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For anyone who doesn't pay attention to such things, comic books - specifically monthly serialized stories in the standard funny book format of 22-32 pages - are in the shitter and have been for a few years. The top selling monthly comics are pushing numbers that would have meant cancelation in the 70's and 80's and new readers are a scarce commodity. As movies, games and TV shows based on Marvel and DC properties have taken off in the last decade, the publishing arms of those companies have been struggling and as such have had to rely more and more on news-grabbing gimmicks to stay afloat. The latest "event" to be trotted out in an effort to gain media attention and boost comic sales is DC's New 52 initiative which is essentially a reset button being hit on every DC title with each major series starting with #1 as a way of letting potential new readers jump on to books which have had their decades of continuity more or less wiped clean. The first of these new relaunches, Justice League, came out last week.
And it's not a very good comic book.
<<<<<<SPOILERS>>>>>>
So, the idea here is to reintroduce characters that most of the general public is well familiar with. We've got a core team on the cover consisting of Batman, Superman, Green Lantern, Aquaman, Wonder Woman, The Flash, and Cyborg (for the kids). This first issue, written by Geoff Johns and drawn by Jim Lee, presents the reader with the initial meeting of Hal Jordan (Earth's Green Lantern) and Batman which is shown in flashback (in the previews of pages 1-5 of this issue there was a clunky bit of narration stating "There was a time when the world didn't know what a super-hero was. That time is NOW." which was immediately followed by the caption "FIVE YEARS AGO". Someone caught that before publication and removed the "That time is NOW." bit).
A fleet of Gotham City PD choppers is flying above burning buildings as Batman chases some sort of homeless-looking robot monster dude. Although the cops are outfitted with high-tech sniper rifles and machine guns Batman is somehow able to dodge the hundreds of bullets being shot at his back. Apparently the GCPD is more concerned with shooting this vigilante than saving the citizens in those burning structures and don't really care who they take out with any stray bullets. Luckily for Batman, Green Lantern shows up in time to stave off the robot monster and cops with his magic ring. This ring can do anything, we're told, including put out the fires throughout the city.
Instead of rescuing folks from the destroyed buildings Bats and GL run down into the sewer where they encounter a "mother box" - a cosmic device created by Jack Kirby back in the 70's - which the two heroes speculate may have something to do with "...that guy in Metropolis". Of course they're referring to Superman who is revealed in the final panel in what is supposed to be a major "holy shit" moment, but it's fucking Superman. We know this character inside and out by now and even though Clark Kent/Superman has been rumored to be the character receiving the most intensive overhaul in this reboot it's very hard to get excited by his appearance. There's very little build up other than some minor bits of dialogue between the Batman and GL about this "dangerous alien" so seeing him is underwhelming. We know this guy already so hopefully in the next issue and in his own titles we'll discover more about this new version of this timeworn hero but to see that final splash page image is like "Yep. There's the guy that's on the cover."
In between these meetings we're also introduced to Vic Stone, a high school football player with daddy issues who will eventually become Cyborg. There's little that's intriguing about his appearance other than the set-up that his absent father is studying these new "super-heroes" that are popping up around the country. These pages almost seem as if they've been drawn by another artist, or more likely were quickly laid out by Lee and sloppily embellished by his longtime inker Scott Williams.
I've read a few comics written by Geoff Johns over the years and his reputation seems to be that he's a continuity nerd; he's adept at pulling obscure moments and characters from the DCU's history and incorporating them into his Hollywood blockbuster influenced stories. Because of this it becomes obvious that he's not as keen on crafting new worlds as he is at rearranging someone else's toy box, so his attempts here at setting up a fresh entry point for readers both new and old are mostly unsuccessful. There's little sense of wonder in seeing these larger than life characters because for the most part only their perspective is given. Books like Marvels and Kingdom Come did a great job of giving the reader a look at what a world with these god-like heroes would be like as we see it through the eyes of normal people, but Justice League #1 relies too much on the audience's familiarity with this stuff. Obviously there are few people who aren't already aware of Batman and the rest of the league so there's much that is taken for granted here and while future issues may get into the how's and why's of this universe my guess is that the creative team is going to forego much explanation and within a dozen issues or so get right back into run-of-the-mill capes and tights adventures. That's fine, but right now it just feels like this reboot is more about marketing and rebranding than it is about creating interesting stories.
Obviously this is only one issue of one book and there are 51 others hitting the racks over the next 4 weeks so hopefully other writers will be able to give us something unique and compelling, but for the flagship book in a major company overhaul Justice League #1 is, to me, a missed opportunity.
And it's not a very good comic book.
<<<<<<SPOILERS>>>>>>
So, the idea here is to reintroduce characters that most of the general public is well familiar with. We've got a core team on the cover consisting of Batman, Superman, Green Lantern, Aquaman, Wonder Woman, The Flash, and Cyborg (for the kids). This first issue, written by Geoff Johns and drawn by Jim Lee, presents the reader with the initial meeting of Hal Jordan (Earth's Green Lantern) and Batman which is shown in flashback (in the previews of pages 1-5 of this issue there was a clunky bit of narration stating "There was a time when the world didn't know what a super-hero was. That time is NOW." which was immediately followed by the caption "FIVE YEARS AGO". Someone caught that before publication and removed the "That time is NOW." bit).
A fleet of Gotham City PD choppers is flying above burning buildings as Batman chases some sort of homeless-looking robot monster dude. Although the cops are outfitted with high-tech sniper rifles and machine guns Batman is somehow able to dodge the hundreds of bullets being shot at his back. Apparently the GCPD is more concerned with shooting this vigilante than saving the citizens in those burning structures and don't really care who they take out with any stray bullets. Luckily for Batman, Green Lantern shows up in time to stave off the robot monster and cops with his magic ring. This ring can do anything, we're told, including put out the fires throughout the city.
Instead of rescuing folks from the destroyed buildings Bats and GL run down into the sewer where they encounter a "mother box" - a cosmic device created by Jack Kirby back in the 70's - which the two heroes speculate may have something to do with "...that guy in Metropolis". Of course they're referring to Superman who is revealed in the final panel in what is supposed to be a major "holy shit" moment, but it's fucking Superman. We know this character inside and out by now and even though Clark Kent/Superman has been rumored to be the character receiving the most intensive overhaul in this reboot it's very hard to get excited by his appearance. There's very little build up other than some minor bits of dialogue between the Batman and GL about this "dangerous alien" so seeing him is underwhelming. We know this guy already so hopefully in the next issue and in his own titles we'll discover more about this new version of this timeworn hero but to see that final splash page image is like "Yep. There's the guy that's on the cover."
In between these meetings we're also introduced to Vic Stone, a high school football player with daddy issues who will eventually become Cyborg. There's little that's intriguing about his appearance other than the set-up that his absent father is studying these new "super-heroes" that are popping up around the country. These pages almost seem as if they've been drawn by another artist, or more likely were quickly laid out by Lee and sloppily embellished by his longtime inker Scott Williams.
I've read a few comics written by Geoff Johns over the years and his reputation seems to be that he's a continuity nerd; he's adept at pulling obscure moments and characters from the DCU's history and incorporating them into his Hollywood blockbuster influenced stories. Because of this it becomes obvious that he's not as keen on crafting new worlds as he is at rearranging someone else's toy box, so his attempts here at setting up a fresh entry point for readers both new and old are mostly unsuccessful. There's little sense of wonder in seeing these larger than life characters because for the most part only their perspective is given. Books like Marvels and Kingdom Come did a great job of giving the reader a look at what a world with these god-like heroes would be like as we see it through the eyes of normal people, but Justice League #1 relies too much on the audience's familiarity with this stuff. Obviously there are few people who aren't already aware of Batman and the rest of the league so there's much that is taken for granted here and while future issues may get into the how's and why's of this universe my guess is that the creative team is going to forego much explanation and within a dozen issues or so get right back into run-of-the-mill capes and tights adventures. That's fine, but right now it just feels like this reboot is more about marketing and rebranding than it is about creating interesting stories.
Obviously this is only one issue of one book and there are 51 others hitting the racks over the next 4 weeks so hopefully other writers will be able to give us something unique and compelling, but for the flagship book in a major company overhaul Justice League #1 is, to me, a missed opportunity.
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