Justice League #4 Review

[Sorry for the delay, were still playing catchup from the holiday season.]

One of the biggest issues in the series so far and I’m left wondering if I even want to continue.

Justice League #4

For all intense and purposes this should be one of the biggest issues of DC’s New 52 intuitive, heck, the year; Victor becomes Cyborg, Aquaman meets everyone, the league unofficially comes together, and Darkseid finally revels himself. The issue is packed full of explosions, splash pages, and hero-killing-parademon action. It is the end of the world and the Earth’s greatest heroes are coming together to save it.

Yet – I’m left wondering if I even want to buy the next issue.

This book has unashamedly, as it should, been honest about what it is from the very first issue. This is a Michael Bay fists-and-explosions, beautifully looking, fast-paced, action packed introduction to the DC Universe for first-time readers, the target audience probably being an age range skewing lower than my own. I’m aware that I’m buying a comic that probably isn’t targeted to all my tastes and I’m probably incapable of knowing what a “young new reader” experiences when reading this. I’m in the older audience who’s been reading for years and will buy this book because my obsessive nature needs to know what’s happening with the Justice League, a focal point book to the DC Universe. I’m predisposed to the characters and have certain expectations. So it’s from this perspective only that I can pass any reflections of the book.

And I’m becoming less and less entertained with each issue.

With each issue it’s gotten harder and harder to read through the dialogue between these characters. Geoff Johns is capable of intelligent conversation and has written some of my favorite DC Comics, so I’m left to assume it’s intentional, but that doesn’t make it any less painful. Hal Jordan in particular has been arguably nothing more than the Justice League’s Jar Jar Binks with his sidekick The Flash; even Batman gets his one-liners in this issue. In the midst of “the end of the world” Green Lantern even says, “Don’t over-react.”

And perhaps my least favorite part; the different between the cheerleader-Wonder Woman in this book compared to the Wonder Woman in her own title by Brian Azzarello.

I could be taking this all to serious though, maybe Green Lantern’s “Don’t over-react” line is just as much for me as it was for The Flash. It’s been clear from the start, this book is about having superhero fun, something it’s not short of; Jim Lee and Scott Williams continue to deliver with beautiful pages and art just as intense as the action, Aquaman is killing parademons with sharks, and Darkseid has finally arrived – whether it’s because I expect too much or have become accustomed to superhero books always being so serious I still struggle with the dialogue. I fully expect Green Lantern to joke with Darkseid after he announces he’s going to enslave humanity (“I’d be mad if I was made of rock too!”) and it doesn’t make me any more excited.

My impulsive and collective nature will probably lead me to buy another issue or two but I might be discovering that this book isn’t for me (curious how many fans like me feel the same or different). It isn’t for a lack of trying on the creative team though; the humor and “fun” is obviously intentional and Jim Lee isn’t holding back, I’m sure for some this is the best series out right now and I can understand why. The New 52 was about a fresh start and maybe DC is going in the opposite direction than I expected and making Justice League for kids again, in which case I applaud them, I just might not be buying it.

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Tags: Aquaman Comics Batman Comics DC Comics New 52 Reviews Flash Geoff Johns Green Lantern Jim Lee Justice League Comics & Reviews Wonder Woman Comics