Review:
A legendary Justice League creative crew is reunited and given a brand new New 52 era Justice League book. Keith Giffen and JM Dematteis, who co-wrote Justice League titles (Justice League, Justice League International, Justice League Europe) for many years in the late 1980s and early 1990s, team up for a new take on the league. They bring in Howard Porter, who provided art for them on such lesser-known titles as Magog and Scooby Apocalypse.
It all held so much potential with high expectations from fans of their previous run. Unfortunately, this time it doesn't work. The magic fails to click.
The so-called Wonder Twins, Terry and Teri, have resurrected key members of the classic Justice League - Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash and Green Lantern.
It's now the 31st century and half the known universe is run by The Five, ruthless and near omnipotent beings. There's Kali the 6-armed god, Locus the reality-altering teen, Coeval the sentient program, the Convert who can possess several thousand other beings simultaneously, and one other to be named later.
Can the resurrected Justice League defeat The Five and saved the oppressed?
No, in part due to the flawed process used in their resurrection. Ariel Masters knew of the flaws and sought to prevent the process, but is now on the run in an effort to preserve her secrets. The results of the process once executed give us, not the classic heroes everyone knows, but beings with some hiccups.
Superman is an arrogant frat boy with immense power but not flight. Wonder Woman is a blood-thirsty warrior. Green Lantern is slowly being killed by the Green energy. Flash has no anti-friction aura. The closest to their old self is Batman, yet something is still off.
The result is that these beings, flawed in powers and personalities, fail to bond into a team that transcends its individual parts. With all this internal squabbling and self-doubt, how can they possibly overcome the awesome power of The Five?
The ongoing series is flawed in its attempts to resurrect the magic of this creative team, too. Howard Porter's art is chunky and slapdash. The constant exotic panel layouts do little more than distract and confuse. Even Hi-Fi on the colours, in other places so jaw-dropping, here are blocky and sub-par.
For a couple issues, Keith Giffen handles the layouts and it does make an immediate, if not lasting, difference.
Giffen's primary involvement is with the plots, with longtime collaborator JM Dematteis putting those ideas into words. But the fun banter and non-sequiturs of their renowned Justice League run are missing here. A handful of forced and one-dimensional exchanges give hints of levity and fun, but they are too few, too wooden, too uninspiring.
Maybe these are just not the right characters for this team. When they wrote for Blue Beetle, Booster Gold, Fire, Ice, Captain Atom and more, they excelled with mid-tier heroes or new characters of their own making. This attempt to reinterpret this set of A-List heroes is forced, not much fun and ultimately falls flat.
Description:
In the far-flung future in the year 3000, the Justice League still exists and they're more familiar than you could imagine. Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, The Flash and Green Lantern comprise the League, but how is it that a millennia from now, these heroes could still exists? JUSTICE LEAGUE 3000 VOL. 1: YESTERDAY LIVES is a new series starring the heroes of today--tomorrow from the classic Justice League writing team of Keith Giffen and J.M. DeMatteis with legendary artist Howard Porter (JLA).
Collects: Justice League 3000 #1-7
Authors: Keith Giffen, J. M. Dematteis
Artists: Howard Porter
Published By: DC Comics
Published When: Oct 21, 2014
Parental Rating: Teen
ISBN: 978-1401250461
Pages: 176 pages
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