Justice For All: Justice League # 1 Review

The New 52 is here!  DC Comics massive 52 title, company wide reboot has arrived.  And with it, the first issue of the brand new Justice League, which DC Comics is using to lay down the foundation for their new, younger, fresher, cooler costume having universe.

So what did I think of the first issue?  I'll say this.  I was surprised.  I liked it a lot.

So far the New 52 reboot is off to a good start

Not that I was expecting to not like it.  It's just that this reboot isn't for me.  I'm an established fan.  I've been reading comic books for over 20 years.  I'll always love the genre.  But DC Comics, and the rest of the comic book industry for that matter, aren't concerned with keeping me happy.  They're after new readers.  Teenagers and younger to be exact, who will hopefully pick up these new books, get hooked and be fans for life, just like I did 20 plus years ago.

One more thing about this new 52 reboot.  It's working.  Mainstream media has taken notice.  Sell outs are being reported across the country.  Second printings are being made.  Want to know the power of the new 52?  Look no further than yours truly.  I cancelled my subscription to Big Planet Comics in Georgetown (aka my favorite place on earth) over a year ago because it was just getting too expensive.  I subscribed to over 20 titles and with comics ranging in price from 2.99 to 3.99, I was spending a lot of cash.

I've been keeping up with the comic book world with online news and trade paperbacks.  It means I'm not reading stuff right when it happens, but it was much more practical to just buy comics in collected volumes.  For the last year that's how I've been reading.

Once the new 52 came though I knew I had to set up a list.  This was history.  A company wide reboot?  New number 1's?  I needed the hard copies, and to avoid missing a copy because of a sell out, making a new subscription list was the way to go.  Behold the new 52's power.

Ok.  Back to the book.  First and foremost you have to look at the team behind it.  Geoff Johns (DC Comics Chief Creative Officer) is writing and the legendary Jim Lee (DC Comics Co-Publisher) is pencilling.  Talk about coming out with all guns blazing.

Johns has established himself as one of the best writers in the business and has single handedly revitalized many of DC's titles (Flash and Green Lantern just to name a few).  Lee, what can you say other than he will go down as one of the greatest and most influential artists of all time.

All-Star collaborations don't always work, but this team up is a match made in heaven.

While I don't want to give away what happens in the first issue for those that haven't read it yet, you should know, that despite the cover, the entire JLA does not appear in this first issue.

We're taken to the past, five years ago to be exact and it's a world that is just getting introduced to super heroes.  And so far, the world isn't too impressed.  The League has yet to be formed and the members are meeting each other for the first time.  Issue number one deals with the first meeting between Batman and Green Lantern.  I thought this was a great choice to get this series started since Johns, while having written many titles, is probably best known for his work on Green Lantern, and Lee's artwork on the Batman storyline "Hush" is the stuff of legend.

We've got to stop meeting like this

Green Lantern has come to Gotham to investigate an alien presence that Batman was already in pursuit of.  What happens next is a lot of great interaction between two heroes that are getting to know each other for the first time who are not very impressed with one another.  Green Lantern can't believe that Batman is just a guy dressed up as a bat with no special powers, while Batman see's that a young Hal Jordan is just a little too sure of himself because of his power ring.

One day they'll look back on this and laugh

I won't reveal it, but there's one scene where Batman shows Green Lantern that having a power ring doesn't mean he's the smarter of the two.  This scene alone made the book a hit for me.

Overall, this book was everything it should have been.  While clearly written for new readers, old time fans will get enjoyment out of it as well.  It's definitely worth a read.