Sure, we may have seen Aquaman. We may have gotten a glimpse of Darkseid. But this issue was all about Wonder Woman.
This take on Wonder Woman seems a little more like Vandal Savage in Demon Knights than it does the mythical warrior we’ve seen in her own title, but I’m okay with that. Five years is plenty of time for a person’s personality to change, and I’m not terribly worried about inter-book continuity as long as the stories stay good. She had some great lines; “You should be very proud of this achievement”, kicked a lot of butt, and demonstrated that she is totally out of Hal Jordan’s league.
The Justice League in battle
There was something about the pacing of this issue that felt different from the issues that came before. I’m no longer getting the sense that this is being written for the trade. This was an action packed tale from start to finish, and even with the higher price tag, I definitely felt like I got my money’s worth. I wonder if Geoff John‘s strategy wasn’t to ease new readers into comics a little before pulling off all the stops. Justice League is DC’s flagship title, and I can definitely see why they’d want to go to extra lengths to make it new leader friendly. I liked this issue’s bonus content, but it wasn’t as cool as what we got last month. I’m still intrigued by this David Graves stuff, but I’m disappointed we didn’t get to see much of his Secret History of Atlantis. Character sketches are something that’s always fun for me, although I’m wondering if there’ll be any bonus content left when this is released in trade form.
The League stands together.
That people are skeptical or even afraid of superheroes makes perfect sense, but I can’t say I’m a fan of heroes being portrayed as so reckless that they cost millions upon millions in property damage. The Wonder Woman wall gag was a good one, but ultimately, even if the world’s heroes aren’t getting respect, I want them to deserve it. Action Comics, which is also set in the past, is doing a much better job of this. The media is doing everything it can to discredit Superman, and plenty of folks are buying into it, but I’ve never felt like Clark is anything less than a hero. He’s still learning, and his methods are often flawed, but it’s clear he’s going to do all her can to help people, with or without the “S”. I feel like this crew is more interested in fighting than they are true heroism.
DARKSEID IS!
Vic Stone’s tale has been the emotional center of this comic from the very beginning, and it’s what saved its issue for me. The flurried, rushed fight scenes interspersed with his surprisingly moving transformation helped give this issue the heart that it needed. While Silas was also trying to save the life of his son in Cyborg’s original origin tale, I feel like his motivations were clearer here. This wasn’t about his love for science or getting a chance to experiment. It was only about saving a son that he’d never taken the time to appreciate. Originally, Elinore perished in the same accident that injured Vic, and altering the story so that she was already dead is interesting. I can see how it makes the story more about the relationship between a father and his son than anything else. I hope Johns spends a lot of time exploring this in the issues to come.
The eyebrows are a really nice touch.
While there were a few off moments, Jim Lee‘s work on this comic continues to be strong. I’m not crazy about his rendition of Aquaman, but his Wonder Woman and Cyborg both were great, and some of the spread pages we saw were truly stunning. This issue moved pretty rapidly, and the high energy that Lee injected into the book’s action scenes really helped drive the frantic feeling of the battles home to the readers. There are some wonderfully detailed backgrounds, and some facial expressions really sell John’s dialogue. There were a few scenes in which the colors could’ve been a little sharper, but overall, the work Alex Sinclair and the folks at Hi-Fi are doing is strong. Lee was aided by Scott Williams in this issue, but this book is still very much in his style. I hope that this arrangement works, and that Lee can remain on Justice League for months to come.
Justice League isn’t my favorite title on the stands, but it’s a solid book that can be enjoyed by a wide range of readers. I may not get excited about it like I do when a new issue of Animal Man or All-Star Western comes out, but that doesn’t matter. The book is designed to appeal to broadly, and it absolutely does. It’s taken a long time, but DC has finally released a Justice League title that’s everything it should be. Big name creators, A-list heroes, and a story that will introduce people to the entirety of the DC universe. I’m not sure Justice League is going to really sing for me until we get back to the present and see the team’s expanded roster, but I’m enjoying it in the mean time.
How did you like Justice League #3?