The New 52! JUSTICE LEAGUE #1 Review

So here it is, the issue so strong that DC Comics decided to only release it and the final issue of Flashpoint this week. Does it hold up? Well if you came for some action you€™re in luck, if you came for story you€™re going to have to wait. The issue€™s set five years in the past from the point the new universe is going to begin so it€™s actually quite hard to see any real change, it feels like any other prequel. Here our heroes have never met each other and Gotham€™s police force are working on a shoot first and ask questions later policy. The GCPD goes as far as to shoot at them from armed helicopters and in uniforms that make them look like Army of Two rejects in this issue, just in case we don€™t get that we€™re not supposed to be on their side. Jim Lee€™s character redesigns have been picked apart all summer but here everything fits, the style matching this new young and argumentative take on the characters. They€™re all so brattish you can believe they all thought collars on their suits would make them look cool; they€™re all about three fist pumps away from blowouts that would make the Jersey Shore cast jealous. The most standout thing from Jim Lee€™s, as usual, great art are the visualisations from Green Lantern€™s power ring. His quick sketchy style for it along with Alex Sinclair€™s colouring captures an energy that combines with some imaginative creations (in this issue you€™ll see giant bats, monstrous riot officers and fire engines among other things) to give a Green Lantern who would come across as young and fun even without a popped collar. The biggest criticisms levelled at it so far online is that it was a €˜Brave and the Bold€™ story rather than a Justice League story, a fair comment with largely only Batman and Green Lantern featured. What we€™re given by Geoff Johns is actually very little in terms of story; there are some great character moments between the pair of them but the issue feels short and without real direction, it€™s pre titles and not the whole episode. The next issue promises the biggest match up fight DC Comics can promise, which honestly is a great cliff hanger to close this new young and brash universe on. However if action takes up so much of the page count on the usual issue to issue Justice League is firmly going to be one in my wait to be collected list. If you have the patience for a spooned out story go ahead and try it, but if you want something with more form you might be best to wait too.

And another thing...

I can€™t overlook the issues $3.99 price tag, have we come to the end of holding the line on flagship books now? This was actually a surprise for a few people in the store I bought the issue in this morning. The page count isn€™t really inflated either standing at twenty-four pages, and with most taken up with action, explosions and sound effects I found myself at the end of the issue disappointingly quickly. I€™m a sporadic superhero reader, I follow writers and artists so interestingly the last time I bought the Justice League was almost exactly five years ago with it€™s last relaunch with Brad Meltzer and Ed Benes at the helm, a run I stuck with for the first eight issues. The price for their issue 1#? $3.99. Pages? Thirty-eight. It was rammed with characters and story, with not a single punch thrown in the whole issue while the arc was set up. The last relaunch left me eager for the next issue, the new relaunch didn€™t and that is the important point. I wasn€™t put off, but I certainly wasn€™t left with anywhere near the enthusiasm I had before it.