Justice League United #1

The Good

This is a very different Jeff Lemire we're reading here, and in the best way possible. Lemire is a fantastic writer that can easily captivate his readers with his stories and characters, but all-in-all, his books at DC have been a little depressing. There's a sadness and a feeling of loneliness within his work. JUSTICE LEAGUE UNITED, however, is 100% fun. It's filled with action and intrigue and takes the heroes into space without one singular member of the Green Lantern Corps showing up.

Justice League books haven't been too much fun. They're a bit too serious and involved in long-form storytelling that dredges on until the reader drops the book. JUSTICE LEAGUE UNITED dares to make a fun and entertaining Justice League book featuring not-so-A-list characters and it accomplishes that goal almost immediately. The book opens up flip-flopping between two fights: Hawkman and Lobo on the moon of Thalsalla and the JLU vs a giant, structure-changing monster in northern Ontario.

It's great to see this new team working like a team. Many recent team books just have everyone jumping right into battle, but in JLU these characters are communicating with each other and strategically working together, which is very reminiscent of battles during the silver age, except these characters aren't describing their powers every 3 panels.

Animal Man has turned into the comic relief of the team, but it's not overdone by any means and it's refreshing that the comic relief isn't sarcastic or rude. He's just happy-go-lucky fun without coming off as over-the-top nutty.

Artist Mike McKone does some stellar work on this book. He has a no-nonsense approach to this book. His art is beautiful and clear to read. Nothing is over-complicated, yet his work is detailed. On top of that, he has Marcelo Maiolo doing the colorwork, and Maiolo's style is a bit different here and fits McKone's style a bit more. This book is bright and the art and color add to the sense of fun that Lemire is already building on.

The reader is left with a fantastic final page, bringing back a DC character from the vaults that is going to be a nice addition to this series. Plus, fans will enjoy the amount of Lobo in this book. Sure, he's not the cigar chomping, Lorenzo Lamas look-alike, but this revamp of the character is pretty awesome on his own.

The Bad

Getting nit-picky here, but why isn't this issue #2? Issue #0 reads more like a #1 than this issue does, since readers are not only thrown right into the action, but issue #0 is actually part 1 of this story.

The Verdict

On paper, the idea of this book had a few fans scratching their head. However, the execution of this book is one heck of a fun ride. It is so refreshing to have a Justice League book that is actually fun to read but isn't trying to be a humor book. Lemire takes a step away from his normal story tone and gives readers something incredibly entertaining that they will not want to put down. This is a well-written and well-drawn book and JUSTICE LEAGUE UNITED #1 is a book you need to pick up this week, even if you missed the #0 issue.

Was not impressed by #0 so I'm glad this got five stars. Hopefully an improvement!

#0 was "meh" for me. This was just a lot of fun, since I didn't know what to expect.

It really bothers me that they made a #0 issue that actually acts as the #1 issue. I mean, it has no affect on the story (which is great) but it's such a weird way to start the series.

I can't believe someone remembered Ultra exists.

lol... me either or Byth

I know, right? It's like Future's End #0, except that I've heard from people who didn't read it that it's not that necessary. In this case, however, you're going to be completely lost if you didn't read the 0 issue.

@maddpanda531 In the New 52 the #0 show the characters or teams origins. That what the zero issue was for, showing how they came together.

this is much more better than any marvel comics from the previous 10 years. hilarous job !

Wasn't a fan of what they did to Hawkman.

For Mat to say this is a five star book, this must be very good.
Since he is the one who likes super-hero comics the least (not dislike just doesn't go fanboy over it) , his reviews tend to be very objective.

Gotta pick this one up for sure

@dondave: Yeah, but the problem is that #0 is literally "Part 1 of 5". It's not just a stand-alone origin story, it's basically the #1 issue.

Have you two ever read Lemire's Ultra story? When this JLU kicked off with alien gene splicing I was sure we would see Ultra the Multi-Alien. I really wished they'd keep his look like this. He's one of my favorite kooky Silver Age characters.

@inferiorego:

I haven't read this (or any) issue of the New 52 DCU, but I wonder: Did Dark Crow and the rest of the RCMP Meta Division make their New 52 debut yet?

Not everyone has dropped the JL books, as a matter of fact, one of them has been in the top 5 comics sold every month it ships...

This was good, but I don't see why it should have a 5/5. Still, I will say, I like the character interactions, and I want Hawkman for Injustice. Also, shouldn't the Justice League books be serious?

It shows you what issues that character has appeared in on his page.

Nope.

One of the brightest ages of the league included mostly B-listers with comedy. The Giffen & DeMatteis run is still consided one of the best JL runs.

@inferiorego: hey, would you know if JLU will be collected in either hardcover or paperbacks? i'm tired of the long wait for tpb's lol...

Agreed. The Giffen/DeMatteis/Maguire era Justice League is far and away my favorite incarnation of the team. You can tell that run had a big influence on this series. Martian Manhunter leading a team of B-listers, mix of action/adventure and comedy, even the banter between Green Arrow and Animal Man is purposely reminiscent of the Blue & Gold bromance.

First, your user name makes me want to watch Wayne's World.

Second, DC usually collects all their books in TPBs; however, a TPB for this book probably won't be out until November/December

Thirded.

@inferiorego: @longbowhunter: @squalleon: It's not that I don't like the tone, I just don't feel like it's a bad thing to have books that are very serious and story driven. Although if the main JL book is the serious one, and this is the fun one, then I think that would be interesting. Although I do wish Hal was back on the League, he made things a little more interesting.

@captainmarvel4ever: I read a lot of books. I mean an embarrassing amount. Many, perhaps even most are serious. I'm glad this one isnt. If I wanna read dark Animal Man or Green Arrow I simply have to open up a long box and Lemire has those stories already written for me. Right now DC's biggest hang up is this house style they've adopted. I'm thrilled to see more books break away from that.

This book is still story driven, but lately, DC's overly serious tone for the vast majority of their books has been a bit much, especially with Forever Evil still finishing up. I'm just sick of every book being "the future is looking bleak."

Justice League of Canada? Canada?

@inferiorego: While I may feel a little differently about that, I do admit I wish some of the characters were more cheery. At the very least I'd like Captain Marvel to be his old cheery happy nice self, and to see the Titans less grim.

Still, maybe this is DC's way of getting new people like me from a different background to read comics. With Manga being the dominating force in nerd entertainment right now, I can defiantly see the pressure of needing to make changes to their writing style. I just hope they don't screw themselves by trying to appeal to the new fans, and then trying to get back the old fans, because ultimately that may leave them with no fans.

@captainmarvel4ever:

It shows you what issues that character has appeared in on his page.

Ah. I didn't know how often his Comicvine wiki was updated. Thanks. I'll go check that out.

@heraldofganthet: No prob

This was definitely way better. Did anyone else's copy have weird printing issues with the text, is was weirdly faded in both this and last issue for me.

Overall, I really liked this issue. The art was better, it didn't feel rushed like it did in spots last issue. I was a more fun. I'm still a little iffy on the series, but I'm more on board than I was.

@inferiorego: I thought this issue was going to be great becuase of the 56 stars but I just didn't like it. WOrse than the #0.

Great book really looking forward to seeing how Supergirl and Hawkman interact with the rest of the team there normally loners by nature so it should be fun.

I really liked #0 and this one. I likw the serious tons of the JL and even the less serious ton of this one. I don't usually like kiddy books filled with corny lines like the marvel Phoenix saga I just read. Yuk. No thanks.

Hopefully Canada gets better treatment here than in the Alpha Flight books.

Lemire is bad, really bad , writing female characters.

JLA had more potencial and better cast

I just have an entirely subjective dislike for the art on this book I guess. I've been so looking forward to this series, but I just don't feel it.

I'm just wondering how long the Canadian "jokes" are going to last. I do like the banter between Animal Man and Green Arrow.

@foreverman: I didn't like it. I'm going to give it one more try, but so far, I'm not feeling it either.

Do you guys forget New 52 JL Interational? Way underrated. Fun book, not too deep. I'm picking this up in hopes of a similar book.