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The New 52’s Justice League #1 (The Verdict)

By Andy Frisk
August 31, 2011 - 16:28

Justice League #1 is corporate dictated storytelling at it finest. Unfortunately, there isn’t much that is fine about corporate dictated storytelling. Justice League #1 isn’t a terrible comic book by any means. Jim Lee’s pencils are pretty much what they’ve always been, and they’ve always been great. His style of artwork, costume design updates, action choreography, character anatomy, and panel layout have remained virtually unchanged since the last time he worked on a major #1 issue. In fact, Justice League #1 would probably have been just as big a hit had it debuted in 1991 instead of X-Men #1 (although it might not have sold as well due to the magnetic, fan drawing power of the letter X). Besides suffering from a major, and unintended, visual time warp, there is nothing to complain about artistically. There isn’t much that is corporate dictated about Jim Lee’s talent, besides the fact that DC Comics is desperately trying to use it to recapture some of that mega success Marvel Comics had with X-Men #1. No, the corporate story dictated involvement in Justice League #1 (besides the fact that a corporate decision directly lead to there being a Justice League #1) revolves around the characters that Jim Lee had to draw for this issue. 

No pants Wonder Woman!?

Either DC Comics is in some really serious straights or the new DC Entertainment division of the company is desperately trying to catch up with Marvel Comics and their new mega popular (and profitable) plethora of films. In the past few decades, the only real hit that DC Comics has garnered out of a film property came in the form of The Dark Knight (2008) box office gross. The only serious comic book hit that DC Comics has had in the past few decades has been Green Lantern. Translation: Batman and Green Lantern sell. Why do they sell (at the box office and the local comic shop)? The stories told on screen about Batman and in print about Green Lantern have been, not just good, but literary. Before we get ahead of ourselves though, it is only important to remember that Batman and Green Lantern sell. So, if you are going to reboot your entire universe and tell the story of the first meetings of the “World’s Greatest Superheroes,” then the first issue of your new universe debuting title had better star your two biggest marquee characters. Hence, (and now we get back to the corporate dictated storytelling idea) Batman and Green Lantern dominate the panel time of Justice League #1. In fact, it is Batman who gets the first two page spread in the book. Green Lantern shows up several pages later (the Hal Jordan Green Lantern). As is appropriate, Green Lantern is playing second fiddle to the bigger revenue generating superhero.

Selling and swinging along just fine...

In fact, Batman is such a revenue machine that he is pretty much retconned into being the architect of the DCnU’s new hierarchy of heroes. I’m sure that some lip service will be paid to Superman as being this new universe’s first “public” superhero, etc, etc, but it is pretty obvious that Batman started it all. Whether or not this is going to be the official story of the DCnU or not is irrelevant. It’s all about Bats. Even in the final issue of Flashpoint, it is Bruce Wayne that Barry Allen/The Flash seeks out first after returning to this new universe. Granted, the story required it, but this decision is obviously a corporate/revenue maximizing one as well. Justice League #1 is all about Bats and GL. What about Superman you ask? Well, you probably shouldn’t have asked…

Pants for Wonder Woman!?

I’ve already lamented the demise of my generation’s Superman. May he rest in peace. This generation’s Superman, a character who is no longer the monumental and spiritual leader of the “World’s Greatest Superheroes” (at least not yet), manages to show up in Justice League #1…for all of one page. Superman’s minimal involvement in Justice League #1 reeks of corporate dictation as well. Superman doesn’t sell. He hasn’t sold well for some time. By the time Johns got around to working his magic on Superman, he’d already revitalized Green Lantern to a point where there really wasn’t much of a market left for Supes. John’s Secret Origin was brilliant, and fully updated the previous era’s Superman for a modern world without destroying several essential elements of his character. It was too little too late though. Something had to be done. Superman is scheduled to hit the big screen again soon. He needs to sell a few books to boost the symbiotic revenue relationship that comic books and their film adaptations are budgeted to generate. Dump the Kents, dump the marriage to Lois, retro age Clark Kent/Superman, and throw Grant Morrison’s name at the character…oh, and get rid of the “underoos” and harp on the “alien” aspect of his mythos (something that Justice League #1 does quite vibrantly). Most importantly though, make him more “isolated” and misunderstood (like the Merry Marvel Mutants) and maybe he’ll sell. What about story you say? Well, we tried that and it didn’t work (see Secret Origin). Who knows? If you put Clark Kent and Lois into some kind of Twilight-like (and rather sick) love triangle, maybe the girls will read too…

Quick! It's Underoos that are killing sales! Strip them!

The worst thing about Justice League #1 though is the forced inclusion of Vic Stone/Cyborg. Cyborg is a great and interesting character in his own right, but when you break down Justice League #1 and examine its corporate dictated storytelling aspects (focusing on Batman and Green Lantern, teasing the changes to Superman), it becomes painfully obvious that Vic Stone’s inclusion in the story is a heavy handed attempt to showcase how diverse DC Comics’ characters are. Cyborg was chosen as a founding member of the Justice League because he represents the technologically obsessed youth of today. These are the youths who own cell phones at 10 years of age and iPods by 11 to go with their Xbox Kinect and PSPs. His being an African American fits DC Comics' plan as well. It's not a bad idea to include Cyborg, but honestly, if DC Comics were as diverse as they are now touting themselves to be, they really wouldn’t have to tout it would they? There are other characters in the DCU (that will hopefully transition to the DCnU) that are much more interesting than Vic Stone/Cyborg. John Stewart has been a mainstay, and brilliantly written character, for decades and John Henry Irons is hands down the best Superman spin off character ever created. Marketing and sales data calls for a reboot though (one that seemingly erases the Death and Rebirth of Superman storyline), along with a showcase on diversity, so Stewart and Irons are no where to be seen yet.

I don't care how...they better bring Steel back.

The debacle of the forced inclusion of Vic Stone/Cyborg perfectly illustrates my point that it is good storytelling that will ultimately sell comics, not reboots, advertised diversity, or copycat retconning. Irons and Stewart were natural creations that grew out of some great comic book storytelling. They were diverse characters who were realistically and organically birthed and allowed to flourish. The original Vic Stone/Cyborg character was this too. Now he’s DC Comics’ poster boy for a touting of a “new” diversity that takes away the glory of their already, and naturally, existing diversity. Vic Stone/Cyborg’s inclusion in the new Justice League, and by way of a few token pages in its first issue, is like doing the wrong thing for the right reason. The DCU is diverse. The DCU used to be the reflection of the world outside (finally catching up to Marvel Comics in this aspect), now it feels like a manufactured world assembled to convince us that it is natural and organic. Nothing manufactured with this much attention to its image is organic though. The DCU already was organic…as was its storytelling. Justice League #1 demonstrates that this is no longer necessarily the case. 

Rating: 4 /10

Last Updated: August 31, 2023 - 08:12