justice league international

Here’s a comic chosen at random from my collection.

Justice League International (2011) #1 by Dan Jurgens (writer), Aaron Lopresti (pencil art), Matt Ryan (ink art), Travis Lanham (lettering), Hi-Fi (colors), Rex Ogle (editor), and Lopresti & Hi-Fi (cover)

Poor Booster Gold. The guy gets no respect, despite the fact that Batman believes in him (or so he says). Booster thinks that he’s been asked to join the Justice League, when in fact, he’s been asked to lead the UN-sanctioned Justice League International. Then Guy Gardner stomps out of the meeting, refusing to be led by Booster. Then the UN liaison berates Booster for not being able to keep Gardner on the team. Finally, on the team’s first mission, even with Batman along, things go from bad to worse.

The comic didn’t last, but I found the premise interesting, if the execution lacking. I would love to see this story played out with characters that weren’t driven by corporate objectives because a team put together by the world governments in response to an independent team of superhumans without any proper training or a clear mandate IS intriguing to me. I’m not sure why this book failed because Jurgens is an established, fairly decent writer, and Lopresti has a very clean, early-eighties superhero style, plus it had Batman! How can you go wrong with Batman? ;)

Here’s a comic chosen at random from my collection.

Formerly Known as the Justice League tpb by Keith Giffen & J.M DeMatteis (writers), Kevin Maguire (penciler), Joe Rubenstein (inker), Bob Lappan (letterer), Lee Loughridge (colorist), Steve Wacker (assoc. editor), Dan Rasplar & Mike Carlin (editors), and Maguire, Rubenstien, & Loughridge (cover)

If you were a fan of the late 1980s Justice League (and later, Justice League International) titles, then this limited series was for you. The band was back together, both in front of the camera, so to speak, and behind it. In fact, that’s the basic premise of the story: getting the band back together. Of course, there’s a weird turn in the story involving the House and Roulette, from a strictly narrative standpoint, though I suppose it sets up a rather poor joke with Mary Marvel. There are really good bits of humor, however, being even funnier than the issues of JL/JLI that I can remember reading all those years ago. In fact, there’s a running gag with Batman that made me laugh out loud a few times as I read this trade, and that doesn’t happen very often.

The Maguire/Rubenstein art is lovely, again, to read. Maguire can do light superhero very well, which complements the humorous tone. If DC had decided to do another series with these characters, I would have bought it. I’m pretty sure they planned to do exactly that, but then Infinite Crisis happened, I believe (I could be totally making this up under the guide of wishful thinking).