Comics Briefly: Justice League #1

I know, I was surprised too, when I went to check my pull list for this week and it was empty. But since it's an event and all, we picked up the new Justice League #1.

Issue new in stores on 8/31/11

Justice League #1
Writer: Geoff Johns, Penciller: Jim Lee, Inker: Scott Williams, Colorist: Alex Sinclair

So this is the flagship of the brand new DCU, and after all the hype, I have to say that it's...fine. Even good. But it's a slow start, nothing grabbing me from the first page. It's mostly Green Lantern (Hal) being a whiny, arrogant jerk and Batman (Bruce) being quietly competent and a little weird, with a peek at Cyborg that I don't know how I feel about yet, and a smoldering young Superman on the last page. (I predict new fanfiction in 3, 2, 1...)

It felt really short for a 3.99 issue, only 24 pages of content. Superman Beyond #0 last week was 3.99, too, but it was 30 pages. The art is nice, if a smidge busy for my taste here and there. The dialogue is decent, although, for me, Hal's pretentiousness steps over the line into grating. I enjoyed reading the issue, but in my brain it still feels like a good Elseworlds, not a good "real" book. It's a really good Elseworlds, though. Much better than Flashpoint. Does it seem from this issue that it will be the best version of the Justice League ever? Probably not, although I can't really tell. I'd wait for the collection, if you haven't already picked this up. But it's fine, and this is comics, and things are always changing.

So if you're still feeling angsty about the New 52, just do what I do, and remember, this:

Chinguards! Collars! Sparkly!

is the "real" Justice League only exactly as much as this is:

Old School!

and this:

Captain Marvel, Dr. Fate, Dr. Light, Mr. Miracle, this was clearly a magic/space adventures-heavy version.

and this one:

Never Forget. Superman was Blue and Electric, and that was in 'actual' continuity, too.

and this:

Hawkgirl, Vixen, Red Arrow, Red Tornado... is that Black Lightning? Wow.

And, of course, my personal favorite version:

Because if I can't hear Kevin Conroy saying it, it'll never really be Batman for me.