Time is out of joint. Which may be why this smart cover from series artist Dan Mora belongs on Justice League Unlimited’s next issue. At least that’s my theory, as, while we get the two trios shown in this chapter of the ongoing story, they don’t meet up. Superman, Wonder Woman and Batman appear only on the final page, where they admit something I’ve said myself. We’ll get to that later
There are two story strands this issue. In the aftermath of the defeat of the Gorilla Grodd-led Legion of Doom, cosmic characters the Time Trapper and Alphaeus the World Forger appear on the Watchtower to warn everyone that unless they act now, the time quakes that have been occurring will unravel all of reality. But they have an idea as to how they can find a solution.
Down on Earth, two of the team’s boffins, Blue Beetle and Mr Terrific, are hoping they can bring young hero Air Wave back from his apparent death. Actually, make that three boffins – they’ve brought along an earlier, time-displaced version of Mr T.
Writer Mark Waid’s script barrels along nicely, full of fun bits of characterisation and eye-popping action. There are even mysteries, though I’m not sure they’re always deliberate.
For example…
…. has Aquaman gained invisibility powers? And…
… who’s the lumpy red hero whose going AWOL? I recognise Ultra the Multi-Alien, so presumably we’re meant to know who the chap in the sewers is.
And a mystery on the colouring side…
… why is Amazing Man’s costume so drab? His usual bright green and yellow look is all win. The excellent colourist Tamra Bonvillain isn’t one to dial down the colours, so what’s going on?
Plus, is that actual dialogue from an All-Star Squadron issue? I checked Amazing Man’s first couple of appearances – of course I did – but no dice. And that Supergirl line has to be from a previous comic. Dr Anj?
On the lettering side, Dave Sharpe gives everyone a good showing in terms of personal fonts – I particularly like Plastic Man’s curly pointers.
The current story having been going on since, well, the first issue, things have become a tad complex, so a good recap is appreciated… except when it comes six pages into the issue. Honestly, just use the space for a lettercol. If Marvel can give us letters pages, why can’t DC?
Anyway, this is a hugely fun comic, the second this week to be blessed with Mora’s gorgeous art. Mora draws dozens of heroes and villains and they all look tremendous, from a classic Harley Quinn on the opening page to Wonder Woman, Superman and Batman at the end of the issue. Remember I said there’s something said there that I’ve said once or twice myself? Well, here goes.
Yes, inviting every single hero in the universe to join a team that really needs trust among members, on a satellite floating above Earth like a balloon waiting to be popped, is obviously a bad idea. It’s been just weeks and already they’ve been betrayed by a member, had their systems invaded by a cyber-villain, and more. Time to think again.
I’d love to know your thoughts on the matter… can Justice League Unlimited survive? Should it?
Too Dangerous For a Girl 2 
I always get the spelling of this Ultra and Ultraa mixed up (I also make sure to extend the a sound to double in my head for the latter too). I was kinda hoping you’d know who the shadow escapee was. I’m as lost as I’ve been when trying to figure out where in continuity Superman Uninteresting falls.
I loved how Mssr Terrific ran the emotional gamut here. First he had his sense failure overwhelm him at not detecting Air Wave’s duplicity and then failing to save him. Follow that with Beginner Terrific telling him to embrace the asshole scientist trope he’s been sharing with Ray Palmer of late. Then we get the side of Mister T we hardly ever get with the way he saved the kid. The rest of the issue could have been filler as far as I’m concerned it was THAT good but it’s Waid. Nothing’s filler. Look at Beetle’s presence. He wasn’t the focus so it’s easy to dismiss it but it’s Waid saying Ted is Michael’s peer in Mister Holt’s eyes. We almost never see the man working with another scientific genius this easily so it stood out to me.
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Excellent point about Ted being respected by Michael; I do enjoy that Beetle isn’t played as a Yuma these days.
(Speaking of Mr T, I was considering reviewing the third issue of his mini this week but it’s such a slog, I’ve not got through it… probably just as well I don’t spend time on it here.)
Good catch on Ultraaaaa…I shall leave my mistake here so your comment continues to make sense.
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Was eagerly awaiting your review!!!!! So I’m torn about whether to make this issue my last. I’m still getting “World’s Finest” so the completist in me just slots the “United” tie-in issues in with that title and I’m all good.
I love Mark Waid. And you’re always guaranteed a good to great story from him with clever character work and twists and uses of history/continuity. Buttttttttttttttt I’m not a huge fan of “big event style” Mark Waid, meaning the guy who wrote “Absolute Power” and now this, which let’s face it, is basically one big event book leading into the next big DC event, because things are moving so quickly – too quickly. And I think that means Waid has to cut corners and adapt a different writing style.
2. We’re also told that Mr. Terrific feels extremely close with Air Wave. But did we really see that in all the preceding issues? I mean, I’m sure they shared panel time, but I never once got a “father/son” vibe or a “mentor” vibe. Why does Terrific feel like such a failure?
3. And don’t get me started on the use of the Legion of Doom. It was fun, but these are villains from the past and there was literally no real reaction from them seeing the future. And, frankly, they were also underused. Why exactly was the Joker needed? What real use was Bizarro? Other than just the fact they are characters everyone associates with the Legion. They were essentially fun window-dressing with Grodd getting all the real action/lines.
Hey- nice to see the Challengers again. They weren’t, if I recall, really on the scene the last few issues. But suddenly – boom – they’re back and with a tiny bit of dialogue.
It’s all just very – superficial. And I don’t want to sound like an a** online troll. Waid is an EXTREMELY TALENTED writer. But he is also someone who turned the formation of the original League into a 12-issue series featuring just 5 main characters, is currently taking 12 issues to explore the first Batman/Robin team, and is writing a whole ongoing title – “Action” – to explore one character, Superboy. See what I’m getting at? He excels at that stuff. But in the case of “Justice League Unlimited” his stories are hectic and crowded. And that’s not necessarily his fault. It’s the nature of the title and the fact that the title needs to get certain pieces in place for the big line-wide event or events.
Also I hate that this is not self-contained. Love it or not, what I appreciated about Scott Snyder’s “Justice League” run is that it was the main thread between two Snyder-written events, “Metal” and “Death Metal.” And for the most part all you needed to do was read Snyder’s “League” to really get the story. All the big developments pretty much happened in those issues. Just 9 months into “United” and we’re already supposed to have read “Atom Project,” “The Challengers of the Unknown” plus buy some of Williamson’s “Superman” and now get the just-announced “DC: KO” mini by Snyder. And there are at least 2 “League” specials – one by Waid, one by Williamson – on the horizon. And technically since this is all leading up to something involving Darkseid and the “Absolute” books I guess we should be reading that line as well. I just do not want any part of that. I want to pick up a Mark Waid-written “Justice League” and just enjoy self-contained stories or an occasional cross-over.
All that being said … God help me their is that part of the fan in this 50-year-old jaded reader’s body that gets a big thrill from seeing the Legion of Doom pop up and Grodd be the main villain and a bunch of time lost heroes show up and Airwave get rescued and Superman/Batman/Wonder Woman meeting in the old cave HQ and the Challengers working with the League and Dr. Occult getting facetime and Mr. Terrific helping run the League and hints at yet ANOTHER Crisis…
So tell me what to do Martin!!!!! 🙂 Hop off this book or just enjoy it for what it is. – Brian
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How the Snyder books went helped me too. I was able to skip them completely without feeling left behind elsewhere.
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I am so touched by your opening comment, thank you Brian. It’s tough to disagree with any of your opinions. At some point soon we should be past the generation of writers who loved the Super Friends cartoon and the Legion of Doom will be left behind as the daft idea it is.
I suppose JLU is trying for the summer blockbuster feel all year long, meaning it’s non-stop action with quips, entertaining on a surface level.
What should you do? Get DC Unlimited and read everything a month late!
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That would be logical but the collector in me wants to get the actual books, read them and file them away :)!
I think you’re correct about the “summer blockbuster” feel. And that’s my conundrum – part of me recognizes the limitations that places on Waid and finds that approach is a less-satisfying reading experience and part of me just wants to roll with it and enjoy the ride. And and it’s also Mark Waid, whom I love. This would be an easier decision for me if it were a lesser creator/someone whose work I haven’t followed for years.
It’s funny because I know Jeff Lemire has been criticized for taking 12 issues to write his initial “JSA” story. And while I enjoy that title I too have been getting impatient. And yet I wish Waid was taking more of that approach to “Justice League Unlimited.” Lemire has at least been able to spend more time with individual cast members than Waid has because, while a large cast, “JSA”‘s is no where as large as “Justice League Unlimited”‘s.
End of the day I think you and I agree that the main problem here is the concept of “Justice League Unlimited.” In order to fullfill that mission statement, Waid needs to basically always have several heroes floating around the periphery in any given issue and toss them a bit of action or dialogue here or there that can mostly be interchangeable. His use of Elongated Man comes to mind. Ralph shows up only to briefly get tortured by the Legion of Doom. It’s nice to see Ralph get some facetime, but it’s just unsatisfying. Basically any hero could have been subbed in. I guess maybe Waid settled on Ralph because both he and Grodd hail from the Silver Age “Flash” series, so that’s a little nod to their shared history.
I’ve said on here before I just really wish the team that appeared on the first issue cover and in the promotional art when this title was announce last year had been the “core” group. And then they call in specialists as they see fit. But that would have allowed Waid to focus on a group of characters. Instead we bounce around from issue to issue – Black Lightning and Star Sapphire get attention, then Martian Manhunter and Dr. Occult, then Batman and Martian Manhunter, then Impulse, then Ray Palmer, then Mr. Terrific and Airwave.
I guess you could argue nothing like this has been attempted before in comics? I’m just not sure it’s successful/the best way to approach team storytelling. – Brian
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I tend to agree with the criticisms of this book, in that there’s just too much going on at any one time. Pretty much ALL of it is stuff I want to follow. I want to know what’s going on with Dr. Occult! I want to see Jonah Hex deal with being on a satellite! I want to have more of a moment between Hal and Abin Sur! But everything goes by so fast — too fast to really appreciate.And yet, also — the book feels really slow, somehow? We’ve just wrapped up the threat behind the first issue: Inferno/the Legion of Doom. And now we’re onto the fallout from that. I just wish this book had more pages, or came out bi-weekly, or something, so we could spend a little more time on these moments and keep the story moving.
The side story titles — Challengers and the Atom Project — haven’t really scratched that itch; instead, they seem to open new cans of worms that ALSO have to be addressed in the main book, so instead of solving the problem, they’re compounding it. Maybe the upcoming Justice League Red will provide more of what I’m looking for in that regard.Mark Waid is doing a TON of work at DC right now, and I’m enjoying all of it. But if I were to pick one book of his to drop and read a month later on DCUI, it would be this one. It’s so tied-in to continuity that I’m *not* buying, that perhaps it would be better if I just bit the bullet and let this one sync up with the rest.And Mart, I’ve got no idea who the scaly guy in the sewers is! If he were colored differently, I’d think Killer Croc or Sobek. But it seems like he has red and orange dragon scales, and I’m drawing a blank.
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Excellent way to put it, Rob! Again, it’s not that Waid is a poor writer. He has great ideas and character beats. But there is just not enough time given to explore most of them. We had a great tease of a possible mentor/student relationship between Black Lightning and Star Sapphire in issue 1 or 2 and that never developed into anything. I’d love to see Dr. Occult and Martian Manhunter together more given how Waid established that Occult kept an eye on the latter when he first appeared. And all of the time-displaced characters deserve some extra attention. What do they make of the future and, if it applies, their future selves? And under normal circumstances were Waid working with a smaller cast he would no doubt have taken advantage of those story-telling opportunities.
That all being said, this seems to be a different writing style for Waid and maybe he wanted to flex those muscles? I don’t think anyone forced him to take on “Justice League United.” Maybe he saw it as a professional challenge and wanted, as Martin described it, to write a League with a “summer blockbuster” feel and pacing? After all, Waid had a shot at the League over 20 years ago when it was still mainly about the Big 7 characters. If he was coming back to the series and needed a new hook, having the ENTIRE DC roster to play with is a pretty big change. – Brian
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I agree with everything you say, Brian, I’d love to see all their moments, and more. We are, though, getting a special in about three minutes as I type, Justice League Dark Tomorrow, with the time displaced heroes and added Gold Beetle!
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Bi-weekly would be great, and yes, those JLU side projects are blooming frustrating… all those pages are still we’re left with questions.
Go on, save money, go a month late. I can wait, your comments are great whenever.
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Anj here. Top review of a fun book for sure.
I thought this was a fun book with all the time-slipped characters blipping in and out and that stupendous Supergirl moment. While her line sounds familiar, I am not sure if she has said it before. Will have to puzzle more.
Also interesting to see Doomsday Time Trapper as a sort of ‘lesser of two evils’ in comparison to Darkseid. Don’t know what will ultimately happen but intrigued.
And for that other escaped creature with the Bizarro S …. maybe Bizarro Doomsday? Did we ever get one?
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I don’t think we ever got a Bizarro Doomsday but there may be one out there. Looking back at last issue, the last we saw of the Legion of Doom Bizarro, he was being blasted by that witch lady with a snakey name. Perhaps she’s made his skin rough and reddy? Thanks Anj!
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