Justice League International

After the first issue I was curious. After the second issue I wanted to drop it. After this issue, I'm once again curious to see what's going on. I'm not sure I'll still be collecting after this arc is over, but they did swing me back in.

Now that they've split up into smaller teams for this issue, you get a better understanding of the team dynamics. And that's the biggest chunk of what made me curious to see what happens in issue #4. The depictions are still a tad bit stereotypical, but it's not as bad as it could be.

At first, I thought i was going to drop it and not give it anymore chances....thank god i didn't since this tittle is one of the best of all the new 52 and one of the best team books around. Taking it only 3 issues to get me really into it unlike some other books on Marvel like some of the avenger books which took me a lot of time to really get me into them.

We start with the team splitting into groups of two to investigate the four giant robots that came out. All members get to know each other more as they interact with their partners but their little chit chats are interrupted by their mission as they use one member to distract the robot while the other tries to get under the robot and check where did they come from. Guy leaves as he feels that this might be something bigger and finds the ship of the Tron Thanos. Everything seems to be going well till the teams are taken down one by one thanks to some goblin looking creatures that overrun them and are taken away except August General and Godiva who are still holding them back (mostly August because he is awesome). The issue ends with Batman and Booster being ambushed and Guy defeated by the new big bad who goes by the name of Peraxxus.

The Good:

This tittle is showing a lot of promise and is pushing forward unlike all the other team books right now. Don't get me wrong, I love JLD, JL and Teen Titans right now, but this one since it has all the roster here it already is pushing forward and reminds me of James Robinson's JLA before the reboot which turned into one of my favorite runs on the book. It's a fun book to read even if most of this heroes aren't that well known.

All the characters are likable and enjoyable, even batman seems much brighter as he shows approval on Booster's actions as leader and turns out very similar like how he is portrayed in Batman right now (I'm glad he is much more positive than before. Shows how much he has grown since his return and creating Batman Inc) August General is freaking awesome. While other teams were defeated easily by the little monsters under the robots. He showed that he wasn't going down like the rest and helped Godiva out and is still holding them off right now. He is starting to become one of my favorites on the team.

Oh! also liked how Guy got taken down easily just to show what happens for not being a team player (he kinda would had been much helpful if he would just stick with the plan)

The Bad:

Nothing to point out

Overall: 4.5/5

This is just an enjoyable and brighter book than all the team books on the new 52. Is fun to read and I hope others enjoy it as well as me.

One of the better issues this week, but it suffers from a few key problems...

The writer keeps harping on Booster telling the team about the area underground. The problem I have with this is that if Booster knows about these areas...areas that were hidden to modern day people then they weren't hidden to the future. If they weren't hidden in the future then Booster should know how this situation roughly turns out.

The other problem with this issue is that they are trying to make whatever is happen super serious, but as you are trying to get that across Batman isn't reacting as if it were. If it were he'd likely call in Superman and/or take over. He hasn't so I just can't take what's happening as a serious threat.

Other than those 2 problems we get a belated introduction to some of the characters more personally and that's done well enough. I think it's a good enough book to buy, but the story is moving along awfully slow.

The Story: 

The JLI split into four different teams to investigate the caverns underneath the four giant aliens that have appeared.  

My Thoughts:

Dan Jurgens has managed to surprise me each issue so far. He's made me a fan of a series I thought was sure to be pretty bad. The unique cast of characters is what really has me. Jurgens knows how to handle multiple personalities and create engaging dialogue between characters. 

The characterization, in my opinion, is dead on. I like what Jurgens is doing with Guy Gardner. His initial reaction when Booster was named team leader was exactly what you would expect it to be. After he left the team, he's finding it hard not to join them. He rushes off to help them when he hears of the imminent threat on the news. We see he gets in over his head on the final page which gives us a shot at Peraxxus, the new villain for this first story arc. Peraxxus does bare a resemblance to that of Galactus which has been stated by many fans. Hopefully he'll be a formidable villain that will be around for years.

I'm slowly becoming fans of some of these characters I had little to no prior knowledge of. One in particular is August General In Iron. I like his demeanor and feel he brings something special and unique to the team. His personality is so different from the others. I also like how he wasn't defeated like the other members of the team were.

Aaron Lopresti continues to impress me with his artwork. I don't know if it's just me but the colors from Hi-Fi seem to improve each issue as well. This third issue was definitely more action oriented and the art team did a great job displaying each heroes powers and abilities. On a side note, how awesome is that David Finch cover? 

This has to be one of the funnest team books other than Demon Knights that's currently running. Dan Jurgens and Aaron Lopresti are quickly becoming a favorite creative team of mine. They work so well with each other the way they play off of each others strengths. You can tell the two have a certain chemistry together that not all creative teams do. I look forward to seeing what these two have in store next month. 

Rating: 4.5/5

Justice League International reaches its third issue, charged with the task of confronting and disabling the four giant Signalmen that have been stationed in Earth. Will the team find a way to combat the looming threat? More importantly, can Dan Jurgens hit his stride with this issue?
 
Join me, as I begin the review of Justice League International #3.

The Good

To answer the question that has been made in the intro, yes, Jurgens has finally found his sweet spot in this book. The story in this issue is very enjoyable to read, from the small introductions to each character in this issue, that also further explains each character's purpose in the JLI. Jurgens also does a nice job of throwing some humor amidst the increasing conflict, a notable example being the banter of Booster Gold and Batman as they happen to face said danger. It is safe to say, that Jurgens has written a very good issue, apparently learning from the shortcomings of his first two issues.
 
Now onto the visuals, the prime example being, the visually arresting cover made by David Finch. It appears somber in nature, but it's a great example of the art that's in this book. Aaron Lopresti hasn't skipped a beat in the interior art, delivering impressive panels in the book, with Matt Ryan adding the subtle inking to make the art look better, complete with Hi-Fi adding the coloring as the cherry on top. To summarize, the writing and the art in this issue are both satisfactory, for even the most demanding reader.

The Bad

Hi-Fi did a rare mistake of coloring Guy Gardner's gloves green in one panel, and back to white in the final pages of the book. Godiva is still being the dead weight of the JLI, for her banter was essentially ineffective when she was partnered with August General in Iron.

The Verdict

It took three issues, but this book has found its stride. Should the quality of this book continue to meet the standards that were placed in this issue, JLI will become one of the more enjoyable reads of DC's Justice League line-up. Jurgens, Lopresti, and Ryan have delivered a fine comic book issue that can also be approached as a jumping point. If you need your Justice League fix, but can't wait for the flagship book? Give this issue a shot. 4.5/5 UNDERDOG OF THE WEEK

Justice League International #1 and #2 gave us an interesting story of giant robots landing around the world and a group of newly formed heroes going to check out what is going on.
 
THE GOOD:
I think that art looks okay. I use to really like Arron Lopresti but I'm not sure I like him as much drawing this series. The story actually feels like it's been done a lot of times. We get to see the team slip up and they all get over run but rock creatures. They all get taken down. There is a lot of character development here. I can already see relationships forming as well as some conflict that has been present from Issue #1. 
 
THE BAD:
Like I already said. This type of story is done over and over again. The team splits up and they all get taken down by some mysterious rock creatures. I am also suppose to believe that this is a huge threat and I don't. I think the last page of this issue feels like a direct ripoff of a Marvel character that rhymes with Balactius. I also with that some of the characters where a bit more interesting. I'm just not getting hooked on ANY of them.
 
THE VERDICT: 3.5/5 (Good)
If you know and like some of these characters then you will probably like this series because it has a lot of characters. I just haven't got into them yet. I also think that this story doesn't feel grand or anything at all. So if you like good comic books, maybe come back in a few issue and you will get a good story.

If I could sum up this comic in one word, it would be: disappointing. I read the first two issues of this title after they were highly recommended by Linkara from Atop the 4th Wall (If you've never Atop the 4th Wall, I highly recommend it for any comic book fan) and enjoyed both of them greatly. There were great hero moments, I really got into the characters, particularly Booster Gold and August General in Iron, and the story seemed very promising. I genuinely thought this book had great potential but this issue did almost everything wrong. The basic premise is that four giant robots have shown up in different points on the globe causing chaos and destruction as giant robots have a habit of doing and the JLI seems powerless to stop them. Oh, and the robots are supposedly being controlled by this Galactus looking dude with a big scythe, we'll get to him later. Since the robots are all in different countries the JLI splits into groups of two in order to take them down, or at least gather intel, it's not clear what they're actually doing. One group goes underground to discover a hidden chamber and immediately gets attacked by little rock monsters. Another goes underground to discover a hidden chamber and immediately gets attacked by little rock monsters. The third group, you'll never believe this, goes underground to discover a hidden chamber and immediately gets attacked by little rock monsters. And finally the fourth group *sigh* goes underground to discover a hidden chamber and immediately gets attacked by little rock monsters. Anyone else noticing a pattern here. Among this comic's issues is that it is terribly repetitive. Each team does the exact same thing. Guy Gardener however decides that he wants to find out who's controlling the the robots, you know like a smart person would do only to get attacked by the aforementioned scythe guy who's apparently named Peraxxus. Minor aside, but how would you pronounce two x's anyway. Peraxxus has a great design but we know nothing about him and really, I don't think it's a good sign when your main villain only appears on two pages over the course of three issues. This book was a massive let down and failed to answer any questions I had after the first two.

What Works

I will say that some of the dialogue between Vixen and Fire works really well and shows that these are in fact people and not just super heroes. I also appreciate Guy Gardener being more proactive but it unfortunately comes at the expense of making the rest of the team look less competent by comparison. I do like the role Batman is serving in this where he's sort of an advisor to Booster on what it takes to be a leader. I'll get to my feelings about Batman in this comic in a minute.

What Doesn't

Let me make this clear, I love Batman. I have loved Batman since before I loved comic books, but there are so many reasons that he should not be in this comic. First of all, of the 52 new titles of the relaunch there are presently four Batman titles, several spin offs like Batgirl and Nightwing, plus Justice League which he also appears in. Do we really need Batman in yet another title. In fact, take a look at the cover for the issue. If Guy Gardner wasn't there this could easily be mistaken for a Batman title. Second, this comic, as I see it, exists to spotlight lesser known DC characters like Booster Gold, Having Batman on the team is very off putting. Finally Batman is incredibly out of place in this story. Batman is a detective, he patrols the city streets at night and fights psychotic criminals. What the hell is he doing fighting giant alien robots? I was also really not liking the other characters here too. Rocket Red asks Ice IN THE MIDDLE OF A GIANT ROBOT ATTACK, if Fire will "light rocket red's rocket." What kind of idiot does that. Godiva, who is my least favorite character in this series, continues to show how useless she is as she is instantly overwhelmed by the rock monsters. August General in Iron is still cool, but I hate how he talks down to Godiva because she's not properly trained for these situations. I agree with him but I think if they're teammates he'd be just a little more encouraging. As I said before this comic is repetitive. There's nothing answered about the main villain other than his name (though it has yet to be mentioned in story) This comic wast truly a let down in every sense of the word

Overall:

1/5

What was a great well moving story grinds to a screeching halt with this issue. I'll be picking up the next one because of how much I enjoyed the other two. I really want this title to succeed but this issue is a major step backwards

The Good: Overall, the cover looks pretty great. I don't like the clashing style of David Finch to Aaron Lopresti, and I don't think the cover is totally fitting, but I can't say its a bad cover in and of itself.
Oh yeah, and speaking of Aaron Lopresti, his artwork is still a perfect fit for this series, and some of the most consistently good superhero artwork I've seen. It's not J.H. Williams III, Frazer Irving, or Greg Capullo, but as a standard art style, its heads ad tails above the others of a similar style.
The team splits up, yeah its kind of cheesy, but it works pretty well. The choices of the pairs are carefully thought out. We have surprisingly born leader Booster Gold with cold commander Batman, 2 men who's respect for each other is surprisingly even; fiery lovable goofball Rocket Red and nervous introverted Ice; dual dark skinned thrill seekers chicks Vixen and Fire; stoic calculator August General In Iron and flirtatious live-in-the-moment free spirit Godiva. All of this serves to set the foundation for some deep character bonding, which itself serves to create a framework for a strong focus on the characters as JLI is known for.
And finally in the character department, we have an essential JLI figure, the completel loose cannon Guy Gardner. He's behaving quite intelligently, which he has been for a few years now, so it'll be interesting to see how the Guy Gardner of today will fit in with the JLI of today. Also, points for having Guy use the ring like he does, creatively and specifically.
I don't see why people are denouncing the plot as generic, these giant robots AREN'T behaving as giant robot steriotypes, they're actually standing there seemingly doing nothing. It's the odd sort of tension where nothing's happening, but this actually makes things more unnerving.
The fuctionality of the team is just spot on. Its really great to see this melting pot of characters and personalities function as a whole so well. Again, it lets the focus on the characters shine through as JLI should.
The roster has rotated from the original, and it reflects the times well. People know Captain Atom from JLU, Black Canary's gotten big recently, Captain Marvel's known, Blue Beetle is riding a pretty nice high point right now; so we get cycled through to a different group of obscure internationals thrown into the mix. Godiva, August General In Iron, and Vixen are welcome additions to the team, and I'm already finding things to like about them.
 
The Bad: Peraxxus has a weird and ugly design.
Due to the repetition of seeing each time, the issue feels a little slowly paced.
 
In Conclusion: 4/5
Overall this was a solid enough issue, it took things a little slower, and didn't have quite as much of the superb character interactions due to the divide, but it set the framework well. Justice League International continues to be a great tribute to the original series, even if it doesn't quite yet live up to Generation Lost. I guess this works because it IS JLI. It's not Generation Lost, it's International; and it feels definitely enough like the original. Give this series a chance, it'll make you care about a bunch of B-Listers.

This series seems to be stuck at a certain level of quality.  Nothing much more can be expected here than an entertaining issue, while most of the major points in any comic issue are being hit so that it is not terrible either.  The problem here really is that they are taking too long to get the team together.  By the third issue it would have been good timing to have dealt with the opening problem of Booster not being a good enough leader for this team, but this is a drawn out story arc which still forces that on the reader though it is clear where this is going (that he will make some leadership decisions at some point.)  Another problem here is that the team is split up and sent off in different directions to fight the unknown robots.  This development does not really give this the feel of a team book.  Yet it is frustrating because there are some good characters assembled here in a genuinely interesting selection of characters for a team.  As before this series needs to find itself a direction.