Oh hey, a brand new series from DC and it’s a Justice League book set in the distant future. It also has quite the lineup for a creative team with Keith Giffen, J.M. DeMatties and Howard Porter onboard. What will it have in store for us? Is it good?
Justice League 3000 #1 (DC Comics)
Taking place in the year… 3000, two members of Cadmus called Terry and Teri (lovingly referred to as the Wonder Twins) are running a project that their old mentor, Ariel Masters, has run away from in fear. The project? Clones of the Justice League, meant to protect the universe and all that. However, the clones are a bit… half-baked if you will and barely act like the originals.
These guys totally need to do some team building exercises.
For a first issue, this works: it sets up the main characters, their personalities, and the characters’ goals. Sort of. I say sort of, because from what a lot of the characters are implying, there are hidden agendas at play and none of them may be noble. Regardless, the intrigue in what will be taking place is rather exciting and I can see people wanting to see more in the future.
I think the biggest and most standout aspect of the comic are the characters and their interactions with one another. This isn’t the Justice League you know: this future version features constant bickering and frustration with one another — as well as some of their personality traits being very exaggerated. For instance, if you thought Wonder Woman felt off or too violent in Geoff Johns’ Justice League book, this one will certainly surprise you with how vicious and brutal she is.
However, their behavior makes perfect sense. They are incomplete clones of the heroes and they lack experience from the events that shaped the originals into becoming who they are. That, and they are trying to live up their originals, constantly mentioning how their former selves were different or wanting to live up to them (like with Green Lantern wanting a power ring of his own because he doesn’t feel complete without it). It’s engaging stuff and with all of their unique personalities, they do read like fully realized characters. Bottom line: these future-clones are enjoyable to read, even if most of them are jackasses.
I dunno, jackass sounds like something Batman might say. Well at least the one from All Star Batman and Robin.
As far as the artwork, I’ll admit I’ve never been a big fan of Howard Porter’s art, especially during his JLA days with Grant Morrison; his stuff always looked off for me, what with his characters’ gigantic mouths, bad body proportions and gaudy coloring. Here his stuff is quite impressive on all fronts and it is quite surprising to me that this is even the same artist from all those years ago.
His characters look great and distinct from one another, especially their body structures and faces (except for Superman and Batman when they are out of costume. Couldn’t tell who was who at points). The action looks stellar and dynamic. One particular highlight is how busy and well detailed everything looks. There are often many things happening in the pages and even in small panels where a regular artist might wouldn’t put as much detail or attention into some aspects; in Justice League 3000 #1 every little bit of the page is given attention and drawn so meticulously that it is impressive. Outside of the occasional off looking facial expression, it’s a very well-drawn book overall.
That’s it! All of you are so grounded!
8.5
- Solid and well-written first issue.
- Interesting characters.
- Great artwork.
- The characters’ behavior, while understandable, may not be appealing to some.
Is It Good?
Justice League 3000 #1 is a promising start to this new series. The dynamic of the characters is interesting, the setting is pretty decent and the artwork quite fantastic. I look forward to seeing more from this comic in the coming months.
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