One Coin Reads 14: Justice League United Volume 1, by Jeff Lemire and Mike McKone

Justice League United Volume 1, by Jeff Lemire and Mike McKone

2015

Justice League Canada? I'm Canadian, I gotta like that, right?

I was actually excited to see a chimpanzee in the book, but it was just an image for Animal Man

It turns out, no. No, I don't. I'm not interested in dunking on books, and when there's a book I don't care for, I've been trying to critique it as if I knew the creators. You wouldn't say something is out and out terrible to someone's face.  This isn't terrible, but it's not good. It's another in a long line of corporate books created for the sake of taking up space on the shelves.

Why did I buy it? At first, I skipped over it multiple times. But it was only ¥497. That's a reason to buy. It's part of DC's New 52. That's a reason to skip. Jeff Lemire's a Canadian who likes making Canadiana, he's not an American simply making poutine references. That's a reason to buy. Jeff Lemire wrote one of the least interesting X-Men titles I've ever read. That's a reason to skip. Mike McKone is a solid, interesting artist. That's a reason to buy. DC editorial insists on their being multiple Justice League titles for brand recognition's sake. That's a reason to skip.

But I decided to buy it, and was actually kind of curious once it arrived. This wasn't like the Cyberforce book I pushed aside for three months afraid to open it. I put this ahead of a lot of other books hoping it would be a breezy, fun book while I read other heavier ones.

Next page, that guy is flying in a space suit. That's the origin of Adam Strange

Justice League United is a book. It has a beginning, middle and ending. It's all professionally done, but it feels so uninspired. The story is related to Ontario, and the action is spit between Moosonee and outer space. 

A quick synopsis: some Justice Leaguers investigate a disappearance in Moosonee and find an alien research center. They get teleported to space and fight a space terrorist trying to kidnap a super alien baby. The good guys win and they come back. A B-story involves a Cree high school student learning she has powers.

That's how you join the League

Potentially, Lemire could explore a lot of interesting things over a 40 issue series, but DC just cancels series that aren't juggernaut sellers, so judging this book on the six issues inside is completely fair to do. This book doesn't offer much new except for a novel Canadian setting, and it doesn't do much with that. You'd have to already be taken with the characters to want to know more, and I suspect that was the audience. Few people found this title by accident, as compared to the main Geoff Johns' Justice League title which probably did end up as some folks first exposure to the team.

This Justice League is: 

-Martian Manhunter, who is a stoic leader. I wish he had some of the dry humor of the 80s version of him, but this version is dour. I skipped 20 years of Justice League comics, so that is probably just what the character is now. 

-Green Arrow is an idiot, apparently. His one character trait is insulting Animal Man. I know this was the younger, cooler Nu-52 version, and it sucks. I'm not going to tone down my disdain here. It was a poor choice on whoever decided to recast him as brat.

-Animal Man, who is one of my favorite DC characters from back in the Vertigo era, basically acts like the MCU Ant-Man. He has a no respect schtick. 

Characterization

-Stargirl is a character I don't really know at all, but she was mostly interesting, and probably the best character in the book. She plays the role of an enthusiastic newbie. When a team of heroes goes into outer space, it's good to have at least one character not be bored by it. Of the main team, she is the most likable.

-Supergirl makes an appearance, but isn't in it much to give a sense of her character. She does have an interesting scene where she takes offense to Stargirl talking about aliens.

-Adam Strange. He finds an alien suit and instantly becomes a superhero. This was ridiculous. His wife Alanna Strange is given a similar suit and would seem to provide a similar role as him. It's an interesting twist, but in the context of the story it doesn't work.

-Equinox is the new character, but she doesn't have a code name in the story. They just invite her into the league.

I kinda love this?

They use Lobo in the space scenes, and not the Main Man version people like, but the NU-52, manscaped, DC-editorial-is-trolling-you Lobo. I kind of love it. It was a pointless change to make Lobo sexy-handsome, but it's so stupid that it goes all the way into amazing. I think this version is going to make a comeback one day, or at least live forever in clickbait lists of the worst changes ever made. I'm not trying to say it's good, but it is interesting.

So the story is bland, the characters are mostly thin and less likable than past incarnations, and nothing is compelling about it. How much of this is Lemire's fault? How much is it him simply working within the strict (so it has been said) editorial confines of the New 52? I want to give him the benefit of the doubt and say that they paid him to make a lemon and he tried to make lemonade. He put some Cree culture in a mainstream DC book. It wasn't a very good book, but most of the New 52 books weren't very good, so it's not like he was doing any worse than most there.

Panel 3 looks good

McKone is a good artist. He works in a style of hard, tight inks which isn't usually up my alley, but I like it when he does it, and have been a fan of his since I first saw his work in the 80s Justice League International. Whatever gripes I have with this, it isn't with him.

The coloring is bland for the most part, digital airbrush tools. On a few alien pages, it jumps to dayglo colors, and I thought it popped in a nice way, then it went back to "realistic" colors and I lost interest. There was one thing they did where action would get accented by flat red colors over black and white characters, foregoing all realism. That looked good. It didn't add up to much, but it was a neat technique and break from the rest of the book.

I couldn't recommend this to anyone. I checked Wikipedia, and it lasted 16 issues. That sounds about right. Everyone involved can do better than this.