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Of Embassies and Origins - Justice League International Part 2 (Eaglemoss Collection v77)

  Review: Since we are doing a series of reviews focusing on Booster Gold over his nearly 40-year history, we include this one as a collection of some of his earliest appearances, dating to late 1987. That places the original publish date of these tales while his original solo series was still going strong.  This book is a beautiful, glossy hard-cover with smooth and heavy-stock paper inside, although the sometimes-low print reproduction quality leads to blurred and hard to read word balloons on occasion. It is also a rare book here in North America, as Eaglemoss Collections targeted UK fans with this series. At this point in the history of the 1987-rebooted Justice League, they have gained official United Nations recognition and sanction. To ensure their reach truly is global, they rebrand as Justice League International (as does the title of the series!) and they open new headquarters buildings around the world: New York, Paris and Moscow are included here. As this is a product of 19
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The Cat and the Martian - Justice League of America Vol. 1: World's Most Dangerous (The New 52)

 

Cover of Justice League of America (JLA) Volume 1 (New 52)

Review:

The mega DC crossover event and reboot, the New 52, produced a plethora of Justice League titles. There was Justice League, with the usual crew of A-list heroes like Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman. There was Justice League Dark with a collection of magic and mystery characters such as Deadman, the Question and John Constantine. The Justice League of America title was the late-comer to the party, a fact author Geoff Johns leveraged as a US Government reaction and response to the potential threat and growing realization that no one would be able to control Superman and Wonder Woman. National Security depends on preparing a counter-force to mitigate that risk.

And so is born the New 52 version of Justice League of America. It falls to Steve Trevor to assemble, unify and even train these heroes into a new team. Green Arrow, Martian Manhunter, Hawkman, Star Girl, Green Lantern (Simon Baz), Catwoman. The first issue does a superb job of introducing each of these team members as Trevor recruits them. And artist David French's images are dark and dynamic. Catwoman's drop-kick practically pops off the page, would turn into a great 3D image.

The great focus on the individuals and the challenges of bonding them into a team fades from subsequent chapters. Some emerge and stand out - Catwoman and Martian Manhunter most strongly - while others fade to the periphery, Star Girl and Green Lantern in particular. Johns does clever work with the Manhunter and Catwoman, shocking us with Catwoman's death - and the shocking art of her bound, bleeding and limp body - before a clever twist brings her back. 

Matt Kindt's backup tales also focus on the Manhunter and his powers. His back-story origins emerge. I especially love the Catwoman tie-in, a tale of their insights into each other's minds, as a backwash effect of his mind-reading. Brilliant!

The final two chapters tie directly into the other Justice League titles with the grand Trinity War crossover. These tales are even louder and fast-paced and dramatic than the others in the collection. But as they collect only the JLA parts of the crossover, the reader will need to fill in the gaps elsewhere.

A promising start with an eclectic group of heroes.


Description:

Following the events of Throne of Atlantis, it is deemed necessary to create a new Justice League.  This new superhero team is under the command of Col. Steve Travor, of the United States Military's A.R.G.U.S. division (Advanced Research Group Uniting Superhumans).  Signing up for duty with this new incarnation of the JLA are Catwoman, Katana, Green Lantern, Green Arrow, Martian Manhunter, Steve Trevor, Hawkman, Star Girl and the long-awaited return of 80s superhero, Vibe

Collects: issues #1-7

Authors: Geoff Johns
Artists: David Finch
Published By: DC Comics
Published When: Nov. 12 2013
Parental Rating: Teen
ISBN: 978-1401242367
Pages: 224 pages


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