Justice League of America #1-5
Originally released in 2013
Written by Geoff Johns
Art by David Finch (#1-3), Brett Booth (#4-5)
My original intention for today was to read Superman Smashes the Klan, a story based in part on a 1940s radio serial that has art by Gurihiru, who also did the art for Gwenpool. However, to my surprise, that story isn't on the DC Universe Infinite app, so instead, I went with Justice League of America from the New 52 era.
The main Justice League at this time simply went by "Justice League", which makes sense - they're an international peace-keeping force rather than being restricted to America. However, this causes the American government to get nervous, and Amanda Waller takes initiative to gather a team that could serve American interests, and if need be (though none of the members know it), take down the Justice League.
This doesn't seem like a great plan for a number of reasons. Chief among them is that most of the team members don't know each other, and are being kept in line through blackmail, bribery, lies, or other forms of manipulation. Its most optimistic member, Stargirl, is only included as a public relations representative, and she's kept out of the action as much as possible, which she dislikes.
The team has a Green Lantern, Simon Baz, who is kept on board through threats of being returned to jail, but for the first few issues, he's off-planet, so he's no help to them. Meanwhile, Hawkman comes across as a crooked cop in this depiction of him, brutalizing his foes until he's covered in their blood and declaring that any criminal that he apprehends is the one that he's on Earth searching for, seemingly so he can beat them up as much as he wants and it's still okay under Thanagar's laws.
As well, Amanda Waller has mapped out which member will counter a given Justice League member - some of these, like Martian Manhunter countering Superman, make sense, but Vibe is an 18 year old kid who barely knows how to use his powers and Waller's putting him up against the Flash. Meanwhile, Katana is, by all appearances, an ordinary human with a possibly mystical sword, and Waller's intention is for her to take on Wonder Woman single-handedly, which comes across as Waller having a grudge against Katana.
Speaking of which, Amanda Waller received a redesign for the New 52, which doesn't seem like it would be a popular one. It makes her much younger and slimmer, taking away most if not all of her distinguishing characteristics. (her nickname, "the Wall," could still be chalked up to her personality)
Another controversial choice that shows up is how, in the New 52, Superman and Wonder Woman are in a relationship. The timing of Amanda Waller revealing this to Steve Trevor, who's leading the team, makes Steve kind of come across as a bitter/jealous ex. I've seen four very different versions of Steve Trevor - the version portrayed by Chris Pine in the live action movie, a version from the Justice League cartoon who meets Diana when the team travels back to World War 2 but is an old man by the present, the George Perez version who sees Diana as a sister, and this one. They're all very different portrayals; I mainly liked the Chris Pine version, even if bringing him back for Wonder Woman 1984 seemed a little unnecessary.
The Justice League of America goes up against the Secret Society of Super-Villains, though it's just referred to as "the Secret Society" here. I'm not familiar enough with DC to recognize its members (Signal Man, Blockbuster, and Copperhead are named, and I've only heard of one of those), though they also intend to defeat the Justice League despite being ill-equipped to do so.
My main gripe with this series so far is that the character dynamics within the team basically don't exist - these characters don't really know each other, and aside from Steve and Catwoman have a moment of bonding over being rejected by superheroes, Catwoman and Martian Manhunter having some good banter and learning about each others' history when J'onn reads Selina's mind, and Steve and Green Arrow getting some beers off-screen one time, they don't get many opportunities to do so.
Maybe that's meant to be intentional, to show that a team like the Justice League can't be built in a cold and clinical way like what Amanda Waller and the Secret Society's mysterious leader are doing, and instead, it should consist of like-minded individuals who get along well and decide to work together without being coerced. It would be nice if the series took some time to give these characters a chance to get to know each other, but that isn't happening, as the end of issue 5 leads into an event called "Trinity War".
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