Justice League United #3 & #4 - A Review

Through no fault of my comic shop, I somehow neglected to pick up the last two issues of Justice League United until this past week.  And I find myself wondering how I could ever have forgotten this book, even with my busy schedule.  Granting that it has been slow in finding its footing and in bringing its cast together, these two issues finally see our new Justice League united, including Jeff Lemire's creation Equinox and Alanna Strange - no longer a passive romantic figure but now a hero in her own right.


As always, the best parts of these issues are Jeff Lemire's grasp of these characters and his development of their personalities and the relationships between them.  The key sequence of Issue 4 sees these characters - working together but not yet a team - paired off and made to play off one another.  Green Arrow reaches out to Animal Man only to try and shrug off his olive branch with a joke.  Supergirl proves as cool and and jagged as Kryptonian crystal when Stargirl tries - and fails - to make a similar gesture of friendship only to stick her foot in her mouth.  And for the first time in a long while, we see the paternal side of J'onn J'onzz as he takes it upon himself to take charge of the newborn Ultra The Multi-Alien (long story) as well as the responsibility for failing to save an ally's life.


The book's weak point continues to be its artwork. Mike McKone is a competent penciler but the rotating team of inkers on this series do his work a disservice - particularly when multiple inkers are employed on a single issue and all hope of a consistent look is ruined.  I've noted before that McKone also seems guilty of recycling his panels but these two issues bring us a new problem - that of the artwork not matching up with the script. Consider this panel in which J'onn asks for Green Arrow to accompany him, Stargirl and Supergirl only for Ollie not to be included in the away team. For the rest of the issue, Ollie is seen standing in the background with the other half of the team, not saying anything or doing anything.  I blame the editor more for not noticing this problem before the book was printed but it is still a vexing point that takes the reader out of the story.


Despite this, the scripts are good enough that I can forgive the missteps in the art.  And it is gratifying to see so many characters that I enjoy in their New 52 incarnations being given a chance to shine.  So I shall be sticking with this book for a while longer.

Justice League United #2 - A Review

A madman named Blyth is kidnapping the beings of a thousand star systems for nefarious purposes and has hired the bounty hunter Lobo to keep his captives subdued.  The good news is that a new Justice League is aware of the situation.  The bad news is they're currently stranded on the distant planet Rann.  And even with Supergirl having stumbled across them and Hawkman launching a one-man rebellion from within Blyth's prison, it still seems that the new Justice League's tenure is over before it truly began.


I love this book so much.  And it is almost entirely due to how Jeff Lemire writes my favorite heroes.  Specifically, how he can portray them as being competent in a fight but still let the humor of their personalities conflicting with one another come through in a believable fashion.  This is most apparent in the snarking between Green Arrow and Animal Man, but it also comes through in Stargirl's first encounter with Supergirl.  And there is one glorious but amusing sequence where Martian Manhunter  gets a laugh-inspiring moment as he deals with a group of Rannians who have threatened to imprison him indefinitely.  


Unfortunately, I don't think the artwork is quite up to par with Lemire's story.  Mike McKone's artwork isn't bad but - as in the first issue - he is not above recycling panels.  A larger problem with this issue is the inking, which was overseen by three different inkers including McKone.  As a result, there are noticeable and distracting differences in the individual pages, with some seeming to have barely gotten any inking besides a black outline around individual characters!

  

Justice League United #1 - A Review

I love this book.  I love how it is funny and makes fun of the characters without being mean-spirited or making the heroes seem less than competent.  It reminds me of the good old days of the Giffen/DeMatties Justice League, save that the heroes here are actually good at their jobs.


What Jeff Lemire is doing here shouldn't seem so revolutionary.  And yet, it is.  We see superheroes who act like real teammates - not allies of convenience who tolerate each other, at best, because they need someone to watch their back during the next epic brawl.  This new Justice League truly is United and the team spirit lacking in other recent supergroup books by DC Comics is very strong here.


The artwork by Mike McKone is as enjoyable as Lemire's story.  McKones figures are big and bold and his action sequences well choreographed.  Really, the only flaw with the artwork is the palette used by colorist Marcelo Maiolo, who  uses an off-white for Caucasian skin that is not far removed from the same white color used for snow.  

Justice League United #0 - A Review

I'd abandoned all the Justice League titles several months ago when it became clear during Trinity War that I would be expected to read them all if I were to make heads or tails of just one.  Throw in the fact that the entire line became part of the much-lamented Forever Evil mini-series and I felt little need to keep going.  Given the mess that story-line has made of the New 52 universe, it would take a lot to get me to wade back into that swamp again. "A lot", in this case, equaling one of my favorite writers working with some of my favorite characters to create Justice League United.


After an opening flash-forward showcasing the titular team in action, we cut to three days earlier.  The story truly begins with anthropologist Adam Strange approaching Stargirl and Animal Man (during a personal appearance at a comic convention) with evidence that aliens are abducting people - including his research assistant Alanna.  The two are eager to help but prove out-classed and out-gunned when armed aliens show up with homicide on their mind.  Thankfully, Green Arrow and Martian Manhunter respond to Stargirl's request for back-up.  Two interludes round out the issue - one giving us our first glimpse of new heroine Equinox and another revealing the fate of the alien's captives and how Hawkman is among them.

Jeff Lemire's grasp of the characters and gift for drama dresses up an otherwise drab premise for a superhero team's formation.  We've seen this scenario before - a big crisis forces a group of otherwise unrelated heroes together, uniting them when they realize how badly said alliance is needed - but Lemire makes it seem new by playing the characters off one another masterfully.  Green Arrow and Animal Man keep the proceedings from getting too dark and this new take on Adam Strange is a gripping one.  What little we see of Equinox seems promising as well.    



The artwork is more problematic.  Mike McKone is not a bad artist but he does a poor job of hiding his shortcuts.  There are a few obviously recycled panels and the thick inking on some of the character outlines leaves them looking like they should be in a coloring book rather than a comic book.  Even the usually stellar colorist Marcelo Maiolo seems to be off his game, with the Caucasian members of the cast being as white as the snow they are walking through.  Despite this, Justice League United looks to be an enjoyable series worth picking up.