Justice League: Generation Lost

Plot & Action: I'll get this out of the way: Still don't know Max Lord's endgame. It's hard to have drama when there's no ticking clock. It seems that the JLI wants to stop Max for what he did and not what he's going to do. The Blue Beetle's inclusion does offer some intrigue since Max went after him. He also gets after Fire too, so there's some progression albeit limited progression.

Character Work: Judd Winick doesn't use Max Lord a lot, but he uses Max well when he does. The way he taunts the JLI is fantastic. You can tell he enjoys this giant game of chess. The two heroes at the forefront are Jaime Reyes and Fire. I feel like they were handled well. I love Jaime's reaction to being sucked into all of this. It's believeable and true to who he is. Since Winick is slowly developing the story, I'm glad he's giving good characterization.

The Art Team: Fernando Dagnino handles pencils with Bit & Raul Fernandez on inks. They get the job done. Characters are drawn well, facial reactions are great, and you can make sense of the action. I would've liked to have seen some splash pages on the action, but the art doesn't take you out of the story. It supports the story nicely.

Generally Speaking: It's the same thing every other week: a solid book with an interesting premise. However, for the second straight issue, the novelty is starting to wear thin. Max Lord made the world forget himself and now he's screwing with the JLI. Why? What's his goal? Why does he need to be stopped? This book NEEDS that vital piece of information. The heroes can't even begin to formulate a plan. At this rate, we'll see them get attacked over and over again. Next issue marks two months into the storyline. This book needs to progress some. I want some reveal or twist that will draw me back into this story. Solid issue, but the clock is ticking.    

Fire finds her old Checkmate allies turn on her while the rest of the unofficially-reformed JLI fend off a horde of OMACs.
 

The Good

Mind wipes and "restart buttons" have been used a lot in comics lately (I'm thinking, specifically, of Iron Man purging his own memories and Brand New Day) but the angle Winick using here is really compelling. I got a good Philip K. Dick mind-job paranoia vibe here, given how the JLI are faced by, for lack of better term, Maxwell Lord-deniers who aren't unreasonable "Big Brother"-types but good people with perfectly reasonable disagreements given the overwhelming amount of evidence mounted against these apparent conspiracy theorists. The whole opening with Fire getting evicted from Checkmate then subsequently chasing Lord and being framed for burning an innocent, was really frustrating in the best way - - Winick didn't cheat with the story logic or the character motivations.  I also liked the exploration of the new Blue Beetle powers here, especially with his handling of the OMAC's. Given time, he could be an even bigger player in the DCU. Dagnino does some great work that's evocative of Alan Davis at times and I was definitely impressed by Hi-Fi's coloring work. This is a well-produced book.

The Bad

I don't know if there's really much to complain about. This is solid superhero book. Maybe the only thing that takes this down is that it's getting kind of convoluted to have had such a big storyline about the fallout of Maxwell Lord's death, only to dredge it up all over again, but that's actually addressed in the story, itself, so it's negligible.

The Verdict - 4.5/5

Out of all the Brightest Day offshoots, this is really the best. If you're already familiar with the classic JLI, you'll get an extra kick out of this, but you don't need to know anything about them to enjoy this. It's light without being overly jokey, serious without being overly dark and it builds upon past continuity without getting bogged down in it. And, like I said, the art is very sleek.

Back in the day, the Justice League International helped make me a Marvel fan. I really didn't care for the team at all. Now, a book starring them is working its way up to being one of my favorite DC comics. 
 
In this issue, we see through Fire how Maxwell Lord has completely isolated and discredited the team in the minds of the rest of the world. Even Checkmate has succumbed to his manipulation. It's great seeing Taleb Beni Khalid again, and the writing team of Giffen and Winick do a good job reflecting the fatherly relationship between him and Fire that developed through the Checkmate series. My only disappointment with this part of the issue is the lack of an appearance by Sasha Bordeaux. Given that character's strong association with Maxwell Lord, it would have been nice to touch on how what's been done has affected her. 
 
This issue also brings Blue Beetle fully into the story. We know he is brought in to complete the JLI team at least in name, but the story does an excellent job of integrating Jaime Reyes in a way that makes sense and feels like a natural progression of the story. Why Jaime believes them about Maxwell Lord when so many others don't actually makes sense, and his inclusion shakes up the team dynamic in an interesting way because he is not a familiar old friend. 
 
When this series was first announced, there was the concern that all the characters involved would be reverted to how they were back in the JLI days. That has turned out to be far from the truth. The characterization for all involved is strong, and it's very reflective of how the characters have changed since the old days. Giffen and Winick are doing an amazing job bringing the JLI to a new generation of readers.

 I will not be breaking down the issue in deep detail but  spoilers still will be found so you are  warned.  
 

   The 3rd issue of DC's other Bi-weekly Maxi (read that as 26 issues long) series has arrived and at my LCS I was one of about 20 people that ordered it and it was not heavily stocked.  Brightest Day by comparison has a stack on the shelf every other week for those who didn't pre-order it and a stack for pulls.  So this is the red-headed step child of the two.  Many dismissed the series because of dislike for Judd Winick or the lack of desire to go back to the JLI days of the Justice League.  I was as I had stated before one of those people that was hesitant too.  I gave it a go with the first issue and haven't regretted it one bit.  The writing has been great!  Pacing has been very good, it has to last 26 issues.  Characterization has been spot on.  The art has ranged from fantastic (Lopresti #1) to serviceable (Joe Bennett #2) but it did not detract from the story.  So even before we look at a review for this the 3rd issue I want to give this series a strong buy recommendation!  Go get it even if you don't really know these characters the writing each issue really does a great job of bringing you up to date with what you need to know.   
 
Now on to the review  

 
The opening sequence really sets the tone for this issue.  Fire is at the Checkmate castle.  This can only spell trouble and it does.  We get a good explanation of what the organization and the world feels about Fire.  After this we go back to where we left off with last issue with the attack on the Reyes family and Blue Beetle.  I like how Giffen and Winick pulled Jamie into this series and really provide some welcome comic relief that isn't forced or out of character. I really like how the OMAC's are explained and how Skeets and the Scarabe are able to know about Max.  Great writing. 
 
Dagnino has many brilliant panels and is my second favorite artist on this series behind Lopresti.  However, his art fell flat in a few panels for me. Nothing bad or distracting just not out of the park to me but a little more of the brilliant and he would have been on par with Lopresti.    
 
This issue gets a 4.5 from me and again the series come highly recommended!