Dan Mora produces an especially fabulous cover this issue, it’s just a shame the very traditional JLA stars circling the characters have been cut off. As for the particular group, it’s a mix of heroes and villains, but for once they’re not fighting, they’re mingling. And the title, Villain Amnesty, implies bad guys are joining the League – I doubt that will end well, and it looks like several Leaguers share my pessimism.
But what would inspire Justice League Unlimited, a grouping involving every known superhero on Earth, to allow villains to join the ranks?
After a cold open showing Giganta, Lex Luthor and a mini-Starro – Jarro from the Geoff Johns days? – out on League business, we flash back three days. A gaggle of good guys are holding the fort at the Watchtower while bigger names are fighting in the DC KO tournament; unknown to them, it’s over.
Seconds later, the other heroes return – all except Superman,who’s off on a personal secret mission as he plans to divest himself of the god-level energy he’s recently absorbed. While he’s away, says Wonder Woman, the rest of them have their own tasks…
Before everyone can digest this rather wild nugget of information, news arrives that there’s trouble in Keystone City – Flash rogues Tarpit and Girder at a crumbling bridge.
Appearances are deceptive. Yes, the structure was falling, but the huge, lumbering figures were propping it up and saving lives. The recent KO event, which saw Earth transformed into a hellscape, changed them, they say.
Watching from 22,300 miles above are Batman and Wonder Woman, and the latter has an idea.
What does Captain Marvel have in common with Diana? God-given wisdom, which Batman wants him to apply to Wonder Woman’s idea. They also bring Mon-El, future Legionnaire and current warden of the Phantom Zone, into the discussion.
…do we grant them full and unconditional amnesty?’
Of course not, why even consider it, you Bat-numpty. Yes, look into a rehabilitation programme for super-criminals who have served their sentence and wish to go straight, but just let everyone – including the worst, most dangerous people on the planet – go free and represent the League? Also, you don’t have the legal remit to decide who goes to jail and who goes free.
Well, from the cover and the start of this issue, it certainly seems Batman isn’t listening to me. I wonder what precautions have been taken – will villains be observed from above so Red Tornado or whoever can activate a power dampener should they stray? Has psychic J’onn J’onzz checked their motives are pure?
I get that another crisis is coming. Another crisis is always coming. But in the meantime do the bad guys need to hang out with the good? It’s not like they need training, they could step up as needed.
So, prophetic visions. That wasn’t something that came up in DC KO, it’s the type of random nonsense we’ve had with the last few crossovers – powers swapped among people, powers changing, now ambiguous previews. I just hope we don’t have a Hawkgirl or Woman under Carter’s wings.
Mind, if it follows the previous patterns, the visions business will be forgotten about.
It’s interesting to see the heroes returned from the KO tourney looking physically well, but mentally dazed, with Captain Marvel apparently worst affected.
Writer Mark Waid certainly gives me lots to think about this issue, and artist Clayton Henry makes everything look wonderfully right. His slick characters are a joy to watch, whether they’re larger than life like Swamp Thing, Lobo and the Demon, or a very Kevin Maguire Blue Beetle.
Little details such as a prisoner’s untied laces, and Batman and Wonder Woman’s body language add to the verisimilitude of proceedings.
Tamra Bonvillain’s unashamedly bright colours and Ariana Maher’s lovely letters – she throws in an old League logo to brighten my day – add to the goodness.
I’m not down with the basic idea, but the character work and action in this first issue are a joy.
Too Dangerous For a Girl 2 
I’m going be be snickering at “Bat-Numpty” for days!
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That’s a new word to me but I like what I Googled!
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Blogs am educayshunal.
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I wondered if that might be a bit of a Brit-word!
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Also wasn’t it Batman who in an issue of this book right before “KO” was ready to ask Red Tornado to do background checks on all the members against Superman’s wishes? What happened with that subplot? Will Waid reference it or is it forgotten?
Martin, I feel like your review sums up the struggle I have with this title. It is a heck of a lot of fun and nice to look. But it feels like a grand and unsatisfying experiment to me with Waid just kinda winging it hectic issue to hectic issue as he provides connective tissue between events first and builds plots and characterization around that.
That is clearly what “Justice League United” is – a tie in series. I’ve lost any hope that will change. Doesn’t necessarily mean I’m gonna drop it. But I struggle with it and get frustrated with it and may eventually.
Besides the subplot about Batman I mention above, what happened to all the heroes like Jonah Hex who took off in the ship with the mysterious time traveler in that “KO” tie in issue from last year Waid cowrote? Will we ever learn who that was? What about that witch villain Waid created for the Legion of Doom who during the “We Are Yesterday” storyline retreated and disappeared? Will she return? If not why create her in the first place? Why didn’t we ever really learn much about Owlwoman? Also a few issues back, before going to hell, Mr. Terrific said he was “off his game” and knew what he needed to do to fix it. What’s up with that subplot? It want addressed in his fight with Neron. I would normally totally trust Waid to lay seeds and catch up on all these things. But with this book it just feels he doesn’t have the chance or maybe doesn’t even care or remember cause too much is happening and he needs to move in to the next thing.
-Brian
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Oh, well remembered in the Reddy front, I really hope someone brings that up. It’s basically unbelievable to me that any Leaguer would countenance this idea, never mind control freak Batman.
I really would like to see Waid back doing a more traditional satellite League, his previous JLA run wasn’t nearly long enough. I get that people are nostalgic for the JLU cartoon but I don’t think it makes for a cohesive comic book. It’s fun, but as you note, plot points do seem to be getting lost.
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I am curious whether “JLU” is an experiment or might just wind up being the team’s new status quo that readers just expect. I think it’s fair to say that something like the Giffen/DeMatteis “humourous” League did not have staying power, but it certainly was the model for several years before fans/creators wanted the “Big 7” back.
In this case, though, I can kind of see a scenario where the idea of EVERYONE being a member sticks. In part because of the cartoon, so there are already a few generations of fans for whom THAT is how the League should operate. That norm has already been established before it reached the actual comics.
But I also look back to “Kingdom Come.” I’d need to re-read it but my memory is there too you just had this massive “Justice League.” I’m not sure it was spelled out as such, but there just seemed to be a lot of heroes hanging out together.
And let’s not forget the Legion. It could be argued the “JLU” is the natural predecessor to the Legion of Superheroes.
And it does seem challenging, from an editorial standpoint, to put that genie back in the bottle. Obviously if DC wants to it will. Grant Morrison and Jonathan Hickman had revolutionary, forward-thinking runs on X-Men only for any progress to eventually be tossed away for a return to the mutant status quo.
But I feel like it would really require some creative writing to break up this current iteration of the League. You’d need either heroes to quit enmasse or be told they’re not wanted. And both of those scenarios seem difficult to turn into plausible stories.
End of the day, the concept of a JLU isn’t a bad one and makes a certain logical sense. It’s kind of like the ideal of the United Nations. We’re all on the same planet, let’s just all work together/help each other. – Brian
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They already used a way to get rid of the JLU years ago in the way they got the original Defenders gone ‘for good’. Just release a macguffin that endangers the world if the team has more than (fill in the blank) members. Easy peasy, lemon breezey!
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I agree JLU is a mess and the super stuffed League really isn’t working. Waid is writing the hell out of the mess he’s been saddled with though. I’ve enjoyed this run more than any JL series since I stopped reading the Bwah Hah Ha League near the end of the Giffen and Demateis’ run. I kinda wish the world’s nations would step in now that the team is acting extra super extralegal and force their disbandment? I think a better set up would be having JL teams all over the world but no forced interaction between them. Waid could then rotate between JL Americas, Asia, Europe, Africa, and Near Space.
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Now this is a fantastic idea. Of course, Batman would have to be in every team. So, let’s have Justice League Europe with Knight and Squire, Godiva, Jenny Greenteeth, Little Mermaid, Beefeater… but not the Canterbury Cricket!
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When the book was first announced there was a great core team- Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Star Sapphire, the Atom, Captain Atom, Flash, Black Lightning in the ads. Such a great group. I figured those would be the main characters with others guesting on a story by story basis. I’m convinced, just based on that initial advertising, that that was the intent but then it kinda got hijacked as the lead in to “KO.” “Waid is writing the hell out of the mess he’s been saddled with” is a great way to put it!!! Although if he really felt saddled would he do it? And props to him for, as a veteran, being given such a key role in the “All In” ongoing saga spearheaded by “younger guns” Snyder and Williamson. Waid is as relevant as ever and this book is selling well and I can’t imagine he’s not pleased about all that. I’m pleased for him. But in the great arc of his career I think, again, this is an interesting experiment but I was hoping for his run to be setting the pace, not being pulled along by others’ events. It’s funny – when he took over for Morrison on “JLA” back at the turn of the century I found Waid’s run kinda boring at the time. Now on “Justice League Unlimited” the pendulum has swung and it seems like way too much. -Brian
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You have to be right about intent versus reality, but it must have swerved even before the first issue, what with those Parademon eggs showing up. I’d like that core group, even if it did mean looking at one of those awful new Atom costumes.
I remember enjoying the post-Morrison JLA, I may have to take another look, maybe it wasn’t that great. Tower of Babel etc?
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This is a pretty book that reads like the X-Files. It’s making up the mythology as it goes along instead of having a clear plan,
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That’s difficult to argue with! I like the comparison.
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This book definitely feels like Waid & Co. are dancing as fast as they can. I feel like the arcs are more successful than the issues between them. I liked the recent trip to hell, and I liked We Are Yesterday. But there are issues where it seems like all that’s being done is caulking the spaces between events. Even then, there’s great character work… but it often remains to be seen whether those moments amount to anything bigger.
Regardless, though, Waid and Henry is a team I’d never dream of turning down. They’re two of DC’s best!
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The Hell trip was OK, but I do think DC overdoes trips to the Underworld, it should be harder to get there, especially if you’re not dead.
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As for the core idea of letting the villains in? Normally, I’d say, make it a pilot program, with villains like Girder and Tarpit, who’ve already shown a propensity for helping out. And the specific villains shown — Lobo, Harley Quinn, Giganta, King Shark, Jarro, Luthor, and presumably Tarpit and Girder — none of them are bad choices, to be honest. Pretty much all of them have shown a propensity to help at times. (I’m not sure about King Shark, but I’m willing to give him the benefit of the doubt.)
But unconditional amnesty is a ridiculous question. Perhaps conditional amnesty? But an unconditional deal seems absolutely crazy.
Ultimately, I hope most of these people revert to their bad old ways… but I’d be very happy to get a reformed villain good guy or two out of this experiment. Those have been a favorite of mine ever since Heat Wave reformed in Flash comics during the early 80s.
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You speak great sense as ever. The most likely villain to stick as a hero is Giganta, she’s the one who’s tried hardest in the past… unless I’m forgetting something!
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