Review: Justice League #1 (DC Comics New 52)

Written by GEOFF JOHNS; Art and cover by JIM LEE and SCOTT WILLIAMS.

Comics superstars Geoff Johns and Jim Lee make history! In a universe where super heroes are strange and new, Batman has discovered a dark evil that requires him to unite the World Greatest Heroes!

I mentioned back at the end of July that I was really excited about the DC Comics New 52. I was excited from a personal viewpoint, as my knowledge of the DC Universe is fairly limited, never having been a buyer of comics as a child, teenager or adult. This knowledge has increased slowly over the past year or so as I have started to buy (and loan from our local library) more and more trade paperback collections of some of the classic DC stories. I also mentioned that I was excited for all the young readers who will now be given the chance to enter the DC Universe for the first time, and be able to grow up with the new stories. As far as encouraging boys to read the 'relaunch' of so many comics featuring big-name characters is a great event.

Unfortunately there isn't a comic shop anywhere near me, so I have set up a standing order at the brilliant Gosh Comics in London. Yes, this means that I will have to go and collect them from the store, but I tend to go into London once a month anyway, and how cool is it that every time I go there will be a new pile of comics waiting for me. Anyway, in my excitement I can already feel myself beginning to waffle, so straight to the poont: I was in London on Thursday, the day after Justice League #1 was released, and as soon as I arrived in London I made my way as quickly as possible to the fab brand new Gosh store in Soho, picked up my comic, headed on up to Golden Square where I sat on a bench and started reading Justice League #1.

I really did not know what to expect. Would I end up being disappointed after these months of impatient waiting? Various sources online had made me aware that the new JL would include Batman, Superman, Wonderwoman, Green Lantern, and others, but surely even a writer as great as Geoff Johns would struggle to fit all of these characters into one issue? And of course he doesn't. Without giving too much away we meet Batman, Green Lantern and Superman, and although I was a tiny bit disappointed not to have seen Wonderwoman yet, I loved it. Of course, it is a comic and so once you take all the ads out we only have 24ish pages of story, but every single page is stunning. This is Jim Lee at his very best and images are full of incredible detail and the non-stop action of the story is portrayed in such a dynamic way that it almost feels as if it is leaping off the page. Boys will devour this kind of story-telling, and if you are beginning to despair that you will never get your son to read then go out and buy him this comic now!

The story opens with these words: "There was a time when the world didn't call them its greatest super-heroes. There was a time when the world didn't know what a super-hero was". Yes, this really is back to the very beginning for the Justice League. They know each other exist. They have heard various news stories about each other's exploits. But they have never before met. At one point, in discussion with Batman, the Green Lantern says of "that guy in Metropolis": "They say he's an alien". And so in this issue we have the very first meeting between Batman and the Green Lantern, and if you can imagine two tough guys meeting each other for the first time, and the way they might size each other up, then you have a pretty good picture of how this encounter goes. Geoff Johns keeps the words to a minimum, but the short bursts of dialogue between these two heroes tells us everything we need to know at this moment in time. And then, with mysterious bad guy dispatched, it is off to Metropolis for their first encounter with Superman. I will leave you to guess how that goes.

I have no idea how the long term fan-boys have reacted to this comic as I have avoided reading any reviews for fear of tainting my enjoyment of it. However, as someone using this as an entry to the DC Universe I thought it was brilliant, and I know that there will be many, many readers out there, young and old, who will share this opinion. I know that comics are relatively pricey for their meagre 24 pages of story but I hope that there are many parents out there who will buy a copy of this, or any one of the other DC Comics New 52, for their son and by doing so spark off a lifelong love of comics, and with it a lifelong love of reading. Yes.... comics do count!!!

Guest Post by Stephen Wallenfels (author of POD)

Since I started The Book Zone I have occasionally expressed my disappointment at the lack of good space/alien-centric science fiction stories for the 11+ age group. Keith Mansfield has been leading the way with his excellent Johnny Mackintosh series, and now Stephen Wallenfels has entered the fray with POD. Thanks to the good people at Templar I have already read Stephen's book, and did so in a single sitting as I enjoyed it so much. My review will appear on The Book Zone soon but in the meantime Stephen has embarked on a blog tour (more details here) and has kindly written a piece about some of the science fiction books and films he enjoyed as a boy.


SCIFI BOOKS AND MOVIES FROM MY YOUTH THAT INFLUENCED MY WRITING

I read a lot of sci-fi books as a kid, but three stand out as especially important. The first was 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, by Jules Verne. What impressed me most about that book was that when he wrote it the idea of breathing and living under water was science fiction, and now it is science fact. That set the stage for helping me believe that as crazy as these books and concepts may sound, there is a chance that they can become real.

My creativity gene was twitching.

Then I read War of the Worlds, by H.G. Wells (actually I think my father read it to me). That book presented an alien invasion in such a realistic way I had trouble sleeping for weeks. And the third book was one a lot of people haven’t heard about these days but is a classic, and also gave me quite a scare: The Day of the Triffids, by John Wyndham. Combine that with plenty of Flash Gordon comics, short stories by Ray Bradbury and Isaac Asimov, the Dune trilogy by Frank Herbert, and I was hooked like a fish. Not only could I write about the future, I could predict it. I could create worlds along with the amazing creatures that inhabit them! My creativity gene mutated into an uncontrollable force.

Meanwhile, as my brain is being fed the written word, my eyes are feeding me visions on the screen through TV shows and movies. I watched every episode of Star Trek and would even miss baseball practice to do it. Old movie classics like The Day the Earth Stood Still, Planet of the Apes, Journey to the Center of the Earth kept me on the edge of my seat. Then came Star Wars, 2001 Space Odyssey, The Thing, and of course (wait for it…) Alien. With a diet like that I couldn’t help but give in to my destiny: write a science fiction novel.

An important point to note is that these two movies, The Thing and Alien had a profound impact on how I structured POD. In those movies, the most frightening parts are leading up to the alien reveal. The parts where you don’t know what the alien looks like (and neither do the characters) that are the most frightening—and I took that approach with POD. I decided not to reveal the aliens for two reasons—one, I wanted to prolong the sense of dread to the bitter end, and two—I wanted to focus on the characters rather than the aliens. Their role was to create a situation that stressed people to the point that they were capable of doing things (great and not so great) that under normal circumstances they would never do. That is the true test of the human spirit and that is what I wanted in POD.

*** Competition: WIN Signed/Doodled Copies of Justin Thyme and Thyme Running Out by Panama Oxridge

Today is the publication day for the paperback edition of Justin Thyme by Panama Oxridge, and as a way of celebrating Panama is running a very special competition where one lucky winner will win signed and doodled copies of Justin Thyme, and its soon-to-be-released sequel, Thyme Running Out. In order to win this special prize you will need to follow these simple instructions:

To celebrate the paperback release of JUSTIN THYME, the Tartan of Thyme Blog is running a competition with signed/doodled copies of both JUSTIN THYME and its forthcoming sequel THYME RUNNING OUT as the prize.

All readers have to do is visit the participating blogs, note down the letters and numbers on the Justin Thyme bookmarks (see photo below, please click on it for a larger view), then rearrange the letters in numerical order. This spells a secret message (Justin’s description of himself). Visit the TOT blog to find links to all participating blogs, and to email your answer. The competition will close on September 7th, when a winner (picked at random from the correct entries) will be announced. You can find the Tartan of Thyme Blog at http://tartanofthyme.blogspot.com/

 

Readers of The Book Zone can also win one of these very limited edition bookmarks, which comes in a presentation card made by Panama, by completing the form below by 8pm GMT on September 7th (this part of the competition is open worldwide).

Bookmark contest open worldwide.
Neither the publisher or I will not be held responsible for items lost in the mail.
I hold the right to end a contest before its original deadline without any prior notice.
I hold the right to disqualify any entry as I see fit.
I will contact winning entrants for their postal address following the close of the competition. Winners have 48 hours to reply. Failure to do so in this time will result in another winner being randomly selected.