Written by: J.M. DeMatteis, Keith Giffen
Cover by: Howard Porter
Art by: Howard Porter
There’s a new Batman in town—and the real Batman takes it upon himself to seek this imposter out. Plus, a new threat approaches our galaxy. Will the Justice League be prepared for it?
The comic hits shelves this coming Wednesday, October 28.
There is some controversy brewing with this title. It acts as little more than a rehash of Keith Giffen’s heyday on the Justice League in the 1980s and 1990s, but it is said as well that the treatment of the re-imagined male heroes now in female bodies (the Flash and Guy Gardner, though particularly Guy) is offensive to the transgendered community. While this may be the case, such an approach to this title is perhaps a little off the mark in terms of its overall theme, that is to say, that the presentation of characters is not only offensive to transgendered women, but probably to most people overall.
Conversely thus far the story has followed a pretty decent concept as the heroes of the JL 3001 world have had to deal with a strange Starro infested world. They come to grips with that here as the heroes have to deal with the fallout of their intervention to the Starro planet and it is not what it seems (and in fact probably could have been a pretty engaging story under different circumstances.) Instead the story once again focuses too much on the multitude of problems associated with this series. For some reason, Giffen just cannot stay away from Booster and Beetle, and they make a return appearance here alongside Fire and Ice. To some degree one can see this as the evolution of the old Justice League series, just 25 years down the line after a fairly progressive evolution of comics left it behind. The problem with this series, especially in respect to the transgendered question is that it is offensive, but not only to transgendered. The presentation of the female Flash character is sterotypical of what men think of teenage girls, without a thought in their heads beyond having a slumber party. The males of the series, and particularly Superman, are so devoid of real emotion either that they are also caricatures of themselves, especially as Superman is made into a womanizer.
The underlying concept behind this series is inherently fun, as it gives the creative team a wider scope in which to tell their stories, but it proves that Giffen, while successful in some ways, is also a bit of a one-hit wonder with his collection of Super Buddies. The story here is even serviceable or better, but it ends up being derailed with too much comic relief, which in turn is based too much on gender stereotypes. There will undoubtedly be fans of the older Giffen works that look to this one with some fondness, but as modern stories in the medium go, this one is off the mark.
Story: Keith Giffen Art: J.M. DeMatteis
Story: 6.0 Art: 6.0 Overall: 6.0 Recommendation: Pass
The Giffen era of the Justice League was a strange one for DC Comics. It came about in the post-Crisis on Infinite Earths continuity (technically post-Legends for anyone that remembers that crossover series) and it was noteworthy for specifically going against the trend of other superhero comics. Notably Batman became a lot more darker and serious, but other heroes also followed the trend. The lone exception was the Justice League which got a lot less serious under the guidance of Keith Giffen. Although the League was theoretically built of some of the bigger names on its roll call, it became a lot more like the Booster Blue Beetle and Guy Gardner comedy club, as the creative team attempted to put the characters in increasingly comedic scenarios in order to elicit laughs. It kind of worked for a bit, but also didn’t as the creative team moved on to other things and the League got a lot more serious once again.
For those looking for a return to those times, the modern alternative is here, or at least kind of is. Justice League 3001 is set in the future where individuals are imprinted with the DNA of heroes and thus become somewhat like those heroes, at least for the major core of the team. Lois is also imprinted and as the team’s manager she is trying to exact revenge on Superman for some unspecified reason, and to do so she tries to destroy the team on especially dangerous missions. In this case she has sent them to a planet completely overrun by Starro and the team is forced to look for a solution. In the meantime fans of Giffen’s run on the title will see some other familiar faces as Fire and Ice share some panel time, as they talk about Booster and Beetle (and even make some references to obscure story arcs from the Giffen run.) Perhaps most notably is Guy, although he has been imprinted on a female, as Giffen was known for a bit of shock value by doing gender switches on characters.
Although this is very much a Giffen product, the end result is not as corny as it might be expected to be. The jokes are there, and they mostly misfire, although they do work on occasion. What is most noteworthy is that the plot almost perfectly fits the group of characters (except for the self serving nods to his own work from 20 years ago) as the concept is big idea enough for this powerful team. This issue is not a grand slam, but it works well enough on enough levels to be an enjoyable read, though not much more.
Story: Keith Giffen Art: J.M. DeMatteis
Story: 7.5 Art: 7.5 Overall: 7.5 Recommendation: Read
