Legion World Forums LEGION COMPANION Dr. Gym'll's Cultural Rarities Justice League

Godiva a FRAUD?!? arrgghhh!!!! how?!!??

Justice Leage Dark #3 was decent but a little slow. I'm enjoying the character focus, and glad to see Shade again (his parts were dead on), but by issue three I'm waiting for the plot to move a little faster. So far Enchantress seems like a distraction more than a threat. I'm just not getting the sense of urgency I think this plot requires.

re JLI 3,

Loved the pairings as well. Found all four pairs to have wonderful interactions.

The blossoming Vixen-Fire friendship is good and refreshing.

August General comforting a Godiva who realized she's in over her head is VERY good, and just makes me more interested to read more about Godiva. (PS Godiva not being trained - is she a government-mandated figurehead? interesting)

Rocket Red + Ice make a good friendship pair and I for one would love to see more male-female friendships.

Batman and Booster make an excellent team. I love how Bats is actually encouraging and not a jerk at all. Plus, agree with Cobie above that it's nice to see Booster isn't the glory hound anymore.

Guy acting alone is so him, but I'm glad he's not being overly douchy. This Guy is written just right.

LOVING Dark, especially the moody artwork. One of my favorite New52 titles. Not being really familiar with several of these characters-- Mindwarp, Shade, June Moon-- I'm enjoying the pacing here...

JLI#3 was fun for the reasons IB mentions... Bea/Mari was a nice scene, and I've been loving the Batman/Booster dynamic since the most recent Booster series. Glad to see it carrying over here.

Justice League #4 - Some fun bits, but mostly unimaginative. I hate seeing Darkseid reduced to a "punch 'em up" villain. There should be more going on here than just a build up to a big fight. I also think that over-the-top Aquaman is a bit more of a joke than supposedly "lame" Aquaman. I guess Johns just doesn't click with me anymore.

Justice League #5 - I promised I'd go to the end of the first arc, but this is a very trying comic. I thought this issue Johns would have a chance to redeem himself writing Darkseid. Wow, was I wrong. What a step down from the awesome job Morrison did in Final Crisis and miles away from Kirby. Darkseid as a silent punch machine. Couldn't they have used Doomsday instead?

Justice League Dark #5 is pretty anti-climatic. I've been enjoying the character moments here, but the plot's had no sense of urgency or impact (Despite the tried and true "World's going crazy" snippets that harken back to early Swamp Thing and Sandman). Then it just ends with Constantine casting a spell and Mind Warp doing ... something, and that's all she wrote. I guess it's fitting for 5 issues of non-buildup to have a non-climax, but it didn't make for a satisfying comic. The aftermath with Xanadu failing to unite the team read equally lame, and Milligan (who I normally love), seemed to be forcing the reactions a bit.

I am becoming more happy with my decision to not get the new Justice League...not just from what you have said Dave, but from yours and other reviews I have seen (even the positive ones) make me very glad I skipped it.

I haven't been buying Justice League, and even with this "Curse of Shazam" back-up coming soon I still won't. I am really getting tired of how Geoff Johns "revitalizes" characters.

I thoroughly enjoyed the first arc and finale of Justice League Dark. Janin's art and the coloring complimented one another perfectly - setting the mood for a supernatural series. Each member was used well and got a fair amount of screen time. Everyone seemed to be in character. I didn't find Xanadu's failure to unite the team lame at all. It seems totally in character for these men and women. They are suspicious of her motives and not big joiners to begin with -- maybe with the exception of Zatanna. She would probably be more comfortable with the League proper than this group. Now Xanadu must continue her efforts to bring a skeptical team together. It's reminiscent of the role that Raven took in the early Wolfman/Perez Teen Titans.

I haven't been reading JLI, but JLA and JLD for me suffer from the same kind of storytelling flaw that's very common these days - tons of setup, no middle and a resolution that comes way too quickly, making it anti-climactic. It remains to be seen if JLA falls into this category, but considering how many issues are left in this arc and Johns's history, it seems that's the way it's going.

Wow-- the solicit for JUSTICE LEAGUE DARK after the change in creative team has me excited!

Black Orchid! In a variation of her classic, couldn't really be improved costume! I only hope they keep the petal-wings and don't add *too* much detailing to her body-suit. I know they can't resist adding some.

I'm really looking forward to seeing the direction taken with this character. Will she be the mysterious super-strong flying mistress of disguise? Or the plant-human hybrid with mystical overtones? Some combination of the two?

I wouldn't mind the purple 'floaty' hair when she takes off her headgear. I do hope she retains that disguise talent, though. I'd like it even better if that weren't a super-power, but a cultivated skill involving make-up, research and acting.

How would that play in a 'dark' magical title? It'd be an interesting 'harmony' for Zatanna's stage magician persona... though I gotta confess, I haven't paid enough attention- does she still *have* that persona? I've bought every issue, and read all but the last and I dont' remember.

I sort of really hope they don't throw away everything they established in the Vertigo book. Especially since the third Black Orchid was a part of the DCU.

There is the chance that it's still the third Orchid, Suzy, and she's using her glamour abilities to put on the appearance of the first Orchid.

I'm disappointed we won't get more Milligan, especially with him writing Constantine and Shade in the same book! Unfortunately, this book went from "sure buy" to "on the fence."

Justice League Dark #6 - this was... odd. After the "coming together" arc ended last issue with the group agreeing they couldn't work together and didn't want to, this issue was essentially a "whoops, I guess we do need to work together", but without any real motivation behind it, or at least nothing that couldn't have been covered last issue (or really, just replace the entire first arc with this issue and you get the same result). I'm beginning to wonder of Milligan asked to be removed from the title, because as great some individual moments are, the overall narrative seems really lackadaisical, and I don't get the feeling he's into it.

Justice League #6 - The first story arc is complete. The Justice League has a shiny new origin story for the post Flashpoint DC universe. It worked for me. The final battle with Darkseid may have been a bit anticlimactic, but that just means there will be a high octane rematch at some point. Each of the founding seven members got some good screen time. They all showed some personality, and they came together for a convincing threat. Jim Lee's work was solid throughout. It's a good foundation.

I enjoyed the back up story as well. The mysterious woman from the first issues of the new 52 has a name, a purpose, and a connection to the Phantom Stranger. Let's see where this goes.

I am also thoroughly enjoying this particular run of the JL. The heroes feel different, but yet the same somehow.
Geoff Johns has done a great job in keeping this new version fresh for me.

I liked the little nod to Starro and the first Justice League's debut mission.

I thought the 'we're not a team' stuff felt a little forced and silly, but on the whole, I liked the issue.

Pandora and Phantom Stranger were more interesting. Apparently, she's the Pandora of myth and legend- but what that means in the DC multiverse remains to be seen.

She looked too much like Zealot- though it might be interesting if she was one of Zealot's people.

I didn't dig the whole Matrix-style action bit with the Stranger and Pandora. I know he's been active in earlier incarnations, but it seemed silly to have him suddenly lunge at her like that (then get his ass handed to him).

It also only took Johns 7 pages to turn Pandora into a bit of a Mary Sue. Impressive.

Lightweight but enjoyable first arc.
The way the whole thing was written in a sort of shorthand, leads me to believe that this nu-continuity is temporary, and that DC'll be returning to the classic continuity with the next major crossover event.
Morrison's Multiverse perhaps?

I'm in agreement with Dave Hackett. I was intrigued about Pandora but after the back-up? Not so much. It's hard to feel "woe is her" without the reason being given. I didn't really need more questions about her than answers and her attitude is unlikable for me. Hopefully her upcoming involvement with the Justice League will be a one time thing and not permanent.

Overall, the first arc was good as others said. Not great, but good. I do kind of wish it had been a separate piece or J'onn had been involved somehow. Why not? If we're going to time jump anyway then it's not like he'd still have to be on the team after the founding.

So is Pandora the new Pariah? As I recall, he mostly appeared to whine about how awful everything was during Crisis on Infinite Earths...

So there are "three sinners?" my first thought was that Pandora is ... Pandora, Stranger is ... Cain? And the "third sinner" is Lucifer, but he's hiding ....

but who knows?

This first arc for Justice League was so utterly ... hollow. There's no story - just clever exchanges between characters and a big fight to get the characters together. Johns is an idea guy, but he can't craft a real plot to save his life.

Most hints seem to point to Shazam being the third.

DC has a user named "Pandora" who showed up on their dying boards after registration closed and dropped a bunch of cryptic ranting, that included a lot of lightning references around the third sinner.

So all in all, I thought the first arc was pretty damn underwhelming. It didn't take long to become series of half moments and cliches, with no substance. The plot was basically the same plot I would write for my own stories when I was seven years old. Except with added dickhead comments by Hal.

Compared to Morrison's opening arc on JLA in the late 90's? It was garbage. Now *that* was an opening JLA arc.

And the back-up? Meh. I can barely remember it and I just read it.