A Perfect Start
As a disclaimer, I am one of the hardcore DC fanboys. I make no secret of the fact that I am a reader that would follow Geoff Johns wherever he goes. My excitement for the New 52 is palpable.
With that in mind, my expectations for this issue were naturally rather high, and despite this I was pointedly impressed by this first outing. From that first panel, the visual element of the artistic team drew me in and reminded me of my first days as a comic book reader, awestruck in the wonder that these drawings were somehow living on this page before me. Everything from the pencils to the inks to the colors was absolutely vibrant with living energy that was perfect to usher in a new world. Similarly, Geoff Johns managed to thrill me, as expected, although his writing here was so much different from the standard formula with which he has so often blown me away. Clearly, this is something new coming from him as well. The character voices are perfectly on the mark, capturing the nature of the character with the simplicity of a few exchanges. The world building is sharp and to my great surprise the story measures itself carefully in its pace. Some might call this a slower pace, but the fault of a great many Justice League stories, for my dime, is the urge to shove it right down a reader's throat, because the more crammed into a storyline, the more powerful the threat it must be. So often we have to find a Justice League story whose thrills come only from the number of supervillains on the page, or similarly the number of Justice Leaguer bodies lying strewn and unconscious. Here, we have build, the veil of a mysterious threat and a story where the focus is not getting to that final boss battle, but rather the mystery of what might happen next.
Good
You'd think the above might be the description of what I thought was good in this issue. The fact that I have more to add is a testament to this issue I suppose. The best part of the issue for me was actually the fact that I was not wondering for a moment where Aquaman, Flash or Wonder Woman were, nor was I impatiently awaiting Cyborg's inevitable transformation nor was I mourning the absence of the Martian Manhunter, despite my pre-reading inclination to do so. It didn't matter to me that I wasn't seeing those things yet, because the reading shows that it simply isn't time for that yet. We're not seeing the Flash trying to reassemble the Justice League, as we did in Flashpoint... we're seeing an early Brave & The Bold, as a team up of two superheroes will gradually grow into three, then more. Also, this issue made me like all four of the featured characters, despite the fact that two were slightly arrogant, one was not yet plot connected and the other only featured for a page. Everything about the first three glows with the ability to relate, in a way that is often rather foreign to me. Even Hal's arrogance, for once something that I could enjoy and appreciate, in part because this is still the early days. Why wouldn't he be that smug? I know I would.
Bad
The fact that this isn't weekly. The pace is exactly what it needs to be, I'm aware of that, both in terms of the plot as well as the pace in the amount of time it takes to provide the high caliber art of this artistic team. Still, a compliment of sorts to the creative team is that I'm frustrated that issue #2 won't be hitting stands this coming Wednesday.
Ugly
The looks that other customers were giving me because they didn't get a copy. Sorry, it was on my pull list. If you wanted it that badly, why wasn't it on yours? Also, that parademon (probably) is not the kind of fellow I'd like to run into in a... well, anywhere. Yeesh!
Overall
5 out of 5 Stars!
Maybe it is because I'm a DC fanboy. Maybe it is because I love Geoff Johns. Maybe I'm overly positive about this relaunch.
Whatever the reason, I really loved reading this comic book and would recommend it highly.
