This incarnation of the
Justice League is going to go down as the least effective since JLDetroit. It’s
a shame because if they weren’t hamstrung and had some of the big names like
Clark or Bruce or Diana to help float it, it might be more interesting or at
least more powerful.

As it is, we’ve had a, what, 5 issue story where the
secondary villain is Shadow Thief? That’s about as scary as Kiteman. I get that
McDuffie is trying to make him intimidating, but he’s also trying to make the
Milestone characters relevant again, and you can’t do both in the same book. To
use a wrestling metaphor, it’s like having a career jobber and a faded star
with limited abilities both getting a push by having a series of matches
against each other. All it does is show the weakness of both involved and burns
out the audience’s interest.

I like Zatanna a lot, but she has never looked as
weak as she does in this book. I do like seeing the new Firestorm get some
action, but again, he’s really not that impressive. And John Stewart is being
written as the Green Lantern Junior with about as much screen time.

The story
is there, but it just isn’t clicking at all. I love that Paladin is back, and
the reveal of what the silver fluid actually was, was very cool, but it’s just
not working.