it barely feels like a read. The In Media Res opening leaves a lot of questions, and the writing and characterization are so light You hardly get a sense of anything aside from seeing just how badly someone can ink Lee’s pencils.
The biggest failing of this first issue: The economy of pages wasted. This is a 24 page book, where we’re introduced to four of the seven main cast and are given no clue as to what the stakes or enemies are aside from being alien. I can’t help but think of Claremont’s X-Men, and how deftly he can weave a complete single story, character pathos, subplots, and a cliffhanger ending that actually pays off in only 17 pages. As it stands, Justice League #1 feels like its wasting its own space, too dedicated to delivering singular moments than anything actually compelling or using its characters to build. I genuinely think you could have introduced the entire League in this issue and not ruined the pacing, it just takes a defter, more controlled hand than Geoff’s.
Truly written for the trade. 6/10.
Would I read more of this series? I might read the completed arc, but I know I wouldn’t be satisfied by it, and I wouldn’t read beyond that.
Next up: JUSTICE LEAGUE INTERNATIONAL!
Post Script: I have never seen Batman use wrist shooters like this either before or since. Bizarre addition to the Bat-arsenal. It’s never even made clear what it is they *do*. Great job, everyone.
