It’s a brand new day for the heroes of the DC Universe, as the Justice League becomes the umbrella organisation under which all heroes are invited to operate, as Flash tells first-timer Air Wave.
The missions doled out by Red Tornado in this debut issue include an attack by War Wheels in South Africa…
… and reports of child abductions by a winged creature in Costa Rica, with Batman and Blue Beetle Jaime Reyes beaming down to investigate.
We’ve known for a good while that the World’s Finest team of writer Mark Waid and artist Dan Mora were lead creators on this new series. They’ve shown a terrific synergy over the years, and a great knack for handling DC heroes big and small, so they should be the perfect fit for a series inspired by the much-loved Justice League Unlimited cartoon.
And they are!
They open the book showing the size of the War Wheel threat, flash back to the fun admin stuff, then jump back and forth between the two missions. Everyone know the likes of Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman, so Waid is free to focus on two heroes who haven’t previously been Leaguers, making them our POV characters.
Star Sapphire is Carol Ferris, Green Lantern Hal Jordan’s on and off girlfriend and a character as old as the League itself, dating from the dawn of the Silver Age. In powered form, though, she’s usually been mind controlled by space bad girls the Zamorans, forced to fight the man she loves. Now she’s all heroine, in control of the gem that allows her to generate pink energy constructs. She’s understandably not super-confident when thrown alongside League veterans, but the heroes have her back.
As for Air Wave – son of the wireless-wielding Golden Age hero of the same name – he doesn’t even get sent on the mission.
Is Reddy right? Can Carol overcome her nerves? The questions are answered in very satisfactory style, and both characters look set for interesting times with the League. One thing that isn’t mentioned here is that Air Wave is Hal Jordan, first cousin of the aforementioned Green Lantern. The two first met during a period Big Hal was dating Carol, so they will know each other and I’m looking forward to them sharing a scene.
Also this issue, we learn of a self-declared new threat to the League, see Black Lightning ask a question readers often do, and watch Firestorm revel in not being the League newbie these days. Plus, cameos aplenty from underused heroes.
Waid’s story is well plotted and scripted, Mora’s art sizzles, Tamra Bonvillain’s colours glow and Ariana Maher’s lettering lets us ‘hear’ the drama. Favourite visuals include Flash Wally West surprising Air Wave, Firestorm’s confidence as he protects people and our first glance at the folk out to end the new League. I really like how Mora and Bonvillain convey clothing texture, with an especially nice look at Air Wave’s cowl in his hands.
The only thing that doesn’t work for me on the art is the reveal of the threat in Costa Rica – are we looking at kiddies in plant pods? Squishy aliens standing in a crowd? I really couldn’t tell why Batman is so unnerved that he immediately asks Reddy to send in some big guns.
Ah well, we’ll find out soon enough, and next issue can’t come soon enough for me; I loved this debut, it feels like classic Justice League. I wish the series went further in its tribute to the Bronze Age satellite years and gave us double-sized issues. Bring in extra artists and let those scripts really soar – as well as missions, I want pages of lesser-known heroes reacting to being pulled in as peers of the biggest names in the DCU. Who will fit in? Who will decide it’s not for them? What new and surprising relationships will emerge? What happens when a villain with resources decides exploding the satellite – a great tradition in the DCU – is a quick and easy way to deal with dozens of good guys?
Interrupting the story is one of those massive credits spreads – what a waste of space, it’s not like we even have a roll call. I’d rather see a lettercol!
The cover illo is great, though the surprint clutters things up somewhat. All the other DC All In books have been featuring heroes against their hero symbol, this looks like it’s the new Watchtower. Maybe.
Mere quibbles. The takeaway is that Justice League Unlimited #1, which is edited by Marquis Draper and Paul Kaminski, is a massive treat, giving us DC’s biggest names alongside characters who should be better known. Elements span the nine decades of DC history, from the Golden Age (the JSA, the War Wheel), through the Silver (Star Sapphire) and Bronze (Air Wave II) right through to today (Blue Beetle III). And it all gels beautifully, thanks to creators who marry experience with enthusiasm. Their vision is invigorating the Justice League and I think you’ll like this as much as I do.
Too Dangerous For a Girl 2 
Looks great, my copy is hopefully in the post right now, so glad to hear it’s good.
Stu
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Hope you have it by now!
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Yes, have it now and did enjoy it. I did find that last page reveal a surprise there must be more to it! And agreed on some lack of clarity, I’m guessing it’s supposed to be the scale of the alien pods that unsettles Batman unless we’re supposed to recognise the pods but I don’t!
It will be a bit of a shame if Carol or Firestorm is only around for 3-5 issues, it’s usually the people with no title of their own who get to provide the continuing subplots
Stu
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Loved every minute except the reveal of THAT character being eeeevil.
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I reckon they’ll be OK… well, unless there’s a ‘MUST… resist’ heroic sacrifice.
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Loved it… including the reveal! (And I don’t think it’s a matter of being evil at all! I think their motivations will turn out to be much more complicated than that.)
Especially loved how Star Sapphire used her powers this issue, and how Air Wave helped. It’s good to see the other-colored lanterns exhibit powers that are more than Green Lantern powers simply glowing in a different shade.
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hen they have to come up with a GL power that they others don’t have. Of course, they’re the only ones who consider willpower an emotion so maybe that counts.
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Too right, if they don’t have a unique aspect to their powers, what’s the point? I do dislike the current Star Sapphire outfit, though, bring back the cocktail waitress look.
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Looking forward to this, but still have some reservations about the concept.
Martin, are you sold on the idea of one giant Justice League? As much as everyone is saying the cartoon is the inspiration, I wonder if it actually goes back to Waid’s “Kingdom Come.”
Haven’t read it in a bit but from what I recall the League in that title was also pretty much everyone who was on the side of the angels/not one of the grim-and-gritty heroes. Or maybe I’m just misremembering some of the big group shots…
I am still worried that this is all just a set up for the next big event, which I’m assuming is some variation of the main DCU vs. the Absolute DCU/Darkseid.
I generally enjoyed Scott Snyder’s work on the League and how it was all one big epic fight with the Legion of Doom leading up to “Death Metal.” But then it was nice to have Bendis and his couple issue story arcs that were just stand alone adventures.
Maybe Waid will strike the right balance between the two styles, but I really just want to read a good book about the Justice League and its various adventures.
-Brian
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I’m very much not sold on the notion of the Justice League as everybody, Brian – the team should be the World’s Greatest Super-Heroes, not any Donna, Vic and Kori. The classic JLA would have guests occasionally, and that worked just fine, I like the idea of everyone bowing to the JLA as much as I like the idea that within the DCU everyone acknowledges Superman as Number One; there shouldn’t be rankings, any hero or team can save the world, or inspire, on their day.
But I’m OK with this as a short term thing, Waid is such a good writer that he’ll reap the possibilities of JL Plus and give us some great stuff before the wheel turns once more.
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I liked it but like you I found it a bit difficult to see exactly what Batman and Blue Beetle were looking at (though the cover for issue #2 seems to reveal at least part of the threat) and I sometimes found it hard to see what the other heroes were doing against the War Wheels. Colors seemed to blend a bit too much in those scenes making it difficult, if not impossible, to tell exactly what was happening.
Overall though I did enjoy the issue, especially the scenes with Star Sapphire. My problem with the concept of the series is that with so many heroes, a lot of the characters I’d like to see more of (Firestorm for example) will be regulated to a line or two of dialogue for an issue and then may not appear again for many issues unless it’s as a cameo. If they stick with a certain team (even a temporary one) for at least one arc (say 3-5 issues) it would at least allow Waid to do something interesting character wise with them instead of them just being barely more than a cameo.
Also, having Red Tornado be a hologram who dispatches teams for specific missions while his body is being repaired seems like a direct callback to Busiek and Perez’s Avengers run when the Vision’s body was destroyed early on and he spent the next few issues as a hologram performing the same services for that team. I hope Waid finds something a bit more interesting and unique to do with Red Tornado.
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Oh, brilliant point about Vision and Red Tornado, I’d not spotted that. I do hope Reddy is back to normal soon, I was reading his first JLA appearance recently and he was astonishingly useful. Let’s have that guy back. Get someone from Hero Hotline to hand out the assignments.
I read an interview with Waid and it sounds as if he’ll spotlight one or two lesser-known characters each storyline, so yes, the likes of Firestorm may well be neglected. Still, we saw something of Ronnie and whoever is in there with him this week in issue one, and there was no mention of the Doomsday Clock slander, so that’s something.
It was a shame we never got a clear shot of the War Wheel – those things are awesome.
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