Justice League United #0

We really don’t need another Justice League. I’m just saying, come up with some new names already. We’ve got the Justice League which is basically analogous to what used to be the Justice League of America, we’ve got the Justice League of America, we’ve got Justice League Dark, and now, apparently, we have Justice League United. Remember when we just had the JLA and the JSA and the world made sense? It seems like creating new Justice Leagues is as big a New 52 trope as making characters more sexually appealing, getting rid of superhero trunks, and destroying Gotham. Also, man, it sucks that what used to be the JLA is just “JL” now. It just sounds so incomplete.

            But apart from the name, I have to say, I liked this book. The characters work well together, but I have to say it’s depressing reading the Martian Manhunter interacting with a bunch of b-list characters. That’s not to knock those characters, but it makes me miss the pitch perfect dynamic Grant Morrison’s JLA had for so many years, which is missing now, largely, because of J’onn’s absence (and Geoff Johns’ often terrible dialogue, but that’s another story). Nonetheless, he fits well here with Stargirl, Green Arrow, Animal Man, and Adam Strange. Eventually they’re going to stick in Supergirl and a new character Lemire created for the book, a Moose Cree teenager named Miiyahbin who we currently know very little about. It’s pretty awesome actually- Lemire inserted at the end of the book drawings of superheroes by kids he met from the same First Nations community the character is from- it’s the kind of intimacy between creator and audience that, in some ways, DC has been lacking lately. The idea of a North American Indian character, female no less, that isn’t a well-intentioned but confused, racist stereotype is pretty appealing. Good sign that we’re making some progress since, say, Hard Traveling Heroes. I hope I enjoy where Lemire goes with her.

            One thing I notice about this line up is a lack of brooding douchebags. Nobody in this book really grabbed me yet, but I still generally liked everybody. In a way that’s a bit problematic, though. I mean, if the best conflict we have in the story so far is Green Arrow poking fun at Animal Man’s name (which was entertaining, by the way), we’re gonna get bored sooner or later. It’s hard to judge these things from the first issue, and wherever it goes, I can almost guarantee it will be better than the “real” Justice League title has been.

            This being the first issue, the plot is a bit scattershot at the moment, but intriguing. All we basically know is that there’s some aliens doing some stuff, like taking species from various worlds hostage, including Adam Strange’s girlfriend and Hawkman. And Lobo seems to be working for them. Also, they’ve got an underground base in the middle of the woods in Ontario. Go figure.

            The art is a somewhat mixed bag. It’s all technically very competent, but much of it feels like a really talented art team scared to flex their muscles. There are a few expressionistic color choices by Marcelo Maiolo that worked beautifully with Mike McKone’s linework, but everything stays quietly contained in its panels, all framed a safe distance away, and things sometimes feel rather static. It’s a problem I’ve had with a lot of DC’s artwork lately that just hasn’t had the force and scope of a Bryan Hitch, or Darick Robertson, or Steve Dillon. I know few people can ever reasonably expect to reach the heights of artists like that, but it’s a certain feeling of texture and subtle additions that make the world the book inhabits that much more engrossing, until you feel as if you can smell it and touch it, and find yourself reacting to new sights the way the characters do. An art team that can’t achieve that limits the script where others will let it go any place the creative team can possibly imagine taking it, and unfortunately this book at least presently suffers from that problem.