Geoff John's
Justice League was the first book of the New 52 and presents a new version of the team's origin for a post 9/11 world.The core of the team is an expected group--Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Hal Jordan's Green Lantern, Barry Allen's Flash, and Aquaman--but Cyborg is added to the roster, perhaps in effort to add diversity to the team, suggesting that the
Titans or
Young Justice are no longer feeder programs for the League (a curious omission given the popularity of the
Young Justice series on The Cartoon Network). As relatively untried figures (the Age of Heroes in the New 52 books began about six years ago), the heroes are all engaging characters and the interactions between the members of the nascent team are interesting and, at times, humorous.
In a story set five years in the past, the series opens with super-powered beings being (rather like the X-Men) hated and feared by the world they are sworn to protect, but the world comes to recognize that (at least) some of these individuals are heroes, when America is suddenly attacked by (essentially) terrorists from Apokolips. Darkseid is the villain of the first arc--recently collected in hardcover as
Origin--and is collecting organic matter (i.e. human beings) from across the universe (or, possibly, the multiverse) as an element of an as yet undefined grand scheme, but part of Darkseid's mission is revealed: he seeks to recover his missing (wayward?) daughter (!). The heroes--Cyborg is especially instrumental here--come together to defeat Darkseid and his minions and are recognized as positive forces, an occasion that leads into the series proper. Issue No. 6 concludes with an epilogue that ties into the earlier
Flashpoint series and presents both Pandora (a new character to the DCU) and the Phantom Stranger in conflict and referencing a "Third Sinner" (they are the First and Second, as revealed in later stories) and setting the stage for future storylines. Extra material in the collected edition continues this trend of future looking and references the upcoming "Curse of Shazam" storyline.
In a story set five years in the past, the series opens with super-powered beings being (rather like the X-Men) hated and feared by the world they are sworn to protect, but the world comes to recognize that (at least) some of these individuals are heroes, when America is suddenly attacked by (essentially) terrorists from Apokolips. Darkseid is the villain of the first arc--recently collected in hardcover as Origin--and is collecting organic matter (i.e. human beings) from across the universe (or, possibly, the multiverse) as an element of an as yet undefined grand scheme, but part of Darkseid's mission is revealed: he seeks to recover his missing (wayward?) daughter (!). The heroes--Cyborg is especially instrumental here--come together to defeat Darkseid and his minions and are recognized as positive forces, an occasion that leads into the series proper. Issue No. 6 concludes with an epilogue that ties into the earlier Flashpoint series and presents both Pandora (a new character to the DCU) and the Phantom Stranger in conflict and referencing a "Third Sinner" (they are the First and Second, as revealed in later stories) and setting the stage for future storylines. Extra material in the collected edition continues this trend of future looking and references the upcoming "Curse of Shazam" storyline.
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