DCnuEverything will change in a Flash
Big words DC, big words.
The most awaited comic book in the history of, well, comic books is officially out. Estimates suggest that around 93% of the people who read comic books are buying this book. The other 7% are downloading it off the internet even as we speak. Eager for its little gamble to succeed, DC has assigned the flagship title, which is supposed to introduce us to the new DCU, to its A-team : Geoff Johns on words and Jim Lee on art. Unfortunately, it appears DC has only half of that equation working for it.
Set 5 years before the present day DCU, Justice League #1 takes us to the time of the first Introduction of Super-Heroes to a world that fears them. The book opens in Gotham City with Batman chasing some kind of Alien getting chased himself by the police. Green Lantern swoops in and does his thing while mocking Batman for not having any powers. They then decide the ‘unauthorized extraterrestrial presence’ and this weird alien who’s been showing up in Metropolis have to be somehow connected. They track Superman in a demolition zone in Metropolis and Green Lantern gets knocked out before they can say ‘Howdy’.
I know what you’re thinking – “So that’s how the book starts.”
No it’s not, that’s all we get. I kid you not, all we get in the first issue of the Full reboot is Batman and Green Lantern playing Buddy Cop. What DC really needed to do was give us all the main characters and bring them into conflict with big explosions all over the place. That would be starting with a bang.
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See, I’m all for Character interactions and, as a casual DC reader, actually liked the I-hate-you-but-I-love-you bromance Batman and Green Lantern always had, but this is just not the place for it. The intentions are obvious in pairing up their most popular character with the character who recently got an albeit bad summer flick to give the new readers something familiar. However, the issue completely pales if you compare it with the other Big Superteam origin story in the modern era, New Avengers #1. Also, one more thing not in the book’s favour is the fact that instead of getting the Hal Jordan we’ve known and loved for decades, we get the Douche bag Van Wilder version that already got his ass kicked in the Box Office. On the other hand, Johns writes one heck of a Batman, so much so that I’d now rather he’d write Batman or Detective comics instead of JL.
There were (and are) a lot of apprehensions about whether Jim Lee would be able to keep up with a monthly schedule considering his history of delays, but tell you what, I won’t mind reasonable delays if he continues to hit it out of the park like he’s done here. Excellent Visual storytelling and some good Batman action and GL constructs go a long way in salvaging the issue.
All in all, badly plotted, with awesome art, Justice League #1 kicks off the DC reboot to a lukewarm start. The next month will tell if this goes on to be accepted and embraced by the fanboy community, or goes the way of ‘Heroes Reborn’.
Score : 2.6/5
Review by Anubhav Sharma
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