The new DCU begins...NOW! (Warning! Spoilers will appear.)

[Cavaliere (moderator emeritus)]

The new Justice League receives four out of five stars from me but nearly only had three. Call it a B- (for those who remember having real grades). The art was dynamic, the first glimpse into this new word intriguing, what characterization there was was enjoyable, but the pacing stinks. It was way too deconstructed. Five pages, six tops, worth of story spread out over an issue. I'm still excited about the new DCU but this wasn't a great start.

 

(copies from my Facebook profile)

[Rob Staeger (Grodd Mod)]

Yeah, my big problem with this was the pacing, too. It seems counterintuitive to launch the big, changed universe with the two characters who they've explicitly said haven't changed very much. I wanted to see more!

[Cavaliere (moderator emeritus)]

I liked the time they spent concentrating on Vic Stone in the issue. It was a good introduction to him and his life.

[The Baron]

If nothing else, I'm glad to see Vic get bumped up to the big leagues.  I hope he gets a solo series of his own at some point. I'd at least give that one a try.

[Rob Staeger (Grodd Mod)]

I agree; I'm looking forward to seeing Vic progress. (And then, hopefully, moving forward past the likely Angry Vic Stone stage when the story moves to the present.)

[Lumbering Jack (M'odd-R8-Tr)]

I have always found Vic dreadfully boring. I was actually shocked they picked him over other, more interesting characters.

[Mr. Silver Age]

You aren't supposed to be reading these as individual comics, you're supposed to read them as chapters in a TPB. The pacing works fine if you can just turn the page to the next chapter.

It'd be nice if DC would consider its periodical readers, especially for the entry comic in a major push that they've essentially said will define whether they can keep comics viable, but it's probably too much to ask.

No doubt, DC appreciates us buying it in this form and moving that cash flow along, until it can publish it in the form in which it's intended to be read.But I'd think those initial reviews are important, and "B-" due to not treating it as a comic book is pretty bad.

-- MSA

[Rob Staeger (Grodd Mod)]

Yeah, I was pretty astonished that there wasn't more bang for the buck here. Though maybe new readers will have different expectations for a comic. (And in a month, they'll be able to turn the page for a download of chapter 2, anyhow.)

[Jason Marconnet (Pint sized mod)]

I read Justice League and enjoyed it for the most part. It was extremely deconstructed though. A few of Geoff Johns' other #1's have been pretty substantial even if it was part 1 of a 6 part story. This almost seemed out of character for him. However i can feel it is building up to something.

 

The art was great. I love Jim Lee and he's at the top of his game here.

 

My biggest problem was that Hal Jordan came over as a huge jackass. I typically like Hal but this new characterization was annoying. Maybe it'll change since this is an early story in the DCnU.

[Cavaliere (moderator emeritus)]

I'm rarely a fan of Hal Jordan (or, for that matter, Tony Stark) as a person. Hal and Tony are both great characters but they aren't people that I like. Hal seemed in-character to me, especially considering that it's a younger Hal then we've been reading for decades.

[Alan M.]

Some points:

• Those attack helicopters the GCPD have are ridiculous!
• I found the exposition-heavy dialogue to be very stilted.
• Why does Green Lantern keep referring to himself in the third person?
• In Geoff Johns' hands, Batman's deductive reasoning is just jumping to arbitrary conclusions that happen to be right:
  • Re. Green Lantern's ring: "I don't see any buttons so I'm guessing it works off concentration."
  • Re. the alien that exploded: "It combusted into fire."
    "But it did it on purpose."
    "How do you know that?"
    "It was trying to incinerate us with it."
  • Re. the Motherbox the alien left behind: "It doesn't look like a bomb. More like some kind of alien computer."

It wasn't that it was bad, but nothing about the world that was presented in this book made me think, "I want to read more of this."

Looking forward to Action Comics, Animal Man, and Swamp Thing next week, though! (If my pull list weren't already over-burdened in September, I'd be looking forward to Batgirl, too...)

[Cavaliere (moderator emeritus)]

I presumed that the attack choppers were from an anti-metahuman task force, not the GCPD.

[Captain Comics]

Anybody read Flashpoint #5? Was it good and/or did it add anything to Justice League?

 

And speaking of Flashpoint, does anybody but me remember that name has been used before? There was a three-issue Flash Elseworlds story in 1999 named Flashpoint, by Pat McGreal and Norm Breyfogle. Just curious if that's ever been addressed by ... anybody!