Justice League Unlimited #1 – Mark Waid, Jeph Loeb, Writers; Dan Mora, Jim Lee/Scott Williams, Artists; Tamra Bonvillain, Alex Sinclair, Colorists
Ray – 9.5/10
Ray: Justice League is a tricky book to write, because while the writer can play with the entire DCU, they usually don’t control any of the big guns. Most writers use their runs to build to an event – both Geoff Johns and Scott Snyder took that approach, and Josh Williamson cut out the wait and jumped on for one issue and immediately killed the League to kick off Dark Crisis! But Mark Waid us built differently, and the veteran writer is off to a very strong start here. So who’s on his team, you ask? How about…everyone? The new Justice League Unlimited is a massive watchtower that serves as a home base for every hero in the DCU, slotting them in on missions as their skills are needed, with Red Tornado steering them as the tower’s AI. But we need some leads, and in addition to the core A-list heroes, it seems three less-spotlighted heroes will be in the fore – Black Lightning, Star Sapphire, and Air Wave.
Jeff Pierce has been a Leaguer before, but Air Wave was just brought back into continuity in Stargirl: The Lost Children and Carol Ferris has recently come into her own as a hero after a long time as a villain or antagonist. This first issue sets up the team and sends them off on two missions – Batman and Jaime Reyes investigating the disappearance of children in Costa Rica in a very eerie tale, and a larger squad including Superman and Wonder Woman fighting a paramilitary attack on an African mining village. There are some amazing uses of Air Wave and Star Sapphire’s powers here that really sell them as members of the team, and some great team dynamics. But there’s also the debut of a menacing new villain group, Inferno, which remains cloaked in shadows right now, as well as a gut punch of a final page that hints at a major threat within. It’s a note-perfect start and feels like the book Waid has been building to since he arrived at DC again.
There’s also a short backup previewing the upcoming “Hush II” arc by Loeb and Lee over in Batman. I’m not sure if this is an original prelude or will be in the first issue, but it’s a strong preview reminding us of just how deep Hush’s madness go – and how good this creative team is at its peak.
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GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.
