Justice League #3 Review
DC’s “summer blockbuster” shifts into the next gear; the intensity is mounting, the members are starting to come together, and we get our first peek at the new Darkseid.
Justice League #3
With the majority of the introductions out of the way it feels like this book is finding its stride. Granted, it opens up with an introduction and there is another quick one at the end but the pace seems to have picked up and were reaching that “middle” part of the “beginning, middle, and end” build up.
Like The Flash in last month’s issue Wonder Woman’s introduction here was about what you would expect, she’s a warrior princess not accustomed to man’s weird ways wearing a one-piece bathing suit. And this is obviously a much younger less experienced Diana, not entirely matching the persona Brian Azzarello has given her in her own title; of course, we can assume that there is a gap in time between the two stories and that somehow fixes everything (right DC?). Nevertheless her debut was a lot of fun, although a little heavy-handed at times we learned a lot about her in a short amount of time, my favorite being that her gung-ho anxiousness to fight doesn’t come from being a “superhero” but comes from just enjoying a good fight.
And her introduction to the the rest of the team was classic. Green Lantern and Flash are deer stuck in headlights while Superman has a candid moment of shock, “You’re strong.” Made me laugh. The good kind of laugh. And her response…remind anyone else of this?
I expected Jim Lee’s art to be great, I expected the team to have the classic ‘superheroes gotta fight before becoming friends’ set up, I even expected for some alien creatures to attack Earth (Parademons will do just fine) but I did no expect Cyborg, a character I have very little history with, to become one of my favorite parts of this book. Call me a softy but watching Victor literally deteriorate, and his dad clutch his son’s burning hand was downright touching. Then for his suit/the nanites injected into this blood stream (?) to someone be connected to Darkseid or Fourth World technology filled me with such geek-glee that I had to read it over and over a couple of times. Loved it.
I went into this book the least excited about Cyborg thinking, “Geoff Johns is going to try his Green Lantern magic to make me like Cyborg, not going to happen.” And here I am gushing over him. Well played Mr. Johns, well played.
That Darkseid page with Victor was my favorite of the series so far. The shit has officially hit the fan.
And I love it.
Although everyone’s story of how they got into comics is different a lot of them go the way of something like, “I was young, the art and superhero’s were so cool looking, I liked the stories, bought more, got hooked.” This book isn’t breaking new ground in comic book literature, it’s not stretching our favorite characters in directions never seen before or ushering us long time readers into a new way of thinking; in fact, a lot of this book is just a newer, fresher, version of a lot of what were already familiar with – but this is the kind of book that someday someone will say, “I bought, or my mom bought, or my friend let me borrow this and it got me hooked.”
This is DC’s gateway drug.
My only complaint continues to be the backup content trying to justify the $3.99 price, this issue’s being the most disappointing. “The Secret History of Atlantis,” a supposed book giving us insight into Atlantis is actually four pages of intro-fodder (about the author, dedication, cover) with a short forward basically saying, ‘Atlantis probably really exists, and I [David Graves] sure am going to try and prove it. The end.’ Then more sketchbook pages not by Jim Lee.
*sigh*
Sidenotes: Welcome Sarah Charles and Thomas Morrow back to the DCU and I’d be curious how many times Aquaman has introduced himself in comics by splashing out of the water. Still awesome though, anxious to see more of him next issue.
A COMIC BOOK BLOG RATING
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Jim Lee and Geoff John’s are orchestrating one of the most fun and best looking books from the relaunch. | The upcoming Shazam backup with Gary Frank can’t come fast enough cause these backups are borderline pathetic. |
| Rating |
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4 Comments
I can’t believe I enjoyed this book. It’s so clearly the Ultimates, and the characterization is so off, you would think Bizarro wrote it, but it just goes to show you what pretty pictures can do.
I’m in the 50-74% category. Between the $3.99 price tag and the fact that this story is moving like molasses, I’m disappointed, but not disappointed enough to drop the book. I just don’t feel like we’re going to get into the second act (when the heroes reach their lowest point) until not the next issue but the following issue – after the Aquaman introduction… and maybe even the issue after that, when they introduce Cyborg.
As somebody already pointed out, way back in the 1960s, the first issue of the Avengers featured an epic battle and they formed the team! By comparison, this is taking an eternity.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, the trade paperback writing mentality of today is a cop out for writing superior self contained stories that writers of years ago never had to resort to. Back in the day, you got 8-12 complete unique stories per year. Now you’re lucky if you get two. Each issue back then had a villain, some character growth, supporting cast, and most importantly, movement. Comics of today feel like slow death. You get tortured for a three to four month period until you finally get a last issue resolution. Sometimes you’re so sick of the waiting that the resolution isn’t even worth the wait. Top it off at $4 an issue, that means you are now paying $20-$24 for one full “extended” story which would probably cost you $1 back in the day. It’s pure laziness and there’s no excuse for it.
I agree the back-up was sickening. At least last month we got four pages of text, with some interesting information. It was at least entertaining.
The first four pages of the Atlantis book might as well have been blank. Wouldn’t have hated some actual history of Atlantis within the DCU.
But, even so, still liking this comic.
P.S. Don’t forget they mentioned Professor Ivo (creator of Amazo) was also working at STAR. He was the one dragged off by Parademons.