…but will this week’s Justice League be enough to make whatever new readers pick it up come back for more?
The issue focuses on Batman and Green Lantern, most likely because they’re the two who’ve had the most media attention in the last few years, for better or worse. These characters are very early in their careers, and are characterized as younger and much brasher than regular readers may be used to. The dialogue gets a little ridiculous in some parts, mostly because of GL referring to himself in the third person a couple of times, thinking he can handle anything. Batman is back to being the urban legend that most people aren’t sure exist, and he doesn’t mind if everyone (good or bad) is scared of said legend. (I’ll probably be using the GL dialogue as a joke for the next few days. “BLANDY can handle anything…including this sandwich.”)
Superman and Vic Stone also pop up briefly, just to be introduced. I wasn’t really sure about Superman’s redesign before, but in one page, artist Jim Lee completely sold me on it. He’s also more confident than we’re used to, and possibly a bit less mature than the “ask questions first….and ask more questions, then maybe hit much later” that we’re used to these days. Vic Stone isn’t yet Cyborg, and his origin apparently will be told in subsequent issues.
For someone like me, who loves the characters and creators involved, this was a very good issue, except for the dialogue hiccups. However, for being the book that’s supposed to get newer and younger people into comics, there are soem things that maybe could have been done better. The main thing is, of the 7 people on the cover, 3 of them aren’t even mentioned. There is no League yet, just a couple of heroes who happen to meet and then events presumably roll on from there. A longer issue that at least took a little time to introduce everyone might have been better. Also, ending the book with a cliffhanger that won’t be resolved for another month might not be the best idea. I mean, does DC realize the attention span of kids today? Ideally, this probably should have been a longer issue, introducing everyone, and also self-contained, so that at the very least people could form an opinion on the complete story.
All that said, I’m definitely not one of those new readers, so I’m used to the pacing of comics from the last 20+ years. I might not be the best judge of these things. I can say, though, that I’ll be back next issue for more.
