The reformed Justice League International finally gets to confront Maxwell Lord, only to find that he might actually have good intentions for bringing them back together?
The Good
This is a character-driven... no, character propelled book. Every action, every transition, every surprise stems from these heroes's personalities. The scene where Captain Atom has to escort a doomed Rocket Red away to his death was powerful. The original Rocket Red's explanation to Ice of his motivations for rejoining the Justice League was both poignant and funny. Booster Gold's reflections about his long history of getting duped by the likes of bookies and Max Lord was a great echo of the dilemmas in his own book - - how he's got a good heart,but he isn't the brightest. And I loved Lord's ambivalent relationship with how he wants this reformed team to sucede - - it reconciled a lot of lingering characterizations questions since his "heel turn" in INFINITE CRISIS. I'm quite impressed with the quality of work that Lopresti, Ryan and Hi-Fi are able to crank out on what must be such a grueling schedule. None of this looks rushed - - in fact, there are some downright gorgeous scenes.
The Bad
I wouldn't say that the pace has slowed down, neccessarily (because the book's still riveting,) but I would say that it's gotten a little more deliberate. Thinking about it, the plot hasn't advanced that much in five issues and I'm wondering how this story can sustained over 26 issues.
The Verdict - 4.5/5
Buy this book! The first four issues are probably still on the shelves -- hurry up and scoop them up. Along with Invincible Iron Man, this is a title I was eagerly looking forward to reading this week. I only read a few issues of the classic Justice League run that this is reassembling, so I really appreciate the impressive act that Winick pulls with this. He brings old storyline back around without retreading anything; he references the past while still pushing these characters into an exciting new direction.
