Once again, the continuity in the "New 52" has me confused.Here we have the Justice League International, a team formed by the United Nations (apparently) without to consent of the "real" Justice League.
It includes a number of heroes who were members of past versions of the JLI, but seem to have no memory of that or of any previous version of the team. Fire, Ice, Guy Gardner, Vixen and Booster Gold all behave as though it's a new experience.
But Batman puts in an appearance and vouches for Booster as the choice to be the leader of the team. Is that because he knows about Booster's efforts to protect the timestream (as shown in BG's recently-ended series)? Or has that all been axed in the new DC?
It seems probable that this is a new beginning for the team and its members, and the "Bwah-hah-hah" version of the JLI never existed. Of course, it's the lack of humor that makes this just another team book.
Writer Dan Jurgens follows the superhero team mold - lots of characters, some snippets of characterization, some possible romance angles, some conflicts and a bit of action.
It's not bad at all, but there's nothing about it that really makes it stand out. The same is true for the art by Aaron Lopresti and Matt Ryan - it's quite good, with strong layouts, distinct characters, clear storytelling - but it's so crowded with characters and setup that the art team doesn't get to flew its muscles.
The comic has potential, but so far I'm not seeing it. Here's hoping the next issue takes things up a notch or two.
Grade: B-
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3 comments:
It's quite confusing, right.
I do hope the ol' JLI days are still "canon" though.. throwing that away..makes me sad..
and yet they decide to keep stuff like the Death of Batman (RIP) or Identity Crisis? (and all in a 5-years span??)
Eyz, it reminds me of DC after the original Crisis series - they kept some bits of continuity, tossed out others - it just made things more confusing in the long run. I'm really surprised they didn't just start fresh and reboot everything.
JLI #1 was another fun surprise for me. I thought it was alot better than Action Comics, Detective Comics, and the other "big name" titles this week. The story was solid and the art was lovely. I'm a sucker for team books from the 1980's and 90's though, so that's probably why I enjoyed this so much.
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