Story by
Geoff Johns

Art by
Jim Lee, Scott Williams

Colors by
Alex Sinclair

Letters by
Patrick Brosseau

Cover by
Jim Lee, Scott Williams, Alex Sinclair

Publisher
DC Comics

Batman and Green Lantern team up to take on the Man of Steel, who they believe is responsible for acts of extra terrestrial terrorism…

After several weeks of anticipation, The New 52 has finally arrived with the debut of Justice League #1! It’s a brave new world for the heroes of the DCU and Geoff Johns‘ and Jim Lee‘s debut issue of the landmark, publisher-wide revamp aims to prove it with a familiar cast of heroes in an unfamiliar world that fears them. So with all the pressure on Johns and Lee to set the precedent for the relaunch, does JL #1 add up?

Yes and no. The first issue of Justice League spends all of it’s energy setting up the new DCU. Johns’ writing is intentionally pretty basic and straight forward, introducing the heroes to us (and to each other). We only become reacquainted with Batman and Green Lantern in JL #1 and their relationship is as strained as ever; Batman treats GL like he’s an idiot child, and GL has a bit of superiority complex toward Bats, who he sees as a normal guy playing at being a hero. We get a brief introduction to Victor Stone’s life pre-Cyborg which gives us a glimpse of the emotional storytelling that Johns is known for, and Superman makes a dramatic entrance at the end of the issue. So to sum up, we have yet to see Wonder Woman, Aquaman, or Flash before the end of the issue, and Cyborg isn’t even Cyborg yet.

My problem with the issue is that it’s impossible to tell the origin of the Justice League in 40 pages, and this debut of The New 52 kinda fizzles because of it. On the other hand, I’m relieved that Johns didn’t try to squeeze more out of the limited storytelling space and opted to take his time with this. His ability as a storyteller isn’t utilized in this first issue, but he’s just getting started with Justice League #1. His terse, straightforward prose handles the difficult task of reacquainting us with our heroes and this new world succinctly; in a few issues he will find his stride and move on to the gripping and emotionally charged stories he’s known for.

So was the story of this first issue a little bit of a letdown? Yes, but let’s be perfectly fair: we’re being introduced to a new DCU where everything is familiar, but still dramatically different. We’re being reintroduced to seven characters of that new universe in very short order. It’s not fair to say that this issue is bad, because its just stage dressing – and not really bad stage dressing at that. It’s simply the perils of relating a complex narrative in a serialized format.

Where the issue doesn’t disappoint is in Jim Lee’s artwork which is dynamic and fluid as ever. Each panel pops with his trademark flair; it never ceases to amaze me how he manages illustrate action in such a way that his brawny characters ooze grace that balances out their powerful physiques. Though Justice League #1 was uneventful, it manages to get a lot of concepts across in relatively short order and Lee’s art doesn’t disappoint (as if it ever has!) It’s a slow start, but so far The New 52 shows a lot of promise.

I give Justice League #1 Three out of Five Stars.

 

 

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