Cover Critique: A decent enough group shot. As a first issue, I’m fine with having the whole team on there instead of just Bats and GL. Would have like done of the alt covers to be representative, though.
As promised, here’s my first review!
I’ll start with the single “Week 0” comic, pushed up several weeks to kick off the New 52 with a bang….in theory.
All right, here’s what the format for all my reviews will be like, An annotation/breakdown section, not covering the entire plot, but making note of continuity references/errors/changes/ confusing things/ridiculous bullshit etc.
Following that I’ll have a list of the good stuff, the bad stuff, some closing remarks and my rating out of 5 . I’m gonna try to not be too generous here. 5 is great, 4 is good, 3 is ok/meh, 2 is bad 1 is crap. Numbers above or below this scale will be reserved for outstanding examples in either direction. Any suggestions of how to improve my methods will be appreciated.
The Breakdown
Page 1: 5 Years ago nobody knows what superheroes are, quite the little change from the Old DCU. Also, Batman’s face is a little unfortunate here.
Page 2-3 Weeeeeeeeeeeeee Decompression!
Page 4: Our first glimpse of what is presumably a Parademon, the bestial warriors from Apokolips
Page 5: Docks are a hive of scum and villainy of the criminal underworld in every detective story ever
Page 7: And with nary a cry of “Leeroy Jenkins”, Hal Jordan makes his presence known by smashing his enemy with a big green fire truck.
Page 8: Batman is an urban legend, a concept popular in the late 90’s and early 2000’s but was dropped when everyone realized t made no damn sense in a world that has masked lawmen and women running around since at least WWII. It fits the new 52’s idea of superheroes beign a recent concept just fine, though.
Page 11: Green Lantern refers to himself in the third person for the first of many times in this comic. I for one enjoy arrogant Hal over “dried toast” Hal.
Page 12: Popculture references and exposition, delivered in a fairly natural style. Not bad.
Page 13: Money, Hal, his power is money. And Preptime.
Page 14: Batman being able to just take the ring is a bit odd, but I can chalk it up to Hal’s status as still a very green recruit. (Pardon the pun)
Page 15: Darkseid is the god of evil, Lord of Apokolips, and one of the most formidable foes in the DC universe. If Final Crisis remains in canon at all, this doesn’t conflict with it, due to this comic being set in the past.
Page 17: It’s a bit of a stretch to assume Hal would jump straight to assuming all aliens are alike, but with Superman being the only known alien on Earth at this point I can buy him thinking there may be a connection..
Pages 18-21: Our introduction to Victor Stone, soon to be Cyborg. Vic’s father worked studying alternate dimensions in the old DCU, and Vic himself was maimed to the point that he needed his cybernetic enhancements due to an extradimensional beastie. I’m guessing Vic is now going to be hurt and possibly even modified by Apokiliptian force.
Pages 22-23: Note to self, Green Lantern. Superman has superstrength. It is probably not a good idea to discuss means of subduing him within his earshot.
The Good
I rather enjoyed the banter back and forth between Hal and Batman.
Jim Lee’s art is great aside from that one wonky headshot of Batman.
Appropiate exposition without sounding too forced
The ending being an excellent payoff to all of Hal’s egotripping
I’m quite the New Teen Titans fan, so Cyborg’s elevated status makes me happy.
The Bad
Only one complaint, but is a major one, this issue is waaaaaaaaaay too decompressed. 2 of the 7 headliners chasing a single red shirt mook for 15 pages before the plot starts moving is not a dynamic means of opening an epic team book.
Closing Remarks
This is going to read a lot better in the trade. I can justify getting this monthly myself, but I honestly don’t recommend it just yet to someone wanting some bang for their buck. I give Justice League #1, 3/5.
Hello, assorted tumblr blog reading people!
This is totally another comics blog!
I’ve read comics in trades since I was about 15, but only recently got into buying a few singles a month when Batman Inc launched late last year. With the new 52 I went whole hog into buying quite a few DC singles, as well as a couple IDWs.
I thought, why not write up reviews?
Somewhat inspired by the recent shitstorm surrounding Red Hood and The Outlaws #1 and Catwoman #1 I will also occasionally do editorial posts when something particularly controversial happens,
Now to explain the name of this blog. I’m not illiterate, It’s just that me and the group of friends I head up to the LCS with every Wednesday tend to enjoy pronouncing it “Winsday” because there shall be win.
Will put up first review tonight in all likelihood, hope I get some readers.
Excelsior!
