Comic Review: JUSTICE LEAGUE #3
Tyrants!
We’re back for issue #3 of DC’s new 52 Justice League series! And as the cover states, we meet Wonder Woman. Nice!
Review:
The book starts off introducing the readers to Wonder Woman, who from what it seems like has newly arrived from Paradise Island. Here she appears to be an envoy for the Amazons living in Washington DC, possibly positioning herself as DC’s patron hero! It seems that while Diana is still a warrior born and bred, she has lived a very sheltered life on Paradise Island and doesn't fully get the anti-superhero sentiment around her. Plus, she is always looking for villains to fight.
Steve Trevor is her Pentagon liaison in the thankless position of trying to keep her in line, especially given the anti-hero fervor.
And of course, around the same time, parademons are popping up through boom tubes all over the world, which leads us back to Superman, Batman, Flash and Green Lantern. The foursome are fending off their attackers with ease in Metropolis. They are eventually joined by Wonder Woman. GL and Flash are smitten. But it seems that Superman and Wonder Woman have the quickest (and cheesiest) connection over how strong she is. This Wonder Woman has no magic lasso, at least in her JL appearance, and opts for a sword to fight…and eat ice cream.
At the end of the issue, we still don’t have an official Justice League, but the lineup is missing all but one more member, who I’ll get to in a moment. A few more things have transpired
1.) We finally get our first glimpse of Darkseid. Thus far, he looks the same as his Pre-Flashpoint incarnation. And he seems to have established some sort of base in the ocean.
2.) Aquaman makes an appearance and votes himself leader of whatever group is repelling Darkseid’s forces.
3.) We find out that the parademons are not killing any civilians, just kidnapping them. Why? We don’t know.
And in the B-Plot, Victor Stone’s douchehole of a dad is trying to save his son from the near fatal parademon attack at S.T.A.R. Labs. This storyline, while removed from the main plot, is still running parallel and holding its own. Guess he loves him after all. After outfit him with the Cyborg components, Victor’s dad boots ups his upgraded son!
The good:
Nice to have the team fully formed, though we never once felt like the team was in any danger. And Wonder Woman sure did get to Metropolis in a hurry. I haven’t read the new Wonder Woman comic so I’m not sure if she can fly still Post-Flashpoint.
In another smaller and funnier note, the whole de-mystifying of Batman continues as Flash is alarmed to hear that the Dark Knight has no special powers.
As always, Jim Lee never fails to impress with his amazing artwork. Same goes for Scott Williams, Lee’s longtime collaborator on the inking side.
Its also good to see how things are shaping up for Darkseid being the first major threat that the Justice League fights. The whole world is afraid of superheroes at this point. Maybe a big win over a global threat will change the tenor of superhero sentiment.
The bad:
Not necessarily bad. But the meeting with Wonder Woman and Aquaman did feel a bit rushed. I’m hoping for a more developed relationship between the team being written in later on.
The ugly:
Those freaking parademons still got hit by every branch on the ugly tree. Ha!
Next Issue:
Looks like we might finally see Cyborg in action. Plus the team meets Aquaman. And I’m guessing we might find out more about Darkseid’s evil plot. Sounds like a party.
Til next time!